JPS62234170A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the price and setting space of the titled device and to suppress the generation of paper jam by constituting the external shape of the device so that the bottom area is small and the height is high, inserting unprinted paper from the upper part and discharging printed paper from the lower front side. CONSTITUTION:The external shape of the device is constituted so that the bottom area is small and the height is high, paper is carried from a paper stacker arranged on the upper part almost in the vertical direction and printed paper is discharged to the lower front side. Namely, the paper accumulated on the paper stacker 8 is delivered by a paper delivering roller 9 and waited on the position of a paper resist roller 10. The paper is developed by a developing device 4, and when a resist roller 10 is rotated synchronously with the rotation of a photosensitive body 1 sticking toner to its surface, the paper is delivered to an intermediate position between the photosensitive body 1 and the resist roller 10. The paper passed through a fixing device 11 is discharged from the image forming device to its front side so that the printed surface of the paper is turned downward.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which is constructed by combining a single-child photographic process and an optical signal generation position.

[Conventional technology]

Figure 4(a) shows the conventionally devised electronic copy j (formula picture 1).
A schematic diagram of the O-forming device is shown below. In FIG. 4(a),
With respect to the front of the image forming apparatus, the paper stacker 8 is arranged on the right side and the paper discharge tray 18Fi is arranged on the left side.

In FIG. 4(a), the paper is fed out from the right side, passes through the inside of the image forming apparatus, and is ejected onto the paper ejection tray with the image forming surface facing upwards (generally, this is the case). Paper ejection in this state is called "face-up paper ejection"). In such a configuration, the width W of the image forming apparatus is required to be about five times the length of the paper, and the depth D is at least about ten times the width of the paper. In addition, there is a conventional example of a method of ejecting paper with the bottom side of the border facing the bottom of the paper (this state of ejecting paper is called "face-down ejection") as shown in Figure 4(b). . When face-down paper ejection is adopted, the paper is output from the bottom; the first page, then the second page, then the third page, and so on. -The borrowing side is page 1, the second page is 2
Page..., and there is no need to align all the pages again. On the other hand, when paper is discharged face-up, when the image forming surface is made to look like gold, the -borrow side becomes the last page and the bottom page becomes one page, so it becomes necessary to align the pages.

In the example shown in Figure 4 (1)), the width W of the image forming apparatus is as shown in Figure 4 (1).
This is the same as the depth in a), but the depth of the image forming apparatus is 2t for the sheet length t.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As explained in the previous section, in the configuration of conventional image forming apparatuses, the area of the paper on which images are to be formed is approximately five times that of the sheet of paper on which images are to be formed when all image forming apparatuses are installed, and the area of the paper that is to be printed using the face-up paper discharge method is approximately five times that of the paper that is to be formed on the paper when all image forming apparatuses are installed. In this case, about twice as much floor space is required, especially if a configuration like the one shown in Figure 4 (1) is adopted, which uses the face-down paper binding method, the amount of curl of the paper will increase as the paper is folded back. The number of paper jams increases, and the paper transport path becomes longer, which increases the incidence of paper jams. Also, is there a problem such as the cost of the image forming apparatus becoming higher due to the complexity of paper transport? ! - had.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and provide an image forming apparatus that is inexpensive, requires a small installation space, and is less likely to cause paper jams.

[Means to try to solve all problems]

The above problem? In order to make a final decision, in the present invention, one of the image forming apparatuses is used.
The paper stacker has a small surface area and a large height, and is placed vertically downward from the paper stacker located at the top. transport,
Mr. 6, who ejects the paper printed on the lower front side, is in charge of VC image formation? Purchased.

[Example of fruitfulness]

Hereinafter, the configuration and features of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The photoreceptor 1 is rotatably provided in the direction of the arrow, and the photoreceptor 1
Around the charging device f2, original signal generating device 5, developing device 4, transfer device 5, cleaning device 6, erase device fi
Above the photoreceptor 1 are a paper stacker 8, a paper feed roller 9, and a paper registration roller 1.
0. Below the photoreceptor 1, a constant M device It11, a paper indoor pole 12, a paper discharge roller 13, an exhaust fan 14, and a power source 15 are arranged. A control board 16 is arranged on the back side of the main body of the image forming apparatus. Also, more than the above
Uft is covered by an outer case 17.

The process of image formation by this apparatus will be explained below.

The photoconductor 1 has optical semicircular properties in that the Fi electrical resistance value is high in a dark place (becomes an insulator), and when irradiated with light, the electrical resistance value of the irradiated portion decreases (becomes an electrical conductor). It has a surface layer as shown in the figure.

The charging device 2 generates a corona discharge by applying a high voltage of several volts between a thin metal wire and a ground electrode, and a charge of 10 or - is generated in the vicinity of the charging device 2.

The original signal generator 5 is a liquid crystal shutter array, L]1iX
A device with a short path such as a D array is used, and has the function of converting electrical image information generated by a control board into an optical signal (light ON/OFF signal) and outputting it.

Outside light is cut off by the exterior case 17, and the photoreceptor 1 is an insulator in a dark state inside the case. If the photoconductor is rotated at a constant speed in this state, it will be charged aiIe+1.
The charges generated by 2 are attached to the surface of the photoreceptor (banded). Furthermore, when the charged photoreceptor is irradiated with light according to image information from the optical signal generator 3, the portion irradiated with light becomes an electrical conductor, so that the charge on the surface of the portion is grounded. That is, in this state, on the surface of the photoreceptor 1, there are parts where specific charge exists and parts where there is no specific charge, depending on the image information. The current device 4 (on which the m image is formed) has toner charged to either 10 or - within the sleeve 4a, and is passed through the sleeve 4a. Bring the toner into contact with the mound. Either use toner to attach it to the charged part of the photoreceptor surface, or
Does it depend on the polarity of the charge and the toner band on the fit of the photoconductor surface to attach it to areas with no charge? J! Determined by the polarity of the charge.

That is, when the surface charge of the photoreceptor 10 is 10, if the toner has a polarity of 10, the toner will adhere to a portion of the photoreceptor where there is no surface charge, and if the toner has a negative polarity, the toner will stick to the photoreceptor. 10 Toner adheres to areas where surface charges exist. Also, if there is a negative load on the surface 1 of the photoreceptor 10, the toner may be
If the L charge is billions, the toner will adhere to the portion of the photoreceptor 1 where the surface charge exists, and if the charge of the toner is unipolar, the toner will adhere to the portion of the photoreceptor 1 where there is no surface charge.

- 10,000, the paper stored in the paper stacker 8 is sent out by the paper feed hanging roller 9 and the paper registration roller 10
Waiting in position.

The registration roller 10 rotates in synchronization with the rotation of the photoreceptor 1, which has been developed by the developing device +ft 4 and has toner adhered to its surface, and the paper is sent to an intermediate position between the sensing element 1 and the registration roller 10.

The transfer device [Similar to the 5RI band IIL device 2, it is made up of four thin metal wires and a ground pole, and the voltage applied between both parts is
It has the function of charging the back side of the paper with ions of polarity of 10 or - generated by the voltage. The toner developed on the surface of the photoreceptor 10 is attracted to the surface of the paper by a charge of + or - polarity on the back side of the paper and is transferred. While the transferred paper passes between the fixing rollers, the toner on the surface is fixed on the paper. As well-known fixing methods, there are methods using a heat roller and fixing using a pressure roller, but in this embodiment, the method using a heat roller is adopted in order to downsize the apparatus. A heat source such as an infrared lamp is placed at the center of the roller 11a, and the temperature is controlled to keep the surface temperature of the roller 11a constant. The surface temperature of the roller 11a varies depending on the toner used;
The temperature is set at 40°C to 200°C. The toner on the paper comes into contact with the surface of the roller 11a and is supplied with heat from the roller, so that the resin contained as a component of the toner melts in the bath and penetrates into the paper fibers, and the paper is sent out from the fixing roller. At that point, it cools down and solidifies on the paper.

In this embodiment, the transfer device 15 is arranged on a horizontal line passing through the center of the photoreceptor 1 on the front side of the image forming apparatus. Further, the original signal generating device 5 is arranged on the back side of the image forming apparatus on the horizontal line. When the image forming apparatus is used for a long period of time, paper powder and toner accumulate inside the image forming apparatus, and most of this accumulates laterally at the bottom in the direction of gravity, that is, at the bottom of the image forming apparatus.

If toner or paper powder adheres to the transfer device 5, corona discharge will not occur normally even if high pressure is applied, resulting in insufficient transfer. Further, if toner or paper dust adheres to the optical signal generating device 6, the passage of light is blocked, so that the sensing body 1 or 24 is not electrified, resulting in a problem that the charge on the surface cannot sufficiently escape.

In this embodiment, in order to solve these problems, the transfer band is
Avoid placing the dL device 5 and the original signal generator 3 in the lower part of the image forming apparatus.

In addition, if an optical system using a laser diode r is used as the entire optical system No. 8, the optical path length will be at least 300 mm.
Since a distance of about w is required, it is difficult to make the distance y smaller than the depth D of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. Note that t was approximately 300 sl1m. D with an optical system that uses all laser diodes? In order to reduce the size, the method of inserting a folded portion in one optical system as shown in Fig. 5 causes the polygon scanner 19, which rotates at high speed, to fall on its side, which reduces the load placed on the rotation support device of the polygon scanner. Is it a big deal and Akane's lifespan? It becomes difficult to guarantee it. In the embodiment of the present invention, by employing a liquid crystal shutter array or an LED array as a direct part of the optical signal generator (the optical path Fi of these positions is less than 70■), the depth of the image forming apparatus can be reduced. It has become possible.

The paper that has passed through the fixing device 11 is subjected to image formation by the paper ejection roller 15! ! The paper is ejected to Toukai. In this *embodiment, the paper is ejected to the front side of the image forming apparatus with the printed surface facing downward f111. In addition, in this embodiment, the contact portion of the paper registration roller 10 formed by a pair of rollers and the contact portion of the declination device t11 formed by a pair of rollers l! The line connecting Part 1 (
The paper registration roller 10, the constant-row jet 11, and the photoconductor 1 are arranged so that the paper conveyance path) is approximately vertical, and the photoconductor 1 is in contact with the vertical line at the transfer position.

Although some residual toner remains on the surface of the photoreceptor 1 after the transfer, the cleaning device 6 scrapes off the residual toner.

Furthermore, uniform light irradiation is performed by an eraser 17 in order to ensure that all surface charges on the photoreceptor 1 are released and to make the surface condition uniform.

The exhaust fan 14 is placed near and below the stratification device 11, and is connected to the power supply 15 and the heat generated from the stratification device [11]. I- Vent outside the aircraft.

The power supply 15 supplies power to each unit within the image forming apparatus, and since M'#L items such as transformers are present as elemental parts of the power supply, it is placed at the bottom of the image forming apparatus. If the image forming apparatus has a small area and a large height, the power supply should be placed at the bottom.

This is an important point.

The control board 16 controls the signals sent to the optical signal generator, interfaces the host computer to the image forming apparatus, and performs sequence control of each element within the image forming apparatus. In this example, approximately vq!
Since it is A4 paper size, it was placed on the back of the image forming apparatus.

With the above explanation, Iil! of the image forming apparatus! W is 30
0, depth 170m, height 260cm, upper part of image forming equipment.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since the surface area is small, the desk space occupied by the image forming apparatus can be small. Sometimes the depth is 170m like the actual shoulder side (in terms of dimensions, the depth of a typical desk size is 700m, but A4 paper? Even if the paper is ejected to the front side, the A4 paper length is 50osa+ and the image is The depth dimension of the forming device is 170, 'i total is 47 (
11＠ (This is a value with sufficient margin. Furthermore, since the paper is ejected in the forward direction, it has the advantage that the operator can easily handle all the output paper. Also, the paper can be easily handled by the operator from the top of the image forming device. Since the paper is inserted and the paper is ejected to the front side, a seven-chair down paper ejection system is realized with a paper conveyance path that is simpler than ever before.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an actual example of the interior of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. 1...Photoreceptor 2...Charging device FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a central example of an image type FFT device of the present invention using a laser diode as an optical signal generating device. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention using a folding mirror in the laser optical path. ! Figures 4 (a) and (1) are cross-sectional views of four conventional image forming apparatuses (Figure 14 (l!) is an example in which paper is inserted from the right side and paper is ejected from the left side with 7-eighth up. .Figure 4 (b
) is an example in which paper is fed upward from the front side and discharged face down onto the top of the lllli image forming device). 1... Photoreceptor 2... Tei'1 device 3... Original 1g generator 4... Developing device 5... Transfer device 6...Cleaning fet 7...Erase device 8...Paper stacker 9...Paper feed roller 10...Paper registration roller 11... ... Fixing device 12 ... Paper guide plate 13 ... Paper ejection roller 14 ... Exhaust air 7 An 15 ... Power supply 16 ... ...Control base plate 17... Exterior case 1d... Output tray 19... Polygon mirror. Applicant: Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Tsutomu Mogami and 1 other person ゝ1Pa・'-Pa

Claims (1)

[Claims] A combination of an electrophotographic process and an optical signal generator, characterized by an outer shape with a small base area and a large height, with unprinted paper being inserted from the top and printed paper being ejected from the front side of the bottom. image forming device.