KR100654832B1 - Toner level detecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a toner remaining amount sensing apparatus, comprising: a developing roller, a supply roller for supplying toner to the developing roller, and a developing unit housing in which the developing roller and the supply roller are accommodated. A power transmission unit provided between the roller and the supply roller to transmit the rotational driving force from the developing roller to the supply roller; A detection unit for detecting a change in rotational resistance generated in the power transmission unit by friction between the toner and the supply roller; And a controller for evaluating the remaining amount of toner based on the detection result of the detector. As a result, the remaining amount of toner can be detected accurately.

Description

     Toner Level Detection Device {TONER LEVEL DETECTING DEVICE}

1 is a side cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional cartridge interior;

2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the toner remaining amount detecting apparatus of the present invention;

3 is a perspective view of the toner remaining amount detecting apparatus of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a view showing the position change of the rotating member of the present invention when the toner remaining amount is small,

5 is a view showing a position change of the rotating member of the present invention when the toner remaining amount is large;

Fig. 6 is a side cross-sectional view of the developer housing equipped with the toner remaining amount detecting device of the present invention.

<Description of reference numerals for main parts of the drawings>

100: developer 110: developer housing

123: developing roller 125: feed roller

141: fixed shaft 151: first connecting gear

153: second connecting gear 155: swing gear

160: rotating member 163: swing arm

170: detection unit 180: control unit

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a toner remaining amount detecting apparatus of an image forming apparatus which detects a residual amount of toner used in an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer and replaces it at an appropriate time.

A laser printer is a kind of image forming apparatus for printing and outputting a document created on a computer. In particular, a laser printer is widely used due to its excellent printing speed and image quality.

1 shows a schematic configuration of a developer 10 used in such a conventional laser printer. Referring to this, when the print data is irradiated to the photosensitive drum 22 charged at a constant voltage by the charging roller 21 with a laser beam, the electric charge of the portion irradiated with the laser disappears to form a latent image. On the other hand, the toner is supplied to the developing roller 23 by the supply roller 25, and then regulated to a uniform layer by the doctor blade 24, and the photosensitive drum 122 is subjected to electrostatic force by friction with the photosensitive drum 22. Attached to the latent image formed on the surface. The toner attached to the photosensitive drum 22 is moved to the printing paper by a transfer roller (not shown) and attached to the printing paper.

Conventionally, the pressure sensor 15 installed in the developer housing 11 has a toner remaining amount using a pressure sensor 15 for detecting the consumption amount of the toner in the developer housing 11 containing toner as a method of detecting the consumption amount of the toner of the laser printer. When to reach the set value of the) to notify the exchange time of the toner, and as disclosed in the Korean Patent Application No. 1996-078526 logically multiplies the predetermined video clock and the video data to generate the clock data and to count the clock data toner remaining amount There was a way to detect the condition.

However, this conventional toner remaining amount detection method has a problem that the sensor is expensive and sensitive to external vibration and noise when the pressure sensor 15 is used.

In addition, in the case of the method of counting the clock data, the density varies depending on the environment in which the laser printer is printed, and there is a problem in that accurate prediction is difficult due to the difference in the amount of toner used depending on the printed image.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a toner remaining amount detection device capable of accurately detecting whether toner remaining amount is relatively simple.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a developing roller, a supply roller for supplying toner to the developing roller, and a developing roller housing in which the developing roller and the supply roller are accommodated. A power transmission unit provided between the developing roller and the supply roller to transfer a rotation driving force from the developing roller to the supply roller; A detector for detecting a change in rotational resistance generated by the power transmission unit by friction between the toner and the feed roller; And a controller for evaluating the remaining amount of the toner based on a detection result of the detector.

Here, the power transmission unit is rotatably installed on a fixed shaft provided in the developer housing, a pair of connecting gear for receiving the rotation driving force from the developing roller to rotate the feed roller; A swing gear that is engaged with the pair of connection gears and rotates to transmit the rotational driving force, and swings about the fixed shaft by a change in the rotational resistance force; A rotation member having a swing gear shaft rotatably supporting the swing gear, the pivot member being rotatably installed on the fixed shaft and rotating according to the swing of the swing gear; It may include a rotation control unit for regulating the rotation of the rotating member under a predetermined condition.

The rotation control part may include an elastic member provided between the rotation member and the developer housing to prevent rotation of the swing gear when the increase amount of the rotational resistance force is less than a predetermined restoring force; The developer housing may be provided at predetermined intervals so as to have a stopper for regulating the rotation of the swing arm within a predetermined angle.

On the other hand, the sensing unit may have a light emitting unit for irradiating the light and a light receiving unit for receiving the irradiated light, and may have an optical sensor for detecting whether the rotating member is in a predetermined position.

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

2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the toner remaining amount detecting apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the toner remaining amount detecting apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the toner remaining amount detecting device according to the present invention is provided between the developing roller 123 (see FIG. 3) and the supply roller 125 (see FIG. 3) from the developing roller 123 to the supply roller 125. A power transmission unit 150 for transmitting rotational driving force, a detection unit 170 for detecting a change in rotation resistance force generated by the power transmission unit 150 by friction between the toner and the supply roller 125, and a detection unit And a controller 180 for evaluating the remaining amount of toner based on the detection result of 170. The power transmission unit 150 may have a first connection gear 151, a second connection gear 153, a swing gear 155, and a rotation member 160.

The first connection gear 151 is rotatably coupled to the fixed shaft 141 provided in the developing housing 111, and is engaged with the gear of the developing roller 123 to receive a rotation driving force while rotating, the swing gear (to be described later) Rotate 155).

Swing gear 155 is coupled to the rotating member 160 to be described later (rotating), and receives the rotational driving force from the first connecting gear 151 by the rotation to the second connecting gear 153 to be described later. To pass. On the other hand, since the rotation member 160 coupled to the swing gear 155 is fixed to the fixed shaft 141 so as to be rotatable, the swing gear 155 can swing (revolve) about the fixed shaft 141.

The principle of the swing in the swing gear 155 is as follows. A certain amount of power is transmitted from the developing roller 123 to the supply roller 125 through the first connecting gear 151, the swing gear 155, and the second connecting gear 153. However, since the supply roller 125 is in contact with the toner, a frictional force is generated between the supply roller 125 and the toner, and the frictional force suppresses rotation of the supply roller 125 so that the second connecting gear 153 and the swing gear are prevented. The rolling resistance between 155 increases. The rotational resistance results in a reduction in the rotational driving force transmitted from the developing roller 123 to the supply roller 125, and the reduced rotational driving force is converted into the idle energy of the swing gear 155 to swing the swing gear 155. do.

The second connection gear 153 is rotatably coupled to the fixed shaft 141 and is engaged with the swing gear 155 to receive the rotation driving force to rotate the feed roller 125. Here, the number of the connecting gears is not limited, but the developing roller 123 and the supply roller 125 should be rotated in the same direction in order to triboelectrically charge the toner, so the number of the connecting gears should be even.

Rotating member 160 is not limited, but as shown in Figure 2, the bent portion is rotatably coupled to the fixed shaft 141, one side swing to support the above-mentioned swing gear 155 rotatably The gear shaft 161 is formed, the other end is extended in the radial direction from the axis of the fixed shaft 141 is rotated in accordance with the swing of the swing gear 155, swing arm 163 detected by the sensing unit 170 to be described later ).

Here, an elastic member is provided between the rotating member 160 and the developer housing 111 to prevent the rotating member 160 from rotating when the rotational resistance generated between the toner and the supply roller 125 is less than or equal to a predetermined restoring force. can do. Here, the elastic member is not limited, but may be a spring 143 having the predetermined restoring force, in which case the elastic force of the spring 143 is higher than the rotational resistance received by the supply roller 125 when there is no toner. Can be equal or

In addition, the developer housing 111 may be provided at predetermined intervals so as to have a stopper 165 for regulating the rotation of the swing arm 163 within a predetermined angle.

4 and 5 are views showing the position change of the rotation member 160 according to the remaining amount of toner. The relationship between the remaining amount of the toner and the positional change of the rotation member 160 will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, if there is no toner remaining, the swing arm 163 is in the position of FIG. 4 by the restoring force of the spring 143. On the contrary, if the toner remaining amount is large, the rotational resistance is greater than the restoring force of the spring 143. The swing gear 155 swings so that the swing arm 163 is in the position of FIG. 5. Therefore, the restoring force of the spring 143 can be equal to the rotational resistance when there is no toner remaining amount.

The sensing unit 170 detects an increase in torque generated by the power transmission unit 150 by the rotational resistance between the toner and the supply roller 125 and transmits the result to the controller 180 to be described later.

Here, the method of detecting the position of the swing arm 163 in the sensing unit 170 is not limited, but the light having the light emitting unit 171 for irradiating light and the light receiving unit 173 for detecting the irradiated light. You can do it with a sensor. In this case, the optical sensor may be provided without limitation in the position to detect the position of the swing arm 163.

Since there is no toner remaining in the swing arm 163 at the position of FIG. 4, the path of the light irradiated from the light emitting unit 171 and received by the light receiving unit 173 passes through the position of FIG. 5, thereby receiving the light receiving unit 173. If no light is received, a predetermined detection signal may be transmitted to the controller 180 to evaluate the toner remaining amount based on the detection signal. In this case, since the rotational resistance between the toner and the supply roller 125 is in an unstable state in the initial state driven for image formation from the stationary state in which the supply roller 125 is stopped, the light receiving unit 173 of the optical sensor is predetermined. The predetermined detection signal may be transmitted to the controller 180 only when the light cannot be received or received for more than a time.

Here, the positions of the light emitting unit 171 and the light receiving unit 173 are not limited to the above-described example, of course, can be installed in various locations without limitation.

The controller 180 receives the detection signal transmitted from the sensing unit 170 by detecting the position of the swing arm 163 and evaluates the remaining amount of the toner. The method of evaluating the remaining amount of the toner based on the detection signal by the controller 180 is not limited, but may be evaluated based on whether the detection signal is generated.

Here, the toner remaining amount detecting device according to the present invention may further have a separate display unit 190 for allowing a user to know the remaining amount of toner evaluated by the controller 180.

With this configuration, the operation of the toner remaining amount detecting device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

First, the rotational driving force generated from the driving unit provided at a predetermined position of the main body of the image forming apparatus rotates the developing roller 123 gear, and engages the first connecting gear 151, the swing gear 155, and the second connecting gear. Passed to the feed roller 125 via (153). The supply roller 125 which rotates by receiving the rotation driving force moves the toner in contact with the supply roller 125 to the developing roller 123 to perform a developing operation.

Here, the developing roller 123 and the supply roller 125 are rotatably supported by the developing housing 111, and the first connecting gear 151 and the second connecting gear 153 are fixed to the developing housing 111. The shaft 141 is rotatably supported, and the swing gear 155 is rotatably supported by the rotation member 160.

When power is transmitted from the developing roller 123, since the swing gear 155 is rotated (rotated) while receiving power, the swing gear 155 will continue to rotate (idle) about the fixed shaft 141, so that the swing gear 155 is the shaft. The rotating member 160, which is supported, also rotates. Therefore, the stopper 165 is provided in the developing housing 111 to restrict the rotation of the rotating member 160 to be possible only in a predetermined section. Therefore, while the power is transmitted from the developing roller 123, the swing arm 163 is in the position of FIG. 5, and while the power is not transmitted, the swing arm 155 and the swing arm 163 are caused by the weight of FIG. Will be in the position of.

On the other hand, since the supply roller 125 is in contact with the toner as a developer, a frictional force is generated between the supply roller 125 and the toner to generate a rotational resistance that prevents rotation of the supply roller 125.

The rotational resistance is proportional to the remaining amount of toner remaining, and when the remaining amount of toner is large, the supply roller 125 receives a large rotational resistance, and when the amount of toner is small, a relatively low rotational resistance.

Therefore, a part of the power transmitted from the developing roller 123 is changed to the idle energy by the rotational resistance force, thereby rotating (idling) the swing gear 155, and the rotating member 160 on which the swing gear 155 is axially supported. ) Will also rotate along.

Here, a spring 143 having a restoring force equal to the torque received by the swing gear 155 when there is no remaining amount of toner may be included between the rotation member 160 and the developer housing 111.

When the remaining time of the toner decreases and the replacement time is reduced, since the rotational resistance is small and there is no increase in torque, the swing arm is in the position of FIG. 4, in which case the light irradiated from the light emitting unit 171 is transferred to the swing arm 163. Since the detection unit 170 transmits a predetermined detection signal to the control unit 180 because it is blocked by the light receiving unit 173, the control unit 180 displays a message that there is no ink remaining amount through the display unit 190.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the drawings, this is merely illustrative, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. .

As described above, according to the toner remaining amount detecting device according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately detect the remaining amount of toner while lowering the manufacturing cost.

Claims (4)

A toner remaining amount sensing apparatus of an image forming apparatus, comprising: a developing roller, a supply roller for supplying toner to the developing roller, and a developer housing in which the developing roller and the supply roller are accommodated. It is rotatably installed on the fixed shaft provided in the developing housing, a pair of connecting gear for rotating the supply roller receives the rotation driving force from the developing roller, and the rotation driving force while engaging and rotating between the pair of connecting gears; A swing gear which swings about the fixed shaft by a change in rotational resistance generated by friction between the toner and the feed roller, and a swing gear shaft rotatably supporting the swing gear. A power transmission unit capable of being installed and having a rotating member rotating according to the swing of the swing gear; A detector for detecting a change in the rotational resistance generated by the power transmission unit; And a control unit for evaluating the remaining amount of the toner based on the detection result of the detection unit. The method of claim 1, The power transmission unit further includes a rotation control unit for regulating the rotation of the rotation member under a predetermined condition. The method of claim 2, The rotation control unit,        An elastic member provided between the rotating member and the developing housing to prevent rotation of the swing gear when the rotational resistance is less than a predetermined restoring force;        And a stopper provided at the developer housing at a predetermined interval to regulate rotation of the swing arm within a predetermined angle. The method of claim 1, And the sensing unit has a light emitting unit for irradiating light and a light receiving unit for receiving irradiated light, and an optical sensor for detecting whether the rotating member is at a predetermined position.

Images