JPS61129678A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To discriminate accurately the history of the use of a latent image carrier by inclining a part, which should be brought into contact with a reset member of a discriminating piece, to the direction perpendicular to the operating direction of the reset member. CONSTITUTION:A discriminating piece 52 is pressed by a reset member 51 of a counter 50 while setting a carrier unit 5 having no history of the use to an image forming device body. The part which should be brought into contact with the reset member 51 of the discriminating piece 52 before pressing is inclined to the direction perpendicular to the operating direction of the reset member 51 so that said part is approximately perpendicular to the operating direction of the reset member 51 when the discriminating piece 52 is bent.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] “String”! = The present invention provides a carrier unit in which a latent image carrier and a support for supporting the latent image carrier are integrally assembled, which is removably attached to the main body of an image forming apparatus, and a measuring device provided in the main body of the image forming apparatus The use time or the number of rotations used or the number of times of printing or copying of the latent image carrier is measured, and an identification piece is provided on the support of the carrier unit to determine the history of use of the latent image carrier, and a carrier unit with no history of use is provided. When attached to the imaging device main body, the discrimination piece presses the reset member of the measuring device to reset the measuring device, and the reset member bends the discrimination piece to perform measurement when a previously used carrier unit is attached. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that does not reset the apparatus.

Image forming apparatuses of the above type configured as electronic copying machines, laser printers, etc. have already been proposed. In this type of image forming apparatus, for example, when a latent image carrier made of a photoreceptor deteriorates over time, it is replaced with a new latent image carrier and the whole carrier unit. When the device is installed, it is necessary to reset the measurement device in order to measure the usage status again. As a measuring device,
An hour meter that measures the usage time of the latent image carrier, a counter that counts the number of times the latent image carrier is used, or the number of prints or copies, etc. are used.

On the other hand, for purposes other than replacing the holding body unit, this unit may be removed from the image forming apparatus main body and the same unit may be set in the main body again. Therefore, the measuring device should not be reset when resetting the unit.

In this way, when installing a new unit, it is necessary to reset the measuring device, and conversely, when installing a unit that should continue to be used, it is necessary to prohibit the reset operation of the measuring device. is provided on the carrier unit, and when a carrier unit that has not been used before is attached to the image forming apparatus main body, the discrimination piece presses the reset member of the measuring device to reset the measuring device, and the reset member bends the discrimination piece. I try to do that. The discriminating piece of the carrier unit that is once attached to the image forming apparatus body and used is bent, so when this unit is removed from the apparatus body and reattached, the discriminating piece actuates the reset member and starts the measuring device. There is no way to reset it. In this way, the use history of the latent image carrier can be determined based on the condition of the discrimination piece, but in the past, no particular consideration was given to the arrangement of the discrimination piece, so the reset member bent the discrimination piece while pressing it. When the reset member receives an external force from the discrimination piece in a direction different from its predetermined operating direction,
There is a possibility that the reset member may malfunction, and the measuring device may malfunction.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of eliminating the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks.
In particular, it is desirable to provide the configuration of the discriminating piece.

Toyofu The present invention provides that when a carrier unit that has never been used is mounted on an image forming apparatus main body and one discrimination piece is pressed by a reset member and the discrimination piece is bent, a portion of the discrimination piece that comes into contact with the reset member is provided. The portion of the discrimination piece before being pressed that is to come into contact with the reset member is arranged so as to be inclined with respect to the direction perpendicular to the operating direction of the reset member so that We propose a new configuration.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, and conventional configuration examples will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a laser printer as an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. For understanding the invention.

First, an outline of its overall configuration will be explained.

In the illustrated example, the latent image carrier is constructed as an endless belt-shaped photoreceptor 3 wrapped around two support rollers 1.2, and the photoreceptor 3 and support rollers 1.2 are also shown in FIG. They are housed in a box-shaped support 4 and constitute one carrier unit 5 assembled into one piece. Each support shaft 21, 28 of the rollers 1, 2 is rotatably supported on each side of the support body 4.

When the printer operates, the photoreceptor 3 is driven in the direction of the arrow,
The surface is uniformly charged by the charger 6,
This charged portion is exposed by a laser beam emitted from an optical unit 7 having an optical element such as a laser (not shown), and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface in accordance with an image signal. This latent image is converted into a toner image by toner when passing through the developing device 8, and this toner image is transferred by the transfer charger 9 onto the recording paper 10 fed to the photoreceptor 3.

After the toner image has been transferred, the photoreceptor 3 is subjected to a static eliminating action by the static eliminating lamp IL, and residual toner is removed by the cleaning device M12.

The recording paper 10 onto which the toner image has been transferred is separated from the photoreceptor 3 and then conveyed to a fixing device W190, where the toner image is fixed, and is discharged outside the machine as shown by arrow B.

In order to perform the above-mentioned operations such as charging, exposure, development, transfer, and cleaning without any trouble, the case-like support 4 of the carrier unit 5 is provided with openings 13, respectively, as shown in FIG.
is formed.

The developing device 8 has a developing tank 15 containing toner 14 and a developing sleeve 16 facing the photoreceptor 3. The toner 14 in the tank 15 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow on the sleeve 16 and is subjected to development. . The tank 15 is fixed on a substrate 18 as shown in FIG.

The developing sleeve 16 is rotatably supported by a pair of support members 19, 19a fixed to the substrate 18.

Moreover, these supporting members 19, 19a have notches 20° 20a.
are formed, and each end of a support shaft 2I that rotatably supports one of the support rollers 1 around which the photoreceptor 3 is wound is removably fitted into these notches 20 and 20a, and the photoreceptor to the developing sleeve 16 is The position of body 3 is determined. The carrier unit 5, the substrate 18, and the developing device 8 are integrally assembled, and the entire structure constitutes an image forming unit 22.

On the other hand, the printer main body 2, of which only the overall outline is shown in FIG.
3 is a pair of main body side plates 24, 2 schematically indicated by chain lines in FIG.
4a, and a guide member 2 is provided on these side plates 24, 24a.
5, 25a are fixedly installed.

The image forming unit 22 can be pulled out from the printer body 23 together with the carrier unit 5, but when the unit 22 is housed in the printer body 23 as shown in FIG. Guide groove 2
6, 26a are the substrate side edges 27, 27a of the image forming unit 22.
The ends of the support shafts 21 and 28 respectively supported the rollers 1.about.2 around which the photoreceptor 3 was wound.

Positioning grooves 29 formed in the guide members 25, 25a.
29a, and the position of the photoreceptor 3 with respect to the optical unit 7 is determined. At this time, the gear 30 fixed to the support roller l and a mating gear (not shown) supported by the printer body mesh with each other, and driving force from a drive source (not shown) is transmitted to the roller 1, and the photosensitive Body 3 is driven.

A gear 37 fixed to the support shaft of the developing sleeve 16 also meshes with a gear (not shown) that is immovably supported on the printer body side, and the driving force is transmitted to the developing sleeve 16 through these gears.
, and the sleeve 16 is driven to rotate.

When performing maintenance and inspection of the image forming unit 22, replenishing toner to the developing device [8, or replacing the carrier unit 5, etc., open the cover 23a (FIG. 1) of the printer main body 23, and open the cover 23a (FIG. 1) of the printer body 23, 18a, and remove the image forming unit 2.
2 to the right (in the direction of arrow C) in FIG. 6 Next, when it is necessary to replace the carrier unit 5, the carrier unit 5 is removed from the developing device [8] as shown in FIG. is assembled to @the imaging device 18, and then the substrate side edges 27, 2 of the imaging unit 22 are assembled.
While guiding the unit 7a through the guide groove 26.degree. 26a, the unit 22 is pushed in the direction opposite to the arrow C and installed in the predetermined position shown in FIG. At this time, a pair of elastic locking members 45, 45a fixed to the printer body side elastically engage the engagement grooves 46, 46a of the substrate 18.

The image forming unit 22 and therefore the carrier unit 5 are positioned and set in a predetermined position.

When the photoreceptor 3 deteriorates, it is replaced with a new photoreceptor 3 and the entire unit 5 as described above.In order to know the deterioration state of the photoreceptor, a measuring device consisting of a counter 50 is installed in the printer body. Each time a print is made on the recording paper 10, a counter 50 counts and stores the number;
A signal generated when this number reaches a predetermined number causes a display (not shown) provided in the printer body to indicate that the carrier unit 5 should be replaced. The counter prints (
Instead of counting the number of times the photoreceptor 3 is used, the number of rotations of the photoreceptor 3 is counted.
When this number of times or time reaches a predetermined value, a replacement display may be displayed.The operator replaces the carrier unit 5 with a new one according to the above display, but when a new unit 5 is installed, It is necessary to reset the counter 50, start counting the number of times the recording paper passes anew, and measure the usage status of the photoreceptor. Also.

When one image forming unit 22 is pulled out from the main body 23 for the purpose of replenishing toner to the developing device 8, rather than replacing the photoreceptor, and is set again after replenishing the toner, the counter 50 should not be reset. The same is true when using an hour meter instead of a counter. For this purpose, the counter 50 has a reset member 51 that is slidable in the direction of the arrow E or the opposite direction D, supported by a support portion 60 fixed to the case body of the counter 50, and a support member 4 of the carrier unit 5. is provided with a discrimination piece for discriminating whether the unit 5 is new or not. The discrimination piece in this example is constructed as follows.

As can be seen from FIGS. 2 to 4, the support 4 of the carrier unit 5 consists of an upper cover 4a and a lower cover 4b, and a window hole 53 is formed at the front end of one side of the support 4. has been done. This side part is formed hollow as shown in FIG. 4, and a discrimination piece 52 is located in this hollow part, and the discrimination piece 52 is connected to the upper cover 4a as also shown in FIG.
In this example, the support body 4 is made of a molded article of synthetic resin, and the discrimination piece 52 is integrally molded in advance with the upper cover 4a made of resin. 3, 4, and 6 show the carrier unit 5 in an unused state and before being installed in the printer body, and at this time, the discrimination piece 52 is located in the window hole 53. Further, the discrimination piece 52 is connected to the support body 4 side through a notch formed of, for example, a V-groove 54, and the discrimination piece can be bent at this portion. If the discrimination piece 52 is integrally formed with the support body 4 in this way, there is no need to additionally attach the discrimination piece to the support body 4, and its manufacture becomes easy. However, even if the discrimination piece is made of metal etc. Alternatively, the discrimination piece may be made a separate member from the support body 4, and both may be fixed together with screws or the like.

The carrier unit 5 having the discrimination piece 52 described above is attached to the substrate 1.
8 and is inserted into the printer main body 23 as described above, the reset member 51 slidably supported by the counter 50 on the main body 23 side enters the window hole 53 of the support 4. , the tip of the member 51 hits the discrimination piece 52 below the V-groove 54 (FIG. 5(a)). When the carrier unit 5 is pushed further, the reset member 51 is pushed in the direction of the arrow by the discrimination piece 52, The reaction force causes the discrimination piece 52 to bend (FIG. 5(b)). After the reset member 51 is pushed to the final position and no longer operates, the carrier unit 5 is pushed further and the carrier unit 5 is set at a predetermined position. As shown in FIG. 5(c), the discrimination piece 52 is It is bent and plastically deformed at the V-groove 54 by the reset member 51. At this time, although the root portion 52a of the V-groove 54 is plastically deformed and broken, a small amount remains, and the discrimination piece does not separate from the support 4. When the discrimination piece 52 is bent, the pressing action of the discrimination piece against the reset member 51 is released, and the reset member 51 is pushed in the direction of arrow E by the action of a spring (not shown) and returned to its original position (Fig. 5). (d)),
The reset operation of the counter 50 is completed. In this way, the count number of the counter 50 is set to "0", and by starting the printing operation, it is possible to count the number of times the recording paper 10 has passed, that is, to measure the usage status of the newly installed photoreceptor 3.

After that, when the image forming unit 22 is pulled out from the main body 23 and the unit 22 is set in the printer main body 23 again without replacing the carrier unit 5, the discrimination piece 52 of the carrier unit 5 is already plastically deformed. Since it is bent, the discrimination piece 52 does not actuate the reset member 51 to reset the counter 50. Therefore, if you operate the printer again in this state, the number of times the recording paper passes, that is, the number of prints, will not start from 0, but will continue to count by 1 from the number counted up to that point, and the usage status of the photoconductor will be correctly measured. Ru.

As mentioned above, when the carrier units 1 to 5 that have not been used before are installed in the printer main body 23, the 5 discrimination piece 52 is broken and bent, and the reset member 51 is slid and the counter 50
is reset, but this operation itself is no different from before. In this case, conventionally, as explained earlier, no particular consideration was given to the mounting arrangement of the discriminating piece; for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in a), the discrimination piece 52 was arranged perpendicularly to the operating direction of the reset member 51. If the discrimination piece 52 is arranged in this way, when the carrier unit is pushed into the printer body and the discrimination piece 52 is bent as shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, it receives a reaction force in a direction that forms a large angle from the direction of operation. In this case, the F1 component of the force F acts as a force that presses the reset member 51, while the component F2 in a direction perpendicular to one operating direction acts as a force that presses the reset member 51 down. For this reason, a rotating force in the direction of arrow G acts on the reset member 51, hindering its smooth sliding, and furthermore, the frictional force between the reset member 5I and the support portion 60 (FIG. 2) increases, so that the reset member 51 is not reset. The movement of the member 51 deteriorates,
In some cases, before the reset member is pushed into the final position, the root part of the discrimination piece may be plastically deformed and the discrimination piece may be bent, which may result in a failure to reset the counter, and may even disable the correct counting operation by the counter. Ta.

Therefore, in the configuration according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5(a), the discrimination piece 52 before being pressed by the reset member 51 is
The portion 152 that should come into contact with the reset member 51 of
It is tilted by the angle shown. Therefore, when the carrier unit 5 is pushed in and the discrimination piece 52 is pressed by the reset member 51 and slightly bent, the portion 152 of the discrimination piece 52 is bent in the direction of operation of the reset member 51, as shown in FIG. 5(b). It becomes vertical. In other words, when the reset member 51 is pushed in by the discrimination piece 52 and the load acting on the discrimination piece 52 gradually increases, the portion 152 of the first discrimination piece 52 becomes perpendicular to the operating direction of the reset member 51. When the reset member 51 is pushed to the final position, the counter returns to zero. For this reason, the reset member 5
1 is pushed into the final position, the force F exerted by the discrimination piece 52 on the reset member 51 coincides with the direction of its operation, and therefore the reset member 51 receives force from the discrimination piece 52 only in the direction of its operation. The sliding resistance acting on the reset member 51 is very small, and no rotational force acts on the member 52.

The reset member 51 is smoothly and reliably pushed into the final position, and there is no possibility of a reset failure.

Note that even after bending the discrimination piece 52 as in the above embodiment,
It is advantageous to prevent the discriminating piece from separating from the support 4 because it can eliminate the inconvenience of the detached discriminating piece coming into contact with the photoreceptor or getting caught in the movable part, but the bent discriminating piece 5
If a large elastic return force remains in 2, the discrimination piece 52 will press the reset member 51 in the direction of the arrow E after the carrier unit 5 is set, and the return movement of the reset member 51 in the direction of the arrow E will be insufficient. , there is a possibility that the counter 50 may malfunction. Therefore, the V-groove-like portion 52a connecting the bent discrimination piece 52 and the support body 4 is plastically deformed and becomes a thin skin, and the angle at which the discrimination piece is bent is, for example, 90 degrees so that no substantial elastic restoring force remains there. It is advantageous to set the angle to be as large as 0.degree. or to set the thickness of the root portion 52a. Also as in the illustrated embodiment.

It is also advantageous to provide a regulating member 61 that supports the determined piece 52 after it has been bent and prevents the returning movement of the reset member 51 in the direction of the arrow F from being obstructed by the determined piece 52. This regulating member 61 is fixed to the support part 60 of the counter 50 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 in particular, and has a support part 62 located above the reset member 51 (in FIG. 8, The reset member 51 is shown moved in the direction of the arrow from the state shown in FIG. 7), and the carrier unit 5
is set in the printer main body 23, and when the discrimination piece 52 has been bent, the support portion 62 is placed in the position shown in FIGS. 5(c) and 5(d).
), the bent discrimination piece 52 is supported from below. Therefore, the discrimination piece 52 is either slightly separated from the reset member 51, or even if it comes into contact with it, it makes very light contact, so that the discrimination piece 52
Even if an elastic restoring force remains in
It is possible to reliably move back in the direction of arrow E as shown in Figure (d). Further, when the carrier unit 5 is pushed into the set position, the support portion 62 hits the discrimination piece 52, and the lA discrimination piece 52
If the function of finally bending is made, this portion 5 is
This is advantageous in that 2a can be reliably plastically deformed. Also, a second support portion 64 located below the reset member 51
is provided on the regulating member 61, and when the discrimination piece 52 deforms slightly more than the state shown in FIG. 5(b) and the discrimination piece 52 exerts a downward external force on the reset member 51, If the reset member 51 is supported from below by the support portion 64, it is possible to prevent a large rotational force from acting on the member 51, and the reset member 51 can be slid smoothly. The regulating member 61 may be formed integrally with the case body of the counter 50 in advance, or may be provided on the side plate 24a, etc., and in short, the regulating member 61 may be formed not on the carrier unit 5 side but on the 1 body 2 side.
It may be provided on the third side.

Further, in the illustrated embodiment, a notch consisting of a V-groove 54 is provided in order to identify the bent portion of the discrimination piece.

According to experiments, as shown in FIG.
is 2m and the material is ABS resin.

■The depth of the groove 54 is 0.4 m, and the radius r of the groove bottom is 0.2 n.
m.

Favorable results were obtained when the opening angle β of the groove was set to 90''.Also, the portion 52b above the V-groove 54 (Fig.
In order to prevent a)) from bending, it is advantageous to round the base portion 52c to prevent stress from concentrating on this portion 52c when the first discrimination piece 52 is bent.

The present invention can be applied to image forming apparatuses other than laser printers, image forming apparatuses using latent image carriers other than photoreceptors (for example, dielectric belts), and also to image forming apparatuses that use latent image carriers in forms other than belt-like. It is also widely applicable to devices.

According to the present invention, when a carrier unit that has not been used before is attached to the image forming apparatus main body, the measuring device can be reliably reset and the measuring device can be operated correctly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a part of a laser printer as an example of an image forming device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the image forming unit has been extracted from the printer main body and its carrier unit has been removed. Figures 3 and 3 are perspective views seen from the direction of the arrow ■ of 2@, and Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of the side of the support. The reset member is added with a chain line, and Figures 5 (a) to (d) are explanatory diagrams showing the state in which the discrimination piece is bent, and Figure 6 shows the upper cover of the support inverted. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of a part of FIG. 2, FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 7, and FIG.
a) and (b) are explanatory diagrams showing an example of a conventional configuration, and FIG. 1O is a partial diagram of a discrimination piece. 4... Support body 5... Carrier unit 2
3... Main body 51... Reset member 52
...Identification piece 152...partial, E...
Actuation direction V... Vertical direction Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 7 Figure 9 Procedure amendment (voluntary) October 14, 1985

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A carrier unit in which a latent image carrier and a support for supporting the latent image carrier are integrally assembled is removably attached to an image forming apparatus body,
Discrimination for determining the usage history of the latent image carrier on the support of the carrier unit by measuring the operating time or number of rotations of the latent image carrier, or the number of times of printing or copying using a measuring device provided in the main body of the image forming apparatus. When a carrier unit that has not been used before is attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus, the discrimination piece presses the reset member of the measuring device to reset the measuring device, and the reset member bends the discrimination piece. In an imaging device in which the measuring device is not reset when a carrier unit that has been used has been installed, the discrimination piece is pressed by the reset member while the carrier unit that has not been used is attached to the imaging device main body. The part of the discrimination piece that should come into contact with the reset member before being pressed is so that when the piece is bent, the part of the discrimination piece that comes into contact with the reset member is almost perpendicular to the operating direction of the reset member. . The image forming device, wherein the image forming device is arranged to be inclined with respect to a direction perpendicular to an operating direction of the reset member.