Patent Grant
9946223
This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2015-137127, filed on Jul. 8, 2015, and 2015-137128, filed on Jul. 8, 2015, in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Technical Field
This disclosure relates to a cooling device and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as copier, printer, facsimile machine, which can include the cooling device.
Related Art
Various types of image forming apparatuses include copiers, printers, facsimile machines, or multifunction peripherals (MFPs) having two or more of copying, printing, scanning, facsimile transmission, plotter, and other capabilities. Such image forming apparatuses include a cooling device having a technique to cool a cooling target body or device. From a view point of power consumption and cost, a single cooling device is used in the image forming apparatus to blow air toward multiple cooling target bodies via air flowing passages of respective branched ducts.
At least one aspect of this disclosure provides a cooling device including an air blower, an airflow divider, an air flowing passage, and an air exhaust opening. The air blower blows air toward a cooling target device and has an air exhaust port. The airflow divider divides the air exhausted from the air exhaust port of the air blower into at least two airflows such that an air flowing direction of the air is changed to a direction perpendicular to an air exhausting direction of the air. The air flowing passage is a passage through which the at least two airflows divided by the airflow divider pass. The air flow passage has a wall disposed facing the cooling target device. The air exhaust opening is disposed on the wall of the air flowing passage to cause the air to pass through toward the cooling target device disposed in a direction intersecting the air flowing direction in the air flowing passage.
Further, at least one aspect of this disclosure provides an image forming apparatus including a developing device including an image bearer to bear a toner image, a fixing device to fix the toner image transferred from the image bearer onto a recording medium, and the above-described cooling device disposed between the developing device and the fixing device.
Further, at least one aspect of this disclosure provides a cooling device including an air blower, a first air flowing passage, and a second air flowing passage. The air blower blows air toward a cooling target device and has an air exhaust port. The first air flowing passage and the second air flowing passage flow the air exhausted from the air blower. Each of the first air flowing passage and the second air flowing passage extend in an air flowing direction perpendicular to an air exhausting direction of the air. The second air flowing passage has a wall disposed facing the cooling target device and an air exhaust opening that is disposed on the wall to cause the air to pass through toward the cooling target device. The first air flowing passage is disposed between the second air flowing passage and a heat generator included in an image forming apparatus and is aligned with the second air flowing passage.
Further, at least one aspect of this disclosure provides an image forming apparatus including a developing device, a fixing device, and the above-described cooling device. The developing device includes an image bearer to bear a toner image and is the cooling target device. The fixing device fixes the toner image transferred from the image bearer onto a recording medium and is the heat generator. The above-described cooling device is disposed between the developing device and the fixing device.
Further, at least one aspect of this disclosure provides a cooling device including an air blower, a first cover, and a second cover. The air blower blows air toward a cooling target device and has an air exhaust port. The first cover and the second cover is disposed between which the air blower is held. The second cover includes a first air flowing passage and a second air flowing passage to flow the air exhausted from the air blower. Each of the first air flowing passage and the second air flowing passage extend in an air flowing direction perpendicular to an air exhausting direction of the air exhausted from the air blower. The second air flowing passage has a wall and an air exhaust opening that is disposed on the wall to cause the air to pass through toward the cooling target device.
Further, at least one aspect of this disclosure provides an image forming apparatus including a developing device, a fixing device, and the above-described cooling device. The developing device includes an image bearer to bear a toner image and is the cooling target device. The fixing device fixes the toner image transferred from the image bearer onto a recording medium and is the heat generator. The above-described cooling device is disposed between the developing device and the fixing device.
It will be understood that if an element or layer is referred to as being “on”, “against”, “connected to” or “coupled to” another element or layer, then it can be directly on, against, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, if an element is referred to as being “directly on”, “directly connected to” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, then there are no intervening elements or layers present. Like numbers referred to like elements throughout. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Spatially relative terms, such as “beneath”, “below”, “lower”, “above”, “upper” and the like may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements describes as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, term such as “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors herein interpreted accordingly.
Although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, it should be understood that these elements, components, regions, layer and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the present disclosure.
The terminology used herein is for describing particular embodiments and examples and is not intended to be limiting of exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Descriptions are given, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of examples, exemplary embodiments, modification of exemplary embodiments, etc., of an image forming apparatus according to exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. Elements having the same functions and shapes are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the specification and redundant descriptions are omitted. Elements that do not demand descriptions may be omitted from the drawings as a matter of convenience. Reference numerals of elements extracted from the patent publications are in parentheses so as to be distinguished from those of exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.
This disclosure is applicable to any image forming apparatus, and is implemented in the most effective manner in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
In describing preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this disclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes any and all technical equivalents that have the same function, operate in a similar manner, and achieve a similar result.
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, preferred embodiments of this disclosure are described.
A description is given of a configuration and functions of an image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment of this disclosure, with reference to drawings.
It is to be noted that identical parts are given identical reference numerals and redundant descriptions are summarized or omitted accordingly.
The image forming apparatus 1 may be a copier, a facsimile machine, a printer, a multifunction peripheral or a multifunction printer (MFP) having at least one of copying, printing, scanning, facsimile, and plotter functions, or the like. According to the present example, the image forming apparatus 1 is an electrophotographic copier that forms toner images on recording media by electrophotography.
It is to be noted in the following examples that: the term “image forming apparatus” indicates an apparatus in which an image is formed on a recording medium such as paper, OHP (overhead projector) transparencies, OHP film sheet, thread, fiber, fabric, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood, and/or ceramic by attracting developer or ink thereto; the term “image formation” indicates an action for providing (i.e., printing) not only an image having meanings such as texts and figures on a recording medium but also an image having no meaning such as patterns on a recording medium; and the term “sheet” is not limited to indicate a paper material but also includes the above-described plastic material (e.g., a OHP sheet), a fabric sheet and so forth, and is used to which the developer or ink is attracted. In addition, the “sheet” is not limited to a flexible sheet but is applicable to a rigid plate-shaped sheet and a relatively thick sheet.
Further, size (dimension material, shape, and relative positions used to describe each of the components and units are examples, and the scope of this disclosure is not limited thereto unless otherwise specified.
Further, it is to be noted in the following examples that: the term “sheet conveying direction” indicates a direction in which a recording medium travels from an upstream side of a sheet conveying passage to a downstream side thereof; the term “width direction” indicates a direction basically perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction.
A recording sheet 7 that functions as a print medium and a recording medium is accommodated in a sheet feeding part disposed in a lower part of the image forming apparatus 1.
A sheet conveying roller 10 is disposed downstream from the sheet feeding part in a sheet conveying direction DA.
At the start of a printing operation, a pickup roller 12 rotates to pick up the recording sheet 7 to feed the recording sheet 7 to a transfer position located between a developing device 80 and a transfer unit 81. The developing device 80 includes a photoconductor drum 80a therein. The photoconductor drum 80a functions as an image bearer to bear a toner image on a surface thereof. The transfer unit 81 transfers the toner image formed on the surface of the photoconductor drum 80a onto the recording sheet 7.
A fixing device 9 is disposed downstream from the developing device 80 and the transfer unit 81 in the sheet conveying direction DA. The fixing device 9 fixes the unfixed toner image formed on the recording sheet 7 to the recording sheet 7 by application of heat and pressure. The fixing device 9 includes a fixing roller that functions as a fixing body and a pressure roller that functions as a pressing body.
A sheet ejection roller 11 is disposed downstream from the fixing device 9 in the sheet conveying direction DA. The sheet ejection roller 11 ejects and stacks the recording sheet 7 with the fixed toner image to a sheet ejection part 2.
A cooling device 3 is disposed below the sheet ejection part. A toner bottle 5 that contains toner is disposed below the cooling device 3. A printed circuit board 4 is disposed at a left side of the cooling device 3. The printed circuit board 4 controls parts and components in the image forming apparatus 1. An exposure device 6 is disposed below the toner bottle 5. The exposure device 6 emits laser light based on image data read by a document reading device disposed in an upper part of the image forming apparatus 1, so as to irradiate the surface of the photoconductor drum 80a.
The cooling device 3 includes an air intake guide 30, an air blowing fan 31, a first duct 32, and a second duct 33. The cooling device 3 cools the developing device 80 and the printed circuit board 4.
In the present embodiment, the cooling device 3 is disposed at a location to cool the developing device 80 and the printed circuit board 4, each of which functions as a cooling target device. However, the cooling target device is not limited thereto and may be applied to any other parts and components included in the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment of this disclosure.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As described above, an opposed end of the opening 35 extends near the front cover of the image forming apparatus 1, so as to intake outside air of the image forming apparatus 1. The air exhausted from the air blowing fan 31 flows in the first duct 32 in two different directions indicated by arrows in
As described in
As illustrated in
The air blowing fan 31 is disposed at the interior center of the apparatus body of the image forming apparatus 1. The air blowing fan 31 intakes air from a bottom face thereof and exhausts the air through the air exhaust port 37 formed on a front face thereof. In assembling, a cover 36 attached to the upper half body 32a covers an upper face of the air blowing fan 31 to protect the air blowing fan 31 from dust. The air blowing fan 31 is mounted on a vent 39 formed on the lower half body 32b of the first duct 32. One end of the air intake guide 30 is fitted to a lower opening of the vent 39. The air intake guide 30 includes two half bodies and extends straight. However, the one end of the air intake guide 30 is bent upwardly. The second duct 33 can be connected to one end of the first duct 32 near the front face of the apparatus body of the image forming apparatus 1. Accordingly, the first duct 32 and the second duct 33 define an air flowing passage directing the developing device 80 and the printed circuit board 4, both are the cooling target devices.
The cooling device 3 includes the first air flowing passage 51 and the second air flowing passage 52 that are divided vertically. Each of the first air flowing passage 51 and the second air flowing passage 52 directs toward both ends in a sheet width direction that is a direction intersecting with or being perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction DA.
Further, the first air flowing passage 51 and the second air flowing passage 52 are branched and divided at a first projection 46 and a second projection 45, respectively, into respective two air flowing passages to flow the air exhausted from the air blowing fan 31 in a direction perpendicular to the air exhausting direction of the air blowing fan 31. Here, the first projection 46 projects from a bottom face of the first air flowing passage 51. Further, the second projection 45 projects from the second air flowing passage 52.
A top face of the second projection 45 is set to be equal to or higher than the bottom face of the first air flowing passage 51. Accordingly, since the first air flowing passage 51 and the second air flowing passage 52 both disposed close to the air blowing fan 31 are aligned in the same straight line, the cooling device 3 can be reduced in size.
The developing device 80 is disposed below the cooling device 3. A wall (a side wall) of the second air flowing passage 52 arranged facing the developing device 80 includes air exhaust openings (slits) 47 and 48 through which air flows toward the developing device 80. The second air flowing passage 52 is arranged near the air blowing fan 31. The second projection 45 that functions as an airflow divider is formed in the second air flowing passage 52. The first air flowing passage 51 is arranged far from the air blowing fan 31, specifically, is arranged downstream from the second projection 45 in an air flowing direction. The first projection 46 that functions as an airflow divider is formed in the first air flowing passage 51.
In a case in which the first duct 32 does not include any projections, air flows toward a wall of an air flowing passage. Further, if two air flowing passages are arranged close to each other for space saving, the cooling efficiency of the first duct 32 drops due to pressure loss.
In order to address this inconvenience, a projection is provided at an air dividing position in the air flowing passage, so as to smoothly guide air blown toward the air dividing position from the air blowing fan 31. By providing the projection to the air flowing passage, the cooling efficiency of the first duct 32 can increase and the space can be saved by defining the air flowing passage close to the air blowing fan 31.
The air exhaust openings 47 and 48 are formed on a side wall 52a and a bottom face 52b of the second air flowing passage 52. As illustrated in
By forming an air exhaust opening on the bottom face connecting to the side wall, the air can be blown to the developing device 80 that functions as a cooling target device disposed in the lower part of the cooling device 3. In this case, it is preferable that the air exhaust opening on the bottom face is not vertical to the bottom face but obliquely downwardly to prevent occurrence of vortex of airflow. The reason of the recommendation is described below. In a case in which the cooling device 3 is disposed immediately above the developing device 80, any air exhaust openings are not formed on the side wall but are formed on the bottom face. That is, the cooling device 3 includes air exhaust openings 47 and 48 formed on the side wall of the second air flowing passage 52 facing the cooling target device to flow air toward the cooling target device.
As illustrated in
By contrast, the airflow 63 directs toward a front side of the apparatus body in the second air flowing passage 52. Then, the airflow 63 flows in the region 42 and passes through the air exhaust openings 48 to cool the developing device 80 disposed below the cooling device 3. The airflow 62 and the airflow 63 travel in opposite directions to each other. In other words, the airflow 62 and the airflow 63 form an angle of substantially 180 degrees. This angle indicates that the second air flowing passage 52 is formed in a straight line.
No air exhaust opening is provided in the first air flowing passage 51.
As illustrated in
By contrast, the airflow 44 directs toward the front side of the apparatus body in the first air flowing passage 51. Then, the airflow 44 flows in the first air flowing passage 51 while being deflected and guided by the second duct 33 that is connected to the first duct 32 to cool the printed circuit board 4. The airflow 61 and the airflow 44 travel in opposite directions to each other. In other words, the airflow 61 and the airflow 44 form an angle of substantially 180 degrees. This angle indicates that the first air flowing passage 51 is formed in a straight line.
As illustrated in
As previously described, the second projection 45 divides the airflow into the airflow 62 and the airflow 63 and the first projection 46 divides the airflow into the airflow 61 and the airflow 44. The shape and position of the second projection 45 are determined such that the forces or speeds of the airflow 62 and the airflow 63 are substantially identical to each other.
It is to be noted that, due to reasons of design of the cooling device 3, the first projection 46 is arranged to be shifted to the right side from the center of the second projection 45. However, the configuration of the cooling device 3 is not limited thereto.
A lateral length of the air exhaust port 37 is substantially equal to a lateral length of the second projection 45.
A rib 56 is disposed downstream from an extreme upstream one of the air exhaust openings 47 in the air flowing direction. Specifically, the extreme upstream one of the air exhaust openings 47 is located at a closest position to the air blowing fan 31. The rib 56 is disposed projecting from the side wall 52a of the second air flowing passage 52 to guide the airflow 62 to the extreme upstream one of the air exhaust openings 47. The rib 56 is formed because an amount of airflow passing through the extreme upstream one of the air exhaust openings 47 is smaller than an amount of airflow passing through any one of the air exhaust openings 47 except the extreme upstream one due to various factors. Therefore, the rib 56 may not at all be provided to the cooling device 3 or, by contrast, may be provided to each of the air exhaust openings 47 and 48.
The first duct 32, the air intake guide 30, and the second duct 33 include a light and low-cost resin material having low thermal conductivity. Instead of the above-described light and lo-cost resin material, however, the upper half body 32a of the first duct 32 disposed near the fixing device 9 of high temperature includes a resin material having low thermal conductivity, and the lower half body 32b of the first duct 32 disposed close to the developing device 80 that functions as a cooling target device includes a metallic material having high thermal conductivity. Accordingly, heated air exerted from the fixing device 9 having h temperature becomes difficult to be conveyed to the first air flowing passage 51 and the developing device 80 (see
As illustrated in
The first air flowing passage 51 and the second air flowing passage 52 are aligned along a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the cooling device 3 and divided vertically. The first air flowing passage 51 is located at a position higher than the second air flowing passage 52. It is to be noted that the first projection 46 is arranged to be shifted to the right side from the center of the second projection 45.
The upper half body 32a includes a guide 58 and the lower half body 32b includes the second projection 45. As illustrated in (b) of
The guide 58 covers part of the area of the air exhaust port 37 indicated by broken lines. Therefore, as illustrated in (a) of
Here, the above description has clearly been given of branching the airflow exhausted from the air exhaust port 37 of the air blowing fan 31. However, the airflow may not be divided into three areas by the second projection 45 and the guide 58.
Further, a width (the left and right direction in
The airflow passes through an air flowing passage defined by a side wall 55 and a bottom face 54 of the first duct 32. The air exhaust opening 48 is formed on the side wall 55. After passing through the air exhaust opening 48, the airflow blows against the cooling target device.
Here, as illustrated in
In order to address this inconvenience, as illustrated in
The air exhaust opening 47 is made on an opposite side of the side wall 55 facing an opposite direction to the air exhaust opening 48 in
It is to be noted that, while having different sizes from each other in
In the present embodiment, the developing device 80 that functions as a cooling target device is located obliquely below the cooling device 3. Therefore, it is preferable that the air exhaust opening 48 is formed obliquely downwardly, that is, extending downwardly on the side wall 55, as illustrated in
A guide ribs 57 is disposed on an outer wall that surrounds the air exhaust opening 48 mounted obliquely on the side wall 55. The guide rib 57 extends to a downstream side in the air flowing direction toward the developing device 80. With this configuration having the guide rib 57, the airflow can be guided to the cooling target device more reliably. At this time, it is preferable that an air inlet port does not project from the side wall 55.
In a case in which the air exhaust opening 48a having a rectangular shape is formed in the air flowing passage, as illustrated in
In order to address this inconvenience, the air exhaust opening 48b extends diagonally relative to the air flowing direction, as illustrated in
Drawing (a) of
In the configuration of (a) of
The developing device 80 that functions as a cooling target device is disposed in the direction intersecting with the air flowing direction in the air flowing passage. An airflow 86 exhausted from the air exhaust openings 47 and 48 exits downwardly from the second air flowing passage 52 to blow an upper part of the developing device 80. Further, the first air flowing passage 51 and the second air flowing passage 52 are aligned along a longitudinal direction of the developing device 80. In addition, the first air flowing passage 51 is located closer to the fixing device 9 that functions as a heat generator than the second air flowing passage 52 and between the fixing device 9 and the second air flowing passage 52. To be more specific, the first air flowing passage 51 and the second air flowing passage 52 are divided vertically into two steps. The first air flowing passage 51 is located to the fixing device 9 than the second air flowing passage 52. Accordingly, the first air flowing passage 51 functions as a heat transfer prevention layer or an air layer to restrain heated air (an airflow 85) from the heated fixing device 9 to be transmitted to the developing device 80 and the second air flowing passage 52. The first air flowing passage 51 can reduce an increase in temperature of the toner collecting passage 82 that is disposed in an upper part of the developing device 80 and an increase in temperature of air in the second air flowing passage 52. The toner collecting passage 82 is used to collect and resupply toner unused for development of toner image. By preventing an increase in temperature of the toner collecting passage 82, the toner in the toner collecting passage 82 is also prevented from being melted.
As described above, the cooling device 3 according to the present embodiment of this disclosure aligns two divided air flowing passages on the same straight line. By so doing, the cooling device 3 including the first duct 32 and the second duct 33 can be reduced in size. Further, by providing the air exhaust opening(s) along the air flowing passage between the air dividing position and the outlet part, the cooling target device disposed close to the air flowing passage can be cooled. Consequently, various types of cooling target devices can be cooled by air blown by a compact cooling device.
Further, comparative image forming apparatuses develop a toner image on a recording medium in a developing device before fixing the toner image to the recording medium in a fixing device. Therefore, as the size of an image forming apparatus decreases, a position of the fixing device and a position of the developing device become closer at a distance. Due to this configuration, the temperature of the air is heated by the fixing device when the air is to cool the fixing device. Accordingly, the developing device is not cooled sufficiently or the temperature of the developing device is increased due to the heated air.
By contrast, the cooling device 3 according to the present embodiment of this disclosure has the second air flowing passage 52 used for cooling a cooling target device or cooling target devices and the first air flowing passage 51 used for preventing heat transfer aligned separately. As a result, an increase in temperature of the airflow in the second air flowing passage 52 can be restrained or prevented. In other words, one air flowing passage is additionally disposed between an air flowing passage for cooling and the fixing device to prevent heat transfer, so as to prevent an increase in temperature of cool air to be blown against the developing device. Further, heat transfer prevention and cooling are performed by one duct. Therefore, even if the duct is disposed near the fixing device, the developing device can be cooled effectively. In addition, the airflow used for preventing heat transfer can be reused for cooling a printed circuit board or other cooling target devices. Consequently, this disclosure can achieve a cooling device that is a compact type, that can convey air to various types of cooling target devices, and that does not cause cool air to be susceptible to heat even if the cooling device is disposed near the fixing device functioning as a heat generator.
Further, in a case in which the airflows exhausted from the air exhaust openings 47 and 48 of the second air flowing passage 52 can cool the developing device 80 sufficiently, the first air flowing passage 51 that mainly functions as a heat transfer prevention layer may be omitted. For example, the cooling device 3 may have the second air flowing passage 52 without the first air flowing passage 51, as illustrated in
Further, the cooling device 3 according to the present embodiment of this disclosure includes two air flowing passages but the configuration of a cooling device is not limited thereto. For example, the cooling device may include three air flowing passages. Further, the cooling device may include one or two second air flowing passages for cooling and two or one first air flowing passage for preventing heat transfer. The second air exhaust opening for cooling the cooling target device has an air exhaust opening or openings on a wall disposed facing the cooling target device, so that air passes through the air exhaust opening(s) toward the cooling target device. Further, depending on the configuration, the first air flowing passage for preventing heat transfer may have an air exhaust opening or openings on the wall disposed facing the cooling target device, so that air passes through the air exhaust opening(s) toward the cooling target device.
Now,
In this case, the air exhaust openings 47 and 48 are formed on the bottom face 52b. By so doing, the airflow in the second air flowing passage may not be directly susceptible to heat generated by the fixing device 9 due to the first air flowing passage 51.
Further, each of the first air flowing passage 51 and the second air flowing passage 52 causes divided airflows to flow to the left and right sides. However, the configuration of the air flowing passage is not limited thereto. For example,
Further, it is preferable that the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment of this disclosure includes the developing device 80 including an image bearer that bears a toner image thereon, the fixing device 9 that functions as a heat generator to fix the toner image to the recording sheet 7, and the cooling device 3 disposed between the developing device 80 and the fixing device 9.
The above-described embodiments are illustrative and do not limit this disclosure. Thus, numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. For example, elements at least one of features of different illustrative and exemplary embodiments herein may be combined with each other at least one of substituted for each other within the scope of this disclosure and appended claims. Further, features of components of the embodiments, such as the number, the position, and the shape are not limited the embodiments and thus may be preferably set. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the disclosure of this disclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-137127 | Jul 2015 | JP | national |
| 2015-137128 | Jul 2015 | JP | national |
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