KR100994775B1 - Developing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosed developing apparatus has a regulating member for scraping toner attached to the developing roller, and a frame fixed to one side of the regulating member and coupled to the housing, wherein the regulating member is provided with a predetermined pressure on the outer circumferential surface of the developing roller along the longitudinal direction of the developing roller. A first portion having an edge portion contacted with the first portion, a second portion bent inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the first portion and fixed to the frame, and predetermined in a direction away from the developing roller by being bent at an angle from the edge portion It characterized in that it comprises a third portion extending the length of.

According to the present invention, unlike the conventional developing apparatus, the developing apparatus can be miniaturized, and a stable toner layer can be obtained without being sensitive to assembly precision. In addition, it is possible to reduce the change in the image quality over time by reducing the stress applied to the toner.

Description

Developing apparatus

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional electrophotographic image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the developing apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the developing apparatus shown in FIG. 3.

5 is a view for showing the operation of the developing apparatus shown in FIG.

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

100 ... Image forming apparatus 101 ... Body frame

105 ... Paper Feed Cassette 106 ... Paper Feed Cassette 2

110 ... light scanning unit 120 ... developing cartridge

122 ... housing 130 ... photoreceptor

140 ... Developing roller 150 ... Toner floor regulation

151 Control member 152 Frame

153 ... Restrainer 155 ... Part 1

156 ... edge part 157 ... second part                 

158 Freedom 159 Part 3

160 ... feed roller 162 ... stirrer

170 ... Transfer Roller 175

178 ... decal 180 ... pick-up roller

190 ... Paper sorter 200 ... 1st variant

210 ... 2nd order deformation

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a developing apparatus having a toner layer restricting portion.

In general, an image forming apparatus such as a laser beam printer, an LED printer, a digital copier, a facsimile, or the like refers to a device for transferring an image signal according to a digital signal input from a computer or a scanner into a visible image on a recording medium.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus forms an electrostatic latent image of a desired shape on an outer circumferential surface of a photosensitive member by exposing an image signal according to a digital signal in a predetermined pattern. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member is developed into a toner image by powdery toner, which is transferred to a recording medium via a transfer medium.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a conventional electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the developing apparatus shown in FIG.                         

Referring to the drawings, the conventional electrophotographic image forming apparatus 1 includes a main body frame 4, a light scanning unit 10 provided inside the main body frame 4, a developing apparatus 20, and a photosensitive member 30. ), A cleaning member 38 and a charging roller 39.

The optical scanning unit 10 scans the light corresponding to the image information to the photosensitive member 30 to be described later in accordance with a computer signal to form an electrostatic latent image on the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive member 30. The optical scanning unit 10 includes a light source (not shown) for scanning a laser beam, and a beam deflector for deflecting the laser beam irradiated from the light source.

The developing device 20 is a cartridge type detachably mounted inside the main body frame 4, and includes a developing device housing 22 forming an exterior, a developing roller 40 therein, a toner layer restricting part 50, Feed roller 60 and the agitator (agitator) has a structure that is installed. In addition, a toner storage unit 25 for accommodating toner as a developer is provided in the developing device housing 22. The developing device 20 is replaced with a new one when all the toner contained in the toner storage unit 25 is exhausted. The upper part of the main body frame 4 is provided with a door 3 to detach the developing apparatus 20 into the main body frame 4.

The developing roller 40 attaches the toner contained in the housing 22 to its outer circumference and supplies the toner to the photosensitive member 30. The developing roller 40 accommodates solid powder toner, and supplies these toners to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member 30 to develop the toner image. A developing bias voltage for supplying these toners to the photosensitive member 30 is applied to the developing roller 40.

The developing gap b at a predetermined interval is maintained between the photosensitive member 30 and the developing roller 40. The force from the photosensitive member 30 to the developing roller 40 is generated by the electric field, and the charged toner is transferred while vibrating and reciprocating in the developing region formed between the developing gaps b.

The supply roller 60 supplies the toner so that the toner is attached to the developing roller 40. The stirrer 62 oscillates the toner at a predetermined speed so that the toner in the toner storage unit 25 does not harden, and transfers the toner toward the feed roller 60.

The toner layer regulating unit 50 has one side fixed to the housing 22 and the other side contacting the developing roller 40 to regulate the height of the toner attached to the outer circumferential surface of the developing roller 40, and toner to a predetermined polarity. Frictionally charged. The toner layer regulating section 50 is a metal sheet having a thickness of 0.1 to 0.4 mm having elastic force and generates a predetermined contact pressure (linear pressure) with respect to the outer circumference of the developing roller 40.

A free end a is formed at the other end of the toner layer regulating portion 50. The thickness of the toner layer after passing through the toner layer regulating section 50 is determined by the length from the point of contact with the toner layer regulating section 50 and the developing roller 40 to the end of the free end a.

The photoconductor 30 coated with the photoconductive material layer by a deposition method or the like on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical metal drum is rotated in a predetermined direction, and is installed such that a part of the outer circumferential surface is exposed. The photosensitive member 30 is charged to a predetermined potential by the charging roller 39, and the electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image to be printed by the light irradiated from the optical scanning unit 10 in accordance with the computer signal as mentioned above It is formed on the outer circumferential surface. The outer circumferential surface exposed to the outer circumference of the photosensitive member 30 faces the transfer roller 70.                         

A charging bias voltage is applied to the charging roller 39 to charge the outer circumference of the photosensitive member 30 to a uniform potential.

The cleaning member 38 is installed in the housing 32 in which the waste toner storage 23 is provided, and one end of the cleaning member 38 contacts the photosensitive member 30 with a predetermined pressure so as to scrape the toner remaining in the photosensitive member 30 after the transfer. The cleaning member 38 is provided at one edge thereof on the housing 32. The other edge portion of the cleaning member 38 is in contact with the photosensitive member 30 with a predetermined pressure to scrape the toner remaining in the photosensitive member 30 after the transfer.

The toner separated from the photosensitive member 30 by the cleaning member 38 is stored in the waste toner storage unit 23.

The transfer roller 70 is provided so as to face the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive member 30, and a transfer bias voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner image is applied so that the toner image developed on the photosensitive member 30 is transferred to the recording medium P. The toner image is transferred to the recording medium P by the electrostatic force acting between the photosensitive member 30 and the transfer roller 40.

The fixing unit 75 includes a heat roller 76 and a pressure roller 77 installed to face the heat roller 76. The fixing unit 75 applies heat and pressure to the toner image transferred to the recording medium P to apply the toner image to the recording medium P. To settle in. The heat roller 76 is provided to be opposed to the pressure roller 77 in the axial direction as a heat source for permanently fixing the toner image. The pressure roller 77 is installed to face the heat roller 76 to apply a high pressure to the recording medium P to fix the toner image to the recording medium P.

The decal unit 78 removes curl of the recording medium P in which curl is generated by heat while passing through the fixing unit 75. The discharge roller 79 discharges the recording medium P on which the fixing is completed, out of the image forming apparatus 1. The recording medium P discharged from the image forming apparatus 1 is loaded onto the discharge tray 2.

In addition, the image forming apparatus 1 includes first and second paper feed cassettes 5 and 6 provided under the main frame 4 and on which the recording medium P is loaded. The pickup rollers 80 and 82 pick up the loaded recording medium P one by one and take it out. The feed roller 81 provides a feed force for transferring the picked-up recording medium P to the paper sorter 90 side. The paper sorter 90 allows the toner image to be transferred to a desired portion of the recording medium P before the recording medium P passes between the photosensitive member 30 and the transfer roller 70. Sort it.

Hereinafter, the operation of the conventional image forming apparatus and the developing apparatus will be described.

The photosensitive member 30 of the developing apparatus 20 is charged to a uniform electric potential by the charging bias voltage applied to the charging roller 39. The optical scanning unit 10 irradiates the photosensitive member 30 with light corresponding to the image information. When light is scanned, only the scanned portion is selectively enacted to lower the potential, and the output pattern formed by this potential difference is an electrostatic latent image.

On the other hand, the toner in the toner storage section 25 is stirred by the stirrer 62, and is supplied to the developing roller 40 to which the developing bias voltage is applied by the supply roller 14. The toner adhered to the outer circumference of the developing roller 40 is thinned to a uniform thickness by the toner layer regulating section 50. At this time, the toner is charged while being rubbed by the developing roller 40 and the toner layer regulating portion 50. The toner adhered to the outer circumference of the developing roller 40 is attached to a peak latent image formed on the outer circumference of the photoconductor 30, and the toner image is developed on the photoconductor 30.                         

The recording medium P is withdrawn from the paper feed cassette 5 by the pickup roller 80. The recording medium P is conveyed by the feed roller 81, fed and aligned by the paper sorter 90, and passes between the photosensitive member 30 and the transfer roller 70. At this time, when a transfer bias voltage is applied to the transfer roller 70, the toner image formed on the photosensitive member 30 is transferred to the recording medium P. FIG.

Toner remaining on the outer circumferential surface of the photoconductor 30 after transfer is removed by the cleaning member 38 and accumulated in the waste toner storage unit 23. The fixing unit 75 applies heat and pressure to the toner image formed on the recording medium P after transfer to fix the toner image to the recording medium P. The decal unit 78 removes curl from the recording medium P in which curl is generated when passing through the fixing unit 75. The recording medium P having passed through the decal unit 78 is discharged out of the image forming apparatus 1 by the discharge roller 79 and loaded on the discharge tray 2.

As described above, according to the prior art, the thickness of the toner layer formed on the outer circumference of the developing roller 40 is determined by the length of the toner layer regulating portion 50 and the free end a. Therefore, the length of the free end a changes according to the assembly position of the toner layer restricting section 50, and the thickness of the toner layer also changes sensitively. In the thickness range of 0.1 to 0.4 mm of the toner layer regulating portion 50, the pressing force applied to the developing roller 40 due to elastic deformation becomes excessively large. In this case, in order to reduce the pressing force, the toner layer regulating unit 50 must be lengthened or the amount of elastic deformation (slag of the cantilever beam) of the toner layer regulating unit 50 must be reduced. However, lengthening the toner layer regulating portion 50 causes difficulty in miniaturization of the device, and reducing the amount of elastic deformation results in uneven thickness of the toner layer depending on the assembly position of the toner layer regulating portion 50. When the amount of elastic deformation is reduced to reduce the pressing force, local toner layer nonuniformity and frictional charge nonuniformity occur in the longitudinal direction of the toner layer restricting portion 50. When the non-uniformly charged toner layer is conveyed to the developing gap b, not only an electrostatic latent image, which is an image area formed on the photosensitive member 30, but also a background (Fog Image) to which the toner is adhered to a non-image area is generated. Lowers. To prevent this, when the pressing force is increased by increasing the amount of elastic deformation (about 50 gf / cm or more), an excessive stress is applied to the toner passing through the toner layer regulating unit 50, and as the printing proceeds, the image quality deteriorates. It will change over time.

On the other hand, in order to increase the amount of elastic deformation and maintain the pressing force at an appropriate level, the toner layer regulating unit 50 should be lengthened. In this case, miniaturization of the developing apparatus 20 becomes impossible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the problems as described above, and solves the sensitive assembly position dependence of the toner layer regulating portion of the prior art, toner layer nonuniformity and frictional charge nonuniformity in the longitudinal direction of the toner layer regulating portion, and Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a toner layer regulating unit capable of miniaturizing a developing device and at the same time solving an image quality problem (Fog Image).

The developing apparatus according to the present invention is:

A developing apparatus comprising a housing, a developing roller for supplying toner contained in the housing to the outside of the housing, and a regulating portion for regulating a height of the toner attached to a surface of the developing roller,                     

The regulating unit is arranged in parallel with the developing roller to scrape the toner attached to the developing roller; A frame fixed to one side of the regulating member and coupled to the housing; Include,

The regulating member is a first portion having an edge portion which is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the developing roller with a predetermined pressure in the longitudinal direction of the developing roller, and bent at an angle with respect to the first portion is fixed to the frame And a third portion having a predetermined length extending in a direction away from the developing roller by bending the second portion and being inclined at a predetermined angle from the edge portion.

The second portion has a free end extending in the direction of the first portion at a point fixed to the frame to perform a free end movement, and at least one bent portion is formed between the first portion and the second portion. It is preferable to be.

The regulating member is preferably in contact with an outer circumferential surface of the developing roller with a predetermined pressure in the edge portion formed in the first portion.

It is preferable that the said restriction member is a metal plate material in the range of 0.05-0.2 mm in thickness.

The restricting part is provided on the frame on which the second part is fixed, one surface is in contact with the housing, the other surface is in contact with one side of the second portion to restrict the movement direction of the second portion; It is preferable to further provide.

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

3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the developing apparatus shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a phenomenon shown in FIG. The figure shows the operation of the device.

Referring to FIG. 3, the transfer photographic image forming apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a main body frame 101, a light scanning unit 110, and a developing apparatus provided inside the main body frame 101. 120, a photosensitive member 130, a cleaning member 138, and a charging roller 139.

The optical scanning unit 110 scans the light corresponding to the image information to the photoconductor 130 to be described later in accordance with a computer signal to form an electrostatic latent image on the outer circumferential surface of the photoconductor 130. The optical scanning unit 110 includes a light source (not shown) for scanning a laser beam, and a beam deflector for deflecting the laser beam irradiated from the light source. As the beam deflector, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a polygon mirror 112 that scans light while being rotated by a driving source may be employed. On the other hand, instead of the polygon mirror 112, a hologram disk (not shown) for deflecting light by diffraction scanning by a hologram pattern formed on the disk surface may be employed.

The developing device 120 is a cartridge type detachably mounted inside the main body frame 101, and includes a developing device housing 122 forming an exterior, a developing roller 140, and a toner layer restricting part 150 therein. , The supply roller 160 and the agitator (162) has a structure that is installed. In addition, a toner storage unit 125 for accommodating toner as a developer is provided inside the developing apparatus housing 122. The developing unit 120 is replaced with a new one when all the toner contained in the toner storage unit 125 is exhausted. A door 103 is provided at an upper side of the main body frame 101 so that the developing apparatus 120 can be detached into the main body frame 101.

The developing roller 140 attaches the toner contained in the housing 122 to the outer circumference thereof and supplies the toner to the photosensitive member 130. The developing roller 140 accommodates the solid powder toner, and supplies the toner to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member 130 to develop the toner image. The developing bias voltage is applied to the developing roller 140 to supply these toners to the photosensitive member 130. The developing roller 140 is coated with rubber about 1.0 mm thick on a developing roller or a stainless steel shaft coated with nickel (Ni) by sandblasting an aluminum (Al) core. It is also possible to use a developing roller. The developing roller 140 used in this embodiment is a nonmagnetic conductive rubber roller having a surface roughness Rz in the circumferential direction of 3 to 10 μm.

A developing gap g of a predetermined interval is maintained between the photosensitive member 130 and the developing roller 140. The force from the photosensitive member 130 to the developing roller 140 is generated by the electric field, and the charged toner is transferred while vibrating and reciprocating in the developing region formed between the developing gaps g to develop. In this embodiment, the developing gap g is set to 100 to 350 mu m, and the minimum gap is set larger than the toner layer.

The supply roller 160 supplies the toner so that the toner is attached to the developing roller 140. The stirrer 162 swings the toner at a predetermined speed so that the toner in the toner storage unit 125 does not harden, and transfers the toner toward the feed roller 160.

The toner layer regulating unit 150 includes a regulating member 151 and a frame 152, one side of which is fixed to the housing 122, and the other side of the toner layer regulating unit 150 contacts the developing roller 140 to the outer circumferential surface of the developing roller 140. The height of the attached toner is regulated, and the toner is tribocharged to a predetermined polarity. As the restricting member 151, it is preferable to use a metal plate having elastic force. As the metal plate material, a stainless plate, a phosphor bronze plate, a beryllium copper plate, or the like having a thickness of 0.05 to 0.2 mm can be used. The restricting member 151 used in this embodiment is designed to apply a constant contact pressure (linear pressure) in the range of 30 to 40 (gf / cm) with respect to the developing roller 140 by using a stainless steel plate having a thickness of 0.08 mm.

One side of the restricting member 151 may be laser spot welded to the frame 152. The frame 152 fixes the restricting member 151 fixed to the frame 152 to the housing 122.

The regulating member 151 includes at least a first portion 155, a second portion 157, and a third portion 159, and is disposed in parallel with the developing roller 140 and attached to the developing roller 140. Scrape off. The pressing force of the restricting member 151 is preferably designed within the range of 20 to 40 (gf / cm) to maintain the durability of the toner. In the present invention, the pressing force may be implemented by appropriately adjusting the length of the first portion 155 and the length of the free end 158. In particular, in order to miniaturize the developing apparatus 120, the length of the first portion 155 should be shortened. However, if the length of the first portion 155 is shortened, it is difficult to maintain the pressing force at an appropriate level. Therefore, by providing the free end 158 in the second portion 157, it is possible to secure an appropriate pressing force.

The first portion 155 is provided with an edge portion 156 at one end thereof, and is in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the developing roller 140 along a length direction of the developing roller 140 with a predetermined pressure. The second portion 157 is bent A to be inclined at an angle with respect to the first portion 155 and is fixed to the frame 152. The second portion 157 may be bent at an angle to the first portion 155 at an angle to the first portion 155 to be laser spot welded to the first portion 155. The second portion 157 may be provided with a free end 158 extending in the direction of the first part 155 at a point fixed to the frame 152 to perform a free end movement. Here, at least one curved portion A is preferably formed between the first portion 155 and the second portion 157. The third portion 159 is bent (B) inclined at a predetermined angle from the edge portion 156, it is preferably formed to extend by a predetermined length in the direction away from the developing roller 140. The restricting member 151 is preferably in contact with the developing roller 140 at the edge portion 156 formed on the first portion 155. In the present embodiment, the length of the first portion 155 is 5 to 7 mm and the length of the free end 158 is 5 to 8 mm.

The toner layer restricting part 150 is installed on the frame 152, one surface of which is fixed to the housing 122, and the other surface of the toner layer restricting part 150 is in contact with one side surface of the second portion 157 to move the second portion 157. It is preferable to further provide a restraining member 153 to limit the.

The photoconductor 130 coated with the photoconductive material layer by a deposition method or the like on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical metal drum is rotated in a predetermined direction, and is installed to expose a portion of the outer circumferential surface. The photosensitive member 130 is charged to a predetermined potential by the charging roller 139, and the electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image to be printed by the light irradiated from the optical scanning unit 110 in accordance with the computer signal as described above It is formed on the outer circumferential surface. The outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive member 130 exposed to the outer circumference thereof faces the transfer roller 170.

A charging bias voltage is applied to the charging roller 139 in order to charge the outer circumference of the photosensitive member 130 to a uniform electric potential. Instead of the charging roller 139, a corona discharger (not shown) may be employed.

The cleaning member 138 is installed in the housing 132 in which the waste toner storage unit 123 is provided, and one end of the cleaning member 138 contacts the photosensitive member 130 with a predetermined pressure to scrape the toner remaining in the photosensitive member 130. One side edge portion of the cleaning member 138 may be installed in the support member 137 that is separately installed in the housing 132. The other edge portion of the cleaning member 138 is in contact with the photosensitive member 130 with a predetermined pressure so as to scrape the toner remaining in the photosensitive member 130 after the transfer.

The toner separated from the photosensitive member 130 by the cleaning member 138 is stored in the waste toner storage unit 123.

The transfer roller 170 is provided to face the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive member 130, and a transfer bias voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner image is applied such that the developed toner image is transferred to the recording medium P. The toner image is transferred to the recording medium P by the electrostatic force acting between the photosensitive member 130 and the transfer roller 140. The toner image developed on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive member 130 is transferred to the recording medium P passing between the transfer roller 170 and the photosensitive member 130 by the contact pressure between the photosensitive member 130 and the transfer roller 170. May be

The fixing unit 175 includes a heat roller 176 and a pressure roller 177 installed to face the heat roller 176, and applies heat and pressure to the toner image transferred to the recording medium P to record the toner image. To settle in. The heat roller 176 is provided to be opposed to the pressure roller 177 in the axial direction as a heat source for permanently fixing the toner image. The pressure roller 177 is installed to face the heat roller 176 to apply a high pressure to the recording medium P to fix the toner image to the recording medium P.

The decal unit 178 removes curls of the recording medium P from which curls are generated by heat while passing through the fixing unit 175. The discharge roller 179 discharges the recording medium P on which the fixing is completed, out of the image forming apparatus 100. The recording medium P discharged from the image forming apparatus 100 is loaded on the discharge table 102.

In addition, the image forming apparatus 100 includes first and second paper feed cassettes 105 and 106 provided under the main body frame 101 and on which the recording medium P is loaded. The pickup rollers 180 and 182 pick up the loaded recording medium P one by one and take it out. The feed roller 181 provides a feed force for transferring the picked-up recording medium P to the paper sorter 190 side. The paper sorter 190 allows the recording medium P to be transferred to a desired portion of the recording medium P before the recording medium P passes between the photosensitive member 130 and the transfer roller 170. Sort it.

Hereinafter, the operation of the image forming apparatus and the developing apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The photosensitive member 130 of the developing apparatus 120 is charged to a uniform electric potential by the charging bias voltage applied to the charging roller 139. The optical scanning unit 110 irradiates the photoreceptor 130 with light corresponding to the image information. When light is scanned, only the scanned portion is selectively enacted to lower the potential, and the output pattern formed by this potential difference is an electrostatic latent image.                     

On the other hand, the toner in the toner storage unit 125 is stirred by the stirrer 162, and is supplied to the developing roller 140 to which the developing bias voltage is applied by the supply roller 114. The toner adhered to the outer circumference of the developing roller 140 is thinned to a uniform thickness by the toner layer regulating unit 150. At this time, the toner is charged while being rubbed by the developing roller 140 and the toner layer regulating unit 150. The toner attached to the outer circumference of the developing roller 140 is attached to a vertex latent image formed on the outer circumference of the photosensitive member 130, and the toner image is developed on the photosensitive member 130.

The recording medium P is withdrawn from the paper feeding cassette 105 by the pickup roller 180. The recording medium P is conveyed by the conveying roller 181, fed and aligned by the paper sorter 190, and passes between the photosensitive member 130 and the transfer roller 170. At this time, when a transfer bias voltage is applied to the transfer roller 170, the toner image formed on the photosensitive member 130 is transferred to the recording medium P. FIG.

Toner remaining on the outer circumferential surface of the photoconductor 130 after the transfer is removed by the cleaning member 138 and accumulated in the waste toner storage 123. The fixing unit 175 fixes the toner image to the recording medium P by applying heat and pressure to the toner image formed on the recording medium P after transfer. The decal unit 178 removes curl from the recording medium P on which the curl is generated when passing through the fixing unit 175. The recording medium P passing through the decal unit 178 is discharged out of the image forming apparatus 100 by the discharge roller 179 and loaded on the discharge table 102.

Hereinafter, the coupling and operation of the toner layer regulating unit 150 in the developing apparatus will be described.

Referring to FIG. 5, one side of the restricting member 151 is fixed to the frame 152 by laser spot welding. After inserting the restraining member 153 restricting the direction of movement of the second portion 157 between the housing 122 and the frame 152, the restraining member 151 fixed to the frame 152 is inserted into the housing 122. Fix it to As described above, the developing device 120 equipped with the toner layer restricting unit 150 is pressure-coupled with the developing roller 140. At this time, due to the contact between the restricting member 151 and the developing roller 140, the primary deformation 200, that is, bending occurs at the free end 158 based on the point “F” of the second portion 157. . The secondary deformation 210 is generated by the bending of the first portion 155 based on the “A” bending portion between the first portion 155 and the second portion 157. In this way, the pressing force generated by the elastic deformation of the restricting member 151 causes the toner to pass through the edge portion 156 formed at one end of the first portion 155 which is in contact with the developing roller 140.

According to the above-described configuration, the present invention, unlike the conventional invention, forms at least one bending portion between the first portion 155 and the second portion 157, the free end 158 in the second portion 157 Placed. Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to secure a constant pressing force by appropriately adjusting the length of the first portion 155 and the length of the free end 158. That is, in the prior art, it is difficult to miniaturize the developing apparatus while ensuring a sufficient deformation amount and an appropriate pressing force. However, in the present invention, even if the length of the first portion 155 is short, the free end 158 is provided on the second portion 157. In addition, adjustment can be made to ensure proper pressing force.

As described above, the developing apparatus according to the present invention, unlike the conventional invention, can form a bent portion and a free end in the toner layer regulating member to realize miniaturization of the developing apparatus. In addition, the present invention provides a toner layer regulating unit and a developing apparatus using the same, which are capable of obtaining a stable toner layer without being sensitive to assembly accuracy, and in particular, the pressing force due to elastic deformation is less than an appropriate level while increasing the amount of deformation of the regulating member. By regulating this, the stress on the toner can be reduced to reduce the change in image quality over time.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art to which the art belongs can make various modifications and other equivalent embodiments therefrom. I will understand. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the claims below.

Claims (5)

A developing apparatus comprising a housing, a developing roller for supplying toner contained in the housing to the outside of the housing, and a regulating portion for regulating a height of the toner attached to a surface of the developing roller, The regulation unit, A regulating member disposed in parallel with the developing roller to scrape the toner adhered to the developing roller; A frame fixed to one side of the regulating member and coupled to the housing; Include, The regulating member is a first portion having an edge portion which is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the developing roller with a predetermined pressure in the longitudinal direction of the developing roller, and bent at an angle with respect to the first portion is fixed to the frame And a second portion and a third portion which is bent obliquely at a predetermined angle from the edge portion and has a predetermined length extending in a direction away from the developing roller. The method of claim 1, The second part, A free end extending in the direction of the first portion at a point fixed to the frame to perform a free end movement; At least one bent portion is formed between the first portion and the second portion. The method of claim 1, The regulating member, And the edge portion formed in the first portion is in contact with an outer circumferential surface of the developing roller with a predetermined pressure. The method of claim 1, The regulating member is a developing device, characterized in that the thickness of the metal plate within the range of 0.05 to 0.2 mm. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The regulation unit, A restraining member installed on the frame to which the second part is fixed, one surface of which is in contact with the housing, and the other surface of which is in contact with one side of the second portion, to limit the direction of movement of the second portion; A developing device, characterized in that it further comprises.

Images