Patent Application
20080080891
These and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures.
Referring to
Referring to
The mainframe 111 is formed in a substantially rectangular tank shape with a bottom surface to hold the photosensitive medium 112, the developing member 113, the toner regulating member 114, and the cleaning member 117. Accordingly, the mainframe 111 has an opened top surface, a bottom surface 111e, and four side surfaces 111a, 111b, 111c, and 111d, respectively. The side surfaces 111a and 111b which are parallel to the photosensitive medium 112 are referred to as a front surface and a back surface, respectively. The side surfaces 111c and 111d that support the photosensitive medium 112 to rotate are referred to as a left surface and a right surface, respectively. Accordingly, in
The bottom surface 111e of the mainframe 111 is formed in a proper shape to allow the developing apparatus 100 to perform functions of holding toner and supplying toner to the photosensitive medium 112. Also, the bottom surface 111e of the mainframe 111 is formed in a shape corresponding to a structure of an image forming apparatus 200 (see
The bottom surface 111e of the mainframe 111 includes a photosensitive medium opening 111f through which a portion of the photosensitive medium 112 is exposed to transfer an image to a printing medium. The photosensitive medium opening 111f is formed in such a way that the photosensitive medium 112 is exposed in a lengthwise direction thereof. The photosensitive medium 112 is rotatably supported by the left and right surfaces 111c and 111d. As a result, the mainframe 111 is divided into two spaces 121 and 122 by the photosensitive medium 112. Toner is stored at the space 121 between the front surface 111a of the mainframe 111 and the photosensitive medium 112, where the developing member 113 to supply toner stored therein to the photosensitive medium 112 is disposed. The cleaning member 117 is disposed at the space 122 between the back surface 111b of the mainframe 111 and the photosensitive medium 112, where used toner removed from the photosensitive medium 112 by the cleaning member 117 is collected. Accordingly, the mainframe 111 is formed in a single piece, and is provided with the first space 121 to hold toner and the second space 122 to hold used toner separated each other therein.
The developing member 113 is rotatably disposed and adjacent to the photosensitive medium 112 inside the mainframe 111. According to a developing method of toner, the developing member 113 may be disposed in contact with the photosensitive medium 112. Alternatively, the developing member 113 may be disposed apart from the photosensitive medium 112. In this embodiment of the present general inventive concept, a developing roller is used as the developing member 113.
The toner regulating member 114 is disposed in contact with the developing member 113 to regulate a height of a toner layer conveyed by the developing member 113 and to charge toner by a friction force. The toner regulating member 114 is formed in a substantially plate shape and is fixed to the left and right surfaces 111c and 111d of the mainframe 111 via a toner regulating member fixture 114a. Toner is stored at the first space 121 (hereinafter, referred to as a toner space) between the toner regulating member 114, the developing member 113, and the front surface 111a of the mainframe 111. At this time, a toner supplying member 116 to supply toner and an agitator (not illustrated) to agitate toner may be disposed at the toner space 121. The toner supplying member 116 may be rotatably disposed to contact the developing member 113 at a lower portion of the toner space 121.
The cleaning member 117 is disposed opposite to the developing member 113 to remove used toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive medium 112. The cleaning member 117 is formed in a substantially plate shape and is fixed to the left and right surfaces 111c and 111d of the mainframe 111 via a cleaning member fixture 117a. Used toner that is removed from the surface of the photosensitive medium 112 by the cleaning member 117 is received in the second space 122 (hereinafter, referred to as a used toner space) between the cleaning member 117 and the back surface 111b of the mainframe 111. A plurality of supporting ribs 122a may be disposed in the used toner space 122 to prevent the mainframe 111 from being deformed.
The charging member 115 is disposed between the developing member 113 and the cleaning member 117. The charging member 115 is rotatably disposed in contact with the photosensitive medium 112 to charge the surface of the photosensitive medium 112 by a predetermined voltage.
A power transmitting unit (not illustrated) is disposed at the left surface 111c of the mainframe 111 to transmit a power to each of the photosensitive medium 112, the developing member 113, the toner supplying member 116, and the charging member 115 to rotate.
The cover 130 can cover the top surface of the mainframe 111 to protect the photosensitive medium 112, the developing member 113, the charging member 115, etc. Also, the sealing member 119 is disposed between the top surface of the mainframe 111 and the cover 130. The sealing member 119 can tightly close an upper part of the toner space 121 and an upper part of the used toner space 122. As a result, toner stored in the toner space 121 of the mainframe 111 and used toner in the used toner space 122 thereof cannot leak out. The cover 130 includes a beam hole 131 through which a laser beam emitted from an exposure unit 230 (see
Hereinafter, an operation of a developing apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept having the above described structure is described.
When a printing operation begins, a charging member 115 charges a portion of the surface of a photosensitive medium 112 by a predetermined voltage. When the photosensitive medium 112 rotates, a laser beam emitted from an exposure unit 230 (see
In contrast, a toner supplying member 116 which is disposed at the toner space 121 rotates to supply toner that is stored at the toner space 121 to a surface of the developing member 113. When the developing member 113 rotates, the toner that is attached on the surface of the developing member 113 is regulated into a thin toner layer by the toner regulating member 114, and is conveyed to the photosensitive medium 112. When the developing member 113 continues to rotate so that the toner is conveyed to face the photosensitive medium 112, the toner on the developing member 113 is moved to the photosensitive medium 112 by an electrical force that operates between the electrostatic latent images on the photosensitive medium 112 and the developing member 113, and then, develops the electrostatic latent images into images.
When the photosensitive medium 112 continues to rotate, images on the photosensitive medium 112 are exposed to the outside of the mainframe 111 through the photosensitive medium opening 111f. Accordingly, the images on the photosensitive medium 112 are transferred onto a printing medium by a transferring unit 240 (see
When the photosensitive medium 112 continues to rotate, the used toner is removed by the cleaning member 117, and thus, is collected inside the used toner space 122. When the photosensitive medium 112 continues to rotate, as described above, the surface of the photosensitive medium 112 is charged again by the charging member 115, and then, the above procedure is repeated to perform a printing operation.
In summary, the developing apparatus 100 of
Referring to
The mainframe assembly 110′ stores toner and holds a photosensitive medium 112 on which images are formed. The mainframe assembly 110′ includes a mainframe 140, a photosensitive medium 112, a developing member 113, a toner regulating member 114, a cleaning member 117, and a sealing member 119.
The mainframe 140 is substantially similar to the mainframe 111 of the developing apparatus 100 according to the above-described embodiment. However, the mainframe 140 includes openings 142 (
In contrast, the left and right side plates 151 and 152 are configured to rotatably support a shaft 112a of the photosensitive medium 112, a shaft 113a of the developing member 113, a shaft 116a of the toner supplying member 116, and a shaft 115a of the charging member 115. Therefore, the photosensitive medium 112, the developing member 113, the charging member 115, and the toner supplying member 116 are disposed inside the mainframe 111 and are rotatably supported by the left and right side plates 151 and 152. However, the toner regulating member 114 and the cleaning member 117 are supported by the left and right surfaces 140c and 140d of the mainframe 140. To assemble the developing apparatus 100′ may be easy because of the openings 142 which are formed at the left and right surfaces 140c and 140d of the mainframe 140 allow easy access into the mainframe 140. Furthermore, the left and right side plates 151 and 152 close the openings 142 and rotatably support the photosensitive medium 112, the developing member 113, the charging member 115, and the toner supplying member 116, thereby making interchanging of parts easier. Also, a dimension of gaps between the photosensitive medium 112, the developing member 113, the charging member 115, and the toner supplying member 116 may be determined more precisely.
In the above description, the mainframe 140 includes an opening 142 at each of the left and right surfaces 140c and 140d thereof. Alternatively, the mainframe may have a structure that includes an opening at either of the left and right side surfaces to be closed by a side plate.
A structure of the photosensitive medium 112, the developing member 113, the toner regulating member 114, the cleaning member 117, and the sealing member 119 and an operation of the developing apparatus 100′ according to the embodiment of
Hereinafter, an example of an image forming apparatus employing a developing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept will be explained.
Referring to
The printing medium feeding unit 210 is disposed at a lowermost portion of the image forming apparatus 200, and picks up printing media stored at a printing medium cassette 211 one by one using a pick-up roller 212 to feed the printing medium to the printing medium moving unit 220. The printing medium moving unit 220 moves the printing medium fed from the printing medium feeding unit 210 to a position between a photosensitive medium 112 of the developing apparatus 100 and the transferring unit 240.
The developing apparatus 100 forms predetermined images corresponding to printing data and is described above in detail. Therefore, a detailed description thereof is omitted.
The exposure unit 230 emits a laser beam corresponding to printing data to form predetermined electrostatic latent images on the photosensitive medium 112 of the developing apparatus 100.
The transferring unit 240 is disposed to face the photosensitive medium 112 of the developing apparatus 100 to transfer images formed on the photosensitive medium 112 onto a printing medium. The fixing unit 250 uses heat and pressure to fix the images transferred onto the printing medium when the printing medium passes through between the photosensitive medium 112 and the transferring unit 240. The discharging unit 260 discharges the printing medium to outside the image forming apparatus 200 after the printing medium passes through the fixing unit 250 and the images are fixed onto the printing medium.
The image forming apparatus 200 according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept further includes a control part (not illustrated) to control each of the above-described elements to perform a printing operation and an electric power part (not illustrated) to apply a predetermined voltage to each of the elements.
The printing medium feeding unit 210, the printing medium moving unit 220, the transferring unit 240, the fixing unit 250, the discharging unit 260, the control part, and the electric power part are substantially similar to those of the conventional image forming apparatus. Therefore, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.
When the control part of the image forming apparatus 200 having the above-described structure receives a printing order from a host connected to the image forming apparatus 200, the control part controls the pickup roller 212 of the printing medium feeding unit 210 to pick up a printing medium from the printing medium cassette 211 and to feed the printing medium to the printing medium moving unit 220. At the same time, the control part controls the exposure unit 230 to emit a laser beam corresponding to printing data. The laser beam forms electrostatic latent images corresponding to the printing data on the photosensitive medium 112 of the developing apparatus 100. When the photosensitive medium 112 rotates, toner that is supplied by the developing member 113 develops the electrostatic latent images into images. The procedure that the developing member 113 supplies the photosensitive medium 112 with toner and develops electrostatic latent images is described above. Therefore, a detailed description thereof is omitted.
The printing medium moving unit 220 moves a printing medium to a position between the photosensitive medium 112 and the transferring unit 240. Accordingly, the transferring unit 240 transfers images on the photosensitive medium 112 onto the printing medium. At this time, some of the toner is not transferred to the printing medium and remains on the surface of the photosensitive medium 112 as used toner. The used toner is removed from the surface of the photosensitive medium 112 by the cleaning member 117 and is collected at the used toner space 122 of the developing apparatus 100.
When the printing medium (with images transferred thereon) passes through the fixing unit 250, the images are fixed onto the printing medium. After that, the printing medium (with images fixed thereon) is discharged to outside the image forming apparatus 200 by the discharging unit 260, to complete a printing operation.
A developing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept includes a cleaning member to remove used toner, a used toner space where removed used toner is collected, and a toner space where toner to form images is stored which are all formed at a mainframe so that a separate cleaning assembly to remove used toner from the photosensitive medium is not required. As a result, a number of parts and an assembling time of the developing apparatus may decrease to accordingly decrease a manufacturing cost of the developing apparatus.
Furthermore, when the manufacturing cost of the developing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept decreases, a manufacturing cost of the image forming also may decrease.
Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-95103 | Sep 2006 | KR | national |
