JPS60125877A - Detector for amount of toner in cleaning box - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect the full state of toner in a box accurately by detecting turning positions of a blade which turns in contact with a toner surface and an actuator which turns outside coaxially through a photosensor. CONSTITUTION:The toner T in the cleaning box 15 is stirred with a stirring rod 16 to flatten its surface, and blades 18 and 19 fitted to bars 20 and 21 oscillated every time the strirring rod 16 comes to an upper position, allowing actuators 22 and 23 fitted to one-sided terminals of the bars 20 and 21 to oscillate. Amplitudes of oscillations become smaller and smaller as the toner amount increases, and detection holes 22a and 23a of the actuators 22 and 23 set horizontally at the same position where the surface becomes uniformly flat are nearly aligned to each other nearly in the full state, so the light output of the sensor 26 varies. Therefore, the full state of the toner T in the box 15 is detected accurately from the output variation of the photosensor 26.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a toner amount detection device for detecting toner in a cleaning box of a recording apparatus d.

(0) Prior Art In electrostatic image recording devices, such as electrophotographic copying machines and electrostatic non-impact printers, photoreceptor weight is increased using reflected light or electrical information signals obtained by exposing and scanning a document. forms an electrostatic latent image of a document or electrical information on a dielectric material, divides the electrostatic latent image into a visible image, transfers this IRJ visual image to recording paper, and then fixes it to form a recorded image. are doing.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a conventional electrophotographic copying machine, in which a document G placed on a document table L moving in the direction of an arrow (solid line) is illuminated by an illumination lamp 2, and the reflected light from the document G is is projected onto the photoreceptor 3a of the rotating drum 3 that rotates in the direction of the arrow, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image of the document G on the photoreceptor 3a. Around the rotating drum 3, there is a charging electrode 4 that uniformly charges the photoreceptor 3a.
A developing device 5, a transfer electrode 6, a separating electrode 7, a removing electrode 8, and a cleaning device 9 (blade type) are arranged in this order.

The electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 5, and the visible image is transferred from the paper feeding device 10 such as a cassette to the conveying device i! The recording paper P fed by the roller 11 is rotated by the roller pole 6 'If'.

After the transfer, the recording paper P is separated from the light body 3a by the separation electrode 7, transported to the fixing device 13 by the transport device 12, fixed there, and discharged onto the paper discharge tray 14.

In the above apparatus, in order to enable the photoreceptor 3ai to be used repeatedly, it is necessary to remove the charge and toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor 3a after the transfer process in the series of electrophotographic process processes described above. The residual toner is removed by the static eliminating electrode 8 and by the cleaning device 9, respectively.

Various types of cleaning devices are known for use in this type of recording device, such as a fur brush type, a blade type, and a magnetic brush type. to remove residual toner. The removed toner accumulates in the cleaning box and is discarded when it accumulates, but conventionally, the amount of toner accumulated in the cleaning box is judged using the number of recorded sheets as an index, and the number of recorded sheets is determined. When I arrived, the service man was replacing the entire cleaning box and collecting only the toner.

However, since the amount of toner accumulated in the cleaning box varies greatly depending on the document and the environmental conditions of use, the above-mentioned method of estimating the amount of toner from the number of recorded sheets may not provide thorough after-sales service for some users. Furthermore, when determining the volume of the cleaning box during design, it is necessary to accurately know the amount of toner that will accumulate in the cleaning box.

Therefore, a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element are installed in the cleaning box, and when the box is filled with toner to almost full, the output from the light-receiving element changes, which causes the toner cooperation. r: Detection method (Utility Model Application Publication No. 161652/1983)
Alternatively, the light from the lamp installed inside the cleaning box is received by one end of the fiber tube inserted into the box and detected by a sensor installed at the other end of the fiber tube. A method has been proposed for detecting the amount of toner based on the fact that the output of the sensor changes when the remaining amount is blocked by toner.

These methods can determine the amount of toner more reliably than the previous method of estimating the amount of toner from the number of sheets recorded, but they do not prevent the light-emitting and light-receiving elements and lamps installed in the cleaning box, or the ends of the fiber tubes from becoming dirty with toner. There are 7 problems that while using the method, accurate detection becomes impossible and the cost becomes high. An even bigger problem is that cartridge-type cleaning boxes and drum units have recently been used, but the above-mentioned methods require incorporating optical sensors and lamps inside the cleaning box or drum unit, which is uneconomical. .

(c) Object and Structure of the Invention The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to accurately detect when the amount of toner in the cleaning box is full, and for this purpose, A rotating member that rotates as the amount of toner increases while contacting the surface of the toner accumulated in the cleaning box in a nearly full state is provided inside the cleaning box, and is integrated with the rotating member outside the cleaning box T'AI. An actuator that is connected to the rotary member and rotates as the rotary member rotates is provided, and the rotational position of the actuator is optically detected by a detection means provided in a part of the recording device, and cleaning is performed from that rotational position. It is designed to detect that the amount of toner in the box is full.

) Example The present invention will be explained below based on the drawings.

2 and 3 show an embodiment of the toner amount detection device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a side surface 1IyTi of the device.
Figure II'i, Figure 3 (A) and Figure 3) are A-A in Figure 2.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view and an end view taken along B-H. In FIG. 2, a cleaning box 15ij has an IJ cleaning blade (not shown) disposed above it, and a cleaning box 16 is rotated in synchronization with the rotation of a rotary drum by an external drive gear 17 to clean the cleaning box 15. One toner T
bent stirring rod for stirring and flattening the surface, 18
and 19. Thin and light materials (e.g. resin and phosphor bronze).
With the blades 18 and 19, when the toner box 16 is almost full and the toner is collected by the shaker, the lid is in such a position that it lightly touches the surface of the toner T, and the stirring rod 16 is in the upper position. @ It is attached to the bars 20 and 21 at a position where it can be swung by the stirring bar 16 and spaced apart from each other.

The bars 20 and 2] are rotatably supported by the end walls of the toner box 6, respectively, and fan-shaped actuators 22 and 23 as shown in FIG. It is fixed. Actuator 22
Detection holes 22a and 23a are provided near the tips of and 23. Kakeru! The side surface of the i1J gear 17 is, for example, a black color that reflects light, and a reflecting plate 24 is formed on the opposite side of the bent portion. On the other hand, frame 2 of the device
A photo sensor 26 of an inverted q-type is provided at a position 1a opposite to the actuator 23 of IJ11 of 5.

Next, the operation of the above detection device will be explained.

In each recording cycle, the toner remaining on the photoreceptor of the rotating drum is scraped off from the surface of the photoreceptor by the blade of the cleaning device a, and is frozen in the cleaning box 15. Sixteen stirring rods rotate in synchronization with the rotation of the rotating drum, and as the amount of toner stored in the cleaning box 15 increases, the toner is stirred by the stirring rod 16 and its surface becomes substantially flat. Each time the stirring bar I6 is in the upper position, the blades 18 and 19 swing, so that the bar 20.2
Actuator 22.23 attached to one end of 1
It also sways. As the toner rut increases and the tank gets close to full, the blades 22 and 23 come into light contact with the toner surface and the amplitude of the swing of the blades 18 and 19 by the stirring rod [6] becomes smaller, and when they are not oscillated, the toner is constantly It rests lightly on the surface, and the actuators 22 and 23 accordingly assume positions rotated by a certain angle from their initial positions, as shown in FIG. 3(b). If the surface of the toner accumulated in the cleaning box 15 is flat, the two actuators 22 and 23 will have the same rotational position 1a, so the detection holes 22a and 23a, which are both provided with G, will almost match. For this purpose, when the driving gear I7 of the stirring bar 6 rotates and the reflecting plate 24 attached to its side comes to the position of the detection holes 22a and 23a, the light from the sensor 26 S is reflected by the reflecting plate 24. The output of the sensor 26 changes accordingly.

From the change in the output of the sensor 26, it can be seen that the amount of toner in the cleaning box 5 is almost full.

The output of this sensor 26 is used to prevent the next recording operation and at the same time display a full tank.

Since two blades are provided in this practical example, when the toner accumulated in the cleaning box 15 is full, if the height 8 of the toner surface differs at the position of these two blades, the two actuators 22 and 23 will be detected. Holes 22a and 23a
Since the two do not overlap, it is not possible to detect when the tank is full. This means that when using a replaceable cartridge-type cleaning box, if the cartridge is installed at an angle or the toner is unevenly piled up inside the cleaning box, it may be mistakenly detected as full when it is not full. Effective in preventing

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, an agitation device was provided to agitate the toner accumulated in the cleaning box, and a reflection plate was attached to the drive gear of this agitation rod, but the agitation rod itself is not essential to the present invention, and the reflection plate may be attached to a stationary system such as the side wall of a cleaning box.

(e) As described in detail, according to the present invention, there is provided a swinging member in the cleaning box that contacts the toner surface near the toner full position and swings in response to changes in the toner table "II". A rotating member that rotates in response to the swinging of the swinging member is provided outside the cleaning box, and an optical sensor detects the position of the rotating member when the toner is full, thereby determining the amount of toner in the cleaning box. It is possible to detect when the toner is full. By precisely detecting the position of the rotating member, it is also possible to detect the amount of toner step by step until the toner is full.

The detection device according to the present invention takes the toner inside the cleaning box out of the box by a simple mechanical means without using an optical sensor, and detects it with an optical sensor installed on an external stationary string. In a recording device that uses a drum cartridge that includes a box or cleaning box, even if the detection mechanism is built into the cleaning box or drum cartridge, it is relatively inexpensive and can be disposed of, making it economically viable. The benefits are great.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a Vi 范子T copying machine, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a cleaning box in which an embodiment of the toner amount detection device according to the present invention can be seen, and Fig. 3 (() and (o
) FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 2 and an end view taken along the line BB. 9... Cleaning device Jiffs 1s... Cleaning box, 16... Stirring bowl, 18.19...
Blade, 22.23...actuator, 22a, 2
3a... Escape hole, 24... Reflector, 26... Sensor Patent applicant Konishiroku Photo Industry Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Hiroshi Suzuki

Claims (1)

[Claims] A rotating member that rotates as the amount of toner increases while contacting the surface of the toner that has accumulated in the cleaning box in a nearly full state; The actuator is provided with an actuator that rotates outside the cleaning shaft as it rotates, and a detection means that is provided in a part of the recording device to face the actuator G and optically detects the rotational position 1a2 of the actuator. A toner amount detection device in a cleaning box of a recording device, characterized by: