JPS6050562A - Detecting device of remaining quantity of magnetic toner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect exactly and stably a remaining quantity of a toner by providing a magnet roller and a blade which is adjacent to said roller, in a toner hopper, and detecting a load variation of a driving device of the roller. CONSTITUTION:A magnet roller 2 having a magnetic outside surface, and a blade 3 which is adjacent to said roller are provided in a toner hopper 1, and the roller 2 is driven by a motor 5 to which a DC constant-voltage power source 6 is connected. In case there is a toner enough, the toner is attracted to the outside circumferential surface of the roller 2, scraped down by the blade 3, and a rotational load in this case increases. When the toner is reduced, it does not increase above a thickness determined by a gap between the blade 3 and the roller 2, and the load is reduced suddenly. This load variation is detected by a potential difference detecting device 8, and a remaining quantity of a toner can be detected exactly and safely.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a residual toner detection device that can be used in an electrophotographic copying machine.

Conventional configuration and its problems In recent years, copying machines using dry toner have been developed, but in this type of copying machine, it is necessary to prevent the image density from decreasing when the replenishment toner is used up. In order to
It is necessary to display an instruction to add replenishment toner to the hopper when the amount of toner remaining in the hopper falls below a certain level.

In conventional toner loading, the hopper is made of transparent parts, and the remaining amount is detected by the presence or absence of toner shadows using light.
Alternatively, a method is known in which a piezoelectric element is placed in a hopper and a change in the amplitude of the piezoelectric element depending on the presence or absence of toner is electrically measured and detected.

However, toner does not necessarily decrease uniformly inside the hopper, and a phenomenon occurs where toner sticks to the hopper wall.In the conventional method described above, when there are 41 tubes of toner in the sensor section, The drawback was that stable detection was not possible every time.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and an object thereof is to provide a magnetic toner remaining amount detection device W that can accurately detect the remaining amount of toner.

1. Structure of the Invention In order to achieve the objective 1, the magnetic 1 retoner residue detection device of the present invention comprises: This groove structure includes blades placed in close stirrups, a drive device that rotates the rotating body, and a detection device that detects load fluctuations of the drive device.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a magnetic toner residual amount detection device d according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of the same device including an electric circuit, where 1 is a toner hopper, and 2 is a Magnet with magnetism on the outer circumferential surface [''-ra, 3 is magnetic screw 1-〇-ra 2
4 is a blade provided close to the outer peripheral surface of the toner replenishing roller 1 to replenish toner from the toner hopper 1;
5 is a DC motor that drives magnet [1-ra2, 6
7 is a DC constant voltage power supply, 7 is a resistor connected in series with the DC motor 5 to the DC constant voltage power supply 6, and 8 is a potential X detection device 4 for detecting a voltage outside the potential across both ends of the resistor 7.

The toner placed in toner hopper 1 is stored in toner supply l.
] - J: is supplied to La 4 and gradually decreases. When there is sufficient toner, the toner is attracted to the outer peripheral surface of the magnetic roller 2 and is carried to the blade 3 as the magnetic roller rotates. There is a gap of 065 mm to 5 mm between the blade 3 and the outer peripheral surface of the magnet roller 2, and the toner is
The remaining material is scraped off by this gap, and at this time, the rotational load on the magnet roller 2 is increased. Although the toner is supplied by the toner supply roller 4 and the toner 1 to toner M in the toner hopper 1 decreases, the magnet 0 to 2 becomes unable to attract more toner than it has already attracted.

Therefore, the toner adsorbed to the outer peripheral surface of the magnetic roller 2 is scraped off by the blade 3, and once the thickness is determined, it no longer increases, and the toner is scraped off by the blade 3, which causes the load on the magnetic roller 2. decreases, and the driving load becomes smaller than when there is sufficient toner. In other words, when the amount of toner in the small toner tube 1 decreases to a certain constant value tυJ, the load on the DC motor 5 suddenly decreases. However, since a constant voltage is applied to the DC motor 5 from the self-current voltage power source 6, the current flowing through the DC motor 5 increases, and at the same time, the current flowing through the resistor 7 also increases, so the potential difference between both ends of the resistor 7 increases. increases. This is detected by the potential difference detection device 8.

In the above embodiment, the magnets 1 to []-ra 2 having magnetic properties on the outer peripheral surfaces were used, but the magnets 1 and 2 were used on the end faces in the axial direction.
You may also use a magnet []-ra that has a negative effect. Further, the load change detection of the drive unit 8 may be performed by detecting a change in rotation speed, etc., and is not particularly limited.

Effects of the Invention As explained in 1-5, according to the present invention, the remaining amount is detected by forcibly attracting the magnetic luna to the rotating body that rotates magnetically, so that the detection is accurate. Yes, and stable.

Furthermore, since the adsorbed 1-toner is scraped off with a blade, the toner that is becoming stuck can be separated by long-term release, and the toner replenishment performance can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a magnetic toner residual gutter detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram including an electric circuit of the device. 1... Toner dropper, 2... Magnet roller,
3...Blade, 4...Toner supply roller, 5...
・DC motor, 6... DC constant voltage power supply, 7... Resistor, 8... Potential difference detection device agent Yoshihiro Morimoto

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotating body with magnetism installed in the toner hopper, and a blade disposed close to the magnetic surface of the rotating body,
A magnetic toner remaining amount detection device comprising: a drive device that rotates the rotating body; and a detection device that detects load fluctuations of the drive device.