Patent Application
20120051799
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0082644, filed on Aug. 25, 2010, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field
The present invention relates to a developing unit that is detachable from an image forming apparatus, and an image forming apparatus employing the developing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electrophotographic image forming apparatuses, an electrostatic latent image is formed on a surface of a photosensitive body by scanning light that is modulated according to image information onto the photosensitive body, the electrostatic latent image is developed into a visible toner image by supplying toner to the electrostatic latent image, and the toner image is transferred to a recording medium and fused thereto so that an image is printed on the recording medium.
The electrophotographic image forming apparatuses include a developing unit containing a developer. A one-component developing unit contains toner as a developer, whereas a two-component developing unit contains toner and carrier as a developer. When all the developer contained in a developing unit is consumed, the developing unit is detached from an image forming apparatus and a new developing unit is installed in the image forming apparatus.
The present invention provides a developing unit that is capable of effectively supplying toner in the developing unit to a developing roller, and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus employing the developing unit.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a developing unit includes a toner storage portion for containing toner, a development portion for containing the toner supplied from the toner storage portion and in which a developing roller for supplying the toner to a photosensitive body is installed, and a supply roller and an auxiliary supply roller installed at the development portion, the supply roller and the auxiliary supply roller rotating while facing each other to supply the toner to the developing roller, wherein an inequality that |D−(R1+R2)|≦1.0 mm is satisfied, where a distance between the centers of the auxiliary supply member and the supply roller in a region where the auxiliary supply member and the supply roller face each other is D, a radius of the supply roller is R1, and a radius of the auxiliary supply member is R2.
The auxiliary supply roller may be located under the supply roller and at a more downstream side than the supply roller with respect to a rotation direction of the developing roller.
The center of the auxiliary supply roller may be located between a vertical straight line passing through the center of the supply roller and a vertical straight line passing through the center of the developing roller.
The supply roller and the auxiliary supply roller may rotate such that surfaces of the supply roller and the auxiliary supply roller move in the same direction in a region where the supply roller and the auxiliary supply roller face each other, and the supply roller and the developing roller may rotate such that surfaces of the supply roller and the developing roller move in the opposite directions in the region where the supply roller and the developing roller face each other.
A rotation linear velocity of the auxiliary supply roller may be about 50-90% of a rotation linear velocity of the supply roller.
The developing unit may include first and second gears which are respectively inserted around rotation shafts of the supply roller and the auxiliary supply roller, the first and second gears being directly engaged with each other. The number of teeth of the second gear may be greater than the number of teeth of the first gear.
The developing unit may further include a restriction member located at a downstream side of the auxiliary supply roller with respect to a rotation direction of the developing roller and restricting the amount of toner adhering to a surface of the developing roller.
The toner storage portion may be located at a side portion of the development portion.
The toner storage portion may be located under the development portion. The developing unit may further include a partition wall dividing the toner storage portion and the development portion, having an opening portion located under the lowest portion of the supply roller, and forming a path of the toner that is supplied from the toner storage portion to the development portion; and a toner supply member located in the toner storage portion and supplying the toner to the development portion through the opening portion.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive body, an exposing unit for forming an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive body, a developing unit for developing the electrostatic latent image by supplying toner to the electrostatic latent image, the developing unit including a toner storage portion for containing toner, a development portion for containing the toner supplied from the toner storage portion and in which a developing roller for supplying the toner to a photosensitive body is installed, and a supply roller and an auxiliary supply roller installed at the development portion, the supply roller and the auxiliary supply roller rotating while facing each other to supply the toner to the developing roller, wherein an inequality that |D−(R1+R2)|≦1.0 mm is satisfied, where a distance between the centers of the auxiliary supply member and the supply roller in a region where the auxiliary supply member and the supply roller face each other is D, a radius of the supply roller is R1, and a radius of the auxiliary supply member is R2, and a fusing unit for fusing a toner image transferred to a recording medium.
The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:
The attached drawings for illustrating exemplary embodiments of the present invention are referred to in order to gain a sufficient understanding of the present invention, the merits thereof, and the objectives accomplished by the implementation of the present invention. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by explaining exemplary embodiments of the invention with reference to the attached drawings. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.
Referring to
The intermediate transfer belt 300 is an intermediate transfer medium to which a toner image is temporarily transferred before its final transfer to a recording medium P, and runs endlessly by being supported by support rollers 301 and 302. Each of the four developing units 100 includes a charge roller 2, a photosensitive drum 1, and a developing roller 3. The photosensitive drum 1 is an example of the photosensitive body on which an electrostatic latent image is formed. The photosensitive drum 1 includes a photosensitive layer having photoconductivity formed on an outer circumference of a circular metal pipe. The charge roller 2 is an example of a charger for charging a surface of the photosensitive drum 1 to a uniform electric potential. A corona charging unit may be employed instead of the charge roller 2. The exposing unit 200 scans light modulated according to image information onto the photosensitive drum 1 to form an electrostatic latent image. A light emitting diode (LED) type expositing unit for selectively emitting LED light according to the image information via a plurality of LEDs arranged in a main scanning direction may be used as the exposing unit 200. Also, a laser scanning unit (LSU) for scanning light emitted by a laser diode onto the photosensitive drum 1 by deflecting the light in the main scanning direction by using a light deflector may be used as the exposing unit 200. The developing roller 3 allows the toner contained in each of the four developing units 100 to adhere to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 1, thereby forming a toner image.
The four developing units 100 are arranged such that the photosensitive drum 1 faces a lower surface 303 of the intermediate transfer belt 300. The photosensitive drum 1 may contact the lower surface 303 of the intermediate transfer belt 300. The four intermediate transfer rollers 310 are an example of an intermediate transfer unit for transferring the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 to the intermediate transfer belt 300. The four intermediate transfer rollers 310 are respectively located facing the four photosensitive drums 1, with the lower surface 303 of the intermediate transfer belt 300 interposed therebetween. An intermediate transfer bias voltage to transfer the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 to the intermediate transfer belt 300 may be applied to the four intermediate transfer rollers 310. A corona transfer unit may be employed instead of each of the four intermediate transfer rollers 310.
The final transfer roller 320 is an example of a final transfer unit for transferring the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 300 to the recording medium P. A final transfer bias voltage to transfer the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 300 to the recording medium P may be applied to the final transfer roller 320. A corona transfer unit may be employed instead of the final transfer roller 320. The fusing unit 500 fuses the toner image transferred to the recording medium P by applying heat and pressure to the toner image.
A color image forming process according to the above-described structure will be briefly described below.
First, according to image information of a black K color, the exposing unit 200 scans light onto the photosensitive drum 1K charged to a uniform electric potential by the charge roller 2K, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image. When a development bias is applied to the developing roller 3K of the developing unit 100K, black toner contained in the developing unit 100K adheres to the electrostatic latent image. A black toner image developed on the photosensitive drum 1K is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 300 by an intermediate bias voltage applied to the intermediate transfer roller 310K. Toner images of cyan C, magenta M, and yellow Y colors are transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 300 through the same process and thus a color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 300. The color toner image is transferred to the recording medium P by a final transfer bias voltage applied to the final transfer roller 320. The color toner image is fused on the recording medium P by the fusing unit 500.
Heat generated by the fusing unit 500 may affect the photosensitive drum 1, the toner contained in the four developing units 100, and the exposing unit 200. Since the intermediate transfer belt 300 is interposed between the fusing unit 500, the four developing units 100, and the exposing unit 200 in the image forming apparatus configured as above, the four developing units 100, the photosensitive drum 1, and the exposing unit 200 may be less affected by the heat of the fusing unit 500.
In order to increase the toner capacity of the four developing units 100, an internal volume of each of the four developing units 100 is increased. When the volume of each of the four developing units 100 is increased in a widthwise direction, the width W of the image forming apparatus is increased so that the footprint of the image forming apparatus is increased. Thus, to increase the toner capacity of the four developing units 100 without increasing the footprint of the image forming apparatus, the four developing units 100 may be increased in a vertical direction, that is, downwardly. In this case, the toner in each of the four developing units 100 may be conveyed in the opposite direction to gravity to be supplied to the developing roller 3.
The developing roller 3 is located facing the photosensitive drum 1. When a contact type development method is employed, the developing roller 3 may rotate in contact with the photosensitive drum 1. When a non-contact type development method is employed, the developing roller 3 is separated from the photosensitive drum 1. The interval between the developing roller 3 and the photosensitive drum 1 may be set to be about several tens to several hundreds of microns. A supply roller 4 supplies toner toward an outer circumferential surface of the developing roller 3.
A restriction member 5 restricts the amount of toner supplied to a development region DR between the photosensitive drum 1 and the developing roller 3 facing each other. For example, the restriction member 5 may be a restriction blade that elastically contacts the outer circumferential surface of the developing roller 3.
The developing unit 100 of the present embodiment includes a development portion 30 and a toner storage portion 20. The development portion 30 is located above the toner storage portion 20. The toner is contained in the toner storage portion 20. A toner supply member 9 for supplying the contained toner to the development portion 30 is installed. The development portion 30 and the toner storage portion 20 are divided in a vertical direction by a partition wall 40.
The developing roller 3 and the supply roller 4 are installed in the development portion 30. The supply roller 4 rotates in contact with the developing roller 3 or by being separately from the developing roller 3 with a predetermined interval. The supply roller 4 supplies the toner contained in the development portion 30 to the developing roller 3.
An opening portion 50 for forming a path through which the toner may be supplied from the toner storage portion 20 to the development portion 30 is provided in the partition wall 40. In order for the opening portion 50 to be located above the lowest portion of the supply roller 4, a right outer wall 31 of the development portion 30 needs to extend to the right in
The toner supply member 9 may include a rotation shaft 91 and a wing portion 94 formed on the rotation shaft 91 and having elasticity. When the toner supply member 9 rotates, the wing portion 94 elastically contacts a wall portion forming the toner storage portion 20 and conveys toner to the development portion 30 through the opening portion 50. To increase a rate of use of the toner in the toner storage portion 20, the wing portion 94 is formed with a rotation radius 9R that is larger than the longest one of distances from the rotation shaft 91 to an inner wall of the toner storage portion 20 and the partition wall 40. Accordingly, since an end portion of the wing portion 94 enters in the development portion 30 through the opening portion 50, the toner may be effectively conveyed to the development portion 30. Referring to
In the above-described structure, the toner supplied to the development portion 30 may be supplied by the supply roller 4 to the developing roller 3 and may adhere to the surface of the developing roller 3. The supply roller 4 may rotate in the same direction as the rotation direction of the developing roller 3. That is, the surface of the supply roller 4 and the surface of the developing roller 3 are moved in the opposite directions in a region E where the supply roller 4 and the developing roller 3 face each other. Accordingly, the toner remaining on the surface of the developing roller 3 after passing through the development region DR is removed by the supply roller 4 at the upstream side of the region E with respect to the rotation direction of the developing roller 3, and new toner may adhere to the surface of the developing roller 3 in the region E.
Referring to
Toner is supplied from the toner storage portion 20 to the development portion 30 according to a rotation cycle of the toner supply member 9. When the wing portion 94 of the toner supply member 9 pushes the toner into the development portion 30 through the opening portion 50, a toner pressure is applied to the region E. When the wing portion 94 is out of the opening portion 50, the toner pressure in the region E may decrease so that a sufficient amount of toner may not adhere to the developing roller 3. As the auxiliary supply member 8 also applies a toner pressure to the region E, a sufficient amount of toner may be supplied to the developing roller 3.
The auxiliary supply member 8 may have, for example, a roller shape formed of a metal material or a plastic material, as illustrated in
The auxiliary supply member 8 rotates in the opposite direction to the rotation direction of the supply roller 4. That is, in a region where the auxiliary supply member 8 faces the supply roller 4, the direction in which the surface of the auxiliary supply member 8 moves is the same as the direction in which the surface of the supply roller 4 moves. According to the above-described structure, the rotational forces of the supply roller 4 and the auxiliary supply roller 8 may effectively work as a toner conveying force in passing through the region where the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 face each other.
In order for the auxiliary supply member 8 to rotate in the opposite direction to the rotation direction of the supply roller 4, as illustrated in
Referring to
The auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 may rotate in contact with each other or may be separated from each other. The toner conveyed from the toner storage portion 20 to the development portion 30 is supplied to the region E by passing through the region where the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 face each other by the rotational forces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4. That is, the rotational forces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 provide kinetic energy to the toner that is powder so that the toner is supplied to the region E by the kinetic energy. In order to stably and uniformly convey the toner to the region E while the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 rotate facing each other, the distance between the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 needs to be regulated. When the distance between the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 is too large, the rotational forces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 do not effectively work as a toner conveying force so that the fluidity and supply of the toner may be deteriorated. Also, when the amount of contact between the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 is too large, rotation load may be excessively increased.
Referring to
|D−(R1+R2)|≦1.0 mm <Inequality 1>
That is, when the distance between the surfaces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 in the region where the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 face each other is between −1 mm and +1 mm, superior toner supply characteristic may be obtained. When the distance between the surfaces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 is a positive (+) value, it means that the surfaces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 are separated from each other. When the distance between the surfaces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 is a negative (−) value, it means that the surfaces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 are in contact with each other or by being overlapped with each other. When the distance between the surfaces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 is greater than 1.0 mm, the rotational forces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 do not effectively work as a toner conveying force. Then, the amount of the toner supplied to the developing roller 3 becomes insufficient so that the concentration of a printed image is deteriorated or becomes irregular. Also, when the amount of overlapping between the surfaces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 is greater than 1.0 mm, rotation load of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 may become severe so that a toner conveying characteristic may be deteriorated. When the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 rotated in contact with each other or overlap each other, at least one of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 may have a surface formed of an elastic material such as rubber, foamed rubber, or sponge.
Table 1 shows a result of the relative quality of a printed image by varying the distance between the surfaces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4. The results show that, when the Inequality 1 is satisfied, a sufficient amount of toner is uniformly supplied to the developing roller 3 so that an image of a uniform and superior quality may be obtained.
The toner supply characteristic may be affected by the rotation speeds of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4. When the ratio of the rotation speed between the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 is about 50-90%, a superior toner supply characteristic may be obtained.
When the rotation linear velocity of the auxiliary supply roller 8 is too fast, as illustrated in
Table 2 shows a result of the relative quality of an image by varying a rate of the rotation linear velocity of the auxiliary supply roller 8 with respect to the rotation linear velocity of the supply roller 4. The results show that, when the rotation linear velocity rate of the auxiliary supply roller 8 and the supply roller 4 is about 50-90%, a sufficient amount of toner is supplied to the developing roller 3 so that a uniform and superior quality of an image may be obtained.
The rotation linear velocity rate of the auxiliary supply roller 8 and the supply roller 4 may be adjusted by varying the number of teeth of the first and second gears 4G and 8G. That is, the number of teeth of the second gear 8G may be greater than that of the first gear 4G considering the rotation linear velocity rate of the auxiliary supply roller 8 and the supply roller 4. In this case, a module of the first and second gears 4G and 8G may be adjusted considering the distance between the centers of the auxiliary supply roller 8 and the supply roller 4.
Although in the above-described embodiment the toner storage portion 20 is arranged under the development portion 30, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, as illustrated in
The auxiliary supply roller 8 is located between the supply roller 4 and a lower wall 41 of the developing unit 100 and supplies toner to the region E where the supply roller 4 and the developing roller 3 face each other. The auxiliary supply roller 8 is located at a more downstream side than the supply roller 4 with respect to the rotation direction of the developing roller 3. A rotation center 83 of the auxiliary supply member 8 is located between a vertical straight line L2 passing through the center of the developing roller 3 and a vertical straight line L1 passing through the center of the supply roller 4.
Since the auxiliary supply roller 8 applies a toner pressure to the region E, a sufficient amount of toner may be supplied to the developing roller 3 without relying on the rotation cycle of the toner supply member 21. Since the movement direction of the surface of the auxiliary supply roller 8 is the same as that of the surface of the supply roller 4 in the region E, the rotational forces of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 may effectively work to convey the toner passing through the region E.
The toner supplied by the toner supply members 21 from the toner storage portion 20 to the development portion 30 is conveyed to the region E through a gap between the auxiliary supply roller 8 and the supply roller 4 and applies a toner pressure to the region E. Excess toner is removed from the region E through the gap between the auxiliary supply member 8 and the lower wall 41. Also, the toner removed from the developing roller 3 by the supply roller 4 at the upstream of the region E is discharged to the toner storage portion 20 as the supply roller 4 rotates. Thus, an appropriate toner pressure is maintained in the region E. The toner removed from the region E is mixed with the toner in the toner storage portion 20 and supplied back to the development portion 30.
The auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 may rotate in contact with each other or be separated from each other. Assuming that the distance between the centers of the auxiliary supply member 8 and the supply roller 4 in the region E is D, the radius of the supply roller 4 is R1, and the radius of the auxiliary supply member 8 is R2, when the above Inequality 1 is satisfied, a superior toner supply characteristic may be obtained. Also, when the rotation linear velocity rate of the auxiliary supply roller 8 and the supply roller 4 is about 50-90%, a superior toner supply characteristic may be obtained.
According to the above-described developing unit according to the present invention and the image forming apparatus adopting the same, toner may be uniformly and effectively conveyed to the developing roller regardless of the position of the toner storage portion to the development portion. Also, since the toner may be circulated between the toner storage portion and the development portion, the stagnation of toner in the toner storage portion and the development portion may be prevented. Therefore, a uniform image quality may be obtained.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-0082644 | Aug 2010 | KR | national |
