JP2014026034A - Toner supply device, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Vibration is suppressed by suppressing drive energy during toner conveyance.
Toner supply device A has a toner cartridge 14 detachable, and toner replenished from a supply port 14a of the mounted toner cartridge 14 is stored in a toner storage unit 18. The drive source 21 switches between forward and reverse rotation, thereby opening and closing the supply port 14a by opening and closing the cap 15 of the toner cartridge 14 attached to the toner supply device A, and transport for supplying toner from the supply port 14a. You can switch between operations. The drive source control device 33 performs PWM control of the drive source 21 so that the drive energy for the transport operation is smaller than the drive energy for the opening / closing operation of the supply port 14a.
[Selection] Figure 11

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for supplying toner from a toner cartridge and supplying it to a developing device.

  Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus, driving for supplying toner from the toner cartridge to the hopper and driving for supplying toner from the hopper to the developing device are performed by rotating one motor forward and backward. The thing is known (patent documents 1 and 2).

  In particular, in the image forming apparatus of Patent Document 2, an inexpensive DC motor is rotated forward and backward so that the toner (developer) is stirred and conveyed together with the replenishment of the developer for efficient use.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-244377 JP 2000-267419 A

  However, when the motor applied to the toner supply device is used in forward / reverse rotation, if the energy required to perform the desired operation differs between the forward rotation operation and the reverse rotation operation, it is adjusted to the operation that requires a large amount of energy. It is necessary to select a motor. Here, with respect to the rotational speed of the motor, it is possible to operate at a desired rotational speed by matching the gear ratio. However, since the rotational energy of the motor itself cannot be suppressed, when excessive rotational energy is generated, the excessive rotational energy becomes vibration energy, and vibration is generated from the toner supply device.

  Here, in the image forming apparatus, it is necessary to supply toner to a developing device that supplies toner to the image carrier. In particular, in an image forming apparatus in which the exposure device is disposed above the image carrier, the toner supply device is disposed above the image carrier in the same manner as the scanner unit, and thus is disposed near the exposure device. Often becomes a configuration. In such an arrangement, the vibration generated from the toner supply device is easily transmitted to the exposure device, and if the vibration is large, there is a possibility of causing an image defect.

  Furthermore, with the recent cost reduction, the strength of the frame of the image forming apparatus has become the minimum necessary, and the strength is lowered compared to the conventional one. Therefore, vibration is more easily transmitted and it is desired to suppress the occurrence of vibration in the toner supply device.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and its object is to switch the forward / reverse rotation so that the operation of opening the supply port of the mounted toner cartridge and the supply port of the toner cartridge are changed. In a device that can be switched between the replenishment of toner and the transport operation for supplying the replenished toner to the developing device, the device can be operated with rotational energy corresponding to each operation. is there.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention can mount a toner cartridge containing toner, and supplies a toner supplied from a supply port of the mounted toner cartridge to a developing device of an image forming apparatus. By switching between forward and reverse rotation, the opening operation of the supply port of the mounted toner cartridge and the replenishment of toner from the supply port of the toner cartridge or the replenished toner to the developing device Driving means that can switch between transport operations for either supply and control the drive means so that the drive energy for the transport operation is smaller than the drive energy for the opening operation of the supply port And a control means.

  According to the present invention, by switching between forward and reverse rotation, either the opening operation of the supply port of the mounted toner cartridge, the supply of toner from the supply port of the toner cartridge, or the supply of the supplied toner to the developing device can be performed. In the apparatus which can be switched between the carrying operation for the car, it can be operated with the rotational energy corresponding to each operation.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus to which a toner supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one toner supply device. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one toner supply device. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a toner supply device to which a toner cartridge is attached. 3 is a top view of the toner supply device. FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the AA line of FIG. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a toner supply device. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the toner cartridge (FIG. (A)) and an enlarged perspective view of the end of the toner cartridge (FIG. (B)). FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an end portion of a toner cartridge on a supply port side, and shows a closed state (FIG. (A)) and an open state (FIG. (B)) of the supply port, respectively. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of a supply port opening / closing mechanism that receives a toner cartridge. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control mechanism that controls a drive source and a diagram illustrating a control mode. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating driving energy required for opening / closing operation of a supply port and rotation of a toner cartridge.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus to which a toner supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

  The image forming apparatus 60 in the present embodiment is a color image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic system. The image forming apparatus 60 is a so-called intermediate transfer tandem type image forming apparatus in which four color image forming portions are arranged side by side on an intermediate transfer belt, and is excellent in cardboard capacity and productivity.

  First, a sheet material conveyance process will be described.

  The sheet material S includes a sheet material stored on the lift-up device 62 in the sheet material storage 61 and a sheet material S stacked on the side surface of the apparatus main body such as a manual feed tray. The sheet material S is fed by the sheet feeding unit 63 in accordance with the image forming timing. Here, the sheet feeding unit 63 uses a system that utilizes frictional separation by a separation roller or the like.

  The sheet material S sent out by the sheet feeding unit 63 passes through the conveyance paths 64 a and 64 b and is conveyed to the registration roller 65 via the conveyance roller 20. The registration roller 65 is a device for aligning the relative position of the sheet material S and the image. The sheet material S is sent to the secondary transfer unit after skew correction and timing correction are performed. The secondary transfer portion is a toner image transfer nip portion to the sheet material S formed by the opposing secondary transfer inner roller 608 and secondary transfer outer roller 66, and applies a predetermined pressure and electrostatic load bias. Thus, the toner image is adsorbed on the sheet material S.

  Next, a process for forming an image sent to the secondary transfer unit at the same timing as the above-described conveyance process of the sheet material S to the secondary transfer unit will be described.

  As the four-color image forming unit, there are four sets of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (Bk). Each image forming unit includes a scanner unit 609, a diffraction unit 610, a photoconductor 611 as an image carrier, a charging device 612, a developing device 613 as a developing device, a primary transfer device 618, and a photoconductor cleaner 614. When specifying these individually, Y, M, C, and Bk are added after the code.

  The surface of the photoconductor 611 is uniformly charged in advance by the charging device 612 and rotates. The light emitted from the scanner unit 609 which is an exposure apparatus driven based on the image information signal is irradiated to the photoconductor 611 via the diffraction unit 610, whereby an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoconductor 611. It is formed. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor 611 is developed by the developing device 613 to become a toner image. Thereafter, a predetermined pressure and an electrostatic load bias are applied by the primary transfer device 618, and the toner image is primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 605. Thereafter, the transfer residual toner slightly remaining on the photoconductor 611 is collected by the photoconductor cleaner 614.

  The intermediate transfer belt 605 is stretched by rollers such as a driving roller 606, a tension roller 607, and a secondary transfer inner roller 608, and is conveyed and driven in the direction of arrow B in the drawing. The image forming process of each of the image forming units Y, M, C, and Bk is executed so that the toner image formed by each image forming unit is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 605 in an overlapping manner. As a result, a full-color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 605 and conveyed to the secondary transfer unit.

  Next, processes after secondary transfer will be described.

  In the secondary transfer portion, the full-color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 605 is transferred onto the sheet material S being conveyed. Thereafter, the sheet material S is conveyed to the fixing device 68 by the pre-fixing conveyance unit 67. The fixing device 68 melts and fixes the toner image on the sheet material S by applying a predetermined pressure by an opposing roller or belt or the like and applying heat from a heat source such as a heater.

  Path selection is performed for the sheet material S having a fixed image obtained in this way. First, when the sheet is discharged directly onto the sheet discharge tray 600, the sheet discharge conveyance path 69 is selected. When double-sided image formation is required, it is selected to be conveyed to the reversal guide path 2 included in the reversal conveyance device 100. When double-sided image formation is required, the sheet material S is drawn from the reverse induction path 2 to the switchback path 4. Then, when the rotation direction of the reversing roller 6 is reversed forward and backward (performs a so-called switchback operation), the leading and trailing ends of the sheet material S are switched, and the sheet material S is conveyed again to the image forming unit via the duplex conveyance path 3. Is done.

  Next, the configuration of the toner supply device will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a toner supply device A is attached to the upper part of the back of the main body of the image forming apparatus 60. The toner supply device A is provided corresponding to the developing device 613, and supplies toner to the corresponding developing device 613 and supplies toner from the toner cartridge 14 (see FIG. 4) to the toner supply device A itself. It has a function. The toner supply device A is disposed above the developing device 613 in order to supply toner to the developing device 613. The configuration of each toner supply device A is basically the same.

  2 and 3 are perspective views of one toner supply device A. FIG. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the toner supply device A to which the toner cartridge 14 is mounted. The upper side and the right side of FIG. 4 are the upper side and the back side of the image forming apparatus 60, respectively.

  A toner cartridge 14 can be attached to and detached from the toner supply device A. In the toner supply device A, the toner cartridge 14 can be mounted / removed from the front side of the image forming apparatus 60, and the toner replenished from the supply port 14 a of the mounted toner cartridge 14 is stored in the toner storage unit 18. The The toner stored in the toner storage unit 18 is transported to the developing device 613 by the screws (stirring screw 11, first screw 12, second screw 13) in the toner supply device A.

  The toner supply device A includes a supply port opening / closing mechanism B. When replenishing toner from the toner cartridge 14, the coupling member 16 of the supply port opening / closing mechanism B is engaged with a cap 15 provided at the tip of the toner cartridge 14, so that the toner cartridge 14 can be rotated. The toner cartridge 14 is rotated while the cap 15 is opened, so that the toner is replenished.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the toner supply device A includes a drive source 21 and a drive source 22 as drive means configured by a DC motor. The drive source 21 operates the supply port opening / closing mechanism B by normal rotation to open and close the cap 15 (opens and closes the supply port 14a), and performs a function of conveying and replenishing toner from the toner cartridge 14 to the toner storage unit 18 by reverse rotation. . These detailed configurations will be sequentially described below.

  FIG. 5 is a top view of the toner supply device A. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

  A function for conveying and supplying toner from the toner supply device A to the developing device 613 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 5, the toner stored in the toner storage unit 18 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow F1 by the two agitating screws 11, and is further centered along the direction of the arrow F2 by one first screw 12. It is conveyed to the part. At this time, since the agitating screw 11 conveys the toner so that it flows naturally while agitating the toner, the agitating screw 11 is shaped so as not to cause clogging of the toner due to excessive conveyance. The toner conveyed to the central portion falls from a hole vacated in the central portion and reaches the second screw 13 (see FIGS. 4 and 6).

  As shown in FIG. 6, the toner conveyed from the first screw 12 to the central portion falls to the second screw 13 and is finally conveyed and supplied to the developing device 613 by the second screw 13.

  First, a control unit (not shown) that controls the image forming apparatus 60 receives a signal of insufficient toner from the output of a sensor (not shown) in the developing device 613. Then, a toner supply request signal is sent from the control unit to the toner supply device A so that an optimal amount of toner is supplied to the developing device 613.

  When the toner supply request signal is sent to the toner supply device A, the drive source 22 is driven, and the rotational driving force of the drive source 22 is transmitted to the gear train in the order indicated by the arrows in FIG. As a result, the screws (stirring screw 11, first screw 12, second screw 13) in the toner supply device A rotate and the toner is conveyed and supplied to the developing device 613.

  7A and 7B are longitudinal sectional views of the toner supply device A. FIG.

  In the state shown in FIG. 7A, the toner storage unit 18 in the toner supply device A is filled with toner. The toner storage unit 18 is provided with a toner sensor 17. When toner is present on the surface of the toner sensor 17, the toner sensor 17 detects the pressure of the toner, and the toner storage unit 18 has sufficient toner. Recognized as a state.

  On the other hand, when the toner is supplied to the developing device 613 and the toner in the toner storage unit 18 is consumed, the toner on the surface of the toner sensor 17 does not exist as shown in FIG. 7B. Then, the toner sensor 17 does not sense the toner pressure, and the toner storage unit 18A is recognized as having no toner. When the toner sensor 17 detects toner shortage in the toner storage unit 18, the toner is replenished from the toner cartridge 14 until the toner in the toner storage unit 18 is detected by the toner sensor 17.

  The toner transport operation from the toner cartridge 14 to the toner supply device A will be described in detail.

  FIG. 8A is a perspective view of the toner cartridge 14. FIG. 8B is an enlarged perspective view of the end portion of the toner cartridge 14.

  As shown in FIG. 8A, the toner cartridge 14 has a bottle shape, and a spiral shape is formed in itself, and a spiral protrusion is formed on the inner peripheral surface along the spiral shape. The toner cartridge 14 is disposed on the cartridge tray 26 having the rollers 25 via the rollers 25, and can smoothly rotate with respect to the cartridge trays 26. When the toner cartridge 14 itself rotates, the toner contained in the toner cartridge 14 is conveyed to the supply port 14a of the toner cartridge 14 and further discharged from the supply port 14a, so that the toner storage unit 18 can be discharged. Toner is transported and replenished.

  FIGS. 9A and 9B are perspective views of the end portion of the toner cartridge 14 on the supply port 14a side, and show the closed state and the open state of the supply port 14a, respectively.

  The supply port 14a of the toner cartridge 14 is normally closed as shown in FIG. 9A, and cannot be easily opened by the user. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, in the supply port opening / closing mechanism B, the coupling member 16 is integrally connected to the front end portion of the cartridge drive shaft 27.

  First, the user attaches (sets) the toner cartridge 14 to the toner supply device A according to the instruction. As a result, the axes of the toner cartridge 14 and the cartridge drive shaft 27 coincide with each other. However, when the toner cartridge 14 is mounted, as shown in FIG. 9A, the cap 15 at the tip of the toner cartridge 14 and the coupling member 16 of the supply port opening / closing mechanism B are not engaged. For this reason, the supply port 14a is not opened, and toner cannot be supplied from the toner cartridge 14.

  When the drive source 21 rotates forward in this state, as shown in FIG. 2, in the gear of the drive train connected to the drive source 21, the drive force is transmitted to the cam gear 19 in the order shown by the arrow F3, and the supply port opening / closing mechanism B is driven.

  FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a portion of the supply port opening / closing mechanism B on the side where the toner cartridge 14 is received. A cam groove (not shown) is formed in the cam gear 19. When the cam gear 19 on the outer peripheral side is rotated in the direction of the arrow E in FIG. 10 by the forward rotation of the drive source 21, the cylindrical member 28 at the center moves forward. Then, the coupling member 16 engages with the cap 15 of the toner cartridge 14.

  When the cam gear 19 further rotates in the direction of arrow E, the cylindrical member 28 moves backward by the action of the cam groove, whereby the cap 15 is pulled out. Since the cap 15 is pulled out with the cap 15 and the coupling member 16 engaged, the supply port 14a is in an open state as shown in FIG. 9B.

  As for the closing operation of the cap 15, when the cam gear 19 further rotates in the direction of the arrow E, the cylindrical member 28 moves forward again by the action of the cam groove, thereby closing the supply port 14a.

  On the other hand, when the drive source 21 rotates in the reverse direction, as shown in FIG. 2, the drive force of the drive source 21 is transmitted by the cartridge drive gear train C arranged along the arrow F4, and the cartridge drive shaft 27 is rotationally driven. . That is, the driving force from the driving source 21 is branched by the one-way gear 23 in the cartridge driving gear train C, and is transmitted to the cartridge driving shaft 27 without being transmitted in the direction of the arrow F3.

  At this time, since the coupling member 16 and the cartridge drive shaft 27 are coupled together, the coupling member 16 is rotated by the rotation of the cartridge drive shaft 27. Further, as a result of the rotation of the cap 15 engaged with the coupling member 16, the toner cartridge 14 itself rotates (FIG. 9B). Thus, the toner is carried out from the supply port 14a of the toner cartridge 14 and replenished into the toner supply device A.

  FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a control mechanism for controlling the drive source 21 and a diagram showing a control mode. The toner supply device A includes a CPU 31, a power supply voltage device 32, and a drive source control device 33 as control means.

  When a mounting detection sensor (not shown) detects that the toner cartridge 14 is securely set in the toner supply device A, the drive source control device 33 drives the supply port opening / closing mechanism B to The operation of opening the cap 15 is performed.

  As described above, the driving source 21 is used to drive the supply port opening / closing mechanism B, and the driving method employs PWM (pulse width modulation) driving in this embodiment. The drive control by the PWM signal is performed as follows. As shown in FIG. 11, in a state where a constant voltage is applied by the power supply voltage device 32, the voltage applied to the drive source 21 is turned ON and OFF at a cycle of 2 kHz by the switching element in the drive source control device 33. Switching is performed to switch the state.

  At this time, the effective voltage value per unit time input to the drive source 21 can be changed by setting the time ratio (duty ratio) between ON and OFF in the PWM signal. For example, when the duty ratio of the PWM signal is 50%, ON and OFF have the same ratio, so the voltage input to the drive source 21 is approximately equal to half of the constant applied voltage.

  The CPU 31 sends an opening / closing command to the drive source control device 33 in response to a detection signal of a mounting detection sensor (not shown) or an opening / closing instruction from the user. When an opening / closing operation command is given, the drive source control device 33 detects the command, and the drive source control device 33 controls the drive source 21 to rotate forward. When opening and closing the supply port 14a, the drive source control device 33 rotates the drive source 21 in the forward direction with a duty ratio of 100%.

  On the other hand, when the toner sensor 17 detects toner shortage in the toner storage unit 18, the CPU 31 sends a rotation command for the toner cartridge 14 to the drive source control device 33. When a rotation command for the toner cartridge 14 is given, the drive source control device 33 detects the command, and the drive source control device 33 controls the drive source 21 to rotate in reverse. When the toner cartridge 14 rotates, the drive source control device 33 rotates the drive source 21 in the reverse direction with a duty ratio of 62%.

  Here, the drive energy in the opening / closing operation of the supply port 14a of the toner cartridge 14 and the rotation operation of the toner cartridge 14 itself for conveying the toner to the toner storage unit 18 will be compared. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating driving energy required for the opening / closing operation of the supply port 14 a and the rotation of the toner cartridge 14.

  The toner cartridge 14 has a configuration in which the user cannot easily open and close the cap 15 and is firmly sealed so as not to cause dirt when operated by the user. Therefore, a large torque is required to open and close the cap 15, and a large amount of drive energy is required to open and close the cap 15.

  On the other hand, the rotation of the toner cartridge 14 is supported by the roller 25 and can be rotated smoothly. Therefore, the toner cartridge 14 can be rotated with a smaller torque than the opening and closing of the cap 15, and a large amount of energy can be obtained. I don't need it.

  However, in the present embodiment, from the viewpoint of cost and space, a configuration is adopted in which the cap 15 is opened / closed and the toner cartridge 14 is rotated by switching forward / reverse rotation of the same drive source 21. Therefore, the drive source 21 is selected that can generate drive energy sufficient for opening and closing the cap 15.

  In such a configuration, it is assumed that the toner cartridge 14 is rotated with the same driving energy as that in the opening / closing operation of the cap 15 as in the conventional case. Then, as shown in FIG. 12, surplus energy more than energy necessary for rotation is generated, and this becomes vibration energy.

  In particular, in the arrangement configuration in which the scanner unit 609 for exposing the photosensitive member 611 is positioned above the photosensitive member 611, the scanner unit 609 and the toner supply device A are close to each other. For this reason, vibration energy caused by surplus energy is easily transmitted to the scanner unit 609, which may cause exposure shake and cause image defects.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the drive source control device 33 performs PWM drive, and the drive energy for opening and closing the supply port 14a is greater than the drive energy for rotating the toner cartridge 14 for the transport operation during toner supply. The drive source 21 is controlled so as to increase.

  That is, the drive source control device 33 controls the effective voltage supplied to the drive source 21 so as to supply the minimum energy necessary for the rotation of the toner cartridge 14 for the transport operation at the time of toner replenishment. As described above, surplus vibration energy is reduced by setting the duty ratio to 62%, for example, during reverse rotation of the drive source 21.

  From the viewpoint of reducing surplus vibration energy, the drive energy for opening and closing the supply port 14a only needs to be larger than the rotational drive energy of the toner cartridge 14 at the time of toner supply. Therefore, the duty ratio when the drive source 21 is rotated forward may be smaller than 100%.

  By the way, in the image forming apparatus 60, each component has a natural frequency, and when a vibration close to the natural frequency is applied to the component, a phenomenon of amplifying the applied vibration occurs. In the image forming apparatus 60 according to the present embodiment, if the toner supply device A generates vibration close to the natural frequency of the components in the scanner unit 609, particularly the lens support structure, exposure shake is promoted.

  However, the drive source control device 33 can freely control the rotational speed of the drive source 21 by PWM drive. Therefore, in PWM drive, the frequency of vibration generated from the cartridge drive gear train C (FIG. 2) that rotationally drives the toner cartridge 14 does not match the natural frequency of the lens support configuration (not shown) in the scanner unit 609. Set as follows. This avoids amplification of vibration energy.

  According to the present embodiment, the drive source 21 switches between forward and reverse rotation, thereby opening and closing the supply port 14a of the mounted toner cartridge 14, and a transport operation for supplying toner from the supply port 14a. Can be switched. And the drive source control apparatus 33 controls the drive source 21 so that the drive energy for the said conveyance operation becomes smaller than the drive energy for the opening / closing operation | movement of the supply port 14a. As a result, it is possible to operate with rotational energy corresponding to each of the opening / closing operation and the conveying operation of the supply port 14a. Can do.

  Further, the frequency generated by the cartridge drive gear train C during the above-described transport operation is different from the natural frequency of the scanner unit 609. As a result, it is possible to avoid the vibration energy from being amplified by the surplus energy and prevent image defects.

  It should be noted that it is desirable not to be limited to the scanner unit 609, but also to avoid the coincidence of the frequencies of the components arranged close to the toner supply device A, for example, the photoconductor 611. That is, the drive source control device 33 performs control so that the frequency of vibration generated by the cartridge drive gear train C does not match the natural frequency of the photoconductor 611 in PWM drive.

  In the present embodiment, the voltage is controlled by PWM driving. However, a voltage value applied to the driving source 21 is calculated in advance by calculation or experiment, and the voltage is input to the driving source 21 as a constant voltage. Such control may be employed.

  In the present embodiment, the drive source 21 is illustrated as normal rotation when the cap 15 is opened and closed, and reverse rotation when toner is replenished from the toner cartridge 14 to the toner supply device A, but the forward and reverse rotation directions are opposite to those illustrated. It is good.

  Further, in the present embodiment, an example in which the drive source 21 is driven forward / reversely by the opening / closing operation of the cap 15 of the toner cartridge 14 and the transport operation for supplying toner from the toner cartridge 14 to the toner supply device A has been shown. . However, it is not limited to this. For example, a single motor corresponding to the drive sources 21 and 22 is configured to perform an opening / closing operation of the cap 15 and a toner transport operation from the toner supply device A to the developing device 613. The present invention can also be applied to a configuration in which the opening / closing operation and the toner conveying operation are switched by switching forward / reverse rotation of the single motor.

  That is, in the case of this configuration, the driving energy required to convey and supply the toner to the developing device 613 is smaller than the opening / closing operation of the cap 15. Therefore, the drive source control device 33 may control the single motor so that the drive energy for opening / closing the supply port 14a is larger than the drive energy for conveying the toner to the developing device 613.

  Therefore, the driving during the opening / closing operation of the cap 15 is compared with the toner conveying operation for either the toner supply from the toner cartridge 14 to the toner supply device A or the toner supply from the toner supply device A to the developing device 613. The drive energy of the source may be increased. However, the operation to increase the drive energy of the drive source may not be both opening and closing of the cap 15 but only the opening operation.

  Further, the structure, mechanism, and operation for opening and closing the cap 15 are not limited to those illustrated, and are not limited to modes such as rotation and forward / reverse travel.

  Although the present invention has been described in detail based on preferred embodiments thereof, the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments, and various forms within the scope of the present invention are also included in the present invention. included.

14 Toner cartridge 14a Supply port 21 Drive source 27 Cartridge drive shaft 33 Drive source control device 60 Image forming device 613 Developer A Toner supply device C Cartridge drive gear train

Claims (4)

A toner supply device capable of mounting a toner cartridge containing toner and supplying toner supplied from a supply port of the mounted toner cartridge to a developing device of an image forming apparatus,
By switching between forward and reverse rotation, either the opening operation of the supply port of the mounted toner cartridge, the supply of toner from the supply port of the toner cartridge, or the supply of supplied toner to the developing device Driving means capable of switching between the transfer operation for
And a control unit that controls the driving unit so that the driving energy for the conveying operation is smaller than the driving energy for the opening operation of the supply port.   A drive shaft that rotationally drives the toner cartridge to receive toner replenishment from the toner cartridge; and a drive gear train that transmits the drive force of the drive means to the drive shaft, and the drive during the transport operation. The toner supply device according to claim 1, wherein a frequency generated by the gear train is different from a natural frequency of a scanner unit of the image forming apparatus.   3. The control means according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control means controls the driving means by a PWM signal, and the duty ratio of the PWM signal is made smaller during the carrying operation than during the opening operation of the supply port. The toner supply device according to claim.   An image forming apparatus comprising the toner supply device according to claim 1.

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