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JP-2026075251-A - Powder discharge mechanism, image forming unit, and image forming apparatus

JP2026075251AJP 2026075251 AJP2026075251 AJP 2026075251AJP-2026075251-A

Abstract

[Problem] In a developer container equipped with a waste toner shutter, the assembly process involves inserting the waste toner shutter (opening/closing member) into the insertion section, and there was a problem with inserting it in the wrong orientation. [Solution] The waste toner shutter housing 61 has a cavity 61a that houses the waste toner shutter 62 so that it can move in the direction of arrow C, and the waste toner shutter housing 61 has a long guide groove 61b and a short guide groove 61c formed in the waste toner shutter housing 61 that is shorter and opposite to the long guide groove 61b, and a waste toner collection port 61d that leads to the waste toner collection unit 42. The waste toner shutter 62 has a long rib 62b that engages with the long guide groove 61b and a short rib 62c that engages with the short guide groove 61c and is shorter. [Selection Diagram] Figure 8

Inventors

  • 藤井 正志

Assignees

  • 沖電気工業株式会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260508
Application Date
20241022

Claims (8)

  1. A shutter housing section that forms a cavity for housing the shutter so that it can move in a first direction, The shutter housing portion includes a first guide portion formed with a first length in the first direction from one end of the cavity, The shutter housing portion includes a second guide portion that extends in the first direction from one end of the cavity portion, and is formed to be shorter than the first length, facing the first guide portion, It is equipped with an outlet that can be opened and closed by the shutter and from which powder can be discharged, The aforementioned shutter is, A first guided portion formed to a third length that engages with the first guide portion, A powder discharge mechanism characterized by comprising a second guide portion that engages with the second guide portion and a second guided portion that has a fourth length shorter than the third length.
  2. The powder discharge mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the first guide portion and the second guide portion are formed at opposing positions with respect to the center of the cavity portion.
  3. The powder discharge mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by comprising a biasing member that biases the shutter in the first direction within the cavity.
  4. The first guide portion and the second guide portion are formed by guide grooves, and the first guided portion and the second guided portion are formed by ribs. The powder discharge mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one of the first guided portion and the second guided portion extends from one end of the shutter.
  5. The powder discharge mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the powder is a waste developer.
  6. The powder discharge mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that it includes a developer storage section for storing unused developer.
  7. A powder discharge mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, The image forming unit includes a powder conveying unit that conveys the powder to the vicinity of the leading edge of a conveying path oriented in a predetermined direction, An image forming unit characterized in that, when the powder discharge mechanism is attached to the image forming unit, the tip of the mechanism moves in contact with the shutter that is blocking the receiving opening, thereby opening the receiving opening.
  8. An image forming apparatus characterized by comprising the image forming unit described in claim 7.

Description

This invention relates to a developer container, an image forming unit, and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a powder discharge mechanism equipped with a waste toner shutter. Conventionally, there are waste developer discharge mechanisms that involve inserting an opening/closing member (shutter) into an insertion section during assembly (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-52254 (page 10, Figure 20) This is a schematic diagram showing the main components of an image forming apparatus of Embodiment 1 equipped with an image forming unit according to the present invention.The image forming unit is shown, with (a) being an external perspective view and (b) being a perspective view showing the developer container separated from the image forming unit.This is a cross-sectional view of the image forming unit at its center in the longitudinal direction (Y direction).This is a perspective view of the developer container.This is an external perspective view of the image forming unit, to which the developer container is detachably attached.(a) is a cross-sectional view of the image forming unit in a plane parallel to the X-Z plane and including the conduit, and (b) is a magnified view of the portion enclosed by a dotted rectangle in (a).(a) is a cross-sectional view at the same position as in Figure 6, but the developer container has moved slightly away from its mounting position, and the waste toner collection port is half closed. (b) is a magnified view of the area enclosed by the dotted rectangle in (a).(a) is a cross-sectional view at the same position as in Figure 6, showing the developer container separated from the image forming unit and the waste toner collection port closed. (b) is a magnified view of the area enclosed by a dotted rectangle in (a).This diagram shows the configuration of the waste toner shutter, with (a) being its front view, (b) its side view, and (c) its external perspective view.This is an external perspective view showing the configuration of the waste toner shutter housing.(a) is a cross-sectional view of the waste toner shutter housing with the waste toner shutter installed, taken in a plane parallel to the X-Z plane and including the center of the waste toner shutter housing, and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line D-D in (a).This diagram illustrates the case where the waste toner shutter is inserted into the waste toner shutter housing in the reverse direction. (a) is a cross-sectional view of this case, taken from a plane parallel to the X-Z plane and including the center of the waste toner shutter housing, and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken from D-D in (a).This is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the waste toner collection unit as a comparative example. However, this shows the case where the waste toner shutter is inserted in the reverse direction. Embodiment 1. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the main components of an image forming apparatus 11 of Embodiment 1 equipped with an image forming unit 12 according to the present invention; Figure 2 shows the image forming unit 12, Figure 2(a) is an external perspective view thereof, and Figure 2(b) is a perspective view showing the state in which the developer container 20 has been separated from the image forming unit 50; and Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the center of the image forming unit 12 in the longitudinal direction (Y direction). As shown in Figure 1, the image forming apparatus 11 is configured as a direct transfer color printer, for example, using an electrophotographic method. Four independent image forming units 12K, 12Y, 12M, and 12C (sometimes simply referred to as image forming unit 12 when no distinction is necessary) are detachably arranged in order from upstream along the transport direction (arrow A direction) of the recording paper 37 used as the medium. Image forming unit 12K forms a black (K) image, image forming unit 12Y forms a yellow (Y) image, image forming unit 12M forms a magenta (M) image, and image forming unit 12C forms a cyan (C) image. In this embodiment, the configurations of the image forming units 12K, 12Y, 12M, and 12C are identical, differing only in the color of the toner they contain. Therefore, using the black (K) image forming unit 12K as an example, its internal structure will be described below with reference to Figures 1 and 3. Note that the image forming unit 12 shown in Figure 3 has a more specific shape than that in Figure 1, and the same reference numerals are used for corresponding parts, except for (K). The image forming unit 12K includes a photoreceptor drum 13K (sometimes simply referred to as the photoreceptor drum 13 unless otherwise specified), a charging roller 14K (sometimes simply referred to as the charging roller 14 unless otherwise specified) that uniformly charges the surface of the photoreceptor drum 13K, a developing roller 16K (sometimes simply referred to as the d