JP2006011360A - Image forming apparatus and method of mounting and dismounting waste toner bottle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus off which a waste toner bottle will not come off unnecessary and which facilitates its replacement, and can prevent the waste toner bottle from moving from its setting position owing to a non-locking state, and a waste toner bottle mounting and dismounting method. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus operates with a waste toner bottle removably mounted thereto for collecting waste toner carrier, after cleaning untransferred toner left on an image carrier. A handle 24, to be held for holding the waste toner bottle 20, is provided with a locking mechanism 25 for preventing the waste toner bottle from coming off the image forming apparatus main body. Further, when the locking mechanism is a slide-type, a lock member 25c is energized by an energizing member 38 to a lock position, while the waste toner bottle is loaded. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a detachable waste toner bottle and a method for detaching a waste toner bottle in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction machine of these.

  In recent image forming apparatuses, with the improvement in image quality of printers and copiers, there is a demand for mounting of small particle size toner or polymerized toner. In recent years, image forming apparatuses having a detachable process cartridge have become mainstream. Waste toner bottles for cleaning and collecting residual toner from the photoreceptor are provided in the image forming apparatus. However, if the waste toner bottle is easily detached from the image forming apparatus, the waste toner bottle is unnecessarily removed and the toner scatters. -Dropping may occur, and the user or the inside of the image forming apparatus may be stained with toner.

In Patent Document 1, a part of the release lever of the intermediate transfer belt is provided with a waste toner bottle lock, and the waste toner bottle is locked / released simultaneously with the main body according to the pressure contact / separation of the intermediate transfer belt. Has proposed.
However, with this technology, when the user releases the lock, when the user grabs the lever and rotates it in the release direction, the waste toner bottle will be in an unstable state that is simply left stationary. Bottles may fall off.
In order to prevent such a problem, it is necessary to release the lock while suppressing the bottle.
In order to prevent the waste toner bottle from coming off, there is an example in which a lock mechanism is provided on the waste toner bottle. However, when this lock mechanism is a method of manually switching between locking and releasing, the waste toner bottle is locked. There is a risk of forgetting.

JP 2003-36011 A

  Therefore, in the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, the waste toner bottle is not unnecessarily removed from the image forming apparatus and can be easily replaced. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and a method for attaching and detaching a waste toner bottle to / from the image forming apparatus that can prevent the slippage of the image forming apparatus.

The features of the present invention, which is a means for solving the above problems, are listed below.
1. In an image forming apparatus provided with a waste toner bottle for collecting waste toner after cleaning untransferred toner remaining on an image carrier after image formation, a handle for holding the waste toner bottle is provided. The image forming apparatus is provided with a lock mechanism for preventing the image forming apparatus from being detached from the main body.
2. Further, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus including a waste toner bottle for collecting waste toner after cleaning untransferred toner remaining on the image carrier after image formation. An image forming apparatus is provided with a handle for holding, and provided with a lock mechanism in the vicinity of the handle for preventing the handle from coming off from the main body of the image forming apparatus.
3. The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes: Or 2. The waste toner bottle locking mechanism is a push type.
4). The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes: Or 2. The waste toner bottle locking mechanism is a slide type.
5. In addition, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is 4. The slide-type lock mechanism provided on the handle of the waste toner bottle is always urged to the lock position when mounted.
6). Further, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is provided with 5. The waste toner bottle lock mechanism is biased to a lock position by a spring provided inside the handle.
7). Further, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is provided with 5. Or 6. The mechanism for automatically releasing and locking the lever by the operation of mounting the waste toner bottle at a predetermined position is provided on the waste toner bottle locking mechanism and the member on the side where the waste toner bottle is mounted. It is characterized by providing.

8). The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes: Or 7. And a process cartridge including the waste toner bottle according to any one of the above.

9. The waste toner bottle attaching / detaching method of the present invention is a method of attaching / detaching the waste toner bottle to / from the image forming apparatus, and holds the handle of the waste toner bottle with one hand while holding the lock member with a predetermined lock position or a release position. The waste toner bottle is attached to the image forming apparatus or detached from the image forming apparatus by sliding the waste toner bottle to the image forming apparatus.
10. The waste toner bottle attaching / detaching method of the present invention is a method for attaching / detaching the waste toner bottle to / from the image forming apparatus, and holds the handle of the waste toner bottle with one hand and connects the elastic lock member with a thumb to a predetermined lock position. The waste toner bottle is attached to the image forming apparatus or detached from the image forming apparatus by being stopped or bent to a release position.

  According to the present invention, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention prevents the waste toner bottle from being unnecessarily detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus and easily attaches / detaches the waste toner bottle to / from the image forming apparatus. In addition, it is possible to prevent the waste toner bottle from being forgotten to be locked and to install it more easily.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a main part of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.
The image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer belt 1 at a substantially center inside thereof. The intermediate transfer belt 1 is an endless belt made of a heat-resistant material such as polyimide or polyamide and made of a substrate adjusted to a medium resistance. The Below the intermediate transfer belt 1, process cartridges 11 a and 11 b having four photoconductors 10 a, 10 b, 10 c, and 10 d that are arranged so as to be in contact with the lower surface of the transfer belt 1. 11c, 11d are arranged along the belt surface of the intermediate transfer belt 1. Around the photoreceptors 10a to 10d, there are dedicated charging rollers 15a, 15b, 15c and 15d and cleaning units 14a, 14b, 14c and 14d.
In correspondence with the process cartridges 11a to 11d, developing units 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d having different toner colors are arranged.
The process cartridges 11a to 11d are units having the same configuration, the process cartridge 11a forms an image corresponding to black, the process cartridge 11b forms an image corresponding to yellow, and the process cartridge 11c is cyan. The process cartridge 11d forms an image corresponding to the magenta color.

A writing unit 9 is mounted below the process cartridges 11a to 11d. The writing unit 9 is arranged in four laser diode (LD) type light sources prepared for each color, a pair of polygon scanners composed of a six-sided polygon mirror and a polygon motor, and a route for each light source. It is composed of a lens such as an fθ lens or a long cylindrical lens, or a mirror. Laser light emitted from the laser diode is deflected and scanned by a polygon scanner and irradiated onto the photosensitive members 10a to 10d.
Transfer rollers 13 that primarily transfer the toner images formed on the photoreceptors 10a to 10d onto the intermediate transfer belt 1 are disposed at positions facing the photoreceptors 10a to 10d with the intermediate transfer belt 1 interposed therebetween. ing. The transfer roller 13 is connected to a power source (not shown) and is applied with a predetermined voltage.

The secondary transfer roller 5 is pressed against the outside of the portion of the intermediate transfer belt 1 supported by the roller 51. The secondary transfer roller 5 is connected to a power source (not shown) and is applied with a predetermined voltage. The contact portion between the secondary transfer roller 5 and the intermediate transfer belt 1 is a secondary transfer portion, and the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 1 is transferred onto the transfer paper.
An intermediate transfer belt cleaning unit 12 for cleaning the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 1 after the secondary transfer is provided outside the portion of the intermediate transfer belt 1 supported by the roller 52.
Above the secondary transfer portion, a fixing unit 4 for semi-permanently fixing the toner image on the transfer paper to the transfer paper is provided. In addition, a paper feeding unit 8 is provided below the image forming apparatus. The paper feeding unit 8 places transfer paper and sends the transfer paper toward the secondary transfer unit.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus in image formation will be described.
The toner bottle 2 for replenishing toner is filled with yellow, cyan, magenta, and black toner from the left in the figure, and is replenished to the developing units 16a to 16d of each color by a predetermined replenishment amount through a conveyance path (not shown). Is done.
When the leading edge of the transfer paper 8 is fed by the paper feed roller 7 and reaches the registration roller 6, it is detected by a sensor (not shown), and the transfer paper 8 is intermediated from the secondary transfer roller 5 by the registration roller 6 while taking a timing with this detection signal. It is conveyed to the nip of the transfer belt 1.
The photosensitive drums 10a to 10d, which are uniformly charged by the charging rollers 15a to 15d in advance, are exposed and scanned with a laser beam by the writing unit 9, and electrostatic latent images are formed on the photosensitive drums 10a to 10d. . The electrostatic latent images are developed by the developing devices 16a to 16d for the respective colors, whereby yellow, cyan, magenta, and black toner images are formed on the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 10a to 10d.

  Next, a voltage is applied to the transfer roller 13, and the toner on each photosensitive drum 10 is sequentially transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 1. At this time, the image forming operation for each color is executed while shifting the timing from the upstream side toward the downstream side so that the toner image is transferred to the same position on the intermediate transfer belt 1. The image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 1 is conveyed to the position of the secondary transfer roller 5 and secondarily transferred to the transfer paper 8. The transfer paper 8 on which the toner image of each color is transferred is conveyed to the fixing unit 4 and thermally fixed, and is discharged by the paper discharge roller 3.

The residual toner on the photosensitive drums 10a to 10d is cleaned by the cleaning units 14a to 14d, and the residual toner on the intermediate transfer belt 1 is cleaned by the cleaning unit 12.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of the process cartridge 11 of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of the process cartridge 11 and the waste toner bottle 20 according to the present invention.
These waste toners are discharged from a waste toner discharge port 19 of a waste toner discharge pipe 18 of the process cartridge 11 into a waste toner bottle 20 provided in the image forming apparatus by a waste toner conveying screw 17 in each cleaning unit 14. . There is also an image forming apparatus that does not discharge waste toner directly from the process cartridge 11 to the waste toner bottle 20 but transports the waste toner to the waste toner bottle after being discharged to a waste toner transport path in the image forming apparatus. .

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a state in which the waste toner bottle 20 of the present invention is mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus.
In FIG. 5, the waste toner bottle 20 is configured to be attached to the exterior cover 21 of the image forming apparatus, and the waste toner bottle 20 can be attached and detached by opening the exterior cover 21. The waste toner bottle 20 has a certain amount of play when it is set on the exterior cover 21, and is positioned relative to the image forming apparatus when the exterior cover 21 is closed.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the overall configuration of the waste toner bottle 20 of the present invention.
The waste toner bottle 20 is provided with inlets 23 a and 23 b for collecting waste toner from the four color process cartridges 11 and the intermediate transfer cleaning unit 12, a handle 24 for holding the waste toner bottle, and the handle 24. A locking mechanism 25, a pin 26 at the bottom of the bottle that serves as a guide when the waste toner bottle 20 is set on the exterior cover, a U-shaped groove 28 and a hole 29 for positioning with the main body of the image forming apparatus 22.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing the internal configuration of the waste toner bottle 20.
In FIG. 7, inside the waste toner bottle 20, a transport screw 30 for leveling and transporting the collected waste toner to the full detection position, a drive gear 31 for driving the transport screw, a waste toner inlet and a transport screw. A mylar 32 is provided to prevent the waste toner from cross-linking between the two. The conveying screw 30 is driven from the image forming apparatus 22 via a gear 31.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing a full detection mechanism of the waste toner bottle 20 of the present invention.
8A shows a state in which the waste toner in the waste toner bottle 20 is empty, and FIG. 8B shows a state in which the waste toner in the waste toner bottle 20 is full.
The waste toner bottle 20 includes a thin rubber sheet 33 inside and a filler 27 outside. When the waste toner 35 is collected to the position of the rubber sheet 33, the rubber sheet 33 is pushed by the waste toner 35 and the filler 27 is moved. The main body of the image forming apparatus 22 is provided with a photo-interrupter type sensor 34 for detecting the fullness of waste toner, and the filler 27 is turned on by switching on / off the blocking of the sensor optical path. Detect.

Further, the positioning of the waste toner bottle with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus 22 is performed by using a U-shaped groove 28 and a hole 29 provided in the waste toner bottle 20 of a waste toner screw driving gear (not shown) provided in the image forming apparatus 22, respectively. This is done by fitting with the shaft and the positioning pin.
FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a state where the waste toner bottle 20 is attached to the exterior cover 21.
The waste toner bottle 20 is locked so as not to be detached from the exterior cover by fitting the lock member of the lock mechanism 25 of the handle 24 with the claw 36 of the exterior cover.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a state when the waste toner bottle 20 is attached to the exterior cover 21. The exterior cover 21 is provided with U-shaped guides 37 for guiding the setting of the waste toner bottle 20 at both ends. The guide pins 26 at the bottom of the waste toner bottle 20 are inserted into the U-shaped guide 37 and set. Further, the lateral play of the waste toner bottle 20 is restricted to some extent by the widths of both sides of the U-shaped guide 37.

[First embodiment]
FIG. 11 is a view showing a slide type locking mechanism of the waste toner bottle 20 according to the present invention.
11A is a perspective view showing the unlocked state, FIG. 11B is a perspective view showing the locked state, and FIG. 11C is a cross-sectional view of the lock mechanism in the locked state.
In FIG. 11, the lock member 25a provided on the handle 24 of the waste toner bottle 20 is manually moved to the lock position and the release position.
As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 11C, the sliding lock member 25 a is engaged with the sliding exterior cover hooking member 36 to restrict the waste toner bottle 20 from being detached from the exterior cover 21.
12 is an operation diagram of the sliding lock mechanism shown in FIG.
In FIG. 12, by providing the handle 24 with the lock member 25a, the waste toner bottle 20 can be detached while holding the handle 24. Therefore, the waste toner bottle 20 can be easily replaced with one hand.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 13 is a view showing a waste toner bottle push-type locking mechanism according to the present invention.
13A is a perspective view showing the vicinity of the handle 24 of the waste toner bottle 20, FIG. 13B is a sectional view in the locked state, and FIG. 13C is a sectional view in the unlocked state. As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 13B, the lever can be bent and removed from the outer cover hook 36 by pushing the pressing portion of the push-type lock member 25 b.
FIG. 14 is an operation diagram of the push-type locking mechanism shown in FIG. By holding down the handle 24 and pressing the pressing portion 25 of the push-type lock member 25b, the push-type lock mechanism can be attached and detached with one hand as well as the slide-type lock mechanism, and the waste toner bottle can be easily replaced. Can be realized.

[Third embodiment]
However, in the case of the manual lock mechanism 25 as described above, when the waste toner bottle 20 is attached to the exterior cover 21, the lock may be forgotten. When the waste toner bottle 20 is replaced, even if the exterior cover 21 is opened in such a state that the waste toner bottle 20 is not locked, the waste toner bottle 20 is not attached to the exterior cover 21 and the image forming apparatus 22 is not attached. It will remain inside. In this case, there is a possibility that the waste toner bottle 20 may fall from the image forming apparatus 22 and the toner may scatter from the waste toner bottle inlet 23 due to an impact or the like.
In order to avoid the above phenomenon, the waste toner bottle lock mechanism 25 of the present embodiment automatically installs the spring 38 on the lock member 25c and attaches the waste toner bottle 20 to a predetermined position. The locking member has a working configuration.
FIG. 15 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of the lock mechanism including the biasing member, and FIG. 16 is a perspective view illustrating an internal configuration of the lock mechanism including the biasing member.
In FIG. 15, (a) is a diagram showing the locked state, and (b) is a diagram showing the unlocked state.
In the lock member 25c of this embodiment, the method for locking to the exterior cover 21 is the same as the manual slide type lock mechanism 25a shown in the first embodiment.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 16, the lock mechanism 25c in the present embodiment is always biased to the lock position by the spring 38 when the exterior cover is mounted. With such a configuration, if the waste toner bottle 20 is mounted at a predetermined position, the waste toner bottle 20 is always locked by the bias of the spring 38, so that the waste toner bottle 20 is unnecessarily removed from the set position. Can be prevented.
Further, when the waste toner bottle 20 is attached to the exterior cover 21, it is performed while releasing the lock mechanism 25c with a finger, and if the finger is released after the waste toner bottle 20 is correctly set on the exterior cover 21, the lock mechanism 25c. And the claws 36 of the exterior cover 21 are engaged. When removing the waste toner bottle 20 from the exterior cover 21, it is removed while releasing the lock mechanism 25c with a finger.

[Fourth embodiment]
FIG. 17 is an operation diagram illustrating a locking operation when the locking mechanism according to another embodiment including the urging member is attached to the exterior cover 21. In FIG. 17, (a) shows the state before locking, (b) shows the first stage of the locking operation, (c) shows the second stage of the locking operation, and (d) shows the locking state.
Similar to the lock member according to the third embodiment, the lock member 25d includes a spring 38 as a biasing member therein.
In the present embodiment, the blades of the lock member 25d and the claws 36 of the exterior cover 21 are provided with inclinations p and q as shown in FIG. 17, and the waste toner bottle 20 is set on the exterior cover 21 by this inclination. Then, the lock mechanism 25d moves in the release direction using the inclination q of the claw 36, and then moves to the lock position, and the waste toner bottle 20 is automatically locked to the exterior cover 21 by the lock member 25d. It has become.
With such a configuration, the waste toner bottle 20 is set at a predetermined position, so that the lock mechanism is automatically operated, and it is not necessary to release the lock mechanism at the time of setting. Can be performed more easily.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a main part of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a process cartridge of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a process cartridge and a waste toner bottle in the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a state where the waste toner bottle of the present invention is mounted on the image forming apparatus main body. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an entire waste toner bottle according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a waste toner bottle. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a waste toner bottle full detection mechanism according to the present invention. (A) shows that the waste toner in the waste toner bottle is empty, and (b) shows that the waste toner in the waste toner bottle is full. FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a state where a waste toner bottle is attached to an exterior cover. FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a state when a waste toner bottle is attached to an exterior cover. It is a figure which shows the slide-type locking mechanism of the waste toner bottle which concerns on this invention. (A) is a perspective view which shows a lock release state, (b) is a perspective view which shows a lock state, (c) is sectional drawing in a lock state. FIG. 12 is an operation diagram of the sliding lock mechanism shown in FIG. 11. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a waste toner bottle push-type locking mechanism according to the present invention. (A) is a perspective view showing the vicinity of a handle of a waste toner bottle, (b) is a sectional view in a locked state, and (c) is a sectional view in an unlocked state. FIG. 14 is an operation diagram of the push-type locking mechanism shown in FIG. 13. It is a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the locking mechanism provided with the biasing member. (A) shows a locked state, (b) is a figure which shows a lock release state. It is a perspective view which shows the internal structure of the lock mechanism provided with the biasing member. It is an operation | movement figure which shows the locking operation at the time of mounting | wearing to the exterior cover of the locking mechanism which concerns on another embodiment provided with the urging member. (A) shows the state before locking, (b) shows the first stage of the locking operation, (c) shows the second stage of the locking operation, and (d) shows the locking state.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Intermediate transfer belt 2 Toner bottle 3 Paper discharge roller 4 Fixing unit 5 Secondary transfer roller 6 Registration roller 7 Paper feed roller 8 Transfer paper 9 Writing unit 10 Photoconductor 11 Process cartridge 12 Intermediate transfer belt cleaning unit 13 Transfer roller 14 Cleaning unit DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Charging roller 16 Developing unit 17 Waste toner conveyance coil 18 Waste toner discharge pipe 19 Waste toner discharge port 20 Waste toner bottle 21 Exterior cover 22 Image forming apparatus main body 23 Waste toner inlet 23a Waste toner inlet 23a for process cartridge Waste for intermediate transfer belt Toner inlet 24 Waste toner bottle handle 25 Waste toner bottle lock mechanism 25a, 25b, 25c Waste toner bottle lock member 26 Waste toner bottle set guide pin 27 Waste toner full detection filler 28 Positioning groove 29 Positioning hole 30 Conveying screw 31 Conveying screw drive gear 32 Mylar 33 Full detection rubber 34 Waste toner full detection sensor 35 Waste toner 36 Exterior cover claw 37 Waste toner bottle set guide 38 Lock mechanism biasing spring p, q Inclination

Claims (10)

In an image forming apparatus provided with a waste toner bottle for collecting waste toner after cleaning untransferred toner remaining on an image carrier after image formation,
An image forming apparatus comprising: a handle for holding the waste toner bottle; and a lock mechanism for preventing the handle from being detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus. In an image forming apparatus provided with a waste toner bottle for collecting waste toner after cleaning untransferred toner remaining on an image carrier after image formation,
An image forming apparatus comprising: a handle for holding the waste toner bottle; and a lock mechanism for preventing the handle from being detached from a main body of the image forming apparatus in the vicinity of the handle. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
An image forming apparatus, wherein the waste toner bottle locking mechanism is a push type. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
An image forming apparatus, wherein the waste toner bottle locking mechanism is a slide type. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4.
An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slide-type lock mechanism provided on the handle of the waste toner bottle is always urged to the lock position when being mounted. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5.
The waste toner bottle lock mechanism is biased to a lock position by a spring provided inside a handle. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 or 6,
The waste toner bottle locking mechanism and the member on the side where the waste toner bottle is mounted include a mechanism that automatically releases and locks the lever by an operation of mounting the waste toner bottle in a predetermined position. Image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus comprising: a process cartridge including the waste toner bottle according to claim 1. In the method for removing and attaching the waste toner bottle of the image forming apparatus,
While holding the handle of the waste toner bottle with one hand, the lock member is slid to a predetermined lock position or release position with a thumb, so that the waste toner bottle is attached to the image forming apparatus or the image of the waste toner bottle. A method for detaching a waste toner bottle from an image forming apparatus, comprising: removing the toner bottle from the image forming apparatus. In the method for removing and attaching the waste toner bottle of the image forming apparatus,
While holding the handle of the waste toner bottle with one hand, the elastic lock member is locked to a predetermined lock position with the thumb or bent to the release position, so that the waste toner bottle can be attached to the image forming apparatus or the waste toner bottle. A method for detaching a waste toner bottle from an image forming apparatus, comprising: removing the toner bottle from the image forming apparatus.

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