Patent Grant
8326190
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-074285, filed on Mar. 25, 2009. The entire subject matter of the application is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a developer supply device configured to supply a charged developer to a supply target.
2. Related Art
Developer supply devices configured to supply a charged developer to a supply target have been widely used. One of such developer supply devices is configured to have a plurality of carrying electrodes arranged along a developer transport direction so that the developer can be carried through an electric field generated by voltage application to the plurality of electrodes.
It is understood that if a developer not properly charged (e.g., a non-charged developer, a low-charged developer, or an inversely charged developer) is supplied to the supply target, the quality of a formed image deteriorates.
Aspects of the present invention are advantageous in that a developer supply device configured to bring a supply state of a developer to a suitable state so that excellent image formation can be performed is provided.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a developer supply device, comprising: a casing having an opening formed to face a supply target and a developer reservoir portion provided, on an opposite side with respect to the opening, to accommodate a developer; a developer holding body that is a roller-like member having a cylindrical circumferential surface and a rotation axis extending in a main scanning direction so that the developer holding body is rotated about the rotation axis, the developer holding body being placed around the opening to be accommodated in the casing and to face the supply target; a main carrying substrate that is located to face the developer holding body at a downstream end portion thereof in a developer transport direction and is configured to carry the developer through a traveling electric field to the developer holding body; and a sub carrying substrate that has a facing part where the sub carrying substrate faces the main carrying substrate, the sub carrying substrate being configured to carry the developer from the developer reservoir portion to the facing part through a traveling electric field so as to pass the developer to the main carrying substrate in the facing part. In this configuration, the sub carrying substrate carries the developer in the facing part in a direction opposite to a direction in which the main carrying substrate carries the developer.
Hereafter, an embodiment according to the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
An electrostatic latent image holding surface 2a is formed on an outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum 2. The electrostatic latent image holding surface 2a is formed as a cylindrical surface provided to be parallel with a main scanning direction (i.e., z-axis direction in
The photosensitive drum 2 has a center axis extending in the main scanning direction, and is configured to be rotated about the center axis in a rotational direction indicated by arrows in
The toner supply device 1 is located on a side of the photosensitive drum 2 to face the photosensitive drum 2. The toner supply device 1 is configured to supply, at a development position DP, the toner which is in a charged state. It should be noted that the development position DP is a position at which the toner supply device 1 faces the electrostatic latent image holding surface 2a.
When viewed as a side cross section, a casing 11 of the toner supply device 1 is formed as a box type member having a rectangular shape or an elliptic shape. The casing 11 is arranged such that the lengthwise direction thereof is parallel with a depth direction, i.e., a horizontal direction (x-axis direction). Each of a bottom plate 11a and a top plate 11b of the casing 11 is a thin plate-like member. The bottom plate 11a and the top plate 11b are arranged to face with each other in a vertical direction (y-axis direction).
When viewed as a side cross section, an end portion of the bottom plate 11a, which is located on a side close to the photosensitive drum 2 in the depth direction, is formed to have a circular arc curved obliquely in an upward direction. When viewed as a side cross section, an end portion of the top plate 11b, which is located in the depth direction on a side close to the photosensitive drum 2, is formed to have a circular arc curved obliquely in a downward direction.
The casing 11 is configured to store the toner in a toner reservoir 11c located at the bottom of the casing 11. When viewed as a side cross section, at an end portion which is located in the lengthwise direction and which faces the photosensitive drum 2, an opening 11d is formed.
In the inside of the casing 11, a development roller 12 (serving as a developer holding body) is accommodated. The development roller 12 is a roller-like member having a toner holding surface 12a, and is arranged to face the photosensitive drum 2 through the opening 11d. That is, the casing 11 and the development roller 12 are arranged such that the toner holding surface 12a of the development roller 12 is closely located at the development position DP with respect to the electrostatic latent image holding surface 2a via a certain interval of approximately 500 μm.
The development roller 12 is supported by the casing 11 to be rotatable. That is, the development roller 12 is rotated to rotate about a roller rotation shaft 12b which is parallel with the main scanning direction.
As shown in
The main carrying substrate 13a is supported on the inner wall of the top plate 11b in the casing 11. The main carrying substrate 13a serves to carry the toner received from the sub-carrying substrate 13c to the development roller 12.
More specifically, the main carrying substrate 13a is arranged such that a downstream end thereof in a toner transport direction TTD reaches an edge of the opening 11d. Furthermore, the main carrying substrate 13a is arranged such that an upstream end thereof in the toner transport direction TTD faces the sub-carrying substrate 13c. That is, the size of the main carrying substrate 13a in the toner transport direction TTD is considerably larger than the size of the casing 11 in the vertical direction. More specifically, the size of the main carrying substrate 13a in the toner transport direction TTD is twice as large as the size of the casing 11 in the vertical direction.
In this embodiment, the main carrying substrate 13a is arranged such that the downstream end thereof in the toner transport direction TTD faces the development roller 12 to have a certain gap. More specifically, when viewed as a side cross section, the downstream end of the main carrying substrate 13a in the toner transport direction TTD is formed to be a circular arc whose shape is similar to the circular arc shape of the end of the top plate 11b of the casing 11 located on the side close to the photosensitive drum 2.
A portion of the main carrying substrate 13a other than the above described ends is formed to be a plate-like member which is parallel with the horizontal surface. That is, the portion of the main carrying substrate 13a other than the above described ends is configured to carry the toner in the horizontal direction.
The collecting carrying substrate 13b is supported on an inner wall of the bottom plate 11a in the casing 11. The collecting carrying substrate 13b collects the toner not consumed at the development position DP from the development roller 12, and circulates the collected toner to the toner reservoir 11c.
More specifically, the collecting carrying substrate 13b is arranged such that the upstream end in the toner transport direction TTD reaches an edge of the opening 11d. Further, the collecting carrying substrate 13b is arranged such that the downstream end in the toner transport direction TTD is situated at a position between the development roller 12 and the sub carrying substrate 13c.
In this embodiment, the collecting carrying substrate 13b is arranged such that the upstream end thereof faces the development roller 12 to have a certain gap with respect to the development roller 12. More specifically, when viewed as a side cross section, the upstream end of the collecting carrying substrate 13b in the toner transport direction TTD is formed to be a circular arc whose shape is similar to the circular arc shape of the end of the bottom plate 11a of the casing 11 located on the side close to the photosensitive drum 2.
The sub-carrying substrate 13c is curved to have a shape of an inversed letter “J”, and is accommodated in the casing 11. More specifically, an upstream portion 13c1 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c in the toner transport direction TTD is arranged to stand to carry the toner in the vertical direction. A lower end of the upstream portion 13c1 is positioned in the toner reservoir 11c. In this embodiment, the upstream portion 13c1 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c has a size considerably smaller than the size of the main carrying substrate 13a in the toner transport direction TTD. More specifically, the size of the upstream portion 13c1 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c is smaller than or equal to ½ of the size of the main carrying substrate 13a in the toner transport direction TTD.
A downstream portion 13c2 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c in the toner transport direction TTD is arranged to face the main carrying substrate 13a. The downstream portion 13c2 is configured to carry the toner in a direction opposite to the direction in which the main carrying substrate 13a carries the toner.
A joint portion 13c3 of the upstream portion 13c1 and the downstream portion 13c2 is formed to be a curved surface. More specifically, the upstream portion 13c1 and the downstream portion 13c2 are smoothly connected via the joint portion 13c3 having the shape of the curved surface. Further, the joint portion 13c3 and the downstream portion 13c2 are formed to be curved in an inverse direction of the toner transport direction TTD defined on the main carrying substrate 13a.
A downstream end 13c4 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c in the toner transport direction TTD is curved downward in an oblique direction. That is, the downstream end 13c4 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c is formed to circulate the toner, which has not moved to the main carrying substrate 13a, to the deepest part of the ink reservoir 11c (i.e., the end of the ink reservoir 11c opposite to the side of the opening 11d).
The sub-carrying substrate 13c is supported by a sub-carrying substrate support body 14 accommodated in the casing 11. That is, the sub-carrying substrate support body 14 is a thin plate-like member having a shape of an inversed letter “J”, and includes a plate-like vertical part extending in the vertical direction, a horizontal part (corresponding to the downstream portion 13c2 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c) which has a plate-like shape to be parallel with the top plate 11b and is located on a deeper side with respect to the plate-like vertical part (i.e., on the side opposite to the opening 11d), a curved surface part (corresponding to the joint portion 13c3 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c) smoothly connecting the plate-like vertical part and the horizontal part, and a downstream curved surface part (corresponding to the downstream end 13c4 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c) curved downward in an oblique direction from the deeper side end of the horizontal part.
The roller rotation shaft 12b of the development roller 12 is electrically connected to a development power circuit 15. The main carrying substrate 13a of the carrying substrate 13 is electrically connected to a main power circuit 16. The collecting carrying substrate 13b is electrically connected to a collection power circuit 17. The sub-carrying substrate 13c is electrically connected to a sub-carrying power circuit 18.
The development power circuit 15, the main power circuit 16, the collection power circuit 17 and the sub-carrying power circuit 18 output required voltages such that the toner stored in the toner reservoir 11c is carried by the sub-carrying substrate 13c to the upstream end in the toner transport direction TTD of the main carrying substrate 13a, and the toner which has passed from the sub-carrying substrate 13c to the upstream end of the main carrying substrate 13a is carried to the development roller 12 so that the toner is held on the toner holding surface 12a and then is supplied to the development position DP, and further the toner which has not been consumed at the development position DP is collected by the collecting carrying substrate 13c and is circulated to the toner reservoir 11c. In this embodiment, the output voltages of the development power circuit 15, the main power circuit 16, the collection power circuit 17 and the sub-carrying power circuit 18 are generated by combining a DC voltage with an AC voltage.
In the toner reservoir 11c, a toner transport auger 19 is provided to connect the deeper side with respect to the sub-carrying substrate 13c and the sub-carrying substrate support body 13 with the opening 11d side. The toner transport auger 19 serves to return the toner accumulated in the deepest portion of the toner reservoir 11c (i.e., the end of the reservoir opposite to the opening 11s side) to the position at which the toner is able to be carried upward by the sub-carrying power circuit 18.
It should be noted that each of the man carrying substrate 13a, the collecting carrying substrate 13b and the sub-carrying substrate 13c has a width corresponding to a scanning width in the main scanning direction. For example, the toner transport auger 19 has a shaft and a spiral coil provided in the shaft. The toner transport auger 19 is arranged not to interfere the sub-carrying substrate 13c.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
By applying the above described driving voltages to the carrying electrodes 131, the carrying substrate 13 generates a traveling electric field along the toner transport path TTP so that the positively charged toner is carried in the toner transport direction TTD.
The plurality of carrying electrodes 131 are formed on the electrode support film 132. The electrode support film 132 is an elastic film, for example, made of insulating synthetic resin such as polyimide resin.
The electrode coating 133 is made of insulating synthetic resin. The electrode coating 133 is provided to cover the carrying electrodes 131 and a surface of the electrode support film 132 on which the carrying electrodes 131 are formed.
On the electrode coating 133, the electrode overcoating 134 is formed. Hereafter, the electrode overcoating 134 formed on the main carrying substrate 13a, the electrode overcoating 134 formed on the collecting carrying substrate 13b and the electrode overcoating 134 formed on the sub-carrying substrate 13c are referred to as a main electrode overcoating 134a, a collecting electrode overcoating 134b and a sub-carrying electrode overcoating 134c, respectively. That is, the electrode coating 133 is formed between the electrode overcoating 134 and the carrying electrodes 131. A surface of the electrode overcoating 134 is formed to be a smooth flat surface without bumps and dips so that the toner can be carried smoothly.
In this embodiment, the main electrode overcoating 134a and the collecting electrode overcoating 134c are made of the same material (e.g., polyester). That is, as the material of the main electrode overcoating 134a and the collecting electrode overcoating 134b, material which is a trbicharging material for properly charging the toner and has a triboelectrification position on the plus side in the triboelectrification order with respect to the material of the sub-carrying electrode overcoating 134c is adopted. That is, the material of the main electrode overcoating 134a and the collecting electrode overcoating 134c has the same electrification polarity as that of the material of the toner with respect to the material of the sub-carrying electrode overcoating 134c.
Hereafter, operations of the toner supply device 1 are explained.
As shown in
The toner which has carried upward by the upstream portion 13c1 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c reaches the position where the downstream portion 13c2 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c and the upstream end of the upstream side of the main carrying substrate 13a in the toner transport direction TTD face with each other. At this position, the direction in which the toner is carried by the downstream portion 13c2 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c and the direction in which the toner is carried by the main carrying substrate 13a are opposite to each other. Therefore, at this position, only the properly charged toner is selectively carried by the main carrying substrate 13a toward the development roller 12.
That is, in this embodiment, through carrying of the toner in the vertically upward direction by the upstream portion 13c1 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c and through carrying of the toner by the upstream end of the main carrying substrate 13a in the direction opposite to the direction in which the toner is carried by the downstream portion 13c2 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c, the toner properly charged and the toner not properly charged are suitably separated.
In this embodiment, the main electrode overcoating 134a has the functionality of further positively charging the positively charged toner weaker than that of the sub-carrying electrode overcoating 134c of the sub-carrying substrate 13c. Such a configuration makes it possible to prevent changing of the charged state of the toner being carried by the main carrying substrate 13a to the development roller 12 for a relatively long distance.
At the position where the downstream end in the toner transport direction TTD of the main carrying substrate 13a and the development roller 12 face with each other, the toner is held on the toner holding surface 12a. Then, by rotations of the development roller 12 in the direction indicated by arrows in
The toner which has passed through the development position DP while being held on the toner holding surface 12a moves to the side of the collecting carrying substrate 13c. That is, the toner is collected by the collecting carrying substrate 13b from the toner holding surface 12a.
If a collecting bias having an alternating component is applied to the development roller 12, the toner adjacent to the toner holding surface 12a of the development roller 12 vibrates by the effect of the alternating component of the collecting bias. Through such vibrations, the toner being lifted from the toner holding surface 12a collides with the toner adhered to the toner holding surface 12a. Through such a collision of the toner, the toner held on the toner holding surface 12a tends to be easily lifted from the toner holding surface 12a.
Through the effect of the collecting bias, the toner which has not consumed at the development position DP on the toner holding surface 12a is suitably removed, and moves to the collecting carrying substrate 13b. Such a configuration makes it possible to prevent a ghost from appearing on the formed image.
Furthermore, the collecting bias also serves as a bias for a jumping phenomenon at the development position DP. Consequently, it becomes possible to achieve the collecting bias with a simple structure.
The toner which has moved to the collecting carrying substrate 13b from the toner holding surface 12a is circulated to the toner reservoir 11c through the electric field generated by applying the voltage to the collecting carrying substrate 13b.
Hereafter, advantages achieved by the embodiment are described.
In the above described embodiment, the toner is carried upwardly in a vertical direction along the upstream portion 13c1 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c, and is carried by the upstream end in the toner transport direction TTD of the main carrying substrate 13a in the direction opposite to the direction in which the toner is carried by the downstream portion 13c2 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c.
With this configuration, the toner properly charged and the not properly charged can be suitably separated with respect to each other. Further, the toner properly charged is selectively passed from the sub-carrying substrate 13c to the main carrying substrate 13a, and is carried to the development roller 12. Furthermore, the toner is held on the toner holding surface 12a to be supplied to the development position DP.
That is, according to the embodiment, it is possible to supply the toner properly charged to the development position DP. Therefore, according to the embodiment, it is possible to properly supply the toner to the photosensitive drum 2. Consequently, it is possible to execute appropriately the image formation.
In the above described embodiment, the size of the main carrying substrate 12a in the toner transport direction TTD is sufficiently larger than the size of the upstream portion 13c1 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c. Therefore, the carrying distance of the toner in the horizontal direction by the main carrying substrate 13a is sufficiently longer than the carrying direction of the toner in the vertically upward direction by the upstream portion 13c1 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c.
Accordingly, it becomes possible to decrease the thickness of the toner supply device 1 (i.e., to downsize the toner supply device 1 in the vertical direction) while achieving the above described advantages.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible.
Hereafter, variations of the toner supply device are explained. It should be noted that, in the following, to elements which are substantially the same as those of the above described embodiment, the same reference numbers are assigned, and explanations thereof will not be repeated.
(1) The toner supply device 1 may be applied to various types of electrophotographic image forming devices, such as a monochrome laser printer, a color laser printer, a monochrome copying device, and a color copying device. In regard to the types of a photosensitive body provided in an image forming device to which the toner supply device is applied, it is understood that the photosensitive body can take various types of shapes. That is, the shape of the photosensitive body is not limited to the drum-like shape. For example, the photosensitive body may be formed to be a plate-like shape or an endless belt.
The above described embodiment may also be applied to an image forming device which is not the electrophotographic type image forming device. For example, the above described embodiment may be applied to a toner jet type device, an ion flow type device and a multi-stylus type device which do not use a photosensitive body.
(2) The development roller 12 may contact the photosensitive drum 2.
(3) The plate-like part of each of the main carrying substrate 13a or the collecting carrying substrate 13b may be inclined to some extent with respect to the horizontal direction. Similarly, the upstream portion 13c1 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c may be formed to stand in the substantially vertical direction. That is, the upstream portion 13c1 may be inclined to some extent with respect to the vertical direction. The sub-carrying substrate 13c may be formed to have a shape of an inversed letter “U”. In other words, the downstream end 13c4 of the sub-carrying substrate 13c may be formed to reach the toner reservoir 11c.
(4) The internal structure of the carrying substrate 13 is not limited to that shown in the above described embodiment. For example, the electrode overcoating 134 may be omitted. In this case, the material of the electrode coating 133 may be selected as in the case of the electrode overcoating 134. Alternatively, by burying the carrying electrodes 131 in the electrode support film 132, the electrode coating 133 and the electrode overcoating 134 can be omitted.
(5) The waveforms of the output voltages of the power supply circuits VA to VD are not limited to the rectangular shape shown in
In the above described embodiment, four power supply circuits VA to VD are provided, and phases of the output voltages of the power supply circuits VA to VD are shift by 90° with respect to each other. However, the embodiment is not limited to such a structure. For example, in another embodiment, three power supply circuits may be employed, and in this case phases of output voltages of the three power supply circuits may shift by 120° with respect to each other.
(6) As shown in
(7) As shown in
In this case, the upstream end of the main carrying substrate 13a in the toner transport direction TTD and the downstream end of the sub-carrying substrate 13c in the toner transport direction TTD are provided to stand to be parallel with each other, and are positioned to face with each other via a certain gap.
Furthermore, in this case, a collecting carrying substrate 13b1 may be provided on the bottom plate 11a. Furthermore, a collecting carrying substrate 13b2 may be provided on the top plate 11b of the casing 11.
It is understood that the same advantages as those of the above described embodiment can be achieved by the variations.
It should be noted that, in the configuration shown in
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