KR100509507B1 - Toner cartridge of electrophotographic image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a toner cartridge of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. The toner cartridge of the disclosed electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a developing roller for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on an outer circumferential surface of a photosensitive drum, a toner supply roller for supplying toner on the developing roller, a main chamber for storing toner, and A guide member disposed below the feed roller to guide the toner received from the feed roller and transferred to the developing roller, and formed below the guide member so that the toner on the guide member adheres to the developing roller. And a toner recovery chamber which forms a space in which the remaining toner is loaded, a recovery roller which rotates in the toner recovery chamber to recover toner in the toner recovery chamber to the main chamber, and is installed downward from the guide member. A toner prevention film for preventing direct leakage into the toner recovery chamber is provided.

Description

Toner cartridge of electrophotographic image forming apparatus

The present invention relates to a toner cartridge of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a toner cartridge of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus having means for efficiently recovering toner recovered from a developing roller and a toner supply roller. will be.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a dry color laser printer is an apparatus for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive member and then developing it with powdery toner, and transferring the developed image onto paper via a predetermined transfer medium to form an image. to be. The image forming apparatus is arranged to be accessible to the photosensitive member for developing the electrostatic latent image of the photosensitive member, and includes a toner cartridge which is a developing unit containing dry toner therein.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-255727, a developing apparatus including a developing roller and a toner cartridge for supplying toner to the developing apparatus are separated. In such a toner cartridge, the toner cartridge is vertically arranged to supply the toner to the toner chamber in the developing apparatus. Therefore, a printer employing this type of developing device requires a vertical volume.

In a dry color printer having a compact structure, a toner cartridge is horizontally formed as a suspension unit, and a structure for vertically stacking a toner cartridge for each color is required.

1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a conventional toner cartridge for supplying toner horizontally.

Referring to FIG. 1, a plurality of substantially semi-circular chambers 12 are continuously disposed in the lower portion of the housing 10, and one agitator 14 is disposed in each chamber 12. The developing roller 20 is installed at the front end of the housing 10, and the toner supply roller 30 is disposed to contact one side of the developing roller 20. A guide member 40 is disposed under the toner supply roller 30 to receive the toner supplied from the stirrer 14 and help the toner adhere to the outer circumference of the toner supply roller 30. In the lower part of the guide member 40, a recovery roller 50 for returning the residual toner, which is not supplied from the toner supply roller 30 to the developing roller 20, to the chamber 12 where the first stirrer 14 is disposed is disposed. It is.

The toner supply roller 30 rotates in the same direction as the developing roller 20, and cleans the residual toner on the surface of the developing roller 20 when it comes into contact with the developing roller 20, and immediately before contacting the cleaned developing roller ( The toner is squeezed onto the surface of 20 to supply the toner to the surface of the developing roller 20.

In the housing 10, a doctor blade 16 for regulating the height of the toner on the surface of the developing roller 20 to which the rotating toner is attached is disposed so that the excessively attached toner is shaken off from the developing roller 20.

The toner separated from the developing roller 20 by the doctor blade 16 and the toner that has not adhered to the surface of the developing roller 20 from the toner supply roller 30 and have passed the toner movement path are not included in the toner recovery chamber 52. Pile up. The toner loaded in the toner recovery chamber 52 is recovered by the recovery roller 50 to the chamber 12 through the recovery hole 51. The recovery hole 51 is a plurality of holes 51 formed in the member 53 that blocks the space between the guide member 40 and the chamber 12.

The upper part of the housing 10 is provided with a seal bracket 33 which covers the developing roller 20 and the supply roller 30 and prevents the outflow of the toner. A seal film 34 is attached to one side of the seal bracket 33 to prevent the toner between the developing roller 20 and the supply roller 30 from leaking to the outside. Prevents entry into the toner cartridge.

However, in the toner cartridge having the above structure, the toner supplied from the first stirrer 14 to the upper portion of the guide member 40 is conveyed in vain to the toner recovery chamber 52 through the recovery hole 51, thereby inhibiting the toner transfer flow. There is a problem. In addition, it may cause a problem that the flow rate of the toner to be recovered is reduced, thus increasing the load driving the recovery roller 50 by the toner accumulated in the toner recovery chamber 52.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a toner cartridge having a means for preventing the toner supplied to the toner supply roller from leaking into the toner recovery chamber.

A toner cartridge of an electronic visual inspection image forming apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object comprises: a developing roller for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on an outer circumferential surface of a photosensitive drum;

A toner supply roller for supplying toner on the developing roller;

A main chamber for storing toner;

A guide member disposed under the supply roller to guide the toner to be transported to the developing roller by receiving the toner from the supply roller;

A toner recovery chamber formed below the guide member to form a space in which the toner on the guide member is attached to the developing roller and in which the remaining toner is loaded;

A recovery roller rotating in the toner recovery chamber to recover toner in the toner recovery chamber to the main chamber; And

And a toner prevention film installed downward from the guide member to prevent toner from leaking directly into the toner recovery chamber.

Preferably, the toner prevention film is provided such that its end is in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the recovery roller.

Long grooves are formed in the lower portion of the guide member in the longitudinal direction,

The toner prevention film is preferably installed in the long groove.

The recovery roller is elliptical, and a plurality of grooves, which are toner accommodation spaces, are formed on the outer circumference thereof.

The toner prevention film is preferably in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the recovery roller in a direction in which the recovery roller is upwardly centered on the rotation axis of the recovery roller.

According to such a structure, the toner can be smoothly supplied to the toner supply roller and the development roller, thereby improving the quality of the tonerized product.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 illustrates an embodiment of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which a toner cartridge according to the present invention is applied.

Referring to FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum 101, which is a photosensitive member, a charger 102 for charging the photosensitive drum 101, and a charged photosensitive drum 101 for scanning light to a desired image. As an exposure unit for forming an electrostatic latent image, an LSU (laser scanning unit) 103 and an electrostatic latent image are developed by powdered toner of four colors of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black). As a developing device, a toner cartridge 100M (100C) 100Y (100K) and a transfer belt 104 which transfers images of four colors developed on the photosensitive drum 101 sequentially and overlaps and transfers them onto paper. A transfer unit, and a fixing unit 105 for fixing images by heat-pressing paper are provided. Reference numeral 106 denotes a paper cassette, reference numeral 107 denotes a photosensitive drum cleaning unit, and reference numeral 108 denotes a static eliminator, respectively.

Here, the toner cartridges 100M, 100C, 100Y, and 100K for each color include a developing roller 110 for buried toner stored therein and supplying them to the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 101 in a non-contact state, and a developing roller 110. ) Is installed coaxially with the photosensitive drum 101 to be in close contact with the photosensitive drum 101 and includes a gap holding roller 111 which maintains a constant gap between the photosensitive drum 101 and the developing roller 110, and each toner cartridge 100 includes: The spring 109 is elastically biased in a direction approaching the photosensitive drum 101, that is, the gap holding roller 111 is in close contact with the photosensitive drum 101.

Since the toner cartridge of the above structure can be stacked horizontally, it can be usefully applied to a compact color printer.

3 is a cross-sectional view of a toner cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 3.

3 and 4 together, five semi-circular chambers 100b are continuously disposed at the lower portion of the housing 100a, and one agitator 121, 122, 123, 124, 125 is disposed in each chamber 100b. . The developing roller 110 is provided at the front end of the housing 100a, and the toner supply roller 130 is arranged to be in contact with one side of the developing roller 110. A guide member 140 is disposed under the toner supply roller 130 to receive the toner supplied from the first stirrer 121 and help the toner adhere to the outer circumference of the toner supply roller 130. Under the guide member 140, a recovery roller 150 for returning the residual toner not supplied from the toner supply roller 130 to the developing roller 110 toward the main chamber 100c in which the first stirrer 121 is disposed is provided. It is arranged.

The toner supply roller 130 rotates in the same direction as the developing roller 110, and cleans the residual toner on the surface of the developing roller 110 when it is in contact with the developing roller 110, and immediately before contacting the cleaned developing roller ( The toner is compressed to the surface of the developing roller 110 to supply the toner to the surface of the developing roller 110.

In the housing 100a, a doctor blade 116 for regulating the height of the toner on the surface of the developing roller 110 to which the rotating toner is attached is disposed so that the excessively attached toner is shaken off from the developing roller 110.

The toner separated from the developing roller 110 by the doctor blade 116 and the toner that has not adhered to the surface of the developing roller 110 from the toner supply roller 130 and has passed the toner movement path are rotated by the recovery roller 150. The toner recovery chamber 152 provides an area. The toner loaded in the toner recovery chamber 152 moves the toner accumulated in the toner recovery chamber 152 in the toner recovery chamber 152 toward the main chamber 100c, so that the lower portion of the guide member 140 and the main chamber 100c. It is transferred to the main chamber 100c through the).

A seal bracket 133 is provided on the housing 100a to cover the developing roller 110 and the supply roller 130 and to prevent the outflow of the toner. A seal film 134 is installed on the outside of the seal bracket 133 so as to contact the surface of the developing roller 110 so that the toner between the developing roller 110 and the supply roller 130 spills out. It also prevents foreign matter from entering the inside of the toner cartridge.

As shown in FIG. 5, the recovery roller 150 has an approximately elliptical cross section, and a plurality of grooves 150a which are toner accommodation spaces are formed on the outer circumference thereof.

A member 153 is provided between the main chamber side of the guide member 140 and the main chamber 100c to block an opening therebetween, and a plurality of recovery holes 151 are formed in the member 153. . The toner in the toner recovery chamber 152 is recovered to the main chamber 100c through the recovery hole 151.

On the other hand, a toner prevention film 154 is provided between the member 153 and the guide member 140 to be in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the recovery roller 150. The toner prevention film 154 is fixed to the guide member 140, and the other end thereof has an outer circumferential surface of the recovery roller 150 in a direction in which the recovery roller 150 rises upward with respect to the rotation axis of the recovery roller 150. Elastic contact. The toner prevention film 154 leaks from the main chamber 100c to the upper portion of the guide member 140 through the recovery hole 151 to the upper portion of the toner recovery roller 150 (arrow A direction). 152).

The toner prevention film 154 may be manufactured using an elastic film having a predetermined thickness, for example, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, for smooth contact with the recovery roller 150.

6 is a cross-sectional view of a toner cartridge according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 6, and the same names are used for members substantially the same as the components of the embodiment, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted. do.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, five semi-circular chambers 200b are arranged continuously in the lower portion of the housing 200a, and one agitator 221, 222, 223, 224, 225 is disposed in each chamber 200b. . The developing roller 210 is installed at the front end of the housing 200a, and the toner supply roller 230 is disposed to contact one side of the developing roller 210. A guide member 240 is disposed below the toner supply roller 230 to receive the toner supplied from the first stirrer 221 and help the toner adhere to the outer circumference of the toner supply roller 230. Under the guide member 240, a recovery roller 250 for returning the residual toner not supplied from the toner supply roller 230 to the developing roller 210 toward the main chamber 200c in which the first stirrer 221 is disposed is provided. It is arranged.

In the housing 200a, a doctor blade 216 for regulating the height of the toner on the surface of the developing roller 210 to which the rotating toner is attached is disposed so that the excessively attached toner is shaken off from the developing roller 210.

A seal bracket 233 is installed on the housing 200a to cover the developing roller 210 and the supply roller 230 and prevent the toner from leaking.

A member 253 is provided between the main chamber side of the guide member 240 and the main chamber 200c to block the opening therebetween, and a plurality of recovery holes 251 are formed in the member 253. . The toner in the toner recovery chamber 252 is recovered to the main chamber 200c through the recovery hole 251.

On the other hand, a lower groove 240a is formed in the lower portion of the guide member 240 vertically in the longitudinal direction, and a toner prevention film 254 is provided in the long groove 240a. One end of the toner prevention film 254 is fixed to the guide member 240, and the other end of the toner prevention film 254 is elastic with the outer circumferential surface of the recovery roller 250 in a direction in which the recovery roller 250 rises upward with respect to the rotation axis of the recovery roller 250. Contact with. The toner prevention film 254 leaks toner supplied from the main chamber 200c to the upper part of the guide member 240 through the recovery hole 251 to the upper part of the toner recovery roller 250 (arrow B direction), and thus the toner recovery chamber ( 252).

FIG. 8 is a view showing a modification of the toner protection film provided in the long groove and the long groove of FIG. 7, wherein the same reference numerals are used for members substantially the same as the above embodiment, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 8, a lower groove 240a is formed in the lower portion of the guide member 240 to be inclined in the longitudinal direction, and a toner prevention film 254 is inclined in the long groove 240a. One end of the toner prevention film 254 is fixed to the guide member 240, and the other end of the toner prevention film 254 is elastic with the outer circumferential surface of the recovery roller 250 in a direction in which the recovery roller 250 rises upward with respect to the rotation axis of the recovery roller 250. Contact with. The toner prevention film 254 leaks toner supplied from the main chamber 200c to the upper portion of the guide member 240 through the recovery hole 251 to the upper portion of the toner recovery roller 250 (arrow C direction), and thus the toner recovery chamber ( 252).

As described above, the toner cartridge of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to the present invention prevents the toner supplied to the upper part of the guide member from leaking to the lower part of the guide member by providing a toner preventing film under the guide member.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments with reference to the drawings, this is merely exemplary, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined only by the appended claims.

1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a conventional toner cartridge for supplying toner horizontally.

2 illustrates an embodiment of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which a toner cartridge according to the present invention is applied.

3 is a sectional view of a toner cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 3.

5 is a perspective view of the recovery roller of FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view of a toner cartridge according to another embodiment of the present invention.

7 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a modification of the toner protection film installed in the long groove and the long groove of FIG. 7.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100a, 200a: housing 100c, 200c: main chamber

110,210: Developing roller 116,216: Doctor blade

121,221: Agitator 130,230: Toner Feed Roller

133,233: Thread Bracket 134,234: Thread Film

140,240: guide member 140a, 240a, 240b: long groove

150,250: recovery roller 151,251: recovery hole

152,252: Toner recovery chamber 154,254,255: Toner prevention film

Claims (8)

A developing roller which visualizes the electrostatic latent image formed on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum; A toner supply roller for supplying toner on the developing roller; A main chamber for storing toner; A guide member disposed under the supply roller to guide the toner to be transported to the developing roller by receiving the toner from the supply roller; A toner recovery chamber formed below the guide member to form a space in which the toner on the guide member is attached to the developing roller and in which the remaining toner is loaded; A recovery roller rotating in the toner recovery chamber to recover toner in the toner recovery chamber to the main chamber; And a toner prevention film installed downward from the guide member to prevent toner from leaking directly into the toner recovery chamber. The method of claim 1, And the toner-proof film is provided such that its end is in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the recovery roller. The method of claim 2, Long grooves are formed in the lower portion of the guide member in the longitudinal direction, The toner cartridge of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, characterized in that the toner prevention film is installed in the long groove. The method of claim 3, wherein The toner cartridge of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, wherein the long groove is formed to be inclined at a predetermined angle. The method of claim 4, wherein The toner prevention film is installed in the long groove, the toner cartridge of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, characterized in that the inclined contact with the outer peripheral surface of the recovery roller. The method of claim 1, The recovery roller is elliptical, and the toner cartridge of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, characterized in that a plurality of grooves are formed on the outer circumference thereof. The method of claim 1, And the toner prevention film is in contact with an outer circumferential surface of the recovery roller in a direction in which the recovery roller is upwardly centered on a rotation axis of the recovery roller. The method of claim 1, Toner cartridge of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, characterized in that the toner-proof film is made of an elastic film.