JPS58126555A - Developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display abnormality or to disable the operations of respective apparatus when abnormality arises by providing detecting means for detecting the amts. of developers separately in a toner storage chamber and a developing chamber, and combining the same with timers. CONSTITUTION:When a sensor S1 as a detecting means for the residual amt. of toners detects the decrease in the toners in a developing chamber 2, a solenoid operates upon receiving the detection signal thereof, and opens a shutter 5 mounted to a rotating shaft 23, thereby replenishing the toners 4 from a replenishing toner storage chamber 1 into the chamber 2. On the other hand, the residual amt. of the toners in the chamber 1 is detected with a sensor S2, and when the residual amt. decreases, the lamp on an operation board is lighted Both sensors S1, S2 and timer circuits are used in combination, and if the detecting signal of the sensor S1 is not annihilated upon lapse of a prescribed time after the start of replenishing of the toners and the sensor S2 indicates the presence of the toner, the copying operation is stopped and the abnormality is displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a developing device, and more particularly to a developing device Kr1A of a type that replenishes developer from a developer replenishing chamber to a developing chamber.

The present invention provides an image forming apparatus having a developing chamber, a replenishing means for replenishing the developing chamber with developer, and a detecting means for detecting the amount of developer in the developing chamber in an image forming apparatus that is connected to the replenishing means and has nine developer storage chambers. S-1, and a detection means 5-2 for detecting the amount of developer in the developer storage chamber, and the detection means S-1 includes:
The detecting means 8 detects when the amount of developer in the developing chamber is low and activates the dead replenishment means, and also has a timer circuit which operates at that time. -11 indicates that there is no developer, and when the detection means S-2 indicates that there is developer, the image forming device or the replenishing means is made immobile or the developing device is configured to display an abnormality display. The purpose is to provide.

Examples of the present invention will be described below.

The embodiment shown in the drawings is a developing device using a one-component magnetic developer. As shown in FIG. 1, this developing device consists of a replenishment and toner storage chamber 1 and a developing chamber 2. The toner 4 is dropped into the developing chamber 2 in an appropriate amount through a communication passage 3 between the two chambers 1 and 20. A shutter 5 is provided. Further, a stirring member 6 is provided in the storage chamber 1 near the communication path 3.

A toner supply sleeve 8 containing a fixed magnet roller 7 in the developing chamber 2Ku and a developing sleeve 10 containing a fixed magnet roller 29 are arranged side by side with a gap d between them so as to be rotatable in the same direction at the same speed. ing. The blade 11 is arranged with a gap d1 of lsm in relation to the sleeve 8. This blade 11 is made of a non-magnetic material such as aluminum, and is attached to the partition plate 12 of the two chambers 1 and 2 with a set screw 13. sleeve 10
is opposed to the image forming member (photosensitive drum) 15 at the opening 14 of the developing chamber 2 with a distance of, for example, 300μ.

The sleeves 8 and 10 are made of a non-magnetic material such as stainless steel, and as shown in FIG.
A sleeve 80 and shaft 8 are connected to this gear 17 via an intermediate gear 18.
This is a configuration in which the Gyaho 19, which is integrated with a, is linked. As the gear 16 rotates in the arrow direction, the sleeves 8 and 10 simultaneously rotate in the previous direction.

The toner attached to the surface of the rotating sleeve 8 by the magnetic force (pigeon) of the magnet roller 7 has a grade of about 1
．． It is regulated to a uniform thickness of 2 m/m. This sleeve 8
At a position facing the upper adhesion toner sleeve 10, the repelling magnetic force (SS) of the magnet roller 7, the attractive magnetic force (N, ) of the magnet roller 9, and the serially connected DC power supply DC, AC power supply AC, and K cause the sleeve to close. Under the action of the electrostatic attraction of the bias voltage applied to lO, it transfers onto the sleeve 10 to form a thin layer of about 50 μO. At a position facing the photosensitive drum 15, the toner on the three 7" 10 is transferred onto the photosensitive drum by the electrostatic attraction force of the latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 15, and the latent image is
5-18656 to 9 is used for developing.

Toner left on sleeve 10! Dunnett roller 90
It is separated from the sleeve by the repulsion magnetic force (S,) and moves on the inclined bottom surface of the developing chamber 2 in the direction indicated by the dotted line arrow.

When the sensor S-1 serving as a toner remaining amount detecting means provided at the bottom of the developing chamber detects a shortage of toner in the developing chamber, in response to the detection signal, the solenoid 5L-2 shown in FIG.
is ONL, and the lever 20 is rotated counterclockwise about the shaft 21 as the center of rotation. As a result, the U groove 2 of the lever 20
Hook the dowel 22& engaged with the arm 2
2 in a counterclockwise direction around the rotating shaft 23 (in Fig. 1)
The shutter 5 attached to the rotating shaft 23 is rotated to
It is opened to supply and drop toner 4 from the replenishment toner storage chamber 1 into the developing chamber 2. On the other hand, the above solenoid 5L-2 is O
When N is pressed, the bent portion 20b of the lever 20 is moved to the arm 24.
Rotate counterclockwise to release it from the controller 25.

When the controller 25 becomes a tree in FIG. 2, the rotation of the gear 26 is transmitted to the shaft 6a of the stirring member 6, and the rotation of the stirring member 6 scrapes the toner off the communication path 3K.

When the gear 26 controller 225>17-mem 24 is stopped, it rotates on the shaft 6a. As above, solenoid 5L-b axis 610 rotations and shirt jI5
It can be used for both opening and closing operations.

With the configuration K''i9 as described above, when the sensor S-1 in the developing chamber 2 detects that the toner level is low, the solenoid 5L-2 turns ON in response to the sensor S-110 detection signal. , the toner is dropped and replenished from the replenishment toner storage chamber 1 as described above.

When the level of sensor S-1 is replenished, sensor +8-1
There is no signal from the solenoid S-2, so the solenoid S-2 becomes 0FFI.
, )ner replenishment is stopped. At that time, copy button 10
If 5 is pressed and the copier is in copy mode, copying will begin.

The reason why the developing device is divided into the replenishment toner storage chamber 1 and the developing chamber 2 as described above is that when the developing chamber 2 is replenished with a large amount of toner and the developing device is operated in good condition, the toner in the lower part of the developing chamber is This is because it is easily blocked by the weight of the toner from above. In particular, magnetic toner has a heavy weight per unit volume and is prone to blocking. Further, frictional heat is generated due to the rotation of the sleeve 80, deterioration of the toner due to the toner passing through the gap between the blade 11 and the sleeve 80, and changes in the triboelectric characteristics.

Therefore, put the minimum amount of toner necessary into the developing chamber 2,
It is more economical to replenish the developing chamber with toner each time it is consumed to a certain extent, since the amount of fresh toner is always small.

The remaining amount of toner in the replenishment toner storage chamber is detected by sensor S-2. When sensor S-2 detects that the amount of toner is low, lamp 2 is displayed on the operation panel of the copier shown in FIG.
7 lights up to indicate that the toner storage chamber l is out of toner. This sensor uses a vibrator to detect the presence or absence of toner, and detects whether or not toner is on the vibrator by changing the vibration mode of the vibrator. Further, the presence or absence of toner in the storage chamber 1 is detected by a sensor S-2 consisting of a disposed lamp 28 and a light receiving element 29 shown in FIG. 1g4.

However, toner detection is prone to malfunction, and the sensor itself may fail or be disconnected, and the detection signal from sensor S-1 may disappear even after a certain period of time when replenishing toner from storage chamber 1. If the sensor S-2 indicates that there is toner in the storage chamber 1, the following accident may occur.

1...Failure of sensor S-1, 2...Failure of sensor S-2C), 3...Toner is blocked in the storage chamber and is not replenished, especially in the case of accident 1, a large amount of toner is in the developing chamber. When the toner is pumped in and solidified toner is formed, the toner enters the bearing and damages the equipment, causing fatal incident detection sensors S-2 and S-
1 and a timer circuit, if the sensor 5-10 detection signal (no toner) does not disappear even after a predetermined period of time has passed after the start of toner replenishment, and the sensor S-2 indicates that there is toner,
The copying operation is stopped and an error message is displayed.

FIG. 5 shows a sequence diagram of the developing device of the present invention. In the sequence diagram shown in the figure, when the power is turned on, sensor 3
-1. The presence or absence of toner is detected in S-2, and when the presence of toner is detected in S-2 and the absence of toner in S-1, the solenoid 5L-2 is activated to start toner replenishment. When toner replenishment begins, a 4-second timer circuit checks the presence or absence of toner every 4 seconds.

This developing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is set so that an appropriate amount can be obtained by replenishing at 4 seconds and 8 degrees, and it can be regarded as continuous for 9 times as short as 4 times or as long as 4 times as long.

After 4 seconds, sensor S-1 remains out of toner.
If the sensor S-2 is also out of toner, toner needs to be replenished, and the toner replenishment lamp 27 is turned on. If sensor S-2 detects that there is toner, sensor S-1 remains out of toner even after 4 seconds have passed.
In this case, the copying operation is stopped, the abnormality lamp 44 is turned on, or the power is turned off.

Of course, three may be displayed as shown in the figure. When the sensor S-1 detects toner accumulation after 4 seconds have elapsed, the solenoid 5L-2 is turned off and the copying operation begins.

(Step I) When both the sensors S-2 and S-1 detect toner accumulation, it is checked whether the enlarge copy button is pressed or not, and then the copy operation is started. After making a predetermined number of copies, the copying operation is stopped.

(Step 1) When both S-2 and S-1 detect that there is no toner, the toner replenishment lamp 27 is turned on. Further, when S-2 is out of toner and S-1 is empty, the toner replenishment lamp 27 is blinked. (Step In) The developing device according to the present invention is configured such that even if the toner sensor S-2 detects that there is no toner, the developing chamber 2 contains enough developer to make 99 or more copies. The presence or absence of toner is not checked during the copy operation. This is because the sensor malfunctions due to vibration, and the amount of toner hitting the sensor changes. Also, if the copy machine stops due to an out-of-toner signal, the sequence after recovery becomes complicated, so the specified copy After counting the number of sheets, check whether there is toner or not. In other words, in such a copying machine, even if the toner runs out during copying on a temporary paper, if the number of copies per copy is set to 99, the presence or absence of toner in the current storage chamber is detected after copying 99 copies, and if there is no toner, the color is is solenoid 5L-
2 is turned on to replenish toner, and when toner replenishment is completed after 4 seconds, copying operation is enabled, and if toner replenishment is not completed, the toner replenishment lamp or error lamp is turned on.

In the developing device according to the present invention, even when the sensor S-1 indicates the presence or absence of toner at the maximum as shown in the sequence diagram of FIG. 5, no problem occurs because there is enough toner in the developing chamber 2 to make 99 or more copies. If the out-of-toner lamp lights up when 99 copies or more are ready to be copied, if you replenish the toner in the cartridge when the lamp lights up, you will not have to worry about the copying machine stopping due to running out of toner while copying. This has the advantage of being freed from the complexity of having to remember the sequence of operations and how many copies the operator has made.

Also, in the developing device according to the present invention, it is possible to perform a copying operation even when the sensors S-2 in the L1 temporary space appear even when there is no toner, and the toner sensor S-1 in the L1 chamber 2 is empty of toner. If the L toner replenishment lamp blinks at this time, and if both are left on when there is no toner, the operator can tell when the toner is running low and can use it as soon as possible. It is convenient for the operator because toner can be replenished. That is, in this example, due to the size and cost of the display panel, the display is shared, and the display blinks when there is toner only at sensor S-1, which is closer to the developer and the developer, and lights up when there is no toner in both. However, it is possible to provide another display to indicate that the toner is low, or to display it in a different color.

In FIG. 1, the replenishment toner storage container 30 has a cylindrical inner tube 31 having an opening 31a and a cylindrical outer tube 32 having an opening 32, which are rotatably fitted together. The outer surface of the outer cylinder 32 has a guide convex shape 33 asymmetrically on the left and right sides.
33b, the refill toner storage container 30
When loaded into the complementary toner storage chamber 1, the opening 32& always faces downward. Therefore, after loading, by rotating the middle cylinder 31 and aligning its opening 31a with the opening 32&,
The replenishment toner in the inner cylinder 31 is supplied by falling into the storage chamber 1.

34 is a shaft provided at the center of the middle cylinder 31 so as to rotate freely; 35 is a toner scraping member such as a nine wire attached to the shaft 34;

In FIG. 2, 36 is a protruding shaft of the end face of the inner cylinder 31 that passes through the end face of the outer cylinder 32, and 37 is a retaining member provided on the protruding shaft 36. When loading the replenishment toner storage container 30 into the storage chamber IK, insert the retaining member 37 in the direction of the U groove 38 on the storage chamber side plate, and after loading, insert the inner cylinder 31 from the opening a1m to the opening 32a as described above. By rotating to match K, the engaging member 37 engages with the side plate of the storage chamber in the direction shown by the chain line, thereby preventing the replenishment toner storage container 30 from being removed while the toner is being discharged.

In Fig. 3, 40 is a warning display section, 41 is a number display section, and 42
4 is a cassette display section, and 43 is a copy operation section.

As described above, the present invention detects the toner in the toner storage chamber and the developing chamber separately, and when an abnormality occurs, the abnormality is displayed or the operation of each device is immobilized. Equipment is no longer damaged due to breakdowns, etc.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view of the developing device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the developing device showing the power transmission system, FIG. 3 is a view of the operation panel of the copying machine, and FIG. 4 is a method for detecting the presence or absence of toner. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the replenishment toner storage chamber showing the means, and FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram. 1 is a replenishment toner storage chamber, 2 is a developing chamber, 3 is a communication path, 4 is toner, 5 is a shutter, 6 is a stirring member, 7 and 9 are magnet rollers, s, 1o are sleeves, IIU blades, 1
2 is a partition plate, 15 is a photosensitive drum, S-1 and S-2 are presence or absence of toner and applicant: Canon Co., Ltd. 1 No.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A replenishing means for replenishing the developing chamber with developer from the developer storage chamber, a detecting means S-1 for detecting the amount of developer in the developing chamber, and a detecting means S-2 for detecting the amount of developer in the developing chamber. When the detection signal of the detection means S-1 is output, the replenishment means is activated to replenish the developing chamber with developer, and after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the detection signal was output. When the detecting means S-1 indicates that there is no developer and the detecting means S-2 indicates that there is developer, the image forming device or the replenishing means may be immobilized or an abnormality may be displayed. A developing device characterized by: