Patent Publication Number: US-2012039626-A1

Title: Developing cartridge and image forming apparatus having the same

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2010-0077633, filed on Aug. 12, 2010 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     Embodiments of the present general inventive concepts relate to an image forming apparatus, a body of which is downsized to ensure a smaller size of the image forming apparatus. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Image forming apparatuses are devised to form an image on a printing medium according to input image signals. Examples of image forming apparatuses include printers, copiers, fax machines, and devices combining functions thereof. 
     An electro-photographic image forming apparatus includes a printing medium supply unit in which printing media is stored, a light scanning unit to irradiate a beam according to an image signal, a developing unit to form a developer image on a printing medium supplied from the printing medium supply unit, a fusing unit to fuse the developer image to the printing medium, and a printing medium discharge unit to discharge the printing medium, on which an image has been completely formed, to the outside. 
     The above mentioned printing medium supply unit, light scanning unit, developing unit, fusing unit and printing medium discharge unit are appropriately arranged on a printing medium delivery path defined in an apparatus body. 
     The printing medium delivery path is generally an S-shaped or C-shaped path. In the case of the developing unit, although it is mounted in the body to correspond to the light scanning unit with the printing medium delivery path interposed therebetween, interior components thereof, such as rollers, are generally arranged in a direction parallel to the ground. 
     The developing unit has a limit as to reduction of a width thereof and therefore, needs appropriate roller arrangement and optical path design to downsize the image forming apparatus. 
     SUMMARY 
     Therefore, it is a feature of the present general inventive concepts to provide an image forming apparatus to minimize a body size. 
     Additional features of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
     In accordance with one feature of the present general inventive concepts, an image forming apparatus includes a developing cartridge mounted perpendicular to a horizontal printing medium delivery path and a light scanning unit arranged above the developing cartridge, wherein the developing cartridge contains a developer supply region, a supply roller and a developing roller successively arranged from the top to the bottom at one side of an optical path through which a vertically irradiated beam from the light scanning unit reaches a photoconductive medium. 
     Developer may fall from the developer supply region to the supply roller. 
     The developing cartridge may contain a waste developer storage region and a charging roller successively arranged from the top to the bottom at the other side of the optical path. 
     The supply roller and the developing roller may be arranged above a horizontal line passing through the center of the photoconductive medium. 
     The center of the supply roller and the center of the developing roller may be aligned in a straight line having an inclination angle of about 45 degrees or more with respect to a horizontal line passing through the center of the photoconductive medium. 
     The supply roller and the developing roller may be arranged in the second quadrant and the charging roller may be arranged in the first quadrant on the basis of coordinate axes, the origin being the center of the photoconductive medium. 
     The light scanning unit may include a light source to irradiate a beam according to an image signal, a light deflector to deflect the beam emitted from the light source, and an F-theta lens to correct aberration of the beam deflected by the light deflector, and the image forming apparatus may further include a reflecting mirror to reflect the horizontally irradiated beam from the light scanning unit toward the photoconductive medium. 
     The reflecting mirror may allow the beam to be scanned to the photoconductive medium at an angle of about 80˜100 degrees with respect to a bottom surface of the body. 
     The beam scanned from the reflecting mirror to a surface of the photoconductive medium has an angle of about 5˜10 degrees with respect to a vertical direction. 
     The image forming apparatus may further include a printing medium supply tray coupled to one side of the body so as to be rotatable up and down to enable stacking of printing media thereon, a pickup roller to pick up the printing media stacked on the printing medium supply tray one sheet at a time, a delivery roller to align a tip end of a printing medium picked up by the pickup roller, and a transfer roller to press the printing medium supplied by the delivery roller toward the photoconductive medium, and the printing medium delivery path, which extends through the delivery roller and the transfer roller, may have an angle of at least about 45 degrees with respect to a final optical path of the beam scanned to the photoconductive medium. 
     The light scanning unit, the developer supply region, the supply roller and the developing roller may be arranged at one side of the optical path. 
     In accordance with another feature of the present general inventive concepts, an image forming apparatus includes a body, a printing medium delivery path defined in the body to allow a printing medium to be delivered in a direction parallel to the ground, a printing medium supply unit to supply a printing medium to the printing medium delivery path, the printing medium supply unit including a printing medium supply tray coupled to one side of the body so as to be rotatable up and down and a delivery roller to align a tip end of the printing medium supplied from the printing medium supply tray, a developing cartridge separably mounted in the body in a direction perpendicular to the printing medium delivery path to form an image on the printing medium delivered from the printing medium supply unit, and a light scanning unit arranged above the developing cartridge and including a light source to irradiate a beam according to image information, a light deflector to deflect the beam emitted from the light source, an F-theta lens to correct aberration of the beam deflected by the light deflector, and a reflecting mirror to reflect the horizontally irradiated beam from the F-theta lens in a vertical direction, wherein the developing cartridge includes a housing in which a developer supply region, a supply roller, a developing roller, a photoconductive medium, a charging roller and a waste developer storage region are provided, the developer supply region, the supply roller and the developing roller being successively arranged from the top to the bottom at one side of an optical path through which the vertically irradiated beam from the light scanning unit reaches the photoconductive medium, and the charging roller and the waste developer storage region being arranged at the other side of the optical path. 
     Developer may fall from the developer supply region to the supply roller. 
     The supply roller and the developing roller may be arranged above a horizontal line passing through the center of the photoconductive medium. 
     The center of the supply roller and the center of the developing roller may be aligned in a straight line having an inclination angle of about 45 degrees or more with respect to a horizontal line passing through the center of the photoconductive medium. 
     The supply roller and the developing roller may be arranged in the second quadrant and the charging roller is arranged in the first quadrant on the basis of coordinate axes, the origin being the center of the photoconductive medium. 
     The light scanning unit may be arranged in the second quadrant. 
     The beam vertically scanned by the reflecting mirror may have an angle of about 80˜100 degrees with respect to a bottom surface of the body. 
     The beam scanned from the reflecting mirror to a surface of the photoconductive medium may have an angle of about 5˜10 degrees with respect to a vertical direction. 
     The image forming apparatus may further include a transfer roller to press the printing medium supplied by the delivery roller toward the photoconductive medium, and the printing medium delivery path, which extends through the delivery roller and the transfer roller, may have an angle of at least about 45 degrees with respect to a final optical path of the beam scanned to the photoconductive medium. 
     In accordance with a further feature of the present general inventive concepts, a developing cartridge, mounted perpendicular to a horizontal printing medium delivery path defined in a body, includes a developer supply region, a supply roller and a developing roller successively arranged from the top to the bottom at one side of an optical path through which a vertically irradiated beam from a light scanning unit reaches a photoconductive medium. 
     Developer may fall from the developer supply region to the supply roller. 
     The developing cartridge may further include a waste developer storage region and a charging roller successively arranged from the top to the bottom at the other side of the optical path. 
     The supply roller and the developing roller may be arranged above a horizontal line passing through the center of the photoconductive medium. 
     The center of the supply roller and the center of the developing roller may be aligned in a straight line having an inclination angle of about 45 degrees or more with respect to a horizontal line passing through the center of the photoconductive medium. 
     The supply roller and the developing roller may be arranged in the second quadrant and the charging roller may be arranged in the first quadrant on the basis of coordinate axes, the origin being the center of the photoconductive medium. 
     The optical path may be provided to allow the beam to be scanned from the light scanning unit to a surface of the photoconductive medium at an angle of about 5˜10 degrees with respect to a vertical direction. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and/or other features of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concepts; 
         FIG. 2  is an explanatory view of an optical path according to the embodiment of the present general inventive concepts; 
         FIGS. 3A and 3B  illustrate explanatory views of a relationship between the optical path and a printing medium delivery path according to various embodiments of the present general inventive concepts; and 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional view illustrating a developing cartridge of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present general inventive concepts. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures. 
     Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concepts will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
       FIG. 1  is a sectional view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present general inventive concepts. In  FIG. 1 , the x-axis represents a horizontal direction when viewed from the lateral side of the image forming apparatus, and the y-axis represents a vertical direction of the image forming apparatus perpendicular to the x-axis. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the image forming apparatus  100  may include a body  10 , which defines an external appearance of the image forming apparatus  100  and supports a variety of elements therein. 
     The body  10  may contain a printing medium supply unit  20 , a developing cartridge  100 , a light scanning unit  30 , a transfer unit  40 , a fusing unit  50 , and a printing medium discharge unit  60 . 
     The printing medium supply unit  20 , the developing cartridge  100 , the transfer unit  40 , the fusing unit  50 , and the printing medium discharge unit  60 , which are mounted in the body  10 , may be substantially parallel to one another in a horizontal direction, so as to define an approximately horizontal printing medium delivery path S. 
     The printing medium supply unit  20  serves to supply a printing medium P toward the developing cartridge  100 . 
     The printing medium supply unit  20  may include a printing medium supply tray  21  in which printing media P are stacked, a pickup roller  23  to pick up the printing media P stacked in the printing medium supply tray  21  one sheet at a time, and a pair of delivery rollers  25  to accurately align a tip end of the picked-up printing medium P and deliver the printing medium P toward the developing cartridge  100 . 
     The printing medium supply tray  21  may be coupled to one side of the body  10  so as to be pivotally rotatable upward and downward about a hinge shaft  11 . 
     The printing medium supply tray  21 , which has been installed as described above, occupies only a smaller volume of the body  10 , thus enabling a size reduction (in the y-axis direction) of the body  10 . 
     The developing cartridge  100  may be separably mounted in the body  10 . Thus, the developing cartridge  100  may be attached to the body  10  to be mounted in the body  10 , and may also be detached from the body  10 . 
     The developing cartridge  100  may include a housing  101 , in which main elements to perform a developing process, such as a photoconductive medium  110 , a developing roller  120 , a supply roller  130 , and a charging roller  140 , are mounted. 
     The housing  101  may be oriented substantially perpendicularly to a bottom surface  13  of the body  10 , to enable a size reduction (in an x-axis direction) of the body  10 . The interior of the housing  101  may be divided into a developer supply region  150  to supply developer, and a waste developer storage region  160  to store waste developer collected from the photoconductive medium  110 . 
     To this end, the body  10  may be provided at an upper portion thereof with an opening  15  for entrance/exit of the developing cartridge  100 , and a cover  17  may be rotatably coupled to the body  10  via a cover hinge  18  to open or close the opening  15  with the cover  17 . 
     More specifically, the developing cartridge  100  is inserted into the body  10  in the direction of the force of gravity substantially perpendicular to the horizontal printing medium delivery path S through the opening  15 . This enables a remarkable size reduction (in the x-axis direction) of the body  10  as compared to an imaging forming apparatus with an &amp;shaped or C-shaped printing medium delivery path. This configuration of the developing cartridge  100  will be described hereinafter in detail. 
     The light scanning unit  30  forms an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive medium  110  by irradiating a beam according to image information of an output object. 
     The light scanning unit  30  may be located above the vertically oriented developing cartridge  100  in the body  10 , to irradiate a beam in a direction substantially perpendicular to a tangential direction of the photoconductive medium  110 , e.g., in the y-axis direction substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface  13  of the body  10 . 
     The light scanning unit  30  may include a case  31 , a light source  33  to irradiate a beam according to an image signal, a light deflector  34  to deflect the beam emitted from the light source  33 , and an F-theta lens  37  to focus the deflected beam on the photoconductive medium  110 , all of the light source  33 , the light deflector  34  and the F-theta lens  37  being mounted in the case  31 . 
     The light source  33  may include a laser diode to irradiate a laser beam, and the light deflector  34  may include a polygonal mirror  36  that is rotated by a drive motor  35 . 
     The polygonal mirror  36  has a plurality of reflecting faces to deflect and scan the incident beam from the light source  33 . The F-theta lens  37  may horizontally scan the deflected and scanned beam through a beam emission port  32  of the case  31 . 
     A reflecting mirror  38  may be provided in front of the beam emission port  32  and serve to reflect the horizontally scanned beam from the light scanning unit  30  in a substantially vertical direction. 
     The beam reflected by the reflecting mirror  38  may be scanned through an optical path  103  defined in the developing cartridge  100  to a surface of the photoconductive medium  110  in a direction substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface  13 . 
     The reflecting mirror  38  may be oriented to reflect the horizontally scanned beam from the light scanning unit  30  in a direction substantially perpendicular to the ground. More particularly, the reflecting mirror  38  may allow the horizontally scanned beam to be scanned to the surface of the photoconductive medium  110  at an angle β of 80˜100 degrees with respect to the bottom surface  13  of the body  10  (see  FIG. 2 ). This orientation serves to reduce the size of the body  10  within an optimum range. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the beam, which is vertically scanned from the reflecting mirror  38  to the surface of the photoconductive medium  110 , may not be completely perpendicular to a vertical direction (i.e. the first dashed dot line L 1  perpendicular to the second dashed dot line L 2  in a tangential direction of the photoconductive medium  100  parallel to the ground or the horizontal line). For example, the beam may have an angle β of 5˜10 degrees with respect to the vertical direction. 
     This serves to prevent interference between a beam irradiated to the photoconductive medium  110  and a beam reflected from the surface of the photoconductive medium  110  and also, to minimize the size of the body  10 . 
     The optical path  103  is defined by a vertical passage of the housing  101  through which the photoconductive medium  110  communicates with the outside of the housing  101 , thereby serving as a path through which the beam vertically reflected by the reflecting mirror  38  reaches the photoconductive medium  110 . 
     When separately arranging the reflecting mirror  38  at the outside of the case  31  of the light scanning unit  30 , a conventional light scanning unit devised to irradiate a beam horizontally may be used without additional design change, resulting in cost reduction and simplification. 
     It is further noted that the conventional light scanning unit devised to irradiate a beam horizontally to a photoconductive medium may need a relatively long beam scanning distance in order to output a high resolution image, thus limiting the degree to which the size of the image forming apparatus may be reduced. For example, in order to achieve the high resolution image, a conventional light scanning unit may be disposed such that the beam from the light source  33  travels a long distance until it reaches a photoconductive medium. Thus, a size of a conventional image forming apparatus using the conventional light scanning unit may be determined by the distance that the beam travels, and thus may increase horizontally (e.g. in the x-axis direction) as the distance becomes longer in a horizontal direction. 
     However, in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the horizontally scanned beam from the light scanning unit  30  is vertically scanned, i.e. so as to define an L-shaped beam path, because the beam from the light source  33  is reflected by the reflecting mirror  38  to change the beam&#39;s direction from a substantially horizontal direction to a substantially vertical direction. This may prevent the light scanning unit  30  from greatly occupying the interior of the body  10 , enabling a size reduction (in the x-axis direction) of the body  10 . 
     FIGS.  3 A and  3 E 3  illustrate explanatory views of a relationship between the optical path  103  and the printing medium delivery path S according to various embodiments of the present general inventive concepts. The horizontal printing medium delivery path S may be defined in the body  10  to have an angle γ of at least 45˜90 degrees with a final optical path of the beam substantially perpendicular to the photoconductive medium  110  (see  FIG. 3A ). 
     A detailed process of printing an image to the printing medium P is explained as follows. The transfer unit  40  serves to transfer a visible developer image formed on the photoconductive medium  110  to the printing medium P. The visible developer image may be formed on the photoconductive medium  110  when the developer is applied to the photoconductive medium  110  by the developing roller  120  after the irradiated beam is scanned to the photoconductive medium  110 . 
     The transfer unit  40  may include a transfer roller  41  to press the printing medium P toward the photoconductive medium  110 , thereby allowing the visible developer image formed on the photoconductive medium  110  to be transferred to the surface of the printing medium P. 
     The transfer roller  41  may be positioned to come into contact with the photoconductive medium  110  of the developing cartridge  110  mounted in the body  10  when the printing medium P is not disposed between the transfer roller  41  and the photoconductive medium  110 . 
     The above described embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 3A  describes the reflecting mirror  38  as being provided independently of the light scanning unit  30 . In another embodiment, as illustrated in  FIG. 3B , the reflecting mirror  38  may be received in the case  31  such that the reflecting mirror  38  is inside the case  31  and the beam emission port may be located in the bottom of the case  31  as a perforated portion  39  such that the beam reflected on the reflecting mirror  38  can travel through the perforated portion  39  to reach the photoconductive medium  110 . 
     Referring back to  FIG. 1 , the fusing unit  50  serves to fuse the developer image on the printing medium P by applying heat and pressure to the printing medium P. 
     The fusing unit  50  may include a heating member  53  containing a heat source  51  and a press roller  55  to press the printing medium P toward the heating member  53 . 
     The heating member  53  may take a form of a roller containing the heat source  51 , or may take a form of a belt heated by the heat source  51 . 
     The press roller  55  may be supported by an elastic member (not shown) so as to come into close contact with the heating member  53  to thereby maintain a constant fusing pressure between the press roller  55  and the heating member  53 . For example, the press roller  55  may be covered with an elastic material such that the press roller  55  may experience an elastic contact against the heating member  53 . 
     In this way, as the fusing unit  50  applies heat and pressure to the visible developer image that has been transferred to the printing medium P while the printing medium P passes between the heating member  53  and the press roller  55 , the visible image is fused to the printing medium P. 
     The printing medium discharge unit  60  includes at least one discharge roller  61  to discharge the printing medium P, having passed through the fusing unit  50 , to the outside of the body  10 . 
       FIG. 4  is a sectional view illustrating the developing cartridge according to the embodiment of the present general inventive concepts. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the developing cartridge  100  may include the housing  101  defining an external appearance of the developing cartridge  100 . Main elements to perform a developing process, i.e. the photoconductive medium  110 , the developing roller  120 , the supply roller  130 , and the charging roller  140  are mounted in the housing  101  to construct a single process cartridge. 
     The interior of the housing  101  may be divided into a developer supply region  150  to supply developer, and a waste developer storage region  160  to store waste developer collected from the photoconductive medium  110 . 
     The developer supply region  150  and the waste developer storage region  160  may be arranged at opposite sides of the optical path  103  through which the beam irradiated from the light scanning unit  30  reaches the photoconductive medium  110 . 
     The photoconductive medium  110  may have a drum shape and serve as an image carrier to carry a developer image. The photoconductive medium  110  may be a rotating drum whose rotation corresponds with rotation of the developing roller  120  as well as the rate the beam irradiated from the light scanning unit  30  is scanned to the photoconductive medium  110 . 
     The light scanning unit  30  irradiates a laser beam to the photoconductive medium  110  according to image information, thereby allowing an electrostatic latent image to be formed on the surface of the photoconductive medium  110 . For example, as the photoconductive medium  110  rotates, the laser beam is irradiated to the photoconductive medium  110  according to the image information, wherein the width of the photoconductive medium is at least the width of the image of the image information. 
     The charging roller  140  applies electric charge to the photoconductive medium  110  while being rotated in contact with the surface of the photoconductive medium  110 , thereby charging the surface of the photoconductive medium  110  with a predetermined potential. 
     The developing roller  120  supplies developer to the photoconductive medium  110  to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductive medium  110  to a developer image. For example, when the developer from the developing roller  120  is supplied to the photoconductive medium  110  according to the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive medium  110 , so as to form the developer image. 
     The supply roller  130  supplies the developer stored in the developer supply region  150  to the developing roller  120 . For example, the supply roller may pick up the developer in the developer supply region  150 , and then transfer the developer onto the developing roller  120 . 
     The developer supplied to the developing roller  120  may define a developer layer having a constant thickness under operation of a regulating member  170 . For example, the regulating member  170  may maintain a constant thickness of the developer layer of the developer on the developing roller  120  by removing excess developer. 
     In this way, if the light scanning unit  30  forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductive medium  110  that has been charged with the predetermined potential by the charging roller  140 , the developer stored in the developer supply region  150  is supplied to the photoconductive medium  110  by the supply roller  130  and the developing roller  120 , thereby allowing a visible developer image composed of powdered developer to be formed on the photoconductive medium  110  according to the electrostatic latent image. 
     After the transfer unit  40  (see  FIG. 1 ) transfers the visible developer image formed on the photoconductive medium  110  to the printing medium P, a cleaning blade  180  removes the residue of the developer from the photoconductive medium  100  and the removed residue of developer is collected into the waste developer storage region  160 . 
     In the meantime, the supply roller  130 , the developing roller  120  and the charging roller  140 , which are arranged in the housing  101 , may be located above a horizontal line (the x-axis) passing through the center O of the photoconductive medium  110 . For example, the center O may be located at an axis about which the photoconductive medium  110  rotates. 
     Specifically, when viewed in the x-axis and y-axis directions, the origin being the center O of the photoconductive medium  110 , the supply roller  130  and the developing roller  120  may be arranged in the second quadrant  107 , and the charging roller  140  may be arranged in the first quadrant  105 . 
     In relation to the second quadrant  107 , a center  131  of the supply roller  130  may be located higher than a center  121  of the developing roller  120 . The center  131  may be an axis about which the supply roller  130  rotates, and the center  121  may be an axis about which the developing roller  120  rotates. 
     The supply roller  130 , the developing roller  120  and the photoconductive medium  110 , which are provided in the housing  101 , may be successively arranged from the top to the bottom in a vertical direction (the y-axis direction). This arrangement enables a size reduction in the width direction (the x-axis direction) of the developing cartridge  100 . 
     The developer supply region  150  is located above the supply roller  130  and thus, the developer falls from the developer supply region  150  to the supply roller  130  and subsequently, to the photoconductive medium  110 . Thus, the developer supply region  150  does not need an agitator to agitate or deliver the developer, enabling a reduction in the width of the housing  101 . 
     In this case, the center  131  of the supply roller  130  and the center  121  of the developing roller  120  located below the center  131  of the supply roller  130  may be aligned in a straight line that passes through the center O of the photoconductive medium  110 . In one example, this straight line may have an inclination angle of 45 degrees or more with respect to the horizontal line x passing through the center O of the photoconductive medium  110 . 
     This ensures not only smooth supply of the developer from the developer supply region  150  to the photoconductive medium  110  without an agitator, but also an optimized size of the developing cartridge  100 . 
     Further, when the developer supply region  150  has no agitator to deliver the developer to the supply roller  130 , it may be possible to prevent stress applied by the agitator continuously in the form of pressure to the developer. 
     With the above described configuration, on the basis of the optical path  103  through which the beam is scanned from the top to the bottom of the body  10 , the light scanning unit  30 , the developer supply region  150 , the supply roller  130  and the developing roller  120  may be arranged at one side of the body  10 , and the waste developer storage region  160  and the charging roller  140  may be arranged at the other side of the body  10 . 
     More particularly, the developer supply region  150 , the supply roller  130  and the developing roller  120  may be successively arranged from the top to the bottom in a partial region of the housing  101  at one side of the optical path  103 , in order to reduce the size of the developing cartridge  100 . 
     As a result, the developing cartridge  100  may realize a remarkable width reduction (e.g. reduction in size in the x-axis), and in turn, vertically orienting the developing cartridge  100  having a remarkably reduced width in the body  10  having the horizontal printing medium delivery path S may realize a remarkable reduction in the size of the body  10 , resulting in improved productivity owing to reduced material costs. 
     Furthermore, when the main developing elements of the developing cartridge  100 , i.e. the photoconductive medium  110 , the charging roller  140 , the developing roller  120 , the supply roller  130 , the developer supply region  150  and the waste developer storage section  160  construct a single process cartridge, it may be possible to eliminate a variety of electric elements from the body  10 , and this may reduce Electro-Magnetic Interception (EMI). 
     As is apparent from the above description, an image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present general inventive concepts may minimize a body size. 
     Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.