JP2008152299A - Development kit - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a development kit that invalidates or prevents improper refilling of toner after it has been consumed and there is no remaining toner and the life of the development kit is exhausted.
A bent portion 156-2 is formed at a leading end 156-1 of a conveying terminal portion of a conveying screw 156 and is fitted in a groove 155-1 provided at a driving end of a driving shaft 155. When the drive shaft 155 rotates in the arrow v direction, the entire conveying screw 156 rotates and the waste toner is conveyed in the arrow w direction. On the other hand, even if the developer kit is disassembled and the conveying screw 156 is to be pulled out from the waste toner receiving pipe 52, the bent portion 156-2 is fitted into the groove 155-1 and cannot be pulled out. For this reason, a suction member is attached to the waste toner receiving pipe 153 so that the waste toner cannot be sucked and taken out from the waste toner collection bag, and it cannot be used normally even if the developing kit is filled with toner. Proper toner refilling is indirectly prohibited.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming unit that invalidates illegal refilling of toner after the end of its life.

Conventionally, there is an electrophotographic image forming apparatus (printer apparatus or copier) that forms an image using toner.
FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of a conventional printer device. The printer apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an apparatus main body upper part 2 and an apparatus main body lower part 3. An operation panel 4 is disposed on the apparatus main body upper part 2, and a printing paper discharge unit 5 is formed on the upper surface. Has been. The operation panel 4 includes a key operation unit 4a provided with a plurality of keys, and a display unit 4b including a liquid crystal display that performs display based on display information output from a CPU of a control unit described later. . The printer 1 is connected to a host device such as a personal computer by a cable (not shown).

  Printing paper prepared by the image forming unit is output to the paper discharge unit 5 by the rotation of the paper discharge roller pair 6 and is sequentially stacked on the paper discharge unit 5. Further, a front cover 7 that can be opened and closed is provided on the front surface of the lower part 3 of the apparatus main body. The front cover 7 is opened at the time of jam processing or maintenance, for example.

  In general, a main part of an image forming unit of such a printer apparatus includes a photosensitive member kit centering on a photosensitive member that forms an electrostatic latent image, and the electrostatic latent image is visualized (developed) with toner. An image forming unit including a developing kit is detachably disposed. The printer apparatus 1 shown in the figure shows an example of a so-called tandem type color printer apparatus in which such image forming units are arranged in a multistage manner.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the printer apparatus 1 described above. The printer apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an image forming unit 8, a duplex printing transport unit 9, and a paper feeding unit 10.
The image forming unit 8 includes four image forming units 11 to 14 arranged side by side, and magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), black ( Bk). Among these, the magenta (M), cyan (C), and yellow (Y) image forming units 11 to 13 are used when color printing is performed by subtractive color mixing, and the black (Bk) image forming unit 14 is When printing a character or a monochrome image, it is sometimes used for emphasizing a dark part of a color image.

  Each of the image forming units 11 to 14 includes a photoconductor kit C1 and a developing kit C2 (see the image forming unit 11 for magenta (M)), and a developer ( The rest of the configuration is the same except that the color of the toner is different. Accordingly, the image forming unit 13 for yellow (Y) will be taken up as a representative and the configuration of the image forming unit will be described below.

  In the one photoreceptor kit C1, a photoreceptor drum 15, a cleaner 16, a charger 17 and the like are assembled. A print head 18 is disposed on the main body side above the photoconductor kit C1. In the other development kit C2, the developing roller 19 is disposed in the lower opening, and the toner 21 is accommodated therein.

  The peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 15 is made of, for example, an organic photoconductive material. In the vicinity of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 15, the cleaning blade of the cleaner 16, the charger 17, the print head 18, and the developing roller 19 described above. In addition, a transfer unit 23 is disposed in sequence with the upper circulation surface of the conveyance belt 22 and the lower surface of the photosensitive drum 15 across the upper circulation surface of the conveyance belt 22.

  The photosensitive drum 15 rotates in a clockwise direction indicated by an arrow in the figure, and first, a charge is applied from the charger 17, and the peripheral surface thereof is uniformly initialized and charged. Then, by the optical writing based on the printing information from the print head 18, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the peripherally charged peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 15 by the initialization charging potential and the potential changed by the optical writing. .

  The electrostatic latent image is visualized (developed) by the toner 21 transferred by the developing roller 19 to form a toner image. The toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 15 is conveyed as the photosensitive drum 15 rotates in the clockwise direction, reaches the position of the transfer unit 23, and is conveyed by the conveying belt 22 to be photosensitive. Immediately below the body drum 15 is transferred to a sheet that moves in the direction of arrow a.

  The paper feeding unit 10 includes a paper feeding cassette 24, a paper feeding roller 25 having a half-moon-shaped cross section, a paper feeding path 26, a standby roller pair 27, the above-described conveyance belt 22, and the like. Further, a rotating paper feed tray 28, a paper feed roller 29, and the like used for printing on special size paper or special paper quality are also provided.

The conveyor belt 22 is circulated between the driving roller 31 and the driven roller 32, and the upper moving surface thereof contacts the lower surface of each photosensitive drum 15 of the four image forming units 11-14. It is stretched to touch.
The paper feed cassette 24 contains paper P. The sheet P is taken out by one rotation of the sheet feeding roller 25 and is fed to the standby roller pair 27 through the sheet feeding path 6. Alternatively, the paper placed on the rotating paper feed tray 28 is fed to the standby roller pair 27 by the rotation of the paper feed roller 29.

  The standby roller pair 27 stops and waits for the paper P until the feeding timing arrives, and the leading edge of the toner image on the photosensitive drum 15 of the magenta (M) image forming unit 11 is on the surface facing the conveyance belt 22. The paper P is fed to the transport belt 22 so that the printing start position of the paper P reaches the opposite surface at the timing of rotational transport.

  While the paper P is being transported to the transport belt 22, first, the magenta (M) toner image on the photosensitive drum 15 of the image forming unit 11 is transferred onto the paper surface by the transfer device 23, and then the photosensitive material of the image forming unit 12. The cyan (C) toner image on the body drum 15 is transferred to the paper surface by the transfer device 23, and the yellow (Y) toner image on the photosensitive drum 15 of the image forming unit 13 is further transferred to the paper surface by the transfer device 23. The In some cases, a black (Bk) toner image on the photosensitive drum 15 of the image forming unit 14 is also transferred to the paper surface by the transfer unit 23.

  Thus, the paper P on which the toner images of a predetermined color are superimposed and transferred by the respective transfer units 23 while being conveyed according to the movement of the conveyance belt 22 is peeled off from the conveyance belt 22 and carried into the fixing unit 33. The fixing unit 33 includes a heat fixing roller 34, a pressure roller 35, an oil application roller 36, and a carry-out roller pair 37. The paper P is heat-fixed with a plurality of color toner images on the paper surface by heat and pressure while being conveyed while being sandwiched between the heat fixing roller 34 and the pressure roller 35. The oil application roller 36 has a function of applying releasable oil to the peripheral surface of the heat fixing roller 34 before the start of the fixing operation and removing toner remaining after being transferred to the heat fixing roller 34 after the completion of fixing. .

  The sheet P on which the toner image is heat-fixed and carried out from the fixing unit 33 is left by the left discharge roller pair 39 when the switching flap 38 is rotated upward as indicated by the solid line in the figure. When the toner image fixing surface is discharged from the paper discharge port 40 to the outside, and when the switching flap 38 is rotated downward as indicated by a broken line in the figure, the upper discharge roller pair is guided upward. 41 is taken over and is discharged onto the discharge unit 5 with the toner image fixing surface down by the discharge roller pair 6 shown in FIG.

  The duplex printing transport unit 9 is configured to be detachable from the apparatus main body, and is a unit that is mounted when the printer device 1 performs duplex printing. The duplex printing transport unit 9 has a plurality of reverse transport roller pairs 42a to 42e disposed therein.

  When performing double-sided printing on the paper P, the paper P is temporarily discharged upward halfway by the switching flap 38. For example, when the trailing edge of the paper reaches the upper paper discharge roller pair 41, the conveyance of the paper P is stopped. Further, the paper P is conveyed in the reverse direction. By this control, the paper P is carried into the paper reverse transport path of the duplex printing transport unit 9, and the paper P is sent in the reverse direction by the reverse transport roller pairs 42 a to 42 e, and is reversed via the paper feed path 26. The toner image is fed to the standby roller pair 27 with one toner image fixing surface down. Thereafter, as described above, multicolor printing is repeated, and double-sided printing is completed.

  FIG. 6 is a circuit block diagram of the printer apparatus 1 configured and operating as described above. As shown in FIG. 6, the circuit block includes an interface controller (hereinafter referred to as I / F controller) 43, a printer controller 45, a printer printing unit 46, a CPU 47, a ROM 48, an operation panel 49, and an EEPROM 50.

  A system program is stored in the ROM 48, and the CPU 47 performs processing by controlling each unit in accordance with the system program. That is, the I / F controller 43 converts print data supplied from the host device into bitmap data and develops it in the frame memory 44. In the frame memory 44, a storage area is set for each of magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (Bk), and data of each color is developed in the corresponding area.

  The data developed in the frame memory 44 is output to the printer controller 45 and is output from the printer controller 45 to the printer printing unit 46. The magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (Bk) data output to the printer printing unit 46 are sent to the print heads 18 shown in FIG. Supplied.

  By the way, the photoconductor kit C1 is replaced with a new photoconductor kit C1 when the photoconductor drum 15 reaches the end of its life, and the used photoconductor kit C1 is discarded (or new if it is collected in the manufacturing factory). In some cases, the regular photoconductor drum 15 or other damaged member is replaced with a new member for reproduction.

  The developing kit C2 is also designed so that the developing roller 19 and other built-in members reach the end of their life when the toner 21 in the interior is almost exhausted. Therefore, when the toner 21 is exhausted, it is replaced with a new developing kit C2. The development kit C2 that has been used is discarded (or, if it is collected in the manufacturing factory, it may be disassembled and regenerated in combination with a usable member and a new member).

Such a unit is normally configured to be replaceable on the user side. Therefore, the developer kit C2 and the like that have finished using the toner are replaced with a new developer kit C2 by the user.
However, if a paper jam occurs at an unrecoverable location, or if there is a problem such as poor printing even though there is still toner, the user will request a repair from the printer manufacturer or printer dealer over the phone. Is issued. Based on this request, a serviceman or salesman at the printer manufacturer or printer store goes to the user, first detects the occurrence of the problem, and repairs the problem.

  At this time, if the toner is still present but the printing state is bad and no trouble is found in any place other than the development kit C2, it is considered to be the responsibility of the manufacturer of the development kit C2, and either spontaneously or by the user In some cases, a service such as a free replacement of the development kit C2 may be performed according to a request from the customer.

  However, recently, there have been companies that disassemble development kits that are configured as consumables that are discarded when they are used as described above, are filled with toner, are reassembled and regenerated, and are resold. Hereinafter, a method for refilling toner by a reseller will be described.

  FIG. 7A is a perspective view of the conventional image forming units 11 to 14 described above, and FIG. 7B is a perspective view of the inside of the developing kit C2. As shown in FIG. 5B, a waste toner collection bag 51 for collecting the waste toner removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum 15 by the cleaner 16 shown in FIG. A waste toner receiving pipe 52 that receives waste toner while supporting the collection bag 51, a recovery pipe 53 that forms a waste toner recovery path, and the recovery pipe 53 are disposed within the end of the waste toner receiving pipe 52. A conveying screw 54 that extends and feeds waste toner into the waste toner collection bag 51; a drive shaft 55 that rotates by engaging with an end of the conveying screw 54 in the waste toner receiving pipe 52; Below these, the toner 21 and the developing roller 19 shown in FIG. 14 are disposed.

  In the printing (printing) process described above, among the toner 21 formed on the photosensitive drum 15 and transferred to the paper P, there is toner that still remains on the photosensitive drum 15 after the transfer. Such toner is scraped off from the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 15 by the cleaning blade of the cleaner 16 to become waste toner, and falls into the casing of the cleaner 16.

  The waste toner is transported by a waste toner discharge pipe (not shown) connected to the casing of the cleaner 16, and this transport is taken over by a recovery path including a recovery pipe 53 and a transport screw 54 on the developing kit C2. The waste toner receiving pipe 52 is reached. The waste toner that has reached the waste toner receiving pipe 52 falls and accumulates in the waste toner collection bag 51 from the discharge port formed at least at one central portion of the waste toner receiving pipe 52.

  FIG. 8A is a diagram showing a configuration state of the waste toner collecting bag 51, a waste toner receiving pipe 52 that supports the waste toner collecting bag 51, and a waste toner collecting unit formed by combining a conveying screw 54 with the waste toner collecting pipe 52. FIG. 4B is a diagram showing an engaged state between the drive shaft 55 and the conveying screw 54 in the waste toner receiving pipe 52. In FIGS. 7A and 7B, the same components as those shown in FIG. 7B are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 7B.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the drive shaft 55 that drives the conveying screw 54 is located on the upper side of the toner container 56 that is the central device of the development kit C2 and located at one end of the waste toner receiving pipe 52. It is supported by a bearing 57 provided. A gear 58 is connected and fixed to the end of the drive shaft 55 supported by the bearing 57. A packing 59 is interposed between the coupling portion between the drive shaft 55 and the gear 58 and the bearing 57, thereby sealing the inside of the waste toner receiving pipe 52 from the outside.

  The drive shaft 55 is connected to the conveying screw 54 at the approximate center of the waste toner receiving pipe 52. When the gear 58 is driven by a driving system such as a motor (not shown), the conveying screw 54 rotates via the driving shaft 55 as indicated by an arrow d in FIG. Be started.

  The waste toner 21 volume in the waste toner collection bag 51 shown in FIG. 5A is conveyed as indicated by arrows b and c in FIG. The waste toner receiving pipe 52 is discharged from the approximate center through the outlet hole, and is accumulated from the approximate center of the waste toner collection bag 51. As the collection of the waste toner 21 'proceeds, the accumulation in the waste toner collection bag gradually spreads from the center to both sides.

Thus, the normal toner 21 shown in FIG. 5 below the toner container 56 is consumed and the upper part of the toner container 56 is emptied, while the waste toner collection bag 51 is swollen with the collected waste toner 21 ′. Go.
Eventually, as described above, the life of the image forming unit is exhausted when all the normal toner 21 is consumed and lost. After the reseller collects and disassembles this, the waste toner 21 'in the waste toner collection bag 51 of the toner container 56 is removed, and the upper space closed by the swollen waste toner collection bag 51 is recovered. Fill with non-genuine toner. The above disassembly and toner filling procedure will be described below.

  FIG. 9A is a view showing a state in which the image forming unit 11 (or 12 to 14) is separated into the development kit C2 and the photosensitive member kit C1, and FIG. 9B is a view showing the development of FIG. It is the figure which looked at the kit C2 from the arrow e direction. As shown in FIG. 5A, the development kit C2 includes a toner container 56 and side covers 60 (60a, 60b) that cover both sides of the toner container 56. Inside the toner container 56, in addition to the developing roller 19, toner supply A roller, a stirring member, a thickness regulating blade, and a waste toner collecting unit shown in FIG. 8 are arranged. A photosensitive kit support frame 60-1 (60-1a, 60-1b) is provided on the lower side of the side cover 60 so as to be integral with the side cover 60 (in the drawing, obliquely in the lower left direction). The width is determined by the front stay 61 that engages the portion.

  In separation of the development kit C2 and the photoconductor kit C1, the fixing kit 62 provided on the photoconductor kit support frame 60-1a of one side cover 60a of the development kit C2 is raised to raise the photoconductor kit C1. Can be easily removed from the development kit C2 as indicated by an arrow f in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, three screws 63, 64, and 65 are sequentially screwed into the side surface of the side cover 60 from the upper part to the lower part. The upper two screws 63 and 64 fix the toner container 56, and the lower one screw 65 fixes the front stay 61. If these three screws 63, 64 and 65 are removed by turning them in the opposite direction of screwing using a Phillips screwdriver, the entire developing kit C2 is almost disassembled.

  FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a state in which the side covers 60a and 60b are separated from the toner container 56 and the front stay 61 by removing the three screws 63, 64, and 65 as described above. In the figure, the same components as those shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. As shown in the drawing, the gear 58 of the drive shaft 55 shown in FIG. 8A is arranged on the upper side surface on the left side in the drawing of the toner container 56, and the toner cap 66 is arranged slightly in the vicinity thereof. Has been.

  At the time of factory assembly, the toner container 56 is formed by combining two members divided into an upper cover 56a and a toner hopper 56b at the center and joining them together by melting. It cannot be disassembled. At the time of factory assembly, after the upper cover 56a and the toner hopper 56b are joined together as described above, the toner hopper 56b is filled with toner from the engagement port of the toner cap 66, and the toner cap 66 is fitted into the engagement port. Thus, the image forming units 11 to 14 are completed by assembling in the reverse order as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B.

In this way, when disassembled as shown in FIG. 10, the toner can be easily refilled by the reseller thereafter.
FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating a procedure before the refilling of toner. FIGS. 9A and 9B show a method of taking out the waste toner 21 ′ shown in FIG. 8A from the waste toner collection bag 51. In FIGS. 7A and 7B, the same components as those shown in FIG. 8 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. As shown by an arrow g in FIG. 5A, first, the recovery pipe 53 fitted to the waste toner receiving port 52-1, which is the end opening of the waste toner receiving pipe 52, is removed. As a result, the conveying screw 54 exposed to the outside is held by a hand and pressed so as not to rotate and pulled outward as indicated by an arrow h in FIG. When rotated in the direction opposite to the direction, the drive shaft 55 rotates in the direction opposite to the drive direction.

  As shown in FIG. 8B, the engagement between the drive shaft 55 and the conveying screw 54 is merely locked so as not to be disengaged when the drive shaft 55 rotates in the drive direction. Is easily disengaged when it rotates in the direction opposite to the driving direction. When the conveying screw 54 is pressed against the drive shaft 55, even if the engagement is disengaged, the engagement is performed once the drive shaft 55 starts to rotate in the driving direction. As described above, when the conveying screw 54 is pulled outward, the conveying screw 54 that is disengaged from the drive shaft 55 can be easily pulled out from the waste toner receiving pipe 52.

  Then, in order to extract the waste toner 21 ′ from the waste toner collection bag 51, the waste toner receiving port 52-1 of the waste toner receiving pipe 52 from which the conveying screw 54 has been once extracted as shown in FIG. In addition, a suction member 67 such as a vacuum cleaner is attached, and suction is performed with a predetermined suction force. In this case, air leaks from the other end portion of the waste toner receiving pipe 52, so that even if suction is performed as in this method, the pressure is not extremely reduced. Further, since the waste toner 21 is powder and light, it can be easily sucked into a vacuum cleaner or the like by this method. Thus, the waste toner collection bag 51 that is full of the waste toner 21 is emptied and regenerated.

  FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C are diagrams illustrating a procedure subsequent to toner refilling. FIG. 10A shows a cross section of the toner cap 66 portion of the toner container 56 shown in FIG. The toner cap 66 is adhered to the toner filling port of the toner container 56 so that it cannot be easily removed so that unauthorized toner filling cannot be performed.

  However, as shown in FIG. 5B, the reseller opens a hole using the drill 68 while keeping the toner cap 66 that cannot be easily removed. Then, toner is filled from the opened hole. After the toner is filled, as shown in FIG. 5C, a cap 69 that has been formed in advance so as to coincide with the diameter j of the hole opened by the drill 68 is fitted and fixed.

  Usually, the toner is composed of a toner resin and various additives, and the resin composition and additive composition are optimally formulated so as to match the characteristics of the company's own image forming apparatus. For example, as an additive, silica fine powder is added for the purpose of improving characteristics, and the fine particle size and addition amount affect the image quality.

  On the other hand, in the case of an illegal toner that is not a genuine toner, although the toner is considered to be a similar toner to some extent by the analysis of the genuine toner, the prescription is not a little different. As such, when using consumables regenerated with toner filled by resellers such as those described above that do not match the manufacturer's genuine products, due to differences in resin composition and additives, for example, Development roller scratches due to the agglomerated silica or silica itself is coated on the developing roller, resulting in deterioration of the developing roller characteristics, and the quality of the formed image is remarkably lowered, or toner scattering, fixing roller contamination, etc. There was a high possibility of causing a problem that adversely affects the image forming apparatus main body.

  In addition, the waste toner collection bag does not collect only the toner used in the development kit, but also includes toner transferred from the paper side onto which the color toner is superimposed and transferred to the photosensitive drum during color printing. . In other words, the proportion of the toner in the color of the other developing kit mixed as waste toner increases as the developing kit is located downstream in the paper transport direction. That is, the waste toner is often mixed in color.

  As described above, the waste toner collection bag is not replaced with a new one, but is simply sucked and taken out at a position slightly away from the waste toner collection bag. Rather, it is not uncommon for some of the waste toner to scatter into the toner container due to such suction. The scattered mixed color waste toner and the newly filled resale toner mix with each other, and there is a problem that it is difficult to reproduce the normal color during color printing.

  When such a failure occurs, a repair request is issued as described above, and a serviceman or salesman goes to the user to inspect the occurrence state of the failure. However, since the development kit itself is a genuine product and not a counterfeit product, it is not known from the appearance whether it is a recycled product.

  Whether or not the toner inside is a toner filled by a reseller is not something that a serviceman or salesman can immediately determine at the repair site, take it back to the company and ask the company's laboratory, etc. I don't know unless I check it.

  However, when such troubles with the filling toner by the reseller frequently occur, the number of the above-mentioned free replacement services increases, and the dissatisfaction from the service person and the sales person increases.

  In addition, even if the replaced developer kit toner is found to be a refilled product by the reseller, the problem that occurred is due to the resold developer kit or the image forming apparatus main body side. It becomes very difficult to judge whether it is a malfunction.

As described above, if the cause of the failure cannot be clearly specified, the responsibility for the occurrence of the failure is not only ambiguous, but the generated failure cannot be used for improvement or improvement of the apparatus. If the device cannot be improved or improved, similar problems may occur frequently in the future.
In such a case, as a result, the user often misunderstands that the problem is caused by the image forming apparatus main body side, not by the regenerated consumable unit (development kit in the above example). There is a problem that it leads to image down of the forming equipment manufacturer.

  An object of the present invention is to develop a development kit that invalidates or prevents inappropriate refilling of toner after the internal toner is consumed and the remaining amount of toner is exhausted and the life of the development kit is exhausted. Is to provide.

The construction of the developing kit according to the present invention will be described below.
First, a developing kit according to a first aspect of the present invention is a waste toner collecting unit that collects waste toner that is carried on an image carrier and does not contribute to image formation, and discharges the waste toner to the waste toner collecting unit. In a development kit of an image forming unit that includes a waste toner collecting device having at least a waste toner discharging unit and is detachable from the image forming apparatus, the waste toner discharging unit is closed at both ends by a drive shaft. A cylinder having at least one discharge port in an intermediate region between the cylinders, and a waste that is inserted from the other end of the cylinder and connected to the drive shaft so as not to be detached, and transports waste toner from the outside to the discharge port of the cylinder And a toner conveying member.

  In this developing kit, for example, as described in claim 2, the waste toner conveying member is a flexible conveying screw, and the drive shaft engages with a gear fixed outside the cylinder. It is comprised so that it may be rotationally driven by.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, the connecting portion between the waste toner conveying member connected in the waste toner receiving pipe and the drive shaft that drives the connecting member is connected so that the waste toner conveying member does not come out of the waste toner receiving pipe. As a result, the waste toner cannot be sucked out and taken out, so that inappropriate refilling of toner can be prevented.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a side cross-section of an image forming unit using a developing kit according to an embodiment of the present invention. An image forming unit 70 shown in the figure is an image forming unit that is detachably attached to an image forming apparatus having an internal structure similar to that of the printer apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The image forming unit 70 shown in FIG. 1 is a side sectional view seen from the opposite side of the drawing, taking the case of FIG. 5 as an example.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming unit 70 is configured by integrating a developing kit 71 and a photoreceptor kit 72.
The toner container of one development kit 71 is composed of two parts, an upper cover 73 and a lower toner hopper 74 that are divided vertically from the center, and these two parts are bonded together in the center.

  In the upper cover 73, a waste toner collection bag 75 having the same configuration as that described with reference to FIGS. 7B and 8 and a waste toner receiving pipe 76 for supporting the bag are described. A drive shaft 77 and a conveying screw 78 different from the configuration described in FIGS. 7B and 8 are arranged. Then, waste toner 79 ′ accumulates in the waste toner collection bag 75 according to use.

  A developing roller 81 is disposed in the lower opening of the toner hopper 74, and a doctor blade 82 is in sliding contact with the upper inner peripheral surface of the developing roller 81. The supply roller 83 is in pressure contact. Above these, the toner 79 in a state of being slightly reduced by use after being filled is retained. A stirring member 84 is disposed so as to be buried in the toner 79.

A side cover, which will be described later, is provided on both side surfaces of the developing kit 71 facing the front side in the figure, and a front stay 85 is fixed by screwing to the tip of the lower projecting portion of the side cover. .
Similarly to the one shown in FIG. 9A, the photoconductor kit 72 is separable from the developing kit 71, and the photoconductor drum 86 is centered on a cleaning unit 88 and a unit cover 89 integrated with the unit casing 87. A supported charging brush 91 is disposed in sliding contact with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 86. A cleaning blade 92 and a waste toner carrying pipe 93 are disposed in the cleaning unit 88. The cleaning blade 92 has its tip slidably contacted with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 86 and scrapes and removes the residual toner on the photosensitive drum 86 as waste toner, and the waste toner carry-out pipe 93 is scraped off. The waste toner is delivered to the conveyance pipe on the development kit 71 side.

  A drum cover 94 is rotatably disposed on the unit casing 87. The drum cover 94 rotates downward to protect the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 86 exposed to the outside when the photosensitive kit 72 is removed from the developing kit 71 as shown in FIG. 9A. .

  Further, a print head engagement groove 95 into which the tip of the print head is fitted is formed at a position corresponding to the upper portion of the photosensitive drum 86 of the unit cover 89. The photoconductor kit 72 is positioned by supporting the drum shaft 96 of the photoconductor drum 86 by the bearing of the lower projecting portion of the side cover of the image forming unit 70, and is assembled and integrated with the developing kit 71 as a whole. A forming unit 70 is configured.

Operations related to image formation by the image forming unit 70 and an image forming apparatus (not shown) to which the image forming unit 70 is attached are exactly the same as the operations related to image formation by the printer apparatus 1 described in FIG.
FIG. 2A is a view showing side covers disposed on both side surfaces of the image forming unit 70, and FIG. 2B is a view showing an upper cover 73 and a toner of the developing kit 71 with the side covers removed. 4 is a view showing one side surface of a toner container including a hopper 74. FIG.

  Screws 98 and 99 for fixing the developing kit 71 to the toner container shown in FIG. 5B are attached to the side cover 97 shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, a toner cap sealing cap 100 is attached to the upper cover 73 of the toner container.

  FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are diagrams showing the configuration of the waste toner collecting unit of the developing kit according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A is the same as the configuration of the waste toner collecting unit shown in FIG. 8A except for the difference in the engagement method between the drive shaft and the conveying screw. In (a), only numbers necessary for explanation are given with new numbers.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, the drive end of the drive shaft 155 and the conveyance end portion of the conveyance screw 156 are connected at a substantially central portion 154 inside the waste toner receiving pipe 153. FIG. 4B is a view of the connecting portion viewed from the side with the lateral half of the waste toner receiving pipe 153 cut away (a view clearly showing FIG. 1A), and FIG. FIG. 6 is a view of the connecting portion as viewed from above with the upper half of the waste toner receiving pipe 153 cut away.

  As shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C, the leading end 156-1 of the conveying terminal end of the conveying screw 156 extends straight along the driving end of the driving shaft 155, and further, a bent portion 156- 2 is formed. The bent portion 156-2 is bent toward the shaft side of the drive shaft 155. The bent portion 156-2 is fitted into a groove 155-1 provided at the drive end of the drive shaft 155 correspondingly. The drive engagement piece 155-2 of the drive shaft 155 comes into contact with the tip 156-1 of the conveying screw 156 that extends straight from the opposite side of the drawing (b) (upper side in the drawing (c)). Yes.

  The drive shaft 155 rotates in the counterclockwise direction when viewed in the waste toner conveying direction indicated by the arrow v shown in FIGS. As a result, the tip 156-1 of the conveying screw 156 is pushed by the drive engagement piece 155-2 of the driving shaft 155, and the entire conveying screw 156 rotates counterclockwise. As a result, waste toner is conveyed in the direction of the arrow w.

  By the way, even if the developer kit of this example is disassembled as shown in FIG. 10 and extracted from the waste toner receiving pipe 52 like the conveying screw 54 shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, the bent portion 156-2 of the leading end 156-1 of the conveying screw 156 is fitted in the groove 155-1 of the drive shaft 155, so that the conveying screw 156 is used as waste toner. It cannot be pulled out from the receiving pipe 153.

  Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 11B, a suction member such as a vacuum cleaner is attached to the waste toner receiving port of the waste toner receiving pipe 153 to suck the waste toner and take it out from the waste toner collection bag. Can not. If the waste toner cannot be taken out from the waste toner collection bag, the waste toner collection bag remains inflated with the waste toner and cannot be filled even if the resale toner is filled in the development kit. That is, the resale toner filling is indirectly prohibited.

It is a figure which shows the side cross section of the image forming unit using the image development kit in embodiment of this invention. (A) is a view showing side covers disposed on both side surfaces of the image forming unit in the embodiment of the present invention, and (b) is a toner container comprising an upper cover of a developing kit and a toner hopper with the side covers removed. It is a figure which shows one side. (A), (b), (c) is a figure which shows the structure of the waste toner collection | recovery part of the image development kit in embodiment of this invention. It is an external appearance perspective view of the conventional printer apparatus. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the conventional printer apparatus. It is a circuit block diagram in the conventional printer apparatus. (A) is a perspective view of an image forming unit of a conventional printer, and (b) is a perspective view of the inside of the developing kit. (A) is a figure which shows the structure state of the waste toner collection | recovery part of the conventional developing kit, (b) is a figure which shows the engagement state of the drive shaft and a conveyance screw. (A) is the figure which showed the state which isolate | separated the conventional image forming unit into the developing kit and the photoreceptor kit, (b) is the figure which looked at the developing kit of (a) from the arrow e direction. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state where both side covers are separated from a toner container and a front stay by removing a conventional set screw. (A), (b) is a figure which shows the procedure of the front | former stage of the refilling of the conventional resale toner. (A), (b), (c) is a figure which shows the procedure of the back | latter stage of the refilling of the conventional resale toner.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer apparatus 2 Upper part of apparatus main body 3 Lower part of apparatus main body 4 Operation panel 4a Key operation part 4b Display part 5 Ejection part 6 Discharge roller pair 7 Front cover 8 Image formation part 9 Duplex printing conveyance unit 10 Paper feed part 11 Magenta (M ) Image forming unit 12 cyan (C) image forming unit 13 yellow (Y) image forming unit 14 black (Bk) image forming unit C1 photoconductor kit C2 developing kit 15 photoconductor drum 16 cleaner 17 Charger 18 Print head 19 Developing roller 21 Toner 22 Conveyor belt 23 Transfer device 24 Paper feed cassette 25 Paper feed roller 26 Paper feed path 27 Standby roller pair 28 Rotating paper feed tray 29 Paper feed roller 31 Drive roller 32 Driven roller 33 Fixing Unit 34 Heat fixing roller 35 Pressure roller 36 Oil coating Roller 37 out roller pair 38 switching flap 39 left pair of discharge rollers 40 upper discharge left discharge outlet 41 rollers 42a~42e reverse carrying roller pair 43 interface controller 44 frame memory 45 printer controller 46 printer printing unit 47 CPU
48 ROM
49 Operation panel 50 EEPROM
51 Waste Toner Collection Bag 52 Waste Toner Receiving Pipe 52-1 Waste Toner Receiving Port 53 Collection Pipe 54 Conveying Screw 55 Drive Shaft 56 Toner Container 57 Bearing 58 Gear 59 Packing 60 (60a, 60b) Side Cover 60-1 (60-1a) 60-1b) Photoconductor kit support frame 61 Front stay 62 Fixing lever 63, 64, 65 Screw 66 Toner cap 67 Suction member 68 Drill 69 Cap 70 Image forming unit 71 Development kit 72 Photoconductor kit 73 Upper cover 73-1 Toner filling port 74 Toner hopper 75 Waste toner collection bag 76 Waste toner receiving pipe 77 Drive shaft 78 Conveying screw 79 Toner 79 Waste toner 81 Developing roller 82 Doctor blade 83 Supply roller 84 Stirring member 85 Front stay 8 Photosensitive drum 87 Unit casing 88 Cleaning unit 89 Unit cover 91 Charging brush 92 Cleaning blade 93 Waste toner carry-out pipe 94 Drum cover 95 Print head engagement groove 96 Drum shaft 97 Side cover 98, 99 Screw 100 Sealing cap 153 Waste toner receiving Pipe 154 Central portion 155 Drive shaft 155-1 Drive shaft groove 155-2 Drive engagement piece 156 Conveying screw 156-1 Conveying screw conveying terminal end 156-2 Bending portion

Claims (2)

A waste toner collecting device having at least a waste toner collecting unit that collects waste toner that has been carried on an image carrier and has not contributed to image formation, and a waste toner discharging unit that discharges the waste toner to the waste toner collecting unit. In the development kit of the image forming unit that is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus,
The waste toner discharging means includes a cylinder having at least one discharge port in an intermediate region between the both ends of one end of the cylinder closed by the drive shaft, and the drive shaft inserted from the other of the both ends of the cylinder. And a waste toner conveying member that is connected to the cylinder so as to be non-detachable and conveys waste toner from the outside to the discharge port of the cylinder.   2. The waste toner conveying member is a flexible conveying screw, and the drive shaft is rotationally driven by an external drive system that engages with a gear fixed outside the cylinder. Development kit.

Images