JPH05281795A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To provide an image forming apparatus capable of protecting a line head for exposure when the main body is opened. [Structure] A photoconductor 14 and process units 15, 16, 19, 2 are attached to a main body 1 having a cover 4 which can be opened and closed.
0 and 23 are provided, and a head housing portion 36 that houses the line head 21 for exposure is provided on the inner surface of the cover 4.
The line head 2 is installed in the vicinity of the head storage section 36.
1 is provided to rotatably support the guide 1, and a guide is provided to make the line head 21 face the photoconductor 14 when the cover 4 is closed. The actuating member 27 is interlocked with the opening operation of the cover 4. The line head 21 is housed in the head housing portion 36 by the operation of 27, thereby avoiding a state where the light emitting surface of the line head 21 is touched when the cover 4 is opened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive member by a self-scanning type line head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a self-scanning line head having a large number of light-emitting elements such as edge-emitting EL elements and LEDs arranged in a line is opposed to a photoconductor to charge the photoconductor, and the charged portion is charged. There is an image forming apparatus that forms an electrostatic latent image by irradiating light from a line head.

On the other hand, the main body of the image forming apparatus generally has an openable and closable cover on the upper part for jam clearance, maintenance, etc. In this case, when the cover is opened, the photosensitive member The above-mentioned line head is often attached to the cover so as to open the upper space.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, the line head is exposed to a large work space when the cover is opened, so that the light emitting surface of the line head may be accidentally touched. As a result, there is a drawback that the light emitting surface becomes dirty or scratched and the printing quality is deteriorated.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a main body having an openable and closable cover on an upper portion thereof, a photoconductor provided on the main body, a process unit arranged around the photoconductor, and the cover. A head accommodating portion formed on an inner surface for accommodating a line head for exposure, a supporting portion disposed near the head accommodating portion for rotatably supporting the line head, and the line when the cover is closed. The guide is configured to face the head to the photoconductor, and the operating body is provided with a pressing portion that is interlocked with the opening operation of the cover and presses the line head toward the head storage portion.

[0006]

According to the present invention, when the cover is closed,
The line head can be guided by the guide portion so that the tip of the line head faces the photoconductor. When the cover is opened, the actuating body is operated in conjunction with the opening operation of the cover, and the line head can be pushed by the pushing portion of the actuating body to be housed in the head housing portion of the cover. Therefore, it is possible to avoid touching the light emitting surface of the line head when the cover is opened, and thus prevent the light emitting surface of the line head from being soiled and damaged.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, in a main body 1 of the image forming apparatus, a side cover 3 having a base plate 2 fixed to a bottom surface and a top cover 4 as an openable / closable cover are rotatably connected by a support shaft 5. It is formed by. The top cover 4 is formed above by a torsion spring 6, but is kept closed by a clamp (not shown). The base plate 2 is provided with a power source and a circuit board 7. The side cover 3 is provided with a sheet conveyance path 9 for conveying the sheets in the sheet cassette 8.
A paper discharge path 11 for discharging paper to a paper discharge tray 10 formed on the upper surface of the top cover 4 is connected to an end of the paper transport path 9. In addition, in the paper transport path 9,
The paper feed roller 12 that is in contact with the uppermost paper in the paper feed cassette 8, the transport roller 13, the transfer unit 15 that transfers the image on the photoconductor 14 to the paper, and the paper is peeled from the photoconductor 14. The peeling unit 16 and the fixing unit 17 that fixes the transferred image on the sheet that has passed through the transfer unit 15 are sequentially arranged.

Further, inside the side cover 3, a drum frame 18 for rotatably supporting the photoconductor 14 is provided.
The drum frame 18 is provided with a charging unit 19 for charging the photoreceptor 14 to charge it, and the photoreceptor 1
Cleaning unit 20 for cleaning 4 and the photoconductor 14
And a static eliminator (not shown) that uniformly neutralizes the outer periphery of the. Reference numeral 21 denotes a line head that irradiates the charged portion of the photoconductor 14 with light to form an electrostatic latent image. On both sides of the line head 21, protrusions 22 having sharp lower ends are formed. Grooves 18a of an upper opening serving as guides for slidably holding are formed on both sides of the drum frame 18 (see FIG. 3). Further, the side cover 3 is provided with a developing section 23 for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor 14. The charging unit 1
9, the line head 21, the developing unit 23, the transfer unit 15, the peeling unit 16, the cleaning unit 2
Each of 0s functions as a process unit. The line head 21 includes a number of edge emitting ELs.
An element and these edge emitting EL elements
And a substrate (not shown) for holding along the axial direction of.

The top cover 4 has a frame 24 on both sides.
On both sides of these frames 24, there are formed support portions 26 for rotatably supporting the pins 25 standing on both sides of the upper portion of the line head 21. An actuating member 27 is slidably held on the frame 24 in parallel with the paper discharge tray 10. A pressing portion 29 for pressing the projecting pieces 28 protruding from both upper sides of the line head 21 is formed at one end of the operating body 27, and a pin 30 is provided upright at the other end of the operating body 27. Further, side plates 31 for holding the support shaft 5 are provided on both sides of the side cover 3, and vertical long holes into which the pins 30 projecting from both sides of the actuating body 27 are fitted. 32 is formed. Here, the distance from the support shaft 5 to the lower part of the long hole 32 is set to be smaller than the distance from the support shaft 5 which is the rotation center of the top cover 4 to the upper part of the long hole 32.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
The frame 7 has elongated holes 33 formed on both sides thereof.
It is slidably held by fitting on shafts 34 with flanges that are provided upright on both sides of. Then, on the inner surface of the top cover 4, the frame 24 and these frames 2
A head housing portion 36 is formed on three sides of the plate member 35, the both ends of which are fixed to the plate member 35. The support portion 26 is provided near the head storage portion 36.

In such a structure, as shown in FIG. 1, when the top cover 4 is closed, the line head 21 rotates downward about its own pin 25 by its own weight,
The protrusions 22 formed on both sides thereof are inserted into the grooves 18a formed in the drum frame 18. As a result, the line head 21 is maintained such that the light emitting surface at the lower end thereof faces the photoconductor 14. In this state, as shown in FIG.
The pressing portion 29 of the actuating body 27 is the protrusion 28 of the line head 21.
Has been separated from.

In this state, in the process of rotating the photoconductor 14, the photoconductor 14 is charged by the charging section 19 to charge the photoconductor 14, and the charged portion is irradiated with light from the line head 21 to charge the photoconductor 14. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the portion, and the electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing unit 23. On the other hand, the paper is supplied from the paper feed cassette 8 by the paper feed roller 12 and the transport roller 13, and the developed image on the photoconductor 14 is transferred to the paper by the transfer unit 15. Paper is peeling section 1
It is conveyed to a fixing unit 17 while being peeled off from the photoconductor 14 by 6, and the transferred image is fixed by the fixing unit 17 and then discharged to a paper discharge tray 10.

When a jam has occurred in the paper transport path 9, toner is replenished to the developing section 23, or at the time of maintenance, the clamp is removed and the top cover 4 is opened upward around the support shaft 5. At this time, the protrusions 22 formed on both sides of the line head 21 come out upward from the grooves 18a formed on both sides of the drum frame 18. Top cover 4
2 is opened upward as shown in FIG. 2, the pins 30 erected from both sides of the actuating body 27 are displaced from the upper part to the lower part of the elongated hole 32. At this time, the distance between the support shaft 5 which is the center of rotation of the top cover 4 and the upper portion of the elongated hole 32 is greater than the distance between the support shaft 5 and
Since the distance from to the lower part of the long hole 32 is set to be small, the actuating body 27 slides relatively upward with respect to the frame 24, and the pressing portion 29 thereof pushes the projecting piece 28 of the line head 21. Press. By this operation, as shown in FIG. 4, the line head 21 is rotated clockwise around the pin 25 and automatically housed in the head housing portion 36. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a situation where the light emitting surface of the line head 21 is touched with the hand when the top cover 4 is opened.

In the process of closing the top cover 4, the pin 30 is displaced to the upper part of the elongated hole 32 by an operation opposite to the above-mentioned operation, so that the actuating body 27 is relatively supported with respect to the frame 24 on the support shaft 5 side. And the pressing portion 29 separates from the projecting piece 28 of the line head 21. As a result, the line head 21 rotates downward about the pin 25 while sliding the protrusion 22 on the upper edge of the drum frame 18, and when the protrusion 22 is aligned with the groove 18a formed in the drum frame 18, the line head 21 is moved. 21 further rotates downward to fit the projection 22 into the groove 18a, whereby the stationary position of the line head 21 is determined.

[0015]

According to the present invention, a main body having an openable and closable cover on the top, a photoconductor provided on the main body, a process unit arranged around the photoconductor, and an inner surface of the cover are formed. A head accommodating portion for accommodating a line head for exposure, a support portion arranged near the head accommodating portion for rotatably supporting the line head, and the line head for exposing the line head when the cover is closed. Since the guide unit is arranged to face the body, and the actuating body is provided with a pressing unit that interlocks with the opening operation of the cover and presses the line head toward the head storage unit, the line head is closed when the cover is closed. Can be guided by the guide portion so that the tip thereof faces the photoconductor. When the cover is opened, the operating body is operated in conjunction with the opening operation of the cover, and the line head can be pressed by the pressing portion of the operating body to be stored in the head storing portion of the cover,
Therefore, it is possible to avoid touching the light emitting surface of the line head when the cover is opened, and thus it is possible to prevent the light emitting surface of the line head from being soiled and damaged.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view.

FIG. 2 is a partial vertical sectional front view showing an opened state of a cover.

FIG. 3 is a partial exploded perspective view showing a relationship between a guide portion of a support and a line head.

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view showing a state in which a line head is stored in a head storage portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main Body 4 Cover 14 Photoreceptor 15 and 16 Process Unit 18a Guide Section 19 and 20 Process Unit 21 Line Head 23 Process Unit 26 Support Section 27 Actuator 29 Pressing Section 36 Head Storage Section

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G03G 15/04 116 9122-2H

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main body having an openable and closable cover at the top, a photoconductor provided on the main body, a process unit arranged around the photoconductor, and an exposure unit formed on the inner surface of the cover. A head accommodating portion for accommodating the line head, a support portion arranged near the head accommodating portion for rotatably supporting the line head, and the line head facing the photoconductor when the cover is closed. An image forming apparatus comprising: a guide portion and an actuating body having a pressing portion that interlocks with the opening operation of the cover and presses the line head toward the head storage portion.