KR20050072536A - Waste toner detector of electro-photographic printer - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus for detecting waste toner of an electrophotographic printer. The waste toner amount detecting apparatus of the disclosed electrophotographic printing press includes a first end of which is embedded in a waste toner storage container of an electrophotographic printing press for storing waste toner removed from a photosensitive medium by a cleaning device, and the other end of which is connected to an external power source And a second detection sensor having one end embedded in the waste toner storage container and the other end connected to a control unit, wherein the position of the second detection sensor is higher than the position of the first detection sensor, and the second monitoring. And when the toner fills the sensor, outputting the waste toner amount of the waste toner amount storage container to a predetermined first level or more.

Description

Waste toner amount detection device of electrophotographic printing machine {Waste toner detector of electro-photographic printer}

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic printing machine, and more particularly, to a waste toner detection device of a storage container in which waste toner generated in a printing process is accommodated.

In general, an image forming apparatus is an apparatus for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive medium with an optical scanning device, supplying toner particles to the electrostatic latent image, transferring the developed toner image onto paper, and applying heat to fuse it to obtain a desired image.

Such an image forming apparatus transfers a toner image onto a print medium by using a potential difference between the photosensitive medium and the transfer device or the transfer device and the print medium to obtain a desired image. However, the toner image is not completely transferred during the process of transferring the toner image from the photosensitive medium to the transfer apparatus or the process of transferring the toner image from the transfer apparatus to the print medium, and part of the toner image remains in the photosensitive medium or the transfer apparatus. . Such waste toner is recovered by the waste toner recovery apparatus and stored in the waste toner box.

In order to detect the amount of waste toner stored in the waste toner box, a light emitting part is installed on one side and a light receiving part on the other side in a direction facing each other from both sides of the waste toner so that the waste toner box is at a predetermined level. The device foretelling the cold is well known.

However, the conventional toner amount detecting device of the waste toner box as described above has a problem that its reliability is lowered due to contamination of the window of the waste toner box between the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion. In addition, the conventional apparatus for detecting the amount of petoner detects only one level, and in order to detect a plurality of levels, there is a problem that a plurality of light emitting units and a light receiving unit are required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a waste toner amount detection device capable of easily detecting a plurality of toner storage levels using the conductivity of toner.

In order to achieve the above object, the waste toner amount detecting apparatus of the electrophotographic printing press of the present invention detects the waste toner amount of the waste toner storage container of the electrophotographic printing press which stores the waste toner removed from the photosensitive medium by the cleaning apparatus. In the apparatus,

A first detection sensor having one end embedded in the petoner storage container and the other end connected to an external power source; And

And a second detection sensor having one end embedded in the waste toner storage container and the other end connected to a control unit.

The position of the second detection sensor is higher than the position of the first detection sensor, and if the toner fills the second monitoring sensor or more, outputting that the waste toner amount of the waste toner amount storage container is equal to or greater than a predetermined first level. It features.

The sensing sensor is preferably a conductor.

Preferably, a sealing member is further disposed between one end of the detection sensor and the storage container to prevent the waste toner from leaking between the waste toner storage container and the detection sensor.

The waste toner amount detection device according to the present invention further includes a third detection sensor disposed at a position higher than the second detection sensor, and when the toner fills the third to the third sensor or higher, It outputs that the waste toner amount is more than a predetermined second level higher than the first level.

The controller may transmit information input from the second detection sensor to a display unit, and information input from the third detection sensor may be transmitted to an alarm unit.

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

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electrophotographic printing press according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view showing an excerpt of the waste toner transfer device and toner detection device shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1, the electrophotographic printer 100 includes a photosensitive drum 101, a light scanning device 102, a developing device 103, a transfer belt 104, and a fixing device 106.

The photosensitive drum 101 is a photoconductive material layer formed on the outer circumference of the metal drum. Instead of the photosensitive drum 101, a photosensitive belt may be used.

The optical scanning device 102 scans the light corresponding to the image information to the photosensitive drum 101 charged to have a uniform potential to form an electrostatic latent image.

The developing device 103 is composed of four developing devices 103C, 103M, 103Y, and 103K containing solid powder toners of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) colors. Each of these toners is supplied to an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 101 to form a toner image.

The transfer belt 104 is an intermediate transfer medium that receives a toner image from a photosensitive medium and transfers the toner image to the recording medium P. A transfer drum may be used instead of the transfer belt 104.

The toner images of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K) colors are sequentially transferred to and overlapped with the photosensitive drum 101 to form a color toner image. . The traveling linear velocity of the transfer belt 104 is preferably the same as the rotation linear velocity of the photosensitive drum 101. The length of the transfer belt 104 should be equal to or at least longer than the length of the recording medium P on which the color toner image is finally received.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a transfer roller. The transfer roller 105 is installed to face the transfer belt 104. The transfer roller 105 is spaced apart from the transfer belt 104 while the color toner image is transferred to the transfer belt 104, and when the color toner image is completely transferred to the transfer belt 104, the recording medium is transferred. The transfer belt 104 is contacted with a predetermined pressure to transfer to (P).

The fixing device 106 fixes the toner image to the recording medium P by applying heat and pressure to the recording medium P on which the toner image is transferred.

Reference numeral 107 denotes a charger for charging the photosensitive drum 101 to a uniform potential. Reference numeral 108 is a static eliminator that removes the charge remaining in the photosensitive drum 101.

Referring to the image forming process of the electrophotographic printing machine having the above configuration is as follows.

The electrophotographic printing press superimposes the toner images of each color on the transfer belt 104 in the order of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) and transfers them to the recording medium (P). After fixing, a color image is formed.

When the optical signal corresponding to the cyan (C) color image information is scanned by the optical scanning device 102 to the photosensitive drum 101 charged at a uniform electric potential, the portion to which the light is scanned is reduced while the resistance is reduced. The charge attached to the outer circumferential surface of the drum 101 escapes. Therefore, a potential difference occurs between the portion where the light is scanned and the portion that is not, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum 101.

When the electrostatic latent image approaches the developing apparatus 103C while the photosensitive drum 101 rotates, the toner image of cyan (C) color accommodated in the developing unit 103C adheres to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image of the cyan (C) color. . When the toner image of cyan (C) color approaches the transfer belt 104 by the rotation of the photosensitive drum 101, the toner image is transferred by the potential difference with the transfer belt 104 and / or the contact pressure. 104). When the toner image of the cyan (C) color is completely transferred to the transfer belt 104, the toner image of the magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K) color is also subjected to the above-described steps. Overlapping and transferred to 104 forms a color toner image. When the recording medium P passes between the transfer belt 104 and the transfer roller 105, the color toner image is transferred to the recording medium S. FIG. Subsequently, color fixing is completed by fixing and discharging the color toner image to the recording medium S by heat and pressure in the fixing device 106.

The photosensitive drum 101 and the transfer belt 104 are image receptors in which a toner image is temporarily received before transferring the toner image to the recording medium P. FIG. In the process of transferring the toner image from the photosensitive drum 101 to the transfer belt 104 to the recording medium S, some toner remains in the photosensitive drum 101 or the transfer belt 104.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the electrophotographic printer 100 includes a cleaning device 120 and 130 for removing waste toner remaining in the photosensitive drum 101 and the transfer belt 104, and the cleaning device ( And a storage device 200 for transporting the waste toner removed by 120 and 130, and a storage container 200 for storing the waste toner transported by the transport device 300.

The cleaning device 120 includes a housing 121, a blade 122 contacting the photosensitive drum 101 to scrape off the waste toner, and a discharge hole provided at one end of the waste toner in the housing 121 (FIG. 2). An auger 123 to be conveyed to reference numeral 320. In addition, the cleaning device 130 may have substantially the same configuration as the cleaning device 120 for cleaning the photosensitive drum 101.

1 and 2, the storage container 200 shown in dotted lines has an injection hole (reference numerals 210 and 220 of FIG. 2) into which waste toner is injected to effectively receive the waste toner. In this embodiment, the transfer belt 104 is located above the photosensitive drum 101, so that the waste toner removed from the transfer belt 104 by the cleaning device 130 is the cleaning device 130. It may be accommodated in the storage container 200 through the inlet 220 directly from).

However, the waste toner removed from the photosensitive drum 101 by the cleaning device 120 is used to overcome the height difference between the cleaning device 120 and the injection port 210 of the storage container 200. It is transferred to the injection port 210 of the storage container 200 by the transfer device 300.

The waste toner conveying apparatus 300 is provided with a duct, a conveying coil 340 and a drive motor 350. The duct consists of first to third ducts 310, 320, 330 interconnected. The first duct 310 connects the cleaning device 120 and the second duct 320, and the waste toner removed by the cleaning device 120 from the photosensitive drum 101 is disposed thereon. A waste toner inlet 311 to be discharged is provided. The third duct 330 has a circular pipe shape that can be bent to easily connect the second duct 320 and the inlet 210 of the storage container 200.

The conveying coil 340 for conveying waste toner is installed in the first to third ducts 310, 320 and 330. The conveying coil 340 rotates and transfers the waste toner to the storage container 200.

The drive motor 350 rotates the transfer coil 340, and a reducer 351 may be further provided between the drive motor and the transfer coil 340 to reduce the rotational speed of the drive motor 350.

Referring back to FIG. 2, a plurality of waste toner detection sensors 261, 262, and 263 are installed at one side of the storage container 200 in a vertical direction. One end of the waste toner sensor 261, 262, 263 is installed to be in contact with the waste toner accommodated in the waste toner storage container 200, and the other end is connected to an external power source (not shown) or the control unit 270. do. One end of the sensing sensors 261, 262, and 263 and an inner surface of the waste toner storage container 200 are provided with sealing members 261a and 262a0 (263a), for example, rubber rings, so that the waste toner is stored in a container ( 200) to prevent leaking out.

The detection sensors 261, 262, and 263 are composed of first to third detection sensors 261, 262, and 263 from below. Each of the sensing sensors 261, 262, and 263 may be formed of a conductor, that is, a metal.

FIG. 3 is an electric circuit diagram including the detection sensors 261, 262 and 263 of the waste toner detection device of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the waste toner detection device of the present invention.

2 to 4, the first and second detection sensors 261 and 262 form a first switch S1, and the second and third detection sensors 262 and 263 are second to each other. The switch S2 is formed. Since the waste toner is conductive, when the waste toner in the waste toner storage container 200 is partially filled and positioned between the first detection sensor 261 and the second detection sensor 262, the first switch S1 is turned off. do. Subsequently, when the waste toner is charged into the waste toner storage container 200 to come into contact with the second detection sensor 262, the first switch S1 is turned on and the output thereof is input to the controller 270. The control unit 270 receives the first signal and outputs to the display unit 280 that the toner is filled to the first level of the waste toner storage container 200 to the outside.

Subsequently, when the waste toner is charged into the waste toner storage container 200 and comes into contact with the third detection sensor 263, the second switch is also turned on, and its output is input to the controller 270. The control unit 270 receives the second signal and informs the warning unit 290 that the toner is filled up to the second level of the waste toner storage container 200, and replaces or replaces the waste toner storage container 200 with the user. Deliver a message to clean.

The sensor unit 260 of FIG. 4 may be configured of the first to third sensing sensors 261, 262, and 263 of FIG. 3. The alarm unit 190 may be configured as a speaker that directly transmits a warning message to the user.

In the above embodiment, three sensing sensors are shown to be disposed substantially vertically, but embodiments are not limited thereto. By placing four or more sensors vertically, it is possible to detect the amount of waste toner at more levels.

As described above, the waste toner amount detection device of the electrophotographic printing press according to the present invention informs the user of the waste toner storage container to some extent, for example, the first level, and when the storage container becomes full. For example, when the user reaches the second level, the user is notified of the fact. Therefore, the user can easily know when to replace the waste toner storage container.

In addition, the sensor according to the invention can be formed of a simple conductor, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of the device having a sensor.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary and will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and variations can be made therefrom. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

1 is a configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electrophotographic printing press according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the waste toner transfer device and toner detection device shown in FIG. 1.

3 is an electric circuit diagram of a detection sensor of the waste toner detection device of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the waste toner detection apparatus of the present invention.

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

200: waste toner container 260: sensor unit

261,262,263: detection sensor 261a, 262a, 263a: sealing member

270: control unit 280: display unit

290: warning unit S1, S2: switch

Claims (5)

An apparatus for detecting the amount of waste toner in a waste toner storage container of an electrophotographic printer for storing waste toner removed by a cleaning device from a photosensitive medium, A first sensing sensor having one end embedded in the waste toner storage container and the other end connected to an external power source; And And a second detection sensor having one end embedded in the waste toner storage container and the other end connected to a control unit. The position of the second detection sensor is higher than the position of the first detection sensor, and if the toner fills the second monitoring sensor or more, outputting that the waste toner amount of the waste toner amount storage container is equal to or greater than a predetermined first level. A waste toner amount detection device for an electrophotographic printing press. The method of claim 1, The detection sensor is a waste toner amount detection device of the electrophotographic printing machine, characterized in that the conductor. The method of claim 2, A sealing member is further disposed between one end of the detection sensor and the storage container to prevent the waste toner from leaking between the waste toner storage container and the detection sensor. The method of claim 1, And a third detection sensor disposed at a position higher than the second detection sensor, and when the toner fills the third monitoring sensor or more, the toner amount of the waste toner storage container is higher than the first level. An apparatus for detecting waste toner in an electrophotographic printer, characterized in that it outputs a second level or more. The method of claim 4, wherein The control unit transmits information input from the second detection sensor to an external display unit, and information input from the third detection sensor to the alarm unit, waste toner amount detection device of the electrophotographic printing machine, characterized in that.