CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2008-0016467, filed on Feb. 22, 2008, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a configuration of developing unit of an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Developing units employed in compact image forming apparatuses such as laser printers may include an internal space for housing developer, a photosensitive medium, a developer supply unit for supplying developer and a waste developer collecting portion for collecting remaining developer, all of which are integrated as a single cartridge.
Due to such integration, despite the fact that the other components of the developing unit, e.g., photosensitive media and developer supply units, may have considerable remaining useful life, when developer is completely exhausted, a user needs to replace the entire developing unit with a new one at least in part due to the difficulties in only replenishing the developer by the user.
To avoid the cost of new developing unit, users may attempt to refill a used developing unit with additional supply of developer or to purchase from so called recycling vendors a used developing unit that has been refilled with developer. However, these refilling attempts are generally inadequate, as they are messy and may result in damage or reduced performance of the developing units if developer of inferior quality is used as replenishment.
Researches are on-going among the manufacturers of image forming apparatus to provide ways in which to allow replenishment of genuine quality developer by the users.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Various features and advantages of the disclosure will become more apparent by the following detailed description of several embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings, of which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a developing unit of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIGS. 2 and 3 are plane views of a cover member according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a developing cartridge from which a cover member is removed, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a developing cartridge in which a cover member is mounted, according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a developing cartridge in which a cover member is mounted, according to an embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a developing unit from which a cover member is removed and to which a developer cartridge is attached, according to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
In the following description, the same drawing reference numerals are used for the same elements in all drawings. The matters defined in the description, such as detailed construction and elements, are provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the invention. Thus, it should be apparent that the exemplary embodiments of the invention can be carried out without those specifically detailed matters. Also, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail so as to avoid obscuring the description with unnecessary detail.
Referring to FIG. 1, a developing cartridge 100 according to an embodiment of the invention may include a cartridge body 110, a handle 120 and a mounting portion 130. The mounting portion 130 may be closed by a cover member 10. Reference numeral 117 denotes a waste developer outlet shutter unit, which is described in detail below.
The handle 120 may be pivotably mounted on the cartridge body 110. The handle 120 allows a user to attach or detach the cartridge body 110 to or from an image forming apparatus.
The mounting portion 130 has an opening on one side of the cartridge body 110, so that a developer cartridge 200 (see FIG. 7) which houses developer may be mounted in the mounting portion 130.
Referring to FIG. 4, the cartridge body 110 includes a photosensitive medium 111 and a developer supply unit 112 which contains developer T used for printing. The developer cartridge 200 may supply additional developer when the developer contained in the developer supply unit 112 is exhausted or when additional supply of developer is required.
The mounting portion 130 may include mounting guides 131 and 132. The mounting guides 131 and 132 may be formed on sides of the mounting portion 130 and may have concave and convex surfaces to guide the developer cartridge 200 into the mounting portion 130. As shown in FIG. 7, in one embodiment of the invention, the developer cartridge 200 may include guide traveling units 211 and 212 which correspond to the mounting guides 131 and 132 of the mounting portion 130, respectively, so that the developer cartridge 200 may be smoothly mounted in the mounting portion 130.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 6, the cover member 10 may be slidingly inserted or otherwise detachably inserted into the mounting portion 130 to seal the opening of the mounting portion 130. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the cover member 10 includes a cover member body 11, a shutter unit 17 and a locking unit 18 (see FIG. 1).
Referring to FIG. 5, the cover member body 11 is configured in the form of a box enclosing a space to house a waste developer collecting portion 14, and has a shape corresponding to the opening of the mounting portion 130 (see FIG. 1). Additionally, the cover member body 11 includes a waste developer inlet 12 which is formed on a surface thereof and through which waste developer generated as a result of printing using the developing cartridge 100 enters. A waste developer outlet 115 is formed on a surface of the cartridge body 110 opposite the waste developer inlet 12 of the cover member body 11.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the shutter unit 17 includes a sliding shutter 15 and an elastic member 16. When the cover member 10 is mounted in the developing cartridge 100, the sliding shutter 15 slides to an open position while one end of the sliding shutter 15 is blocked by the cartridge body 110, as shown in FIG. 3. The elastic member 16 elastically supports the sliding shutter 15 so that the sliding shutter 15 slides to a closed position in which the waste developer inlet 12 is sealed. According to the supporting operation of the elastic member 16, the sliding shutter 15 causes the waste developer inlet 12 to open when the cover member 10 is attached to the cartridge body 110 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6. If the cover member 10 is separated from the cartridge body 110, as shown in FIG. 1, the sliding shutter 15 closes the waste developer inlet 12 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
Referring to FIG. 7, a developing unit 300 according to an embodiment may include the developing cartridge 100 and the developer cartridge 200 is inserted into the mounting portion 130, which is exposed when the cover member 10 closing the opening of the developing cartridge 100 (see FIG. 6) is removed from the cartridge body 110. The developer cartridge 200 supplies developer to the developer supply unit 112 (see FIG. 4).
Hereinafter, an operation of the developing unit 300 of the image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention will be described.
As shown in FIG. 4, the photosensitive medium 111 and developer supply unit 112 are disposed inside the cartridge body 110 of the developing cartridge 100, and the developer supply unit 112 contains developer T. A user may use the developing cartridge 100 until the developer T is substantially exhausted, although it should be understood that the developing cartridge 100 may be replenished using the developer cartridge 200 even before the developer T is completely exhausted.
The mounting portion 130 is disposed inside the cartridge body 110 to receive the developer cartridge 200 (see FIG. 7), from which replenishment of the developer that had been consumed by the developer supply unit 112 may be made. The mounting portion 130 may be sealed by the cover member 10, in order, e.g., to prevent external dust or dirt from being drawn therein, for example, when the developing cartridge 100 is initially manufactured, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, or during when the developing cartridge 100 is operated without a developer cartridge 200 installed by using the developer available in the developer supply unit 112.
Referring to FIG. 5, the cover member 10 acts to close the mounting portion 130 (see FIG. 6). Additionally, in one embodiment of the invention, the cover member 10 may include the waste developer collecting portion 14 disposed therein to collect waste developer W generated during printing operations. The waste developer W is conveyed to the waste developer outlet port 115 through a waste developer conveying unit 113, and is then collected in the waste developer collecting portion 14 via the waste developer inlet 12. The waste developer outlet port 115 may be opened by the outlet port shutter unit 117 (see FIG. 1) when the developing cartridge 100 is installed in an image forming apparatus (not shown), so as to fluidly communicate with the waste developer inlet 12.
When the developer in the developer supply unit 112 is substantially exhausted, a user removes the developing cartridge 100 from the image forming apparatus (not shown) by gripping the handle 120. Subsequently, the user operates the locking unit 18 of the cover member 10 to release the locking state, so that the cover member 10 is removed from the cartridge body 110.
As shown in FIG. 7, since the mounting portion 130 is accessible once the cover member 10 is removed, the user may insert the developer cartridge 200 into the mounting portion 130. When the developer cartridge 200 is mounted in the cartridge body 110, a developer contained in the developer cartridge 200 can be supplied to the developer supply unit 112 via a developer discharge port (not shown) provided between the developer cartridge 200 and the developer supply unit 112.
The foregoing embodiments and advantages are merely examples and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. The present teaching can be readily applied to various other embodiments. Also, the description of the embodiments of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims, and many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
Patent Application
20090214257
