JPH07295360A - Developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a developing device capable of preventing a large torque from being applied to the developer supply means of a toner storage part also preventing the adverse effect of the selection of the flow type of toner on an image. CONSTITUTION:An agent case 26 in the form of a cylinder, in which toner is stored, is provided in the upper area in a hopper 24 and has a toner replenishment opening 27 and an upper cover 28 covering the opening 27. This agent case 26 is rotatably attached to a casing 20, can be rotated via its rotary shaft from outside the casing 20, and is connected to a rotating/driving means 29 to be driven. An agitator 25 is provided with a load-detecting means 30 which detects the load of its rotation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developer carrying member arranged to face a latent image carrying member through an opening of a casing, a toner storing section for storing toner, and rotationally driving toner in the toner storing section. And a developer supply unit that supplies the developer to the developer carrying member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A developing device of the above type is well known and is used in image forming apparatuses such as printers, copying machines and facsimiles. In this type of developing device, when the toner in the toner hopper portion is consumed, the toner ends and the toner must be replenished. There are various known methods for replenishing toner, such as using a toner cartridge and replacing each process unit including a developing device. ing. For this reason, it is desired to reduce the frequency of toner replenishment as much as possible, and as a result, the capacity of the popper is increased as much as possible so that the developing device can store a large amount of toner. by the way,
The toner in the hopper is generally supplied to the developing roller while being stirred by an agitator.

[0003]

However, in the developing device in which the toner is supplied to the developing roller by the agitator, a large torque is required when the agitator is rotationally driven when the toner in the hopper is full, and the motor is Was burdened. In particular, in the developing device in which the capacity of the hopper is increased, the load on the motor is significantly increased. For this reason, a large motor is required, and further, when the toner is full, the torque fluctuates due to pressure fluctuations, which causes jitter. Also,
Toner smear due to insufficient charging when supplying large-diameter toner by selecting a toner flow type that a large amount of small-sized toner is supplied at the start of use after the toner is full and a large amount of remaining large-sized toner is supplied over time. There was also a problem that the image of was affected.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a developing device capable of preventing a large torque from being applied to the developer supply unit of the toner storage unit and preventing the adverse effect on the image due to the toner flow type selection.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a developer carrying member arranged to face a latent image carrying member through an opening of a casing, a toner storing section for storing toner, and In a developing device having a developer supply unit that supplies toner to a developer carrier by rotationally driving the toner in the toner storage unit, a toner that is rotatably mounted in the upper region of the toner storage unit and is stored inside. Is provided, an agent case for replenishing the toner storage portion with an amount of toner according to a rotation angle is provided, and the agent case is rotatably operated from the outside of the casing.

Further, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention rotatably mounts the toner stored in the upper area of the toner storage portion and stores therein the toner, and the amount of toner corresponding to the rotation angle is increased. Is provided to the toner storage portion, a rotation driving unit that rotates the agent case, and a load detection unit that detects a rotation load of the developer supply unit. It is characterized in that the agent case is rotated via the rotation drive means.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized in that the agent case is formed in a cylindrical shape, and a cleaning member is provided which is in sliding contact with the inner wall of the agent case.

[0008]

According to the above construction, the toner which is rotatably mounted in the upper area of the toner storage portion and stores therein the toner is replenished, and the toner storage portion is replenished with an amount of toner corresponding to the rotation angle. Since the agent case is provided and the agent case is rotated from the outside of the casing, it is possible to replenish the toner stored in the agent case by an appropriate amount, and a large torque is applied to the developer supply means in the toner storage portion. Without hanging,
It is possible to prevent the toner flow type from being extremely selected.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is an overall schematic view showing an example of a laser printer using a developing device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the recording paper 2 fed from the paper feeding device 1 in the direction of arrow A is conveyed by a registration roller pair 3 to a latent image carrier composed of a photosensitive drum 4 in a timed manner. . The photoconductor 4 is rotationally driven in the counterclockwise direction, the surface of the photoconductor 4 is charged by the charging charger 5, and the laser beam L from the laser optical system 6 is irradiated to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor. This latent image is visualized by toner as it passes through the developing device 7, and this visible image is transferred by the transfer device 8 to the recording paper 2 conveyed to the photoconductor 4 and transferred onto the recording paper 2. The visible image is fixed by the fixing device 9. Then, the recording paper 2 that has left the fixing device 9 is conveyed in the direction of arrow B and discharged to the paper discharge unit 11. on the other hand,
After the transfer of the visible image, the photoconductor 3 is subjected to the static elimination action by the static elimination lamp 13, and the residual toner is removed by the cleaning device 12. Then, the removed toner is collected by the collecting roller 1.
It is sent to the collection chamber 15 by 6 and stored there. Reference numeral 10 is a printer body, 17 is a paper feed roller, and 18 is a paper discharge roller.

As shown in FIG. 2, the developing device 7 includes a developing roller 21 as a developer carrying member, which is disposed in a casing 20 as a developing device main body so as to face the photoconductor 4 with a certain gap. , A toner replenishing roller 22 in contact with the developing roller 21, a thin layer forming member 23 in contact with the developing roller 21 to make the toner carried on the developing roller 21 into a thin layer, and a dry one-component toner A hopper 24 as a toner storage portion, and an agitator 25 for feeding the toner to the portion C while stirring the toner in the hopper 24.
It has and.

The developing device 7 according to the present invention includes a hopper 2
An agent case 26 accommodating a cylindrical toner is provided in an upper region of the toner container 4, and the agent case 26 has a toner supply port 27 and an upper cover 28 that covers the toner supply port 27. The agent case 26 is rotatably attached to the casing 20, and the agent case 26 can be rotated from the outside of the casing 20 through its rotation shaft, and in this example, is drive-connected to a rotation drive means 29 such as a motor. ing. Also,
The agitator 25 is provided with load detecting means 30 when the rotational load thereof is detected.

As shown in FIG. 3, the developing device 7 having the above-described structure gradually rotates the agent case 26 in the direction of arrow P so that the toner is supplied from the toner supply port 27 to the lower portion of the hopper 24 in which the agitator 25 is arranged. When the toner is replenished and a proper amount of toner is replenished, the rotation of the agent case 26 is stopped.
At this time, since the amount of replenished toner can be set as appropriate,
It is extremely easy to set the agitator 25 so that a large load is not applied. Then, when the torque of the agitator 25 becomes smaller due to the use over time, the agent case 26 is again used.
Is gradually rotated in the direction of arrow P to replenish an appropriate amount of toner to the lower portion of the hopper 24 again, and finally, as shown in FIG.
6 is rotated.

In this way, the hopper 24 is replenished with a proper amount of toner several times, so that the agitator is not replenished with a large load and replenished with an appropriate amount, so that the motor is not heavily burdened. Further, since it is possible to avoid the occurrence of jitter due to pressure fluctuation and the selection of toner flow type, it is possible to prevent deterioration of image quality due to these.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention, in which a cleaning member 31 which is in sliding contact with the inner wall of the cylindrical agent case 26 is provided. The cleaning member 31 is made of, for example, a polyester film, and in this example, is fixedly arranged so that its leading edge contacts the upper portion of the inner surface of the agent case 26, and adheres to the inner surface of the agent case 26 when the agent case 26 rotates in the P direction. The toner is scraped off by the cleaning member 31.

With this structure, the amount of toner that adheres to and remains on the agent case 26 is reduced, and waste of toner is avoided. The cleaning member 31 is mounted rotatably in the clockwise direction opposite to the P direction by a knob operation from the outside of the casing, and after the toner in the agent case 26 is emptied, the cleaning member 31 is rotated in the clockwise direction. It is also possible to scrape off all the toner adhering to the agent case 26.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the rotation of the agent case is configured to be performed by the rotation driving means, but the agent case can be manually rotated and the user is notified that the toner is running low by the load detection means, The user may manually perform the rotation operation.

Further, if the casing at the upper part of the hopper is formed in a semi-cylindrical shape concentrically with the agent case, the casing doubles as the upper cover of the agent case, and the useless space of the casing is reduced, which is convenient.

[0019]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an agent case for replenishing the toner storage portion with an amount of toner according to the rotation angle is provided, and the agent case can be rotated from the outside of the casing. It is possible to replenish the stored toner by an appropriate amount, a large torque is not applied to the developer supply means of the toner storage portion, and it is possible to prevent the toner flow type selection.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the toner contained in the agent case can be automatically replenished by an appropriate amount, so that the above effect can be obtained and the operation is simplified.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the present invention, the amount of toner attached to and left on the agent case is reduced, and the waste of toner is eliminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic view showing an example of a laser printer using a developing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged explanatory view of the developing device.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged explanatory diagram illustrating toner supply of the developing device.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory diagram illustrating toner supply of the developing device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Photoreceptor 7 Developing Device 20 Casing 21 Developing Roller 24 Hopper 25 Agitator 26 Agent Case 29 Rotation Driving Means 30 Load Detecting Means 31 Cleaning Member

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A developer carrying member arranged to face a latent image carrying member through an opening of a casing, a toner storage unit for storing toner, and the developer by rotationally driving the toner in the toner storage unit. In a developing device having a developer supplying means for supplying to a carrier, a toner that is rotatably mounted in the upper area of the toner storage unit and stores therein the toner, and the amount of toner according to the rotation angle is set. The developing device is characterized in that an agent case for replenishing toner to the toner storage portion is provided, and the agent case is rotated from the outside of the casing. 2. A developer carrying member arranged to face the latent image carrying member through an opening of a casing, a toner storage unit for storing toner, and the developer in the toner storage unit by rotationally driving the toner. In a developing device having a developer supplying means for supplying to a carrier, a toner that is rotatably mounted in the upper area of the toner storage unit and stores therein the toner, and the amount of toner according to the rotation angle is set. Is provided to the toner storage portion, a rotation driving unit that rotates the agent case, and a load detection unit that detects a rotation load of the developer supply unit. A developing device, wherein the agent case is rotated via the rotation driving means. 3. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the agent case is formed in a cylindrical shape, and a cleaning member is provided that is in sliding contact with an inner wall of the agent case.