WASTE TONER COLLECTING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

Abstract

A tandem type image forming apparatus drives an agitation paddle when the waste toner defecated from a plurality of image forming units and flowed and collected in a single waste toner containing member by way of the first collection port thereof gets to a predetermined level in order to level the height of the waste toner in the waste toner containing member. The quantity of waste toner flowed by way of the first collection port is estimated from the quantity of the toners supplied from the toner cartridges of the development apparatus.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is a color copying machine, showing the appearance thereof when its front cover is opened;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an image forming section according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a waste toner box according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a schematic perspective view of a photo-sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the main body section of the waste toner box according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is Table 1 illustrating the primary transfer ratios and the secondary transfer ratio according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is Table 2 illustrating the transferred quantities and the waste toner quantities of toners of different colors relative to the supplied quantities of toners according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is Table 3 illustrating the image density correction coefficients of the consumed quantity of toner according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is Table 4 illustrating the correction coefficients of the number of rotations of the conveyance paddles for temperature fluctuations according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is Table 5 illustrating the correction coefficients of the number of rotations of the conveyance paddles for humidity fluctuations according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is Table 6 illustrating the correction coefficients of the number of rotations of the conveyance paddles for steam pressure fluctuations according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is Table 7 illustrating the correction coefficients of the number of rotations of the conveyance paddles for fluctuations of the primary transfer bias voltage according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is Table 8 illustrating the correction coefficients of the number of rotations of the conveyance paddles for different types of sheets according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is Table 9 illustrating the definitions of sheets according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the process of controlling the agitation paddle according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is Table 10 illustrating some of the results of a waste toner collecting test according to the embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 16 is Table 11 also illustrating some of the results of a waste toner collecting test according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A waste toner collecting apparatus comprising: a waste toner containing member extending in the direction of arrangement of a plurality of image forming units respectively having toner image forming members arranged around image carriers so as to contain the waste toner conveyed out from the plurality of image forming units; anda leveling member arranged in the waste toner containing member and adapted to rotate according to the quantity of waste toner in the waste toner containing member.

2. The waste toner collecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste toner containing member receives and contains the waste toner defecated from the image carriers and the waste toner defecated from the transfer mediums on which images are formed.

3. The waste toner collecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the toner image forming members are provided respectively with development sections for applying toner to the image carriers and the quantity of waste toner is detected from the quantity of the toners supplied respectively to the development sections.

4. The waste toner collecting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the quantity of the supplied toners is detected from the number of rotations of the conveyance paddles of supply sections that supply the toners to the development sections.

5. The waste toner collecting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the quantity of the supplied toners is detected from the period of the operation of driving the conveyance paddles of the supply sections that supply the toners to the development sections.

6. The waste toner collecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the quantity of waste toner is detected from count values of pixel counters for counting the respective numbers of pixels formed on the image carriers.

7. The waste toner collecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of rotations of the leveling member is adjustable.

8. The waste toner collecting apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the number of rotations of the leveling member is adjusted according to the required timing of sensing a full condition.

9. The waste toner collecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the quantity of the waste toner can be corrected according to the environment when forming images by the toner image forming members, transfer bias voltage applied to the transfer mediums of the toner images formed on the image carriers and/or the type of the transfer medium.

10. The waste toner collecting apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the correction of the quantity of waste toner is realized by using a correction coefficient determined according to the environment when forming images by the toner image forming members, the transfer bias voltage applied to the transfer mediums of the toner images formed on the image carriers and/or the type of the transfer medium.

11. An image forming apparatus comprising: a plurality of image forming units respectively having toner image forming members for forming toner images on respective toner image carriers;a waste toner containing member extending in the direction of arrangement of the plurality of image forming units so as to contain waste toner; anda leveling member arranged in the waste toner containing member and adapted to rotate according to the quantity of waste toner in the waste toner containing member.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the waste toner containing member receives and contains the waste toner defecated from the image carriers and the waste toner defecated from the transfer mediums on which toner images are formed.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the toner image forming members are provided respectively with development sections for applying toner to the image carriers and the quantity of waste toner is detected from the quantity of the toners supplied respectively to the development sections.

14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the quantity of the supplied toners is detected from the number of rotations of the conveyance paddles of supply sections that supply the toners to the development sections.

15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the quantity of the supplied toners is detected from the period of the operation of driving the conveyance paddles of the supply sections that supply the toners to the development sections.

16. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising: pixel counters for counting the numbers of pixels formed respectively on the image carriers;the quantity of waste toner being detected from count values of the pixel counters.

17. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the number of rotations of the leveling member is adjustable.

18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the number of rotations of the leveling member is adjusted according to the required timing of sensing a full condition.

19. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the quantity of waste toner can be corrected according to the environment when forming images by the toner image forming members, the transfer bias voltage applied to the transfer mediums of the toner images formed on the image carriers and/or the type of the transfer medium.

20. The image forming apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the correction of the quantity of waste toner is realized by using a correction coefficient determined according to the environment when forming images by the toner image forming members, the transfer bias voltage applied to the transfer mediums of the toner images formed on the image carriers and/or the type of the transfer medium.