Patent Grant
10990035
The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-131885, filed on Jul. 17, 2019. The contents of this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a toner container and an image forming apparatus.
A known process cartridge is attachable to and detachable from a main body of an image forming apparatus. The process cartridge is an integration of a photosensitive drum, a charger, a cleaner, a development device, and a drive transmission device. The development device includes a toner container, a developing section, and a stirring section. The toner container contains toner. The stirring section stirs the toner inside the toner container. In detail, the stirring section includes a stirring drive shaft and a toner stirring member attached to the stirring drive shaft. The toner stirring member rotates and the toner is stirred through rotation of the stirring drive shaft. The main body of the image forming apparatus includes a drive motor and a control means. The drive transmission device transmits driving force of the drive motor of the main body of the image forming apparatus to the stirring drive shaft of the developing section. The drive transmission device includes a rotation count detecting means. The rotation count detecting means detects a rotation count of the stirring drive shaft. The rotation count detecting means includes a detecting plate and a detecting member. The detecting plate is fixed to the stirring drive shaft. The detecting plate is disk-shaped and has a slit therein. The detecting member detects rotation of the detecting plate. The rotation count detecting means outputs a signal indicating the detected rotation count of the stirring drive shaft to the control means. The control means detects an amount of remaining toner based on the rotation count of the stirring drive shaft detected by the detecting member.
A toner container according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a container main body, a conveying body, at least one first rotating body, and a second rotating body. The container main body has a compartment and an exit port. The compartment contains toner. The exit port allows the toner to be ejected from the compartment. The conveying body is located inside the compartment. The conveying body moves in a direction approaching the exit port while rotating to convey the toner to the exit port. The first rotating body engages with an outer circumferential surface of the conveying body and rotates according to rotation of the conveying body. The second rotating body rotates according to a first driving force generated by rotation of the first rotating body. The first rotating body is located at a prescribed position. The first rotating body rotates in response to the conveying body arriving at the prescribed position.
An image forming apparatus according to another aspect of the present disclosure forms an image on a sheet. The image forming apparatus includes the above toner container, a driving section, a detector, and a processor. The second rotating body has detection targets on an outer circumferential surface thereof which indicate that the second rotating body has rotated. The driving section generates second driving force which drives the conveying body. The detector detects any of the detection targets from the second rotating body when the second rotating body rotates. The processor calculates a remaining amount of the toner based on a result of detection by the detector.
The following describes a toner container and an image forming apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings. Elements that are the same or equivalent are labeled with the same reference signs in the drawings and description thereof is not repeated.
The following describes an image forming apparatus 100 according to a first embodiment with reference to
As illustrated in
The feeding section 1 feeds the sheet P to the conveyance section M. The feeding section 1 is capable of housing multiple sheets P, and feeds the sheets P to the conveyance section M a sheet at a time starting with the uppermost sheet P.
The conveyance section M conveys a sheet P fed by the feeding section 1 to the ejection section 5 via the transferring section 3 and the fixing section 4.
The toner replenishing unit 1000 supplies toner T to the image forming section 2. In the first embodiment, the toner replenishing unit 1000 includes four toner containers 10c, 10m, 10y, and 10k. The toner container 10c contains a cyan toner T. The toner container 10m contains a magenta toner T. The toner container 10y contains a yellow toner T. The toner container 10k contains a black toner T. In the following, the toner containers 10c, 10m, 10y, and 10k may be generically referred to as a “toner container 10”. The toner container 10 is attachable to and detachable from the image forming apparatus 100.
The transferring section 3 includes an intermediate transfer belt 34. The transferring section 3 transfers a toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 34 by the image forming section 2 onto the sheet P.
The image forming section 2 forms a toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 34. In detail, the image forming section 2 includes four image forming sections 2c, 2m, 2y, and 2k. The cyan toner T is supplied to the image forming section 2c from the toner container 10c. The magenta toner T is supplied to the image forming section 2m from the toner container 10m. The yellow toner T is supplied to the image forming section 2y from the toner container 10y. The black toner T is supplied to the image forming section 2k from the toner container 10k. Each of the four image forming sections 2c, 2m, 2y, and 2k includes a remaining toner amount sensor. The remaining toner amount sensors detect remaining amounts of toner T in the four image forming sections 2c, 2m, 2y, and 2k.
The fixing section 4 includes a roller pair which fixes the toner image transferred onto the sheet P by the transferring section 3. The roller pair includes a heating roller 41 and a pressure roller 42. The heating roller 41 and the pressure roller 42 apply heat and pressure to the sheet P. As a result, the fixing section 4 fixes the unfixed toner image to the sheet P. The ejection section 5 ejects the sheet P with a toner image fixed thereto out of the image forming apparatus 100.
The operation panel 6 receives an instruction from a user. The operation panel 6 includes a display section 61 and operation buttons 62. The display section 61 displays the results of various processing. Examples of the display section 61 include a liquid-crystal display panel and an organic electroluminescent (EL) display panel. The operation buttons 62 include a start button, arrow keys, and a numeric keypad.
The configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 is further described with reference to
As illustrated in
The toner container 10 includes a first rotary shaft 13 and second storage 16. The first rotary shaft 13 is described later with reference to
The driving section 7 generates driving force for supplying toner to the image forming section 2 from the toner container 10. In detail, the driving section 7 is a driving source for rotation of the first rotary shaft 13 of the toner container 10. The driving section 7 is a motor, for example. The mechanism by which the driving force of the driving section 7 is transmitted to the first rotary shaft 13 of the toner container 10 is described later with reference to
The reading section 8 reads the container identification information from the second storage 16 of the toner container 10. The reading section 8 reads the container identification information, for example, when the toner container 10 is attached to the image forming apparatus 100. The reading section 8 includes an antenna, for example. The antenna sends and receives radio waves to communicate with the second storage 16 of the toner container 10.
The controller 9 includes a processor 91 and first storage 92.
The processor 91 is a hardware circuit including a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU). The processor 91 controls the feeding section 1, the image forming section 2, the transferring section 3, the fixing section 4, the ejection section 5, the operation panel 6, the driving section 7, the reading section 8, and the optical sensor 20 by executing a control program stored in the first storage 92.
The processor 91 causes the driving sections 7 corresponding to the four image forming sections 2c, 2m, 2y, and 2k to generate driving force based on the output result of the remaining toner amount sensors located in the four image forming sections 2c, 2m, 2y, and 2k. The processor 91 calculates the remaining amount of the toner T based on a result of detection by the optical sensor 20. The processor 91 stores the container identification information read by the reading section 8 in the first storage 92.
The processor 91 performs display processing. The display processing is processing through which the processor 91 causes the display section 61 to display various messages related to the state of the toner container 10. The display processing is described later with reference to
The first storage 92 stores the control program therein. The first storage 92 includes a storage device and semiconductor memory. The storage device includes either or both of a hard disk drive (HDD) and a solid-state drive (SSD). The semiconductor memory constitutes random-access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM), for example.
Next, a configuration of the toner container 10 is described with reference to
As illustrated in
The container main body 11 includes a first container compartment S1 and a second container compartment S2 on the inside thereof. The first container compartment S1 and the second container compartment S2 are partitioned by a partition wall 111. The first container compartment S1 contains the toner T, the conveying body 12, and the first rotary shaft 13. The first container compartment S1 is a substantially cylindrical space suited to the shape of the conveying body 12. The first container compartment S1 is partitioned into a first space S11 and a second space S12 by the conveying body 12. The toner T is contained in the first space S11. The second container compartment S2 contains the first rotating body group 14, the second rotary shaft 17, and the second rotating body 15.
The first container compartment S1 has an exit port 11a. The exit port 11a allows the toner T to be ejected out of the container main body 11 from the first container compartment S1. In a state in which the toner container 10 is attached to the image forming apparatus 100, the toner T ejected from the exit port 11a is supplied to the image forming section 2.
The second container compartment S2 has an opening 11b. The opening 11b is formed so that the optical sensor 20 is enabled to detect rotation of the second rotating body 15.
The optical sensor 20 detects presence or absence of a label L fixed to an outer circumferential surface 15P of the second rotating body 15 each time the second rotating body 15 rotates. The label L indicates that the second rotating body 15 has rotated. The optical sensor 20 includes a light receiving and emitting section. The light receiving and emitting section includes a light emitting element and a photo detector. The light emitting element emits light toward the outer circumferential surface 15P of the second rotating body 15. The photo detector receives light reflected by the outer circumferential surface 15P of the second rotating body 15. The light emitting element is a light-emitting diode (LED), for example. The photo detector is a photodiode, for example.
The partition wall 111 has through holes 111a to 111c. The through holes 111a to 111c are formed in prescribed positions on the partition wall 111.
The first rotary shaft 13 is rotatably attached to the inside of the container main body 11. The first rotary shaft 13 transmits the driving force of the driving section 7 to the conveying body 12 to cause the conveying body 12 to move while rotating. The first rotary shaft 13 extends in the direction in which the conveying body 12 approaches the exit port 11a. In the following, the direction in which the conveying body 12 approaches the exit port 11a is referred to as an “exit port direction D”. The first rotary shaft 13 has a first spiral groove G1A formed in an outer circumferential surface 13P thereof. One end of the first rotary shall 13 protrudes out of the container main body 11. The image forming apparatus 100 includes a gear 71. The gear 71 rotates due to the driving force of the driving section 7. The toner container 10 includes a gear 131. The gear 131 is fixed to the one end of the first rotary shaft 13. The gear 131 of the toner container 10 is meshed with the gear 71 of the image forming apparatus 100. Therefore, the gear 71 of the image forming apparatus 100 rotates when the driving section 7 generates driving force. When the gear 71 of the image forming apparatus 100 rotates, the gear 131 of the toner container 10 rotates. When the gear 131 of the toner container 10 rotates, the first rotary shaft 13 of the toner container 10 rotates.
Next, the conveying body 12 is described with reference to
Next, the first rotating body group 14, the second rotary shaft 17, and the second rotating body 15 are described with reference to
The first rotating body group 14 and the second rotating body 15 are fixed to the second rotary shaft 17. That is, the second rotary shaft 17 functions as a rotational axis of the first rotating body group 14 and the second rotating body 15. Accordingly, the second rotating body 15 and the second rotary shaft 17 rotate when the first rotating body group 14 rotates.
The second rotary shaft 17 transmits the driving force generated by the rotation of the first rotating body group 14 to the second rotating body 15. As illustrated in
The first rotating body 14a engages with the outer circumferential surface 12P of the conveying body 12 and rotates according to the rotation of the conveying body 12. As illustrated in
The configuration of the first rotating body 14b and the first rotating body 14c is the same as the configuration of the first rotating body 14a. Therefore, the second rotating body 15 is rotated once as the conveying body 12 moves from a starting point to an ending point. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The second rotating body 15 rotates according to the driving force generated by the rotation of the first rotating body group 14 each time the conveying body 12 engages with any of the first rotating bodies 14a to 14c. As illustrated in
The labels L differ in reflectivity from the outer circumferential surface 15P of the second rotating body 15. In detail, the reflectivity of the labels L to light emitted by the optical sensor 20 differs from that of the outer circumferential surface 15P of the second rotating body 15. In the first embodiment, the labels L are black but the outer circumferential surface 15P of the second rotating body 15 is not black. The labels L are fixed to the outer circumferential surface 15P of the second rotating body 15 with adhesive. The labels L are black stickers, for example.
Next, the number of labels L is described with reference to
As illustrated in
Next, a rotation mechanism of the second rotating body 15 is described with reference to
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Next, the display processing is described with reference to
The detection count of the second rotating body 15 being 0 indicates that the conveying body 12 has not been engaged with any of the first rotating bodies 14a to 14c. The detection count being 1 indicates that the conveying body 12 has finished engagement with the first rotating body 14a but has not been engaged with the first rotating bodies 14b or 14c. The detection count being 2 indicates that the conveying body 12 has finished engagement with the first rotating bodies 14a and 14b but has not been engaged with the first rotating body 14c. The detection count being 3 indicates that the conveying body 12 has finished engagement with all of the first rotating bodies 14a to 14c. An example of adding to the detection count is described in the following. For example, in a case where the processor 91 causes the driving section 7 to generate driving force and detects the rotation of the second rotating body 15, the processor 91 adds 1 to the detection count stored in the first storage 92 when a prescribed period elapses from the processor 91 ceasing to detect the rotation of the second rotating body 15 while the driving section 7 is generating driving force.
Step S10: The processor 91 determines whether or not the prescribed period has elapsed from the second rotating body 15 ceasing to rotate based on the result of detection by the optical sensor 20 while the driving section 7 is generating driving force. When the processor 91 determines that the prescribed period has elapsed from the second rotating body 15 ceasing to rotate (Step S10: Yes), in other words that the conveying body 12 moving while rotating has finished engagement with the specific first rotating body, the processing advances to Step S20. In this case, the processor 91 stores the number of labels L detected by the optical sensor 20 between the start and the end of engagement of the specific first rotating body with the conveying body 12 as the detection count in the first storage 92. When the processor 91 determines that the prescribed period has not elapsed from the second rotating body 15 ceasing to rotate (Step S10: No), in other words that it is possible that the conveying body 12 moving while rotating is engaged with the specific first rotating body, the processing returns to Step S10.
Step S20: The processor 91 adds 1 to the detection count stored in the first storage 92. The processing advances to Step S30.
Step S30: The processor 91 determines whether or not the detection count is 3. When the processor 91 determines that the detection count is 3 (Step S30: Yes), in other words that the conveying body 12 has finished engagement with all of the first rotating bodies 14a to 14c, the processing advances to Step S52. When the processor 91 determines that the detection count is not 3 (Step S30: No), in other words that the conveying body 12 has not finished engagement with all of the first rotating bodies 14a to 14c, the processing advances to Step S40.
Step S40: The processor 91 acquires the number of labels L associated with the specific first rotating body from the container identification information stored in the first storage 92. in the following, the number of labels L from the container identification information is referred to as a “regulation count”. The container identification information stored in the first storage 92 is an example of a “prescribed characteristic value”. Also, the regulation count is an example of a “first characteristic value”. The processor 91 acquires the detection count stored in the first storage 92. The detection count is an example of a “second characteristic value”. The processor 91 determines whether or not the regulation count of labels L matches the detection count of labels L. When the processor 91 determines that the regulation count of labels L matches the detection count of labels L (Step S40: Yes), in other words that it is possible that the toner container 10 is a genuine product, the processing advances to Step S50. When the processor 91 determines that the regulation count of labels L does not match the detection count of labels L (Step S40: No), in other words that it is possible that the toner container 10 is not a genuine product, the processing advances to Step S51.
Step S50: The processor 91 causes the display section 61 to display a first message. The first message indicates the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10. In detail, the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 in the first message indicates any one of a later-described “large”, “medium”, and “small”. The processing ends.
In the first embodiment, the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 is set to four stages. In detail, the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 is classified into “large”, “medium”, “small”, and “very small”. “Large”, “medium”, “small”, and “very small” indicate the size of the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 in the stated order. The processor 91 calculates the remaining amount of the toner T based on a result of detection by the optical sensor 20. In detail, in the first embodiment, the processor 91 classifies the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 as any of the four stages according to the detection count stored in the first storage 92. Specifically, when the detection count is 0, the processor 91 classifies the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 as “large”. When the detection count is 1, the processor 91 classifies the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 as “medium”. When the detection count is 2, the processor 91 classifies the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 as “small”. When the detection count is 3, the processor 91 classifies the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 as “very small”. In the first embodiment, the detection count being 3 indicates that the remaining amount of the toner T is less than a prescribed amount.
Step S51: The processor 91 causes the display section 61 to display a second message. The second message indicates the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 and that the toner container 10 is not a genuine product. In detail, the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 in the second message indicates any one of “large”, “medium”, and “small”. The processing ends.
Step S52: The processor 91 causes the display section 61 to display a third message. The third message prompts replacement of the toner container 10. That is, the display section 61 notifies the user that the amount of remaining toner in the toner container 10 is “very small”. The processing ends.
As described with reference to
The second rotating body 15 rotates each time the conveying body 12 engages with any of the first rotating bodies 14a to 14c. The first rotating bodies 14a to 14c cause the second rotating body 15 to rotate once when e conveying body 12 moves from a starting point to an ending point. When the toner container 10 is attached to the image forming apparatus 100, the toner container 10 allows the image forming apparatus 100 to accurately grasp the remaining amount of toner T contained in the container main body 11.
The second rotating body 15 has labels L on an outer circumferential surface 15P thereof. Therefore, the toner container 10 can be made smaller in size than in a case where the second rotating body 15 includes a detecting plate.
The image forming apparatus 100 includes a toner container 10, a driving section 7, an optical sensor 20, and a processor 91. The processor 91 calculates the remaining amount of the toner T based on a result of detection by the optical sensor 20. In a case where a display section 61 is included which displays information, the image forming apparatus 100 can inform a user of the remaining amount of the toner T.
The image forming apparatus 100 further includes a display section 61. The processor 91 determines whether or not a detection count is 3. In other words, the processor 91 determines whether or not the remaining amount of the toner T is less than a prescribed amount. When the detection count is 3, in other words, the remaining amount of the toner T is determined to be less than the prescribed amount, the processor 91 causes the display section 61 to display a message for replacement of the toner container 10. The image forming apparatus 100 can notify the user that the remaining amount of the toner T is small before the remaining amount of the toner T is depleted.
The optical sensor 20 includes a light receiving and emitting section. The light receiving and emitting section includes a light emitting element and a photo detector. The image forming apparatus 100 can be made smaller than in a configuration which uses a disk-shaped detection plate with a slit therein and a detecting member which detects the presence or absence of the slit in the detection plate as a detecting section to detect the rotation count of the second rotating body 15.
The toner container 10 includes first rotating bodies 14a to 14c and second storage 16. The second storage 16 stores container identification information therein. The processor 91 acquires a detection count of labels L from a result of detection by the optical sensor 20. The processor 91 reads out a corresponding regulation count of labels L from numbers of labels L respectively associated with the first rotating bodies 14a to 14c in the container identification information stored in the second storage 16. The processor 91 compares the regulation count of labels L to the detection count of labels L. When the regulation count of labels L does not match the detection count of labels L, the processor 91 determines that the toner container 10 is not a genuine product. The image forming apparatus 100 can easily determine whether or not the attached toner container 10 is a genuine product.
The following describes a toner container 30 according to a second embodiment with reference to
The toner container 30 includes a container main body 11 with a different configuration than that of the toner container 10 of the first embodiment.
As illustrated in
The container main body 11 of the second embodiment differs from the container main body 11 of the first embodiment by not having a second container compartment S2. The first container compartment S1 of the second embodiment contains toner T. the conveying body 12, the first rotary shaft 13, the first rotating body group 14, the second rotary shaft 17, and the second rotating body 15. The container main body 11 of the second embodiment has a third inner wall 114 in the first container compartment S1 instead of the first inner wall 112 of the first embodiment. The third inner wall 114 prevents the toner T from moving to the second rotating body 15.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described above with reference to the accompanying drawings (
(1) In the first and second embodiments of the present disclosure as described with reference to
(2) In the first and second embodiments of the present disclosure as described with reference to
(3) In the first and second embodiments of the present disclosure as described with reference to
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP2019-131885 | Jul 2019 | JP | national |
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| 9354547 | Konishi et al. | May 2016 | B2 |
| 10234789 | Kawanoet etal. | Mar 2019 | B2 |
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| 2006194980 | Jul 2006 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20210018858 A1 | Jan 2021 | US |
