Source: http://patents.com/us-6937839.html
Timestamp: 2018-12-10 04:51:03
Document Index: 149124611

Matched Legal Cases: ['art.\n13', 'art 120', 'art 120', 'art 150', 'art 150', 'art 150', 'art 150', 'art 152', 'art 152', 'art 152', 'art 164', 'art 164', 'art 164', 'art 152']

US Patent # 6,937,839. Image formation apparatus and developer collection vessel used therewith - Patents.com
United States Patent 6,937,839
Harumoto , et al. August 30, 2005
A collection vessel 124 has intermediate transfer body collection ports 134 and developing machine collection ports 136. Collected developer occurrence sections placed in intermediate transfer bodies and developing machines are connected to the collection ports 134 and 136. At least two of the collection ports 134 and 136 are formed so that they are arranged in a vertical direction. Collection spaces 148a to 148f to which the collection ports 134 and 136 are connected are separated by partition walls 146, and the collection capacities of the collection spaces 148a to 148f are set according to the heights and shapes of the partition walls 146.
Inventors: Harumoto; Katsumi (Saitama, JP), Serizawa; Masato (Saitama, JP)
Appl. No.: 10/365,649
May 21, 2002 [JP] P2002-145657
Current International Class: G03G 21/12 (20060101); G03G 021/00 (); G03G 021/12 ()
Field of Search: 399/98,99,101,257,299,302,358,360
5028959 July 1991 Gooray
5250997 October 1993 Kaneko et al.
5933690 August 1999 Sugimoto et al.
6035158 March 2000 Asakura et al.
6453148 September 2002 Friedrich et al.
2912073 Apr., 1999 JP
1. An image formation apparatus comprising: a plurality of collected developer occurrence sections; a plurality of discharge sections being connected to said plurality of collected developer occurrence sections; and a collection vessel having a plurality of collection ports to which said plurality of discharge sections are connected, wherein at least two of the plurality of collection ports are arranged in a vertical direction of said collection vessel.
2. The image formation apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of collected developer occurrence sections are placed in developing machines.
3. The image formation apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of collected developer occurrence sections are placed in intermediate transfer bodies.
4. The image formation apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of collected developer occurrence sections are placed in a developing machine and an intermediate transfer body.
5. An image formation apparatus comprising an image formation apparatus main unit, a plurality of developing machines being placed in a vertical direction in said image formation apparatus main unit, and a collection vessel for storing developers collected from said plurality of developing machines, wherein collected developer occurrence sections provided for said plurality of developing machines, discharge sections being connected to the collected developer occurrence sections, and a plurality of collection ports being formed in said collection vessel, to which the discharge sections are connected are placed in the vertical direction.
6. The image formation apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein said collection vessel is placed on the front of said image formation apparatus main unit.
7. An image formation apparatus comprising: an image formation apparatus main unit; a plurality of intermediate transfer bodies being placed in a vertical direction in said image formation apparatus main unit; and a collection vessel for storing developers collected from said plurality of intermediate transfer bodies, wherein collected developer occurrence sections provided for said plurality of intermediate transfer bodies, discharge sections being connected to the collected developer occurrence sections, and a plurality of collection ports being formed in said collection vessel, connected to the discharge sections are placed in the vertical direction.
8. An image formation apparatus comprising: an image formation apparatus main unit; a developing machine being placed in said image formation apparatus main unit; an intermediate transfer body to which a toner image formed in said developing machine is transferred; collected developer occurrence sections provided for said developing machine and said intermediate transfer body, discharge sections being connected to said collected developer occurrence sections; and a collection vessel being formed with a plurality of collection ports to which said discharge sections are connected, wherein at least two of the plurality of collection ports are arranged in a vertical direction of said collection vessel.
9. A developer collection vessel comprising: a plurality of collection ports formed on the surface of the developer collection vessel to which a plurality of developer discharge sections are connected, at least two of said plurality of collection ports being arranged in a vertical direction.
10. A developer collection vessel comprising: a vessel main unit being formed with a plurality of collection ports connected to a plurality of developer discharge sections, at least one collection port being placed below the vertical half position of said vessel main unit.
11. A developer collection vessel comprising: a plurality of collection ports to which a plurality of discharge sections where a developer is discharged are connected; a plurality of collection spaces connected to said plurality of collection ports; and a partition wall for separating at least one of said plurality of collection spaces from any other collection space.
12. The developer collection vessel as claimed in claim 11 wherein the one collection space and any other collection space are connected through a communication part.
13. The developer collection vessel as claimed in claim 11 wherein at least one of said plurality of collection spaces has a collection capacity defined based on the height of said partition wall.
14. The developer collection vessel as claimed in claim 11 wherein at least one of said plurality of collection spaces has a collection capacity defined based on the shape of said partition wall.
15. The developer collection vessel as claimed in claim 11 wherein said partition wall is set so that the ratio of collected developers occurring in collected developer occurrence sections and the ratio of collection capacities of said collection spaces become roughly equal to each other.
16. The developer collection vessel as claimed in claim 11 wherein said partition wall is positioned below said collection ports connected to said collection spaces separated by said partition wall.
17. A developer collection vessel comprising: a first housing being formed with a plurality of collection ports to which a plurality of discharge sections where a developer is discharged are connected; and a second housing being joined to said first housing, wherein as said first housing and said second housing are joined, a collection space is formed and wherein either of said first housing and said second housing is formed with a partition wall for separating the collection space into a plurality of collection spaces.
18. The developer collection vessel as claimed in claim 17 wherein either said first housing or said second housing where the partition wall is not formed is formed with a seal part for abutting the partition wall.
19. A developer collection vessel comprising a vessel main unit being formed with a plurality of collection ports connected to a plurality of discharge sections where a developer is discharged, at least two collection ports being placed at different heights in a horizontal direction in said vessel main unit.
This invention relates to a developer collection vessel for collecting waste toner, a developer collected from a developing machine adopting a trickle developing system, or the like and an image formation apparatus comprising the developer collection vessel.
In an electrophotographic image formation apparatus applied to a printer, a copier, etc., developers to be discharged occur in a photoconductor, a transfer roll, a developing machine, etc., and need to be collected, and a collection vessel is placed.
Hitherto, as an image formation apparatus comprising this kind of collection vessel, an apparatus has been disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2912073. In the related art example, collected developers occurring from a plurality of collected developer occurrence sections are collected into one collection vessel so as to make it possible to facilitate collection work.
However, in the related art example, from the plurality of collected developer occurrence sections, the collected developers are once transported to the rear of the image formation apparatus and are gathered and then the gathered developer is transported to the collection vessel placed on the front of the image formation apparatus and is collected through a collection port formed on the top of the collection vessel. Thus, the transport passage for transporting the collected developer becomes complicated and the developer collection mechanism also becomes complicated; this is a problem.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an image formation apparatus for making it possible to simplify a developer collection mechanism and a developer collection vessel fitted for the image formation apparatus.
To the end, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an image formation apparatus comprising a plurality of collected developer occurrence sections, a plurality of discharge sections being connected to the plurality of collected developer occurrence sections, and a collection vessel having a plurality of collection ports to which the plurality of discharge sections are connected, wherein at least two of the plurality of collection ports are arranged in a vertical direction of the collection vessel. The collected developer occurrence sections are placed, for example, in the developing machines, the photoconductors, the intermediate transfer bodies, the transfer roll, etc., and are formed as developer discharge passages and cleaning means. Thus, two or more collection ports for collecting developers from the collected developer occurrence sections are placed in the vertical direction, so that it is made possible to collect developers directly from the collected developer occurrence sections and the developer collection mechanism can be simplified.
In a second aspect of the invention, collection ports of a collection vessel are placed corresponding to the positions of collected developer occurrence sections. That is, in an image formation apparatus wherein a plurality of developing machines each adopting a trickle developing system are placed in a vertical direction, for example, collection ports are formed in the vertical direction corresponding to the collected developer occurrence sections placed in the developing machines. In an image formation apparatus wherein a plurality of intermediate transfer bodies are placed in a vertical direction, collection ports are formed in the vertical direction corresponding to the collected developer occurrence sections placed in the intermediate transfer bodies. Further, in an image formation apparatus wherein a plurality of developing machines and a plurality of intermediate transfer bodies are placed in a vertical direction, collection ports are formed in the vertical direction corresponding to the collected developer occurrence sections placed in the developing machines and the intermediate transfer bodies. Therefore, the collection ports of the collection vessel are formed at the positions corresponding to the collected developer occurrence sections, so that it is made possible to collect developers directly from the collected developer occurrence sections and the developer collection mechanism can be simplified. Preferably, the collection vessel is placed on the front of the image formation apparatus main unit so that the collection vessel can be easily attached to and detached from the image formation apparatus main unit.
According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a developer collection vessel comprising a plurality of collection ports to which a plurality of discharge sections where a developer is discharged are connected, at least two of the plurality of collection ports being arranged in a vertical direction.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a developer collection vessel comprising a vessel main unit being formed with a plurality of collection ports connected to a plurality of discharge sections where a developer is discharged, the collection ports being placed below the vertical half position of the vessel main unit. If the collection port is formed in an upper part of the collection vessel as in the related art example, a transport mechanism for upward transporting the collected developer becomes necessary. However, as the collection port is placed in a lower part as in the invention, the transport mechanism can be simplified or can be eliminated.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a developer collection vessel comprising a plurality of collection ports to which a plurality of discharge sections where a developer is discharged are connected, a plurality of collection spaces connected to the plurality of collection ports, and a partition wall for separating at least one of the plurality of collection spaces from any other collection space. Therefore, separate collection spaces can be formed in the collection vessel and the space in the collection vessel can be utilized effectively. If the developers occurring in the collected developer occurrence sections differ in toner color, composition (only toner or toner and carrier), etc., they can be collected separately.
Preferably, the one collection space and any other collection space are connected through a communication part. For example, if an amount of developer more than expected is collected into one collection space, the developer can be escaped into another collection space through the communication part, and occurrence of a defective condition of developer clogging, etc., can be prevented. Preferably, the partition wall is formed below the collection port. Preferably, the collection capacities of the collection spaces can be set based on the heights or the shapes of the partition walls, and the ratio of the collected developers occurring in the collected developer occurrence sections and the ratio of the collection capacities of the collection spaces are made roughly equal to each other for making it possible to utilize the space in the collection vessel effectively.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided a developer collection vessel comprising a first housing being formed with a plurality of collection ports to which a plurality of discharge sections where a developer is discharged are connected, and a second housing being joined to the first housing, wherein as the first housing and the second housing are joined, a collection space is formed and wherein either of the first housing and the second housing is formed with a partition wall for separating the collection space into a plurality of collection spaces. Preferably, either the first housing or the second housing where the partition wall is not formed is formed with a seal part for abutting the partition wall for preventing the collected developer from spilling from the side of the partition wall.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view to show a part of the developing machine unit used with the image formation apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 13 is a transverse sectional view to show the relationship between a developing machine and the collection vessel in the image formation apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 14 is a longitudinal sectional view to show the relationship between the developing machine and the collection vessel in the image formation apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
A photoconductor unit 50 has four photoconductors 52 arranged in a vertical direction for yellow, magenta, black, and cyan, for example, from the top to the bottom. A refresh roll 54 and a charging roll 56 are provided for each of the photoconductors 52 so as to come in contact with the corresponding photoconductor 52 for rotation.
A developing machine unit 58 is placed on the right of the photoconductor unit 50 and has four developing machines 60 arranged in the vertical direction in a one-to-one correspondence with the photoconductors 52. Each developing machine 60 adopts a trickle developing system, and an extra developer is collected into a collection vessel described later. A light exposure unit 62 is placed on the right of the developing machine unit 58 for emitting four laser beams responsive to an image signal to the photoconductors 52 for forming a latent image thereon. Four developer cartridges 64 are placed on the right of the light exposure unit 62. The developer cartridges 64 and the developing machines 60 are connected by developer supply passages (not shown) for supplying developers from the developer cartridges 64 to the developing machines 60.
An intermediate transfer unit 66 is placed on the left of the photoconductor unit 50 and has three intermediate transfer bodies 68, 70, and 72 shaped like drums. The two first intermediate transfer bodies 68 and 70 are arranged in the vertical direction. The upper first intermediate transfer body 68 comes in contact with the two upper photoconductors 52 and 52 for rotation and the lower first intermediate transfer body 70 comes in contact with the two lower photoconductors 52 and 52 for rotation. The second intermediate transfer body 72 comes in contact with both the first intermediate transfer bodies 68 and 70 for rotation, and the transfer roll 74 comes in contact with the second intermediate transfer body 72 for rotation. Therefore, two color toner images are transferred from the two photoconductors 52 and 52 to the first intermediate transfer bodies 68 and 70, and the two color toner images transferred to the first intermediate transfer body 68 and the two color toner images transferred to the first intermediate transfer body 70 are transferred to the second intermediate transfer body 72 to form a four-color toner image, which is then transferred to paper by the transfer roll 74. A cleaning roll 76 and a cleaning brush 78 are placed on each of the intermediate transfer bodies 68, 70, and 72. Toner caught by the cleaning roll 76 is scraped off, for example, with a blade, and the scraped-off toner is collected into the collection vessel described later. That is, the image formation apparatus main unit 12 has the four developing machines 60 and the three intermediate transfer bodies 68, 70, and 72, namely, comprises seven collected developer occurrence sections in total.
FIG. 5 shows an example of the developing machine 6. The developing machine 60 adopts a trickle developing system as described above, and the magnet roll 80 and two spiral augers 112 are supported in a developing machine main body 110 for rotation. The two spiral augers 112 rotate in opposite directions and are partitioned by a partition wall 114 and are connected through circulation ports 116 and 116 formed in the vicinity of both end parts for circulating a developer entering the developing machine main body 110 in the developing machine main body 110 and supplying the developer to the magnet roll 80. The developing machine main body 110 is formed at one end with a step part 120 forming a collected developer occurrence section. Some of the circulated developer is taken into the step part 120 and further the taken-in developer is sent to a discharge section 122, which is connected via a developer discharge passage 121 to a collection port of the collection vessel described later. In the embodiment, the developer discharge passage 121 forms a collected developer occurrence section and the developer entering the developer discharge passage 121 does not function as developing action and is collected into the collection vessel.
FIGS. 6 to 9 show an example of collection vessel 124. The collection vessel 124 has a collection vessel main unit 126. The collection vessel main unit 126 is made up of a first housing 128 shown in FIG. 7 and a second housing 130 shown in FIG. 8, which are fitted into each other in peripheral portions thereof and are joined so that the collection vessel 124 can be easily disassembled and assembled with adhesive tape, etc., for example. The first housing 128 has a grip 132 in an inclined surface portion formed in the upper right part of the first housing 128. The first housing 128 is formed with three intermediate transfer body collection ports 134 corresponding to the collected developer occurrence sections of the intermediate transfer bodies and four developing machine collection ports 136 corresponding to the collected developer occurrence sections of the developing machines. One of the three intermediate transfer body collection ports 134 is formed in an upper end part of the collection vessel main unit 126; the remaining two are arranged in the vertical direction and one of the two intermediate transfer body collection ports 134 is formed below the vertical half position of the collection vessel main unit 126. The four developing machine collection ports 136 are arranged in the vertical direction, two of which are formed below the vertical half position of the collection vessel main unit 126.
The inside of the collection vessel main unit 126 is divided into six collection spaces 148a to 148f, for example, by partition walls placed upright in the first housing 128. A side end part of the partition wall 146 abuts a seal part 150 placed in the second housing 130. The seal part 150 is made of an elastic body and as the side end part of the partition wall 146 abuts the seal part 150, the side part 150 hermetically seals a side part of each collection space 148a to 148f for preventing the developer in the collection space from moving to any other collection space. The intermediate transfer body collection ports 134 and 134 placed in the upper parts are connected to the first collection space 148a for collecting collected developers occurring from the upper first intermediate transfer body 68 and the second intermediate transfer body 72 (two color toners and four color toners). The developing machine collection ports 136 are connected to the second to fifth collection spaces 148b to 148e for collecting yellow developer (yellow toner and carrier) into the second collection space 148b, magenta developer (magenta toner and carrier) into the third collection space 148c, black developer (black toner and carrier) into the fourth collection space 148d, and cyan developer (cyan toner and carrier) into the fifth collection space 148e. Further, the intermediate transfer body collection port 134 placed in the lower part is connected to the sixth collection space 148f for collecting collected developer occurring from the lower first intermediate transfer body 70 (two color toners). Therefore, to collect the collection vessel 124, the collected developers are separated according to the type of developer and it is convenient to reuse the developers.
The partition walls 146 may be those for completely hermetically sealing the collection spaces 148a to 148f. In the embodiment, however, the tip of each partition wall 146 stops in the vicinity of the rotation shaft 140 of the shutter 138 and thee collection spaces communicate through a communication part 152 formed in the collection vessel main unit 126 in the vicinity of the rotation shaft 140. The tip of the partition wall 146 is positioned below the lower end of the collection port 134, 136. Therefore, the developer collected through the collection port 134, 136 piles up from the lower end of the collection space 148a to 148f, and is stored therein until a part of the developer spills from the tip of the partition wall 146. The developer capacity until the developer spills from the collection space 148a to 148f is called collection capacity. The collection capacities of the collection spaces 148a to 148f are defined based on the shapes and heights of the partition walls 146; they are set so as to become a collection capacity ratio almost equal to the ratio of the collected developers occurring in the seven collected developer occurrence sections. In the embodiment, the collection capacity ratio of the first collection space 148a, the total of the second to fifth collection spaces 148b to 148e, and the sixth collection space 148f is set to about 5:4:1 provided that the sixth collection space 148f first becomes full.
In the embodiment, the collection spaces 148a to 148f are made to communicate through the communication part 152 at the tips of the partition walls 146. However, as another embodiment, the partition wall 146 may be formed with a hole, a groove, etc., for allowing the collection space to communicate with any other collection space and it is not necessary to make all collection spaces communicate with each other; it may be sufficient to make at least two collection spaces communicate with each other.
A developer intake section 154 implementing a full condition detector is placed in a bottom portion of the collection vessel main unit 126 so as to be adjacent to the sixth collection space 148f in a lower part of the communication part 152. The developer intake section 154 has a translucent detection vessel 156 as shown in FIG. 9. When a given amount or more of developer is entered in the detection vessel 156, light emitted from a light emission section 158 placed in the image formation apparatus main unit is blocked and is not received at a light reception section 160, whereby the full condition detector detects the collection space becoming full. The detection vessel 156 is joined by joint means 162 that can be easily attached and detached, such as adhesive tape.
As shown in FIG. 9, the partition wall 146 defining the collection capacity of the sixth collection space 148f has a slope part 164 with a tip directed to the collection port 134, and is formed so that the tip of the partition wall 146 is positioned in the range below the 45-degree line from the horizontal line with the top of the developer as the start point when the top of the developer piled up on the sixth collection space 148f reaches the lower end of the collection port 134. The slope part 164 is formed so as to go to the collection port 134 at an angle of less than 90 degrees from the horizontal line. Therefore, the collected developer which is about to fill the collection space is guided from the tip of the partition wall 146 through the slope part 164 to the developer intake section 154 before the collected developer reaches the lower end of the collection port 134; the full condition detector can reliably detect the collection space being full of the developer and an accident clogging the developer, etc., can be prevented.
As described above, the collection capacity ratio of the collection spaces 148a to 148f is set so that the sixth collection space 148f first becomes full. However, if variation in the collection amounts or an unexpected event occurs in the image formation apparatus main unit, any other collection space 148a to 148e may become full earlier than the sixth collection space 148f. Even in this case, the developer overflowing any other collection space 148a to 148e can be introduced into the developer intake section 154 through the communication part 152, and a full condition can be detected reliably.
The discharge section 122 of each developing machine 60 has a discharge pipe 182 connected to the developer discharge passage 121, an open/close sleeve 184 slidably externally fitted into the discharge pipe 182, and an opening/closing spring 186 for pressing the open/close sleeve 184 in the tip direction. To place the collection vessel 124 on the image formation apparatus main unit 12, a flange 188 formed on the open/close sleeve 184 abuts the elastic body 141 of the collection vessel 124, the open/close sleeve 184 backs against the opening/closing spring 186, the tip of the discharge pipe 182 is inserted into the collection vessel 124 from the developing machine collection port 136, and a discharge port 190 formed in the vicinity of the tip of the discharge pipe 182 is opened, allowing the collected developer from the developing machine 60 to be collected into the collection vessel 124 through the discharge port 190.
Upon reception of an external image formation signal, for example, the paper feed roll 24 of the paper feed unit 14 works and paper is sent from the paper feed tray 22 via the paper feed passage 30 to the transfer roll 74. On the other hand, the four rotating photoconductors 52 are uniformly charged by the charging rolls 56, laser light from the light exposure unit 62 is received in response to an image signal, and a latent image is formed. Next, color toner images are formed by the developing machines 60 and two colors are transferred to the first transfer body 68 and two colors are transferred to the first transfer body 70. Further, the four colors are transferred to the second intermediate transfer body 72 to form a four-color toner image, which is then transferred to paper by the transfer roll 74. The toner image transferred to the paper is fixed on the paper as the paper passes through the fixing roll 132, and the paper is discharged to the first ejection tray 16 or the second ejection tray 18.
The developers thus collected into the collection vessel 124 are stored separately in the collection spaces 148a to 148f in the collection vessel 124. When the developer collection amount of the collection spaces 148a to 148f becomes a predetermined amount or more (usually, the developer collection amount of the collection space 148f becomes a predetermined amount or more), the developer overflows the partition wall 146 and moves to the developer intake section 154. The developer entering the developer intake section 154 moves to the detection vessel 156. The sensor section 10 detects the collection space becoming full, and sends a detection signal to a control section of the image formation apparatus main unit 12 for displaying a full condition on the control panel 166, for example. Accordingly, the user can replace the collection vessel 124 with a new one for making it possible to again conduct image formation.
If the collection vessel 124 is detached from the image formation apparatus main unit 12 in a state in which the collection vessel 124 (collection space) is not full, since the grip 132 of the collection vessel 124 is placed slantingly, the developer spills from the partition wall 146 of the collection space 148a to 148f and enters the detection vessel 156. If the collection vessel 124 is later placed on the image formation apparatus main unit 12, a full condition may be detected. However, if the collection vessel 124 is once detached, there is a fear of leading to an accident of developer clogging, etc., in the image formation apparatus main unit 12; preferably a full condition is displayed for prompting the user to replace the collection vessel 124.
In the embodiment, the image formation apparatus of the type wherein the collected developer occurrence sections are placed in the developing machines and the intermediate transfer bodies has been described. However, the collected developer occurrence sections are not limited to them; for example, collected developers occurring in the photoconductors, the transfer roll, etc., may be collected.
As described above, according to the invention, the developers from a plurality of collected developer occurrence sections are collected through a plurality of collection ports placed in the vertical direction, so that the developer collection mechanism can be simplified.
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