This application is based upon, and claims the benefit of priority from, corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-227620 filed in the Japan Patent Office on Nov. 24, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A typical image forming apparatus includes a developing device that develops an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier to make a toner image. A developer is housed in a developer container to be supplied to the developing device from the developer container.
There is proposed a developer-circulation-stirring device that includes a spiral roll conveying toner inside a developing container. A shaft of the spiral roll passes through a partition wall formed at the center in an axial direction of the developing container. Both the end portions of the shaft are rotatably supported by a pair of sidewalls of the developing container. The partition wall is located to divide a conveyance path of toner to right and left.
A developer container according to one aspect of the disclosure includes a container body, a rotating member, and a position regulating portion. The container body includes an internal space and a pair of sidewalls. The internal space houses a developer. The pair of sidewalls are opposed across the internal space. The rotating member includes both end portions in an axial direction of the rotating member. Both the end portions are rotatably supported by the pair of sidewalls. The position regulating portion is located in the container body so as to cover a part of the rotating member. The rotating member includes a large-diameter portion and a small-diameter portion. The large-diameter portion is formed to have an outer diameter rotatable around a shaft inside the position regulating portion. The small-diameter portion is formed to have an outer diameter smaller than the large-diameter portion. The position regulating portion includes a cut-out portion that regulates passing of the large-diameter portion and permits passing of the small-diameter portion. The small-diameter portion is arranged by being displaced in the axial direction from an inside of the position regulating portion, and the large-diameter portion is arranged inside the position regulating portion.
These as well as other aspects, advantages, and alternatives will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the following detailed description with reference where appropriate to the accompanying drawings. Further, it should be understood that the description provided in this summary section and elsewhere in this document is intended to illustrate the claimed subject matter by way of example and not by way of limitation.
Example apparatuses are described herein. Other example embodiments or features may further be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented herein. In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.
The example embodiments described herein are not meant to be limiting. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the drawings, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated herein.
The following describes preferred embodiments of the disclosure with reference to the accompany drawings. A paper-surface front in
Overall Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus
A description will be given of an overall configuration of a color printer 1 as one example of the image forming apparatus with reference to
The color printer 1 includes an apparatus main body 2 that constitutes an approximately rectangular-shaped external appearance. In an internal lower side of the apparatus main body 2, a sheet feed cassette 3 housing a (bundle of) sheet S is removably located. On a top surface of the apparatus main body 2, a sheet discharge tray 4 is located. The sheet S includes a resin sheet and similar sheet, and is not limited to a paper sheet.
The color printer 1 includes a paper sheet feeder 5, an image forming unit 6, and a fixing unit 7, inside the apparatus main body 2. The paper sheet feeder 5 is located at an upstream end portion of a conveyance path 8 that extends from the sheet feed cassette 3 up to the sheet discharge tray 4. The fixing unit 7 is located on a downstream side of the conveyance path 8, and the image forming unit 6 is located between the paper sheet feeder 5 and the fixing unit 7 in the conveyance path 8.
The image forming unit 6 includes four toner containers 10, an intermediate transfer belt 11, four drum units 12, and a light scanning device 13. The four toner containers 10 are located side by side in a lateral direction below the sheet discharge tray 4. The intermediate transfer belt 11 is rotatably located below the respective toner containers 10. The four drum units 12 are located side by side in the lateral direction below the intermediate transfer belt 11. The light scanning device 13 is located below the respective drum units 12.
The four toner containers 10 house four-color (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black) toners (developers). The four drum units 12, which correspond to the four-color toners, each include a photoreceptor drum 20, a charging apparatus 21, a developing device 22, a primary transfer roller 23, and a cleaning apparatus 24. The toner may be a one-component developer made of a magnetic toner, or may be a two-component developer that contains a toner and a carrier.
The respective photoreceptor drums 20 contact on a lower surface of the intermediate transfer belt 11. The respective charging apparatuses 21 charge the surfaces of the respective photoreceptor drums 20. The respective photoreceptor drums 20 receive a scanning light emitted from the light scanning device 13 to carry an electrostatic latent image. The respective developing devices 22 develop the electrostatic latent images on the surfaces of the respective photoreceptor drums 20 to make toner images by using the toner supplied from the respective toner containers 10. The respective primary transfer rollers 23 primarily transfer the toner images on the respective photoreceptor drums 20 to the rotating intermediate transfer belt 11 in a sequential order. On the intermediate transfer belt 11, a full-color toner image is formed by superimposition of the four-color toner images. A secondary transfer roller 25 contacts the right side of the intermediate transfer belt 11 to form a secondary-transfer nip. The sheet S is sent out from the sheet feed cassette 3 to the conveyance path 8 by the paper sheet feeder 5. The full-color toner image is fixed to the sheet S by passing through the fixing unit 7 after undergoing secondary transfer on the sheet S that passes through the secondary-transfer nip. Then, the sheet S is discharged to the sheet discharge tray 4. The respective cleaning apparatuses 24 remove the toner remaining on the respective photoreceptor drums 20 after the transfer.
Detail Configuration of Toner Container
Next, by referring to
As illustrated in
The toner container 10 that houses a black toner is formed to have a capacity larger than the other three toner containers 10, and the other three toner containers 10 are formed to have an identical capacity. While the capacities are different as described above, a basic configuration of the four toner containers 10 is similar, and thus, a description will be given of the toner container 10 that houses a toner of cyan (C).
As illustrated in
Configuration of Container Body
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Configuration and Action of Shutter Mechanism
As illustrated in
The shutter 49 is slidably located between a release position (see
Configuration of Stirring Member
As illustrated in
The stir rotation shaft 50 is, for example, formed in a bar shape long in the front-rear direction with a synthetic resin material. A front end portion of the stir rotation shaft 50 is rotatably fitted in the stir bearing portion 44. A rear-end portion of the stir rotation shaft 50 is connected to a stir connecting member 52 that passes through the stir supporting hole 46. Consequently, the stirring member 32 (the stir rotation shaft 50) is installed between the pair of sidewalls 43Fr and 43Rr opposed across the storage space SP in the upper portion of the stir concave portion 42A.
The stirring blade 51 is, for example, formed of a synthetic-resin film having flexibility. The stirring blade 51 is formed in a rectangular shape with a length approximately identical to the stir rotation shaft 50, and its one side in a longitudinal direction is secured to the stir rotation shaft 50. A size in a radial direction of the stirring blade 51 is set to be longer than a distance connecting a shaft center of the stir rotation shaft 50 and an inner surface of the stir concave portion 42A (see
As illustrated in
Configuration of Transport Screw
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The spiral blade 61 projects from the circumference surface of the conveyance rotation shaft 60 in the radial direction and is formed in a spiral pattern along the axial direction of the conveyance rotation shaft 60. An outer diameter of the spiral blade 61 is formed to be slightly smaller than an inner diameter of a cylinder configured of the conveyance concave portion 42B and the tubular portion 42C.
The reverse spiral blade 62 projects from the circumference surface of the fitted shaft portion 60A in the radial direction and is formed in a spiral pattern of one to two turns. The reverse spiral blade 62 is located on a downstream side (rear side) with respect to the discharge port 30A. The reverse spiral blade 62 has a spiral direction opposite (opposite phase) to that of the spiral blade 61 and is formed with a diameter (outer diameter) identical to that of the spiral blade 61. Since the fitted shaft portion 60A has a diameter larger than the conveyance rotation shaft 60, a toner conveying force of the reverse spiral blade 62 becomes smaller than the toner conveying force of the spiral blade 61.
The rear-end portion (the fitted shaft portion 60A) of the conveyance rotation shaft 60 is supported by the rear-side sidewall 43Rr via the conveyance connecting member 63. The conveyance connecting member 63 includes a conveyance connecting shaft 63B axially extending from a shaft center of a conveyance gear 63A. The conveyance gear 63A (a connecting gear) is, what is called, a spur gear located on a shaft center identical to that of the conveyance connecting shaft 63B, and is connected to the drive motor 64 via a gear train or similar gear row (not illustrated). The conveyance gear 63A engages with the stir gear 52A via an intermediate gear 63C. The conveyance connecting shaft 63B is inserted into the conveyance supporting hole 47 of the sidewall 43Rr from the rearward and rotatably supported by the conveyance supporting hole 47. A distal end portion of the conveyance connecting shaft 63B is unrotatably fitted into the fitted shaft portion 60A.
Action of Toner Container
When the toner is consumed by an image formation process, a control unit of the color printer 1 drivingly controls the drive motor 64 to execute a replenishment operation of the toner. The driving power of the drive motor 64 rotates the conveyance gear 63A (the conveyance connecting member 63) and also rotates the stir gear 52A (the stir connecting member 52) via the intermediate gear 63C. Then, the stirring member 32 and the transport screw 33 also rotate. The stirring blade 51 of the stirring member 32 stirs the toner inside the storage space SP while scraping off the toner that has attached on the inner surfaces of the sidewalls 43L and 43R, the stir concave portion 42A, and similar portion. The stirring member 32 extrudes the toner on the stir concave portion 42A toward the conveyance concave portion 42B. The transport screw 33 conveys the toner on the conveyance concave portion 42B to the discharge port 30A. The toner conveyed up to the discharge port 30A is stopped by rotation of the reverse spiral blade 62 and is discharged from the discharge port 30A toward the developing device 22 (see a solid, bold arrow in
Now, for example, when the toner container 10 is erroneously dropped on a floor surface, there is possibility that the conveyance rotation shaft 60 is significantly warped (bent) by an impact of the drop and its front end portion comes off from the conveyance bearing portion 45. If the front end portion of the conveyance rotation shaft 60 were formed long enough to pass through the sidewall 43Fr, this would ensure the reduced coming-off of the conveyance rotation shaft 60. However, the longer conveyance rotation shaft 60 causes a problem such as enlargement of the toner container 10 or a difficult assembly work of the transport screw 33 to occur. Therefore, the toner container 10 according to the embodiment includes a position regulating portion 34 that reduces the coming-off of the transport screw 33 and ensures facilitated assembly of the transport screw 33.
By referring to
Large-Diameter Portion and Small-Diameter Portion
Prior to a detail description of the position regulating portion 34, a description will be further given of the configuration of the transport screw 33. As illustrated in
Configuration of Position Regulating Portion
As illustrated in
The position regulating portion 34 (the pair of regulating pieces 70) is formed to be shorter than the small-diameter portion 66 in the front-rear direction. The position regulating portion 34 is formed to be slightly longer in the front-rear direction than an interval (one pitch) of the spiral blade 61 adjacent to the front-rear direction of the large-diameter portion 65. The position regulating portion 34 may be formed to be shorter than the small-diameter portion 66 and to be equal to or more than one pitch of the spiral blade 61. The small-diameter portion 66 is formed in a length of about 1.5 pitch of the spiral blade 61.
The position regulating portion 34 includes a cut-out portion 71 that regulates passing of the large-diameter portion 65 and permits the passing of the small-diameter portion 66. Specifically, the cut-out portion 71 is configured between the distal ends of the pair of regulating pieces 70. The cut-out portion 71 is formed at an uppermost portion of the pair of regulating pieces 70, which configures an approximately half-cylinder. A lateral width (the interval of the distal ends of the pair of regulating pieces 70) of the cut-out portion 71 is formed to be equal to or more than a diameter of the small-diameter portion 66 (the conveyance rotation shaft 60).
Assembly of Transport Screw
Next, by referring to
As illustrated in
Next, as illustrated in
Next, as illustrated in
After assembling the transport screw 33, the worker installs the stirring member 32 to the storage unit 40. After fitting the front end portion of the stir rotation shaft 50 into the stir bearing portion 44, the worker causes the stir connecting member 52 (the stir connecting shaft 52B), which is inserted into the stir supporting hole 46 of the sidewall 43Rr, to fit into the rear-end portion of the stir rotation shaft 50 (see
In the above-described toner container 10 according to the embodiment, the transport screw 33 is movably located between the attachment/detachment position P1 and the support position P2. That is, the toner container 10 is configured such that after causing the small-diameter portion 66 of the transport screw 33 to enter the cut-out portion 71 of the position regulating portion 34, causing the pair of sidewalls 43Fr and 43Rr to support both the end portions of the transport screw 33 by warping the transport screw 33 moves the large-diameter portion 65 of the transport screw 33 to the inside of the position regulating portion 34. Since the large-diameter portion 65 has an outer diameter that cannot pass through the cut-out portion 71, when being warped (bent) by an external impact (for example, when the toner container 10 drops) or similar impact, the transport screw 33 is brought in contact with the inner surface of the position regulating portion 34 (the respective regulating pieces 70), and the large warp is regulated. Consequently, even when a large impact is applied to the toner container 10, the transport screw 33 is not significantly warped and is held inside the position regulating portion 34 (the support position P2). This ensures the reduced coming-off of the front end portion of the transport screw 33 from the sidewall 43Fr due to the warp of the transport screw 33. Then, this ensures maintaining a state of causing the pair of sidewalls 43Fr and 43Rr to support both the end portions of the transport screw 33.
It is only necessary that the transport screw 33 is formed to have a length that can span the pair of sidewalls 43Fr and 43Rr because the position regulating portion 34 regulates the warp of the transport screw 33. This ensures reduced unnecessary extension of the transport screw 33 and thus ensures facilitated assembly of the transport screw 33 to the container body 30 (the storage unit 40).
In the toner container 10 according to the embodiment, the small-diameter portion 66 is formed by removing a part of the spiral blade 61 of the transport screw 33. This ensures a simple and low-cost configuration of the transport screw 33 with the small-diameter portion 66 based on an existing screw. Since the spiral blade 61 does not exist at the small-diameter portion 66, a conveying capability of the toner is slightly reduced at the small-diameter portion 66. However, since the length of the small-diameter portion 66 is considerably small compared with the whole transport screw 33, the necessary and sufficient conveying capability of the toner is secured.
In the toner container 10 according to the embodiment, the position regulating portion 34 is formed to have a length in the axial direction longer than one pitch of the spiral blade 61 of the large-diameter portion 65. With this configuration, the spiral blade 61 is brought into contact with the inner surface of the position regulating portion 34 when the transport screw 33 arranged at the support position P2 is warped. This ensures appropriate regulation of the warp of the transport screw 33 and ensures holding of the transport screw 33 at the support position P2.
With the toner container 10 according to the embodiment, integrally forming the respective regulating pieces 70 with the container body 30 ensures reduced production cost of the container body 30 and the position regulating portion 34, compared with forming the position regulating portion 34 (the respective regulating pieces 70) using a separate member.
In the toner container 10 according to the embodiment, the position regulating portion 34 is located in the front-rear-direction (axial-direction) center where an amount of displacement in a radial direction of the transport screw 33 becomes maximum. This configuration ensures effectively reducing the warp of the transport screw 33 by the position regulating portion 34 and ensuring a necessary warp amount of the transport screw 33 during assembly of the transport screw 33. As described above, while it is preferred that the small-diameter portion 66 be formed in the proximity of the front-rear-direction center of the transport screw 33, a forming position of the small-diameter portion 66 may be displaced forward or rearward from the front-rear-direction center of the transport screw 33.
Furthermore, the toner container 10 according to the embodiment can cause the sidewall 43Rr to support the rear-end portion of the transport screw 33 via the conveyance connecting member 63 after causing the conveyance bearing portion 45 to support the front end portion of the transport screw 33. Thus, the toner container 10 includes the conveyance bearing portion 45, which is located at any one of the pair of sidewalls 43Fr and 43Rr and rotatably supports one end portion in the axial direction of the transport screw 33, and the conveyance connecting member 63, which is rotatably mounted to any other one of the pair of sidewalls 43Fr and 43Rr and is connected to the other end portion in the axial direction of the transport screw 33. This ensures simple and quick assembly of the transport screw 33 to the storage unit 40.
In the toner container 10 according to the embodiment, while the cut-out portion 71 of the position regulating portion 34 is formed to be equal to or more than the diameter of the small-diameter portion 66, the disclosure is not limited to this. Because the respective regulating pieces 70, which are made of synthetic resin, are elastically deformed in the lateral direction with a base end portion as a fulcrum, elastically deforming the pair of the regulating pieces 70 so as to separate from one another ensures causing the small-diameter portion 66 to pass through the pair of the regulating pieces 70. Consequently, in a state (a normal state) where the respective regulating pieces 70 are not elastically deformed, a width of the cut-out portion 71 may be formed to be smaller than the outer diameter of the small-diameter portion 66. This further ensures a reduced risk of coming-off of the transport screw 33 from the position regulating portion 34.
First Modification
While in the above-described toner container 10, the small-diameter portion 66 is configured by omitting a part of the spiral blade 61, the disclosure is not limited to this. For example, as illustrated in
Second to Fourth Modifications
While in the toner container 10 according to the embodiment (including the first modification), the pair of regulating pieces 70 of the position regulating portion 34 is curved to be laterally symmetrical, the disclosure is not limited to this. For example, as illustrated in
Fifth Modification
While in the toner container 10 according to the embodiment (including the respective modifications, and the same applies to the following), the stirring member 32 or a bearing portion into which the rear-end portion of the transport screw 33 is fitted does not exist on the rear-side sidewall 43Rr, the disclosure is not limited to this. As illustrated in
While in the toner container 10 according to the embodiment, the stirring member 32 and the rear-end portion of the transport screw 33 are supported by the sidewall 43Rr via the respective connecting members 52 and 63, not limited to this, the front end portion of the transport screw 33 or similar screw may be supported via the conveyance connecting shaft 63B or similar shaft.
While in the toner container 10 according to the embodiment, the position regulating portion 34 reduces the coming-off of the transport screw 33 as one example of a rotating member, not limited to this, the position regulating portion 34 may be configured so as to reduce the coming-off of a member installed over the pair of sidewalls 43Fr and 43Rr, such as the stirring member 32.
While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-227620 | Nov 2016 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20160202660 | Terai | Jul 2016 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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H08-062957 | Mar 1996 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20180143583 A1 | May 2018 | US |