JP2005266668A - Image forming apparatus and method for loading/unloading process cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus miniaturized while securing the operability of a tray. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus 10 has an image forming apparatus body 12, a process cartridge 50 provided to be freely attached to/detached from the apparatus body 12, a paper supply tray 20 on which recording paper is stacked, and a small cover 122 provided between the process cartridge 50 in a loaded state and the tray 20 and freely opening/shutting the insertion port of the process cartridge 50. By opening/shutting action by the cover 122, space for operating the tray 20 is switched to space for loading/unloading the process cartridge 50. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in which an exchange unit such as a process cartridge is detachably provided.

For example, Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 disclose an image forming apparatus having an attachment / detachment path for attaching / detaching a process cartridge on an upper portion of a paper feed tray. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses an image forming apparatus in which a space is provided between a process cartridge and a paper feed tray.
JP 2001-130756 A JP 2001-097590 A JP 2002-278188 A

  The present invention has been made from the above-described background, and an object thereof is to provide a downsized image forming apparatus while ensuring the operability of a tray.

[Image forming apparatus]
In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is provided in an image forming apparatus main body, a process cartridge provided detachably with respect to the image forming apparatus main body, and the image forming apparatus main body. A tray on which the recording medium is loaded; and an open / close cover provided between the tray and the process cartridge mounted on the image forming apparatus main body so as to open and close the opening of the image forming apparatus main body.

  Preferably, the tray is a paper feed tray, and the paper feed tray is disposed below a process cartridge mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus, and the open / close cover is at least opened and closed. The lower end of the cover is inclined so as to be positioned in the recording medium insertion direction of the paper feed tray from the upper end.

  Preferably, the opening / closing cover is rotatably provided with respect to the image forming apparatus main body by a hinge provided at a lower end.

  Preferably, the process cartridge has an inclined surface at a position facing the tray, and the opening / closing cover is provided substantially parallel to the inclined surface of the process cartridge at least in a closed state.

  Preferably, the opening / closing cover opens and closes at least a part of a space between the process cartridge and the tray in a mounted state by operating the process cartridge and the tray. It is switched to the space.

  Preferably, the opening / closing cover is provided so as to guide the attaching / detaching operation of the process cartridge in the opened state.

[How to install and remove process cartridges]
A process cartridge attaching / detaching method according to the present invention includes an image forming apparatus main body, a process cartridge provided detachably with respect to the image forming apparatus main body, and a paper feed tray provided below the process cartridge. In the image forming apparatus having an open / close cover provided between the process cartridge in the mounted state and the paper feed tray and covering the opening of the image forming apparatus main body, the open / close cover is opened and opened. The process cartridge is inserted into or removed from the image forming apparatus main body while sliding on the openable cover.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the apparatus can be downsized while ensuring the operability of the tray.

[Background and outline]
Since a paper feed tray for supplying recording paper or a paper discharge tray from which recording paper is discharged needs to perform operations such as insertion or removal of recording paper, a space for operation in the vicinity (hereinafter referred to as an operation area) Cost. In particular, as the image forming apparatus becomes smaller, the tray is often positioned below the user's viewpoint, and it is necessary to prevent the recording paper from falling from the tray. It is desirable to secure above. In addition, in a paper feed tray that manually feeds recording paper, the recording paper is frequently exchanged and the recording paper needs to be conveyed to the image forming apparatus one by one. A certain degree of accuracy is required for the position. For this reason, a manual paper feed tray or the like requires a space for visually confirming whether or not the recording paper is correctly set, in addition to a space for operation. Furthermore, troubles may occur in the recording paper conveyance operation, and it is desirable that a wide operation area be secured in the vicinity of the paper feed tray in order to remove the recording paper jammed in the upstream portion of the paper conveyance path.

In addition, the image forming apparatus requires an operation area of the process cartridge in order to replace the process cartridge including consumables such as toner.
However, once a toner cartridge or a process cartridge is attached to the image forming apparatus, the operation area for exchanging the process cartridge has no particular purpose of use and becomes a dead space.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is configured to share at least a part of the tray operation area and the process cartridge operation area. More specifically, the image forming apparatus 10 is provided with an open / close door for exchanging the process cartridge between the tray and the process cartridge. As a result, the space between the tray and the process cartridge functions as a part of the operation area of the process cartridge when the process cartridge is replaced, and functions as an operation area of the tray on which recording paper is loaded at other times. It becomes. In other words, the image forming apparatus 10 achieves downsizing of the apparatus by using one space for a plurality of purposes.

[Embodiment]
Next, the image forming apparatus 10 to which the present invention is applied will be described.
FIG. 1 shows an appearance of an image forming apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 10 of the present embodiment has an image forming apparatus main body 12, and a paper feed tray 20 on the front surface of the image forming apparatus main body 12. Further, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a paper discharge tray 90 formed integrally with the upper surface of the image forming apparatus main body 12. The paper feed tray 20 has a first tray plate 200a that is rotatable around a tray opening / closing hinge 202 (described later) provided at the lower end. The large cover 130 that covers the front surface of the image forming apparatus main body 12 is configured to be rotatable around a hinge provided at the lower end.

In FIG. 2, a cross section of the image forming apparatus 10 is shown. In the image forming apparatus 10, for example, a manual paper feed tray 20 is disposed below the image forming apparatus main body 12.
2, the left side surface in FIG. 2 is “front surface”, the right side surface is “back surface”, the upper surface is “top surface”, and the lower surface is “bottom surface”. The front side surface of the paper is called the “right side”, and the back side of the paper is called the “left side”.

  The paper feed tray 20 is supported by a tray opening / closing hinge 202 fixed to the image forming apparatus main body 12 and a tray adjustment hinge 204 that moves according to the amount of recording paper loaded. A feed roll 24 that feeds recording paper from the paper feed tray 20 and a retard roll 26 that sprinkles the fed paper one by one are arranged in the upper vicinity of the rear end of the paper feed tray 20.

  The paper transport path 40 is a paper path from the feed roll 24 to the discharge roll 46, and the paper transport path 40 is in the vicinity of the back surface (right side surface in FIG. 2) of the image forming apparatus main body 12. To a heating roll 82 and a pressure roll 84 which will be described later. A transfer roll 44 (to be described later) is disposed on the upstream side of the heating roll 82 and the pressure roll 84 in the paper conveyance path 40, and a resist roll 42 is disposed on the upstream side of the transfer roll 44.

  Accordingly, the recording paper fed from the paper feed tray 20 by the feed roll 24 is rolled by the retard roll 26 and only the uppermost recording paper is guided to the paper transport path 40, temporarily stopped by the registration roll 42, and timed. Then, a toner image is transferred between a photoconductor 52 and a transfer roll 44, which will be described later, and the transferred toner image is fixed by a heating roll 82 and a pressure roll 84, and an image is formed from a discharge port by a discharge roll 46. The paper is discharged to a paper discharge tray 90 provided at the top of the apparatus main body 12. The discharge tray 90 has a low discharge port portion (in the vicinity of the discharge roll 46) and is inclined so as to gradually become higher in the front direction (left direction in FIG. 2).

In the image forming apparatus main body 12, for example, a process cartridge 50 is detachably provided at a substantially central portion. The process cartridge 50 stores toner in the process cartridge main body 500, and also charges the photosensitive member 52, a charger 54 for uniformly charging the photosensitive member 52, and an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member 52 with toner. The developing roller 56 for developing is integrated. Further, the process cartridge 50 has a cleaning blade (not shown) for scraping off the toner remaining on the photoreceptor 52 upstream of the charging roller 54 in the rotation direction of the photoreceptor 52 and a toner collection for collecting the scraped toner. A bottle (not shown) may be provided.
The process cartridge main body 500 has a substantially horizontal upper surface and bottom surface, and further includes an inclined surface 500a that is inclined so as to gradually increase toward the front surface direction (left direction in FIG. 2). The inclined surface 500a preferably has a larger inclination angle than the paper feed tray 20.

  Above the process cartridge 50, an exposure device 70 for writing a latent image on a charged photosensitive member 52 by laser light (LB) is disposed. The exposure device 70 is provided with a laser emitter 72 that blinks laser light according to input image data, and a folding mirror 74 that guides the laser light emitted from the laser emitter 72 in the direction of the photoconductor 52. Has been.

  Further, a small cover 122 (open / close cover) that is rotatable around a small cover hinge 124 at the lower end is disposed in front of the process cartridge 50. The small cover 122 is provided substantially parallel to the inclined surface 500a of the process cartridge main body 500 in a closed state. That is, the small cover 122 has a small portion of the small cover hinge 124 and is inclined so as to gradually increase toward the front surface direction (the left direction in FIGS. 4 and 5). The inclination angle of the small cover 122 is larger than the inclination angle of the paper feed tray 20, so that a space A that gradually widens toward the upper front is formed between the paper feed tray 20 and the small cover 122. This space A is used as an operation area of the paper feed tray 20 when the small cover 122 is closed as shown in the figure.

  A transfer roll 44 is opposed to the photosensitive member 52 of the process cartridge 50 with the paper conveyance path 40 interposed therebetween. That is, the transfer position of the toner image is between the transfer roll 44 and the photoconductor 52, and the transfer roll 44 transfers the toner image formed on the photoconductor 52 to the recording paper at this transfer position.

  Above the transfer position, a fixing unit including a heating roll 82 and a pressure roll 84 is disposed. The heating roll 82 and the pressure roll 84 fix the toner image transferred onto the recording paper by the transfer roll 44 and convey it toward the discharge roll 46.

Next, an image forming operation by the image forming apparatus 10 will be described.
When the image forming signal is sent, the photosensitive member 52 is uniformly charged by the charging roll 54, and a light beam is emitted from the exposure device 70 to the charged photosensitive member 52 based on the image signal. The light beam from the exposure device 70 exposes the surface of the photosensitive member 52 to form a latent image. The latent image of the photoreceptor 52 formed by the exposure device 70 is developed with black toner by the developing roll 56.

  On the other hand, the recording paper stored in the paper feed tray 20 by the paper feed signal or the like is sent out by the feed roll 24, is turned by the retard roll 26, is guided to the paper transport path 40, and is temporarily stopped by the registration roll 42, It is guided between the photosensitive member 52 and the transfer roll 44 with timing. When the recording paper is guided between the photoconductor 52 and the transfer roll 44, the toner image formed on the surface of the photoconductor 52 is transferred to the recording paper by the transfer roll 44. After the transfer, the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive member 52 is scraped off and collected by a cleaning blade or the like.

  The recording paper to which the toner image has been transferred is guided between the heating roll 82 and the pressure roll 84, and the toner image is fixed by thermal pressure. The recording sheet on which the toner image is fixed is discharged from the discharge port to the discharge tray 90 by the discharge roll 46.

Next, the attaching / detaching mechanism and attaching / detaching operation of the process cartridge 50 will be described.
In FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 10 when the process cartridge 50 is attached and detached is shown. The small cover 122 rotates forward about the small cover hinge 124 to open the front of the process cartridge 50 (left direction in FIG. 3). Further, the space A (FIG. 2) between the paper feed tray 20 and the process cartridge 50 is switched from the operation area of the paper feed tray 20 to the operation area A ′ of the process cartridge 50 when the small cover 122 is opened. . Further, the upper surface of the small cover 122 is configured so that the process cartridge 50 can slide, and the user can insert or remove the process cartridge 50 while sliding on the small cover 122. In this way, by sliding the process cartridge 50 on the small cover 122, the load for supporting the process cartridge 50 is reduced, and the vertical position of the process cartridge 50 is suitable for mounting the process cartridge. The process cartridge 50 is easily attached. This is suitable when the mounting position of the process cartridge 50 is located deep inside the image forming apparatus main body 12.

FIG. 4 shows the appearance of the process cartridge 50 and its insertion position. The process cartridge 50 includes a drum-shaped photoconductor 52 in the vicinity of the back surface of the process cartridge main body 500 (the right side surface in FIG. 4), and a photoconductor rotation shaft 522 projects from both side surfaces of the photoconductor 52. In addition, a pressed piece 502 projects from the right side surface and the left side surface of the process cartridge main body 500. Further, a bottom protrusion 504 is provided on the bottom surface 500 b of the process cartridge main body 500.
The small cover 122 of the image forming apparatus 10 has a cartridge pressing piece 128 protruding upward from the upper surface. The cartridge pressing piece 128 is provided at a position in contact with the pressed piece 502 of the process cartridge 50 inserted into the image forming apparatus main body 12, and rotates in conjunction with the small cover 122 to bring the pressed piece 502 into the front surface. Press in the direction.
In addition, side guide portions 129 are provided on the right side surface and the left side surface inside the image forming apparatus main body 12, respectively. The side guide portion 129 has a guide groove for guiding the photosensitive member rotation shaft 522 of the process cartridge 50 to be inserted, and guides the process cartridge 50 to the mounting position. Therefore, the small cover 122 is provided so that the height of the photosensitive member rotating shaft 522 of the process cartridge 50 placed on the back end of the small cover 122 is substantially the same as the height of the guide groove of the side guide portion 129. ing.
Further, a bottom guide portion 126 is provided on the upper surface of the small cover 122 to regulate the position of the stacked process cartridges 50 in the left-right direction. The bottom guide portion 126 of this example is a groove that is recessed corresponding to the bottom protrusion 504 of the process cartridge 50 to be loaded. By fitting the bottom protrusion 504 of the process cartridge 50 into this groove, Determine the position of the direction. The bottom guide portion 126 and the bottom protrusion 504 do not regulate the position of the process cartridge 50 in the front direction and the back direction, and the process cartridge 50 can be freely placed in the front direction and the back direction while being placed on the small cover 122. Can be slid.

FIG. 5 shows an operation for taking out the process cartridge 50. As shown in FIG. 5A, in a state where the small cover 122 is closed, the process cartridge 50 is fixed at the mounting position by fixing means constituted by a leaf spring or the like. When removing the process cartridge 50, the user first rotates the small cover 122. When the small cover 122 is rotated, the cartridge pressing piece 128 provided on the small cover 122 is also rotated, abutting against the pressed piece 502 of the process cartridge 50 and pressing obliquely upward on the front surface.
The process cartridge 50 pressed obliquely upward on the front surface via the pressed piece 502 is released from the fixed state by the fixing means, and as shown in FIG. 5B, from the mounting position to the front surface (left side in FIG. 5). It is conveyed to. When the small cover 122 is opened, the space between the paper feed tray 20 and the process cartridge 50 in FIG. 5A (the operation area of the paper feed tray 20) is an operation area for taking out the process cartridge 50. Become.
When the user further pulls out the process cartridge 50 manually, the process cartridge 50 is taken out of the image forming apparatus 10 by sliding on the upper surface of the small cover 122 as shown in FIG. Further, in this case, the small cover 122 functions as a partition wall that separates the process cartridge 50 to be taken out from the paper feed tray 20, and the recording paper on which the toner falling from the process cartridge 50 in operation is stacked on the paper feed tray 20. Prevents from adhering to.

Further, when the process cartridge 50 is mounted on the image forming apparatus main body 12, the order is reversed.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5C, the user opens the small cover 122, places the process cartridge 50 on the upper surface of the small cover 122, and the bottom protrusion 504 of the process cartridge 50 (FIG. 4). And the bottom guide portion 126 (FIG. 4) of the small cover 122 are fitted. Then, the user presses the process cartridge 50 in the back direction (back surface direction). The pressed process cartridge 50 is guided by the bottom guide portion 126 and slides on the upper surface of the small cover 122, and the photosensitive member rotation shaft 522 (FIG. 4) of the process cartridge 50 is side guide portion of the image forming apparatus main body 12. It is conveyed to a position guided by 129 (FIG. 4). When the process cartridge 50 is further pressed in the depth direction of the image forming apparatus main body by the user, the process cartridge 50 is guided by the side guide portion 129, and as shown in FIG. Is conveyed to a position where it abuts against the cartridge pressing piece 128 of the small cover 122.
Thereafter, for example, when the user closes the small cover 122, the inclined surface 500 a of the process cartridge 50 is pressed by the rotating small cover 122, so that the process cartridge 50 has the photosensitive member rotation shaft 522 and the side guide portion 129. Is conveyed to a position where the end of the process cartridge comes into contact, that is, a mounting position of the process cartridge 50.

As described above, in the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, the operation area of the paper feed tray 20 and the process are performed in the space between the paper feed tray 20 and the process cartridge 50 by the opening / closing operation of the small cover 122. The operation area of the cartridge 50 is switched and used. As a result, it is not necessary to provide a space for replacing the process cartridge 50, and the image forming apparatus 10 can be downsized.
Further, the image forming apparatus 10 makes the process cartridge 50 easy to attach and detach by causing the small cover 122 to function as a guide member of the process cartridge 50. This is particularly suitable when the mounting position of the process cartridge 50 is deep inside the image forming apparatus main body 12 as in the present embodiment. That is, in the case of the image forming apparatus 10 of the present example, the user cannot visually recognize the mounting position of the process cartridge 50 unless looking into it by bending or the like, but the small cover 122 is not attached at the initial stage of the mounting operation of the process cartridge. By guiding, the process cartridge 50 can be mounted simply by pushing it in without checking the mounting position.
Further, since the small cover 122 functions as a partition wall that separates the process cartridge 50 to be removed and the paper feed tray 20, the recording paper loaded on the paper feed tray 20 can be prevented from being stained with toner.

In the above-described embodiment, the process cartridge 50 has been described as an example of an exchange unit that can be attached and detached via the small cover 122. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention may be, for example, a toner containing toner. You may apply to a cartridge etc.
The image forming apparatus 10 is a printer apparatus that forms an image with a single color toner. For example, the image forming apparatus 10 is a full-color copying machine that forms an image with four color toners of C, M, Y, and K colors. There may be.
In the above embodiment, the manual paper feed tray 20 is described as an example of the tray. However, a cassette type paper feed tray or a paper discharge tray may be used.
In the above embodiment, the process cartridge 50 is provided with the protrusion (bottom protrusion 504) on the bottom surface and the corresponding groove (bottom guide portion 126) is provided on the upper surface of the small cover 126. The small cover 126 only needs to have a position restricting means for restricting at least the position of the process cartridge 50 in the left-right direction. For example, the uneven relationship between the bottom surface of the process cartridge 50 and the top surface of the small cover 122 The groove may be provided on the upper surface of the small cover 122 without being provided with irregularities or the like on the bottom surface 500b of the process cartridge 50 instead of the embodiment.

1 is an external view of an image forming apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an image forming apparatus 10. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the image forming apparatus 10 when a toner cartridge 50 is attached and detached. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the process cartridge 50 and its insertion position. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation for taking out the process cartridge 50.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image forming apparatus 12 ... Image forming apparatus main body 122 ... Small cover 124 ... Small cover hinge 126 ... Bottom part guide part 128 ... Cartridge pressing piece 129 ... Side part guide part 20 ... Tray tray 202 ... Tray opening / closing hinge 204 ... Tray adjustment hinge 40 ... Paper transport path 50 ... Process cartridge 500 ... Process cartridge main body 502 ... Pressed piece 504 ..Bottom projection 52 ... Photoreceptor 522 ... Photoreceptor rotating shaft 54 ... Charging roll 56 ... Developing roll 70 ... Exposure device 90 ... Discharge tray

Claims (7)

An image forming apparatus main body;
A process cartridge that is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus main body;
A tray provided in the image forming apparatus main body, on which a recording medium is stacked;
An image forming apparatus comprising: an opening / closing cover provided between the process cartridge in a state of being mounted on the image forming apparatus body and the tray and covering the opening of the image forming apparatus body so as to be freely opened and closed. The tray is a paper feed tray,
The paper feed tray is disposed below the process cartridge mounted on the image forming apparatus main body,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the opening / closing cover is provided so as to be inclined at least in a closed state so that a lower end of the opening / closing cover is positioned in a recording medium insertion direction of the paper feed tray from an upper end. apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the opening / closing cover is rotatably provided to the image forming apparatus main body by a hinge provided at a lower end. The process cartridge has an inclined surface at a position facing the tray,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the opening / closing cover is provided substantially parallel to an inclined surface of the process cartridge at least in a closed state. The open / close cover opens and closes at least a part of the space between the process cartridge and the tray in a mounted state into an operation space for the process cartridge and an operation space for the tray. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is switched. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the opening / closing cover is provided so as to guide an attaching / detaching operation of the process cartridge in an opened state. Image forming apparatus main body, process cartridge provided detachably with respect to the image forming apparatus main body, a paper feed tray provided below the process cartridge, the process cartridge in the mounted state, and the paper feed In an image forming apparatus having an opening / closing cover provided between the tray and covering the opening of the image forming apparatus main body so as to be freely opened and closed,
Open the opening / closing cover,
A process cartridge attaching / detaching method, wherein the process cartridge is inserted into or removed from the image forming apparatus main body while sliding on an opened opening / closing cover.

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