JP3545945B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus configured to be able to transfer residual toner removed from a photoreceptor to a toner recovery container located above by a belt conveyor.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, an image forming apparatus configured to be able to transfer the residual toner removed from the photosensitive drum 101 to a toner collecting container 103 located above the photosensitive drum 101 by a belt conveyor 102 has been described. This is known from Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-116868.
[0003]
In this image forming apparatus, the residual toner adhered to the photosensitive drum 101 is scraped off by a cleaning blade, and is conveyed to a belt conveyor 102 by rotating a spiral spiral blade. Collected by transporting to
[0004]
A belt 104 is provided on the belt conveying body 102, and a partition wall 104a is erected on the belt 104 so that residual toner does not drop during conveyance. It is configured to be collected in the collection container 103.
[0005]
Also, as shown in FIG. 6, which is a partially enlarged view of the belt transport body 102 in FIG. 5, the inner wall of the belt transport body 102 has a wide portion 102b and a narrow portion 102a, and is formed by the narrow portion 102a. The width D is substantially the same as the width of the belt 104 and the partition wall 104a, and the light emitting element 105a and the light receiving element 105b are provided with the narrow portion 102a interposed therebetween. Accordingly, if the belt conveying member 102 is formed of a material that transmits light emitted from the light emitting element 105a, the light is received by the light receiving element 105b when the residual toner is not located at the position of the narrow portion 102a. Is located at the position of the narrow portion 102a, the light is not received by the light receiving element 105b, so that it is possible to detect whether or not the residual toner remains at the position of the narrow portion 102a. Is substantially the same width as the partition wall 104a, the partition wall 104a comes into contact with the wall at the position of the narrow portion 102a, and the residual toner adhering to the wall of the narrow portion 102a is cleaned and erroneously detected. The present applicant has disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-166546 that the present invention can be reduced.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the belt conveying body of the conventional image forming apparatus, since the width D formed by the narrow portion 102a is substantially the same as the width of the belt 104 and the partition wall 104a, the width D of the lower portion of the partition wall 104a is smaller. There is a problem that the elastic member comes into contact with the narrow portion 102a in a strong state, the inner wall of the narrow portion 102a is scraped, and the scraping effect (cleaning effect) is reduced.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has a belt that conveys residual toner removed from a photoconductor in a housing to a toner collection container, and a belt that stands up in a width direction on the belt and extends in a longitudinal direction of the belt. A plurality of partition walls provided at predetermined intervals, and an image forming apparatus including a belt transport body that holds the toner on the partition walls and transports the toner to the toner collection container. A light receiving element is provided on the other side, and at least a portion of the housing through which light from the light emitting element to the light receiving element passes is a light transmitting member, and the partition wall receives light from at least the light emitting element on the inner wall of the housing. This is an image forming apparatus that contacts a position where light to the element passes and makes the length in the width direction of the standing position different from the length in the width direction of the belt.
[0008]
In this way, by making the length in the width direction of the upright position, which is the position where the partition wall is connected to the belt, different from the length in the width direction of the belt, the lower portion of the partition wall also has elasticity. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the shaving of the inner wall of the housing of the belt conveyance body through which light from the light emitting element to the light receiving element, which is the narrow portion, passes.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In the image forming apparatus 1, a belt conveying body 11 for conveying a residual toner is rotated counterclockwise on the back surface of a frame 12 on which the belt conveying body 11 is placed. A developing device 10, a transfer roller 19, a cleaning blade, a charging unit, and the like are disposed around the photosensitive drum along the rotation direction.
[0010]
The developing device 10 is configured such that the toner container 31 can appropriately supply a predetermined amount of toner. At a position adjacent to the toner container 31, a residual toner collecting container 39 is disposed. An optical unit 5 for forming image dots on the surface of the photoconductor drum is provided above the photoconductor drum. Further, after the conveyed sheet is conveyed to the registration rollers 18 and 30, the sheet is further conveyed at a certain timing, an image is transferred by the photosensitive drum and the transfer roller 19, the image is fixed by the fixing rollers 23 and 24, and is discharged. The paper is discharged to the paper tray 6.
[0011]
FIG. 2 is a view showing the belt transport body 11. The belt transport body 11 is surrounded by a transparent synthetic resin housing 15 e, and is rotated upward by a pulley 46 rotatably fitted to a lower circulation shaft 47. A pinion 43 that is arranged so as to be able to be disposed, a belt 45 in the form of an endless track having a groove that meshes with the pinion 43 and a partition wall 45a is stretched, and the belt 45 is rotated counterclockwise by the pinion 43 in the figure. The belt 45 lifts the residual toner transport chamber 50 on the upper side A, and transports the residual toner on the lower side B of the belt 45 to the residual toner collecting container 39.
[0012]
An opening 15b is provided above the lower circulation shaft 47. The opening 15b is provided with a cover cylinder 42 extending from the photosensitive drum side and an end of a spiral blade shaft 38 having a spiral blade 37. It is fitted so as to receive the residual toner.
[0013]
As in this embodiment, since the belt 45 obtains the rotational driving force from the pinion 43 located above, the heavy residual toner transport chamber 50 on the upper side A of the belt 45 is pulled up, and the empty residual toner on the lower side B is removed. By driving the transfer chamber 50 so as to push it, even if a thin and light belt 45 is used, the belt 45 does not bend, has good responsiveness, and can drive the belt 45 satisfactorily. Further, since the residual toner is dropped onto the belt 45 from the opening 15b and the lower circulation shaft 47 is disposed below the opening 15b, the residual toner discharged from the opening 15b is solidified. Even if you do it, it will be loosened by its own weight. Further, when the dropped residual toner rises on the upper side A and is conveyed, it collides with the residual toner falling from the opening 15b, so that the solidified residual toner is also loosened. As a result, solidification of the residual toner can be prevented.
[0014]
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a light receiving / emitting element 17 (light emitting element 17a and light receiving element 17b) is provided below the belt transport body 11, and an enlarged configuration diagram in the vicinity thereof is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the inner wall of the housing 15e of the belt transport body 11 has a wide portion 15m and a narrow portion 15n, and a light emitting element 17a and a light receiving element 17b are provided with the narrow portion 15n interposed therebetween. . Thereby, when the residual toner is not at the position of the narrow portion 15n, the light is received by the light receiving element 17b, and when the toner is at the position of the narrow portion 15n, the light is not received by the light receiving element 17b. Then, it can be detected whether or not the residual toner remains at the position of the narrow portion 15n.
[0015]
Although the partition wall 45a is in contact with the narrow portion 15n and cleans the residual toner attached to the narrow portion 15n to reduce erroneous detection of the light receiving element 17b. The width of the standing position is different from the width of the belt 45.
[0016]
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4A, the upper part of the partition wall 45a has the same width as the belt 45, and the lower part has a shorter width than the belt. As shown in FIG. A configuration in which a partition wall 45a having a longer width is provided, or a configuration in which the center of the belt 45 is empty and the total total width of the belt 45 is shorter than the width of the partition wall 45a as shown in FIG. Just fine.
[0017]
With such a configuration, the elastic force can be provided in the width direction even below the partition wall 45a in contact with the belt 45, the contact pressure on the narrow portion 15n can be reduced, and the narrow portion 15n can be reduced. Can be prevented from being scraped.
[0018]
When residual toner enters between the belt 45, the pinion 43, and the pulley 46, the residual toner adheres to form a layer, which increases the tension of the belt 45 and increases the driving torque. Although the overload occurs, for example, as shown in FIG. 4C, by reducing the total width of the belt 45 to a necessary minimum, even if residual toner is mixed between the belt 45 and the pinion 43 and the pulley 46, The tension of the belt 45 can be kept small.
[0019]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, in order to make the width of the vertical position of the partition wall with the belt different from the width of the belt, the belt transport through which light from the light emitting element to the light receiving element passes. It is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that can suppress the scraping of the inner wall of the body casing and maintain the cleaning effect for a long period of time.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image forming apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a belt conveyance body of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a belt and a partition wall of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a conventional image forming apparatus.
FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view of a belt conveyance body of a conventional image forming apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
1: Image forming apparatus 11, 102: Belt conveyor 15b: Opening 15e: Housing 15m, 102b: Wide section 15n, 102a: Narrow section 17: Light emitting / receiving elements 17a, 105a: Light emitting elements 17b, 105b: Light receiving element 37: spiral blade 38: spiral blade shaft 39, 103: residual toner collecting container 43: pinion 45, 104: belt 45a, 104a: partition wall 46: pulley 50: residual toner transport chamber 101: photosensitive drum

Claims (1)

A belt that conveys the residual toner removed from the photoconductor to the toner collecting container in the housing, and a plurality of partition walls that are provided upright in the width direction of the belt and provided at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the belt, In an image forming apparatus including a belt conveyance body that holds toner at a partition wall and conveys the toner to the toner collection container,
A light emitting element is provided on one side and a light receiving element on the other side via the outside of the housing,
At least a portion of the housing through which light from the light emitting element to the light receiving element passes is a light transmitting member,
The partition wall contacts at least a position on the inner wall of the housing where light from the light emitting element to the light receiving element passes, and makes a width direction length of the standing position different from a width direction length of the belt. An image forming apparatus comprising:

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