JPS60200276A - Toner recirculating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the assembling operation by providing a fitting member detachably to the internal flank of a machine body frame which supports a photosensitive drum, and incorporating a couple of screw rotors in a screw conveyor casing fixed to the fitting member. CONSTITUTION:The unitized toner recirculating device is equipped with a fitting plate 4 which is fixed to the machine body frame with a fitting screw, and a center hole 5 in which the shaft cylinder part a1 of the photosensitive drum A is fitted is formed in the fitting plate 4. Therefore, when the photosensitive drum A and toner recirculating device D are assembled in the machine body frame, the fitting plate 4 is coaxial with the photosensitive drum A, so position of the toner recirculating device D relative to a cleaning device B and a developing device C which is positioned strictly as to the photosensitive drum A is determined inevitably.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner circulation device for, for example, an electrophotographic copying machine.

1. Prior Art 1. As is well known, in the field of maintenance-free electrophotographic copying machines, there is a trend to recirculate the toner collected by the cleaning device to the developing device to reduce the effort required for maintenance as much as possible. be.

By the way, conventional toner recirculation devices used for this purpose include those that circulate a special endless toner between the cleaning device and the developing device, and those that circulate toner by a rotating body incorporating a permanent magnet. There is a device that transports toner using a magnetic endless belt (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 138874/1983), but the amount of toner collected per unit time is extremely small, and moreover, it is fine particles with lubricating properties. It is said that a screw conveyor device is the most excellent conveyance unit to be used. However, there is a step between the toner take-out position of the cleaning device and the toner drop position of the developing device, and the cleaning device and developing device have unique structures and mounting conditions, so a screw conveyor-type toner recycler is used between these devices. If the circulation device is assembled inside, disassembling and reassembling these devices becomes troublesome.

1. Object of the Invention 1. In view of the current state of conventional toner recirculation devices as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a toner recirculating device that can be attached to the machine frame to provide a connection to the cleaning device and the developing device, and that can be removed from the machine frame. To obtain a unitized screw conveyor type toner recirculation device which can be repaired by one person.

Structure of the Invention - To summarize the present invention for achieving this object, in a toner recirculation device for recovering toner collected by a cleaning device to a developing device, an inner surface of a body frame supporting a photoreceptor drum is provided. A screw conveyor casing has a mounting member removably added to the mounting member, a screw conveyor casing fixed to the mounting member has a pair of screw rotors connected to the cleaning device and the developing device, respectively, and is located on the body frame. It is proposed that both screw rotors be driven by a drive gear.

One example- Embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, symbol A indicates a photosensitive drum;
Reference numeral B indicates a cleaning device, reference symbol C indicates a developing device, and the photosensitive drum A is supported by the body frame 2 so as to be rotatable about the central axis l shown in FIG. Also, a cleaning device for the fuselage frame 2! tB and developing unit 2
Although the mounting structure of 1c is omitted from illustration as it is irrelevant to the gist of the present invention, its relative position with respect to the photosensitive drum A can be strictly determined. The cleaning device 1B has a horizontally suspended screw rotor b2 built into its housing bl, and the toner collected in the housing bl is conveyed to one side of the housing b1 by the rotation of the screw rotor b2, and the toner is directed downward. It is taken out from the discharge port b3. Further, the developing device C is provided with a toner intake port C2 facing E on one side of the housing cl, and the toner taken into the housing cl from the toner intake port C2 is transferred to the housing C1 in conjunction with the rotation of the recovery screw rotor C3. It is evenly distributed and collected inside.

Unitized toner recirculation system of the present invention? l includes a mounting plate 4 fixed to the fuselage frame 2 with mounting screws 3;
The mounting plate 4 is provided with a center hole 5 which is fitted into the cylindrical portion 41 of the photosensitive drum A. Therefore, in the assembled state of the photoreceptor drum A and the toner recirculation device to the fuselage frame 2, the mounting plate 4 is placed in a coaxial relationship with the photoreceptor drum A, so that the cleaning device is precisely positioned relative to the photoreceptor drum A. The location of the toner recirculation device relative to device B and developer device C will necessarily be determined.

A screw conveyor casing 6 made of resin is fixed to the mounting plate 4. The screw conveyor casing 6 includes an inclined first cylindrical portion 6a formed with a toner member 1 and 7 that can meet the toner outlet b3;
Toner pool 6b connected to the L end of this first cylindrical portion 8a
and a horizontal second cylinder 116 extending from the toner intake port c2 of the developing device tc, and a cross-shaped second cylinder 71 is provided in the first cylindrical part 8a and the second cylindrical part 6c at the toner pool 6b.
A screw rotor 8.9 is rotatably positioned. A toner outlet box 10 whose bottom surface is open is integrally formed at the tip of the second cylindrical portion 6C, and the toner outlet box 10 has an open bottom surface.
A toner outlet box that meets the toner intake port C2 in the assembled state! Collected toner from 0 is collected into the developing device C and recirculated.

On the inner side of the fuselage frame 2 facing the middle part of the toner recirculation device is located a drive gear 11 embodied as a bevel gear.

The drive gear 11, which is preferably driven by the #&l east row (not shown) that drives the screw rotor b2 of the cleaning device B, is attached to the mounting piece 12 when the toner recirculation device is assembled to the machine frame 2. The supported first driven bevel gear 13 and the second driven bevel gear 1 at the shaft end of the screw rotor 9
It meshes with 4. The first driven bevel gear 13 has coaxial spur teeth 11
15, and the open spur gear 15 is located between both ends of the relay shaft 1B FR=ltl? , 18, the driven tooth 1Ji19 at the shaft end of the screw rotor 8 is rotationally driven.

Since the toner + IG circulating device of the embodiment shown in FIG. The relative positions of the device tB, the developing device C, and the toner recirculation device are necessarily specified, and the toner discharge port b3 and the toner lower part are also
The toner intake port C2 and the toner outlet box IO automatically meet. Therefore, it is possible to freely attach and detach the cleaning device B and the developing device C to and from the body frame 2 without being restricted by the toner recirculation device.

Furthermore, the toner recirculation device can be easily attached to and detached from the body frame 2. Of course, while the copying machine or the like is in operation, the toner discharged from the cleaning device B is taken into the first cylindrical portion 6a from the toner lower, and is lifted up to the toner pool 6b by the rotation of the screw rotor 8. The developing device C is connected to the rotation of the screw rotor 9 from the toner pool 6b.
The toner is transferred from one box 10 to the developing device C.
The toner will be taken in and dumped into the toner [:+c2].

Effects of the Invention - As is clear from the explanation in 1- below, according to the present invention, the cleaning device and the developing device can be attached and detached without being restricted by the toner recirculation device, and the toner recirculation device itself can also be attached to the machine frame. Since it can be attached and detached integrally and easily, it is easy to disassemble the toner and it is possible to reliably transport the finely sized recirculated toner. Further, in the present invention, since a screw rotor is used in the toner conveyance section, toner conveyance is extremely smooth and no toner pools occur on the way.

The screw rotor used does not need to be removed except for periodic inspections, and has the effect of preventing toner scattering.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

tJS1 is an exploded perspective view of the toner recirculation device of the present invention and its peripheral equipment, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the toner recirculation device and its peripheral equipment, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view seen from the opposite direction to FIG. FIG. A... Photosensitive drum, B... Cleaning device, C... Developing device, D... Toner recirculation device, 4... Mounting plate, 6... Screw conveyor casing, 8.9. ...Screw rotor. Patent applicant Konishiroku Photo Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] l) A toner recirculation device that collects toner collected by a cleaning device to a developing device, has a mounting member that is removably attached to the inner surface of the body frame that supports the photoreceptor drum, and is fixed to the mounting member. The toner recycler is characterized in that a pair of screw rotors connected to the cleaning device and the developing device are installed inside the screw conveyor device/thing, and both screw rotors are driven by a drive gear located in the body frame. Circulation device.