JP2012094788A - Fixed guide structure for flexible cable and image-forming apparatus including the structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fixed guide structure for a flexible cable in which high exchangeability and assembly workability are secured and omission from a wiring guide for the flexible cable can be prevented to prevent a damage of the cable.SOLUTION: As a fixed guide structure using a wiring guide 39 for a flexible cable (FFC)37 with one end in a longer direction attached to a fixed side, and the other end attached to a movable side, a constitution is employed in which the flexible cable 37 is folded so that the cross section has a V-shape using the width-direction center line as a border and a corner part 39b, to which a width-direction one end edge 37a of the flexible cable 37 can be engaged, is provided for the wiring guide 39. Here, the flexible cable 37 is valley-folded or crest-folded using the width-direction center line as a border. Further, the wiring guide 39 is configured by a cylindrical member a part of which is cut off.

Description

  The present invention relates to a fixed guide structure for a flexible cable used in an image forming apparatus or the like.

  A flexible cable (hereinafter referred to as “FFC”) is known and folded as one of the wiring members, and this FFC has been conventionally used as a wiring means in various electronic devices such as image forming apparatuses. FFC is composed of a thin flexible insulating film made of plastic, etc., with a plurality of strip-shaped conductors (signal lines) made of copper, etc., and its greatest feature is that it is bent or twisted. It is a point that can be wired.

  By the way, in an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral, an FFC is used as a signal supply unit to a lamp when reading a document while scanning a lamp which is a light source of an image reading apparatus (scanner). In particular, white LEDs are now being used as light sources used in image reading devices for energy saving and environmental considerations, but LED lamps need to receive a plurality of control signals compared to conventional xenon lamps. FFC wiring is used exclusively.

  Here, FIGS. 7A to 7D and FIG. 8 show conventional examples of the FFC fixed guide structure in the image reading apparatus of the image forming apparatus.

  7A to 7D are side sectional views showing the operation of the FFC at the time of image reading. FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 7A. The LED lamp 134 is movably accommodated, and one end of the FFC 137 is connected to the LED lamp 134. The FFC 137 is bent in a horizontal U shape from the LED lamp 134 and extends in the horizontal direction at the bottom of the image reading apparatus 130 and is connected to a control board (not shown), and a part of the FFC 137 is shown in FIG. It is clamped by a surface L-shaped wiring guide 139.

  Thus, the LED lamp 134 waiting at the home position shown in FIG. 7 (a) before the start of image reading is indicated by an arrow as shown in FIGS. 7 (b) and 7 (c) when image reading is started. A document (not shown) is exposed and scanned while moving in the direction, and the FFC 137 transmits a control signal to the LED lamp 134 while bending as the LED lamp 134 moves.

  By the way, Patent Document 1 proposes a configuration in which an FFC is bent and the bent portion is hooked on an FFC clamp in order to improve workability at the time of assembly or replacement of a serviceman's board.

JP 2006-236812 A

  However, according to the conventional fixed guide structure of the FFC 137 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the FFC 137 is detached from the wiring clamp 139, and the removed portion is bent and moved as shown in FIG. There arises a problem of contact and damage.

  In order to solve the above problems, a method of fixing the FFC with an adhesive tape, a method of passing the FFC through a cylindrical wiring guide, a method of attaching another member for fixing the FFC after wiring the FFC, etc. are considered. However, these methods have the following problems.

  That is, in the method of fixing the FFC with the adhesive tape, once the FFC is fixed with the adhesive tape, the exchangeability of the FFC is deteriorated. Further, the method of passing the FFC through the cylindrical wiring guide deteriorates the assembly workability, and the method of attaching another member for fixing the FFC after wiring the FFC increases the number of parts and the exchangeability of the FFC. Becomes worse.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the intended process is to prevent the flexible cable from being detached from the wiring guide and to prevent damage while ensuring high exchangeability and assembly workability. It is to provide a fixed guide structure for a flexible cable.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is directed to the flexible cable as a fixed guide structure using a flexible cable wiring guide having one longitudinal end attached to the fixed side and the other end attached to the movable side. Is bent into a V-shaped cross section with the width direction center line as a boundary, and the wiring guide is provided with a corner portion on which one end edge in the width direction of the flexible cable can be engaged.

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1, the flexible cable is valley-folded or mountain-folded with a center line in the width direction as a boundary.

  A third aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in the first or second aspect of the invention, the wiring guide is formed of a cylindrical member partly cut away.

  An image forming apparatus according to a fourth aspect includes the flexible cable fixing guide structure according to any one of the first to third aspects.

  According to the present invention, the flexible cable is bent into a V-shaped cross section with the width direction center line as a boundary, and one end edge in the width direction is engaged with the wiring guide, so that the flexible cable is prevented from coming off the arrangement guide. Occurrence of problems such as peeling and coming off of the contacted part with the movable part is prevented.

  In addition, since the wiring guide is formed of a cylindrical member with a part cut away, the flexible cable can be easily inserted and removed from the cutout portion of the wiring member, and the exchangeability and assembly workability of the flexible cable are improved. .

1 is a cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus (color multifunction peripheral) according to the present invention. 1 is a perspective view of an image reading apparatus including a flexible cable fixing guide structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a fragmentary perspective view which shows the fixed guide structure of the flexible cable which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3. It is a fragmentary perspective view which shows the fixed guide structure of the flexible cable which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 5. (A)-(d) is a sectional side view which shows operation | movement of the flexible cable at the time of image reading of the image reading apparatus provided with the fixed guide structure of the conventional flexible cable. It is CC sectional view taken on the line of Fig.7 (a).

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to the image reading apparatus of the color multifunction peripheral shown in FIG. 1, and the configuration and operation of the color multifunction peripheral will be described below.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a color multifunction peripheral. The illustrated color multifunction peripheral has a copying function, a printer function, and a facsimile function, and an image reading device 30 is arranged on the upper part of the rectangular box-shaped main body 100. An automatic document feeder (ADF) is provided on the upper part. A paper discharge tray 20 that opens toward the front is provided between the apparatus main body 100 and the image reading apparatus 30.

  Next, the internal structure of the apparatus main body 100 will be described below.

  In the center of the apparatus main body 100, a magenta image forming unit 1M, a cyan image forming unit 1C, a yellow image forming unit 1Y, and a black image forming unit 1Y are arranged in tandem in the front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 1) at regular intervals. Has been.

  Each of the image forming units 1M, 1C, 1Y, and 1K is provided with photosensitive drums 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d as image carriers, and a charger 3a is disposed around each of the photosensitive drums 2a to 2d. 3b, 3c, 3d, developing devices 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, primary transfer rollers 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d and drum cleaning devices 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, respectively.

  Here, the photosensitive drums 2a to 2d are drum-shaped photosensitive members, and are rotationally driven at a predetermined process speed in the direction of the arrow (clockwise) by a drive motor (not shown). The chargers 3a to 3d uniformly charge the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 2a to 2d to predetermined potentials by the charging voltage applied thereto.

  Further, the developing devices 4a to 4d contain magenta (M) toner, cyan (C) toner, yellow (Y) toner, and black (K) toner, respectively, and are formed on the respective photosensitive drums 2a to 2d. In addition, the toner of each color is attached to each electrostatic latent image to visualize each electrostatic latent image as a toner image of each color.

  The primary transfer rollers 5a to 5d are disposed so as to be in contact with the photosensitive drums 2a to 2d via an endless intermediate transfer belt 7 which is an intermediate transfer member at each primary transfer portion. Here, the intermediate transfer belt 7 is stretched in the front-rear direction between a driving roller 8 disposed on the back side and a tension roller 9 disposed on the front side. The photosensitive drums 2a to 2d are arranged in tandem along the front-rear direction. The drive roller 8 is disposed so as to be able to contact the secondary transfer roller 10 via the intermediate transfer belt 7 in the secondary transfer portion, and a belt cleaning device 11 is provided in the vicinity of the tension roller 9. Yes.

  Further, a laser scanner unit (LSU) 12 is disposed below the image forming units 1M, 1C, 1Y, and 1K in the apparatus main body 100, and a paper feed cassette 13 is detachably attached to the bottom of the apparatus main body 100 below the image forming units. Is arranged. A plurality of sheets of paper (not shown) are stacked and stored in the paper feed cassette 13. In the vicinity of the paper feed cassette 13, a pickup roller 14 that picks up paper from the paper feed cassette 13, and the picked up paper are placed. A feed roller 15 and a retard roller 16 are provided that are separated and fed one by one to the transport path S1.

  On the other hand, above the intermediate transfer belt 7 in the apparatus main body 100, toner containers 17a, 17b, 17c, respectively containing magenta, cyan, yellow, and black toners to be supplied to the developing devices 4a to 4d, respectively. 17d is arrange | positioned along the front-back direction.

  By the way, the transport path S1 is disposed substantially vertically on the back side of the apparatus main body 100, and another transport path S2 used when images are formed on both sides of the sheet is substantially vertically disposed on the back side. Has been placed. The transport paths S1 and S2 communicate with each other in the vertical direction, and a flapper 18 is rotatably provided at a location where the transport paths S1 and S2 communicate with each other in the upper part.

  Here, in the transport path S1, there is a secondary portion where the contact portion between the two-time transfer roller 10 and the intermediate transfer belt 7 comes out at a predetermined timing after the paper supplied from the paper feed cassette 13 is temporarily held. A registration roller pair 19 is provided to be supplied to the transfer unit. A fixing device 21, a transport roller pair 22, and a paper discharge roller pair 23 are provided at portions extending upward from the secondary transfer portion of the transport path S 1 to the paper discharge tray 20. In addition, a plurality of reversing roller pairs 24 are provided at appropriate intervals in the conveyance path S2 used when images are formed on both sides.

  Further, a manual feed tray 25 is provided on the front surface of the apparatus main body 100 so as to be openable and closable. A conveyance path S3 extends substantially horizontally from the manual feed tray 25 toward the back side, and an end of the conveyance tray S3 It joins the road S1. A feed roller 26 and a plurality of transport rollers 27 are provided in the transport path S3.

  Next, an image forming operation of the color multifunction peripheral having the above configuration will be described.

  When an image forming operation signal is issued, for example, an original sent by the automatic document feeder 50 onto the document placement table of the image reading device 30 is read by the image reading device 30, and the read image data is read by the laser scanner unit 12. Stored in the memory.

  On the other hand, in each of the image forming units 1M, 1C, 1Y, and 1K, the photosensitive drums 2a to 2d are rotationally driven at a predetermined process speed in the direction of the arrow (clockwise) in the drawing, and the photosensitive drums 2a to 2d are charged by a charger 3a. It is uniformly charged by ~ 3d. The laser scanner unit 12 emits a laser beam modulated by a color image signal for each color based on the image data stored in the memory, and irradiates the surface of the photosensitive drums 2a to 2d with the laser beam. An electrostatic latent image corresponding to each color image signal is formed on each of the photosensitive drums 2a to 2d.

  First, magenta toner is attached to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 2a of the magenta image forming unit 1M by the developing device 4a to which a developing bias having the same polarity as the charged polarity of the photosensitive drum 2a is applied. The electrostatic latent image is visualized as a magenta toner image. This magenta toner image is shown in the figure by the action of the transfer roller 5a to which a primary transfer bias having a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied in the primary transfer portion (transfer nip portion) between the photosensitive drum 2a and the transfer roller 5a. Primary transfer is performed on the intermediate transfer belt 7 that is rotationally driven in the direction.

  The intermediate transfer belt 7 on which the magenta toner image has been primarily transferred as described above moves to the next cyan image forming unit 1C. In the cyan image forming unit 1C as well, the cyan toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 2b in the same manner as described above is transferred onto the magenta toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 7 at the primary transfer portion.

  Similarly, yellow and black toners respectively formed on the photosensitive drums 2c and 2d of the yellow and black image forming units 1Y and 1K on the magenta and cyan toner images superimposed and transferred on the intermediate transfer belt 7, respectively. The images are sequentially superimposed on each primary transfer portion, and a full-color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 7. The transfer residual toner which is not transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 7 and remains on the photosensitive drums 2a to 2d is removed by the drum cleaning devices 6a to 6d, and the 2d is transferred to the photosensitive drums 2a for the next image formation. It is done.

  Then, the pickup roller from the paper feed cassette 13 is synchronized with the timing at which the front end of the full-color toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 7 reaches the secondary transfer portion (transfer nip portion) between the intermediate transfer belt 7 and the secondary transfer roller 10. 14, the feed roller 15, and the retard roller 16 transport the sheet fed to the transport path S <b> 1 to the secondary transfer unit by the registration roller pair 19. Then, a full color toner image is collectively transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 7 to the sheet conveyed to the secondary transfer unit by the secondary transfer roller 10 to which a secondary transfer bias having a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied. .

  Thus, the sheet on which the full-color toner image is transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 21, and the sheet on which the full-color toner image is fixed by heating and pressing the full-color toner image is conveyed. The pair of rollers 22 and the pair of paper discharge rollers 23 are discharged from the back side toward the front side on the paper discharge tray 20 to complete a series of image forming operations. The transfer residual toner that is not transferred onto the sheet and remains on the intermediate transfer belt 7 is removed by the belt cleaning device 11, and the intermediate transfer belt 7 from which the transfer residual toner has been removed is prepared for the next image formation. Further, when an image is formed on one side of the paper in this way, the flapper 18 is at a position indicated by a solid line in FIG.

  The above is the image forming operation by cassette feeding. When an image is manually formed on the paper, the manual tray 25 is opened as shown in FIG. 1, and the paper is supplied from the opened hand seat and the tray 25. To do. Then, the sheet is sent out to the transport path S3 by the feed roller 26, transported through the transport path S3 by the plurality of transport roller pairs 27, and delivered to the transport path S1, and thereafter the same as described above. Through this process, an image is formed on one side.

  When images are formed on both sides of the paper, the flapper 18 is switched as shown by a broken line in FIG. 1 immediately before the paper on which the image is formed on one side through the above process is discharged to the paper discharge tray 20. At the same time, the paper discharge roller pair 23 is reversed and the paper is switched back to the transport path S2. Then, the sheet is conveyed downward along the conveyance path S2 by the pair of reversing rollers 24 and is transferred to the conveyance path S1, and then an image is formed on the opposite surface (back surface) through the same process as described above. Then, the paper on which the images are formed on both sides is discharged from the back side toward the front side by the paper discharge roller pair 23 to the paper discharge tray 20. At this time, the flapper 18 is also returned to the position indicated by the solid line in FIG.

  Next, an embodiment of the FFC (flexible cable) fixed guide structure according to the present invention applied in the image reading apparatus 30 will be described.

<Embodiment 1>
2 is a perspective view of an image reading apparatus having a flexible cable fixing guide structure according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view showing the flexible cable fixing guide structure, and FIG. It is AA sectional view.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image reading apparatus 30 includes an optical frame 31 that is a box-like structure constituting a housing, and a transparent contact glass 32 is provided on the upper surface of the optical frame 31. . The optical frame 31 is provided with an open / close cover 33 that covers the contact glass 32 from above a document (not shown) placed thereon.

  The optical frame 31 contains an LED lamp 34 as a light source, an imaging lens 35, a CCD 36 as an image sensor, and the like. Here, the LED lamp 34 exposes the document by moving in the sub-scanning direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 2) along a guide rail (not shown) while irradiating the document placed on the contact glass 32 with light. One end of the FFC 37 is connected to this.

  The FFC 37 is formed by covering a plurality of narrow strip conductors (signal lines) made of copper, etc. with a thin flexible insulating film made of plastic or the like, and is bent from the LED lamp 34 into a horizontal U shape. The other end of the optical frame 31 is connected to the control board 38. A part of the FFC 37 is clamped by a hook-shaped wiring guide 39 provided at the bottom in the optical frame 31.

  Thus, when the document is exposed and scanned by moving the LED lamp 34 in the sub-scanning direction while irradiating the document placed on the contact glass 32 with light, reflected light from the document is reflected by a reflection mirror (not shown). Then, the light beam is converged by passing through the imaging lens 35 and imaged on the CCD 36 and the original image is read by the CCD 36. The image data read by the CCD 36 is stored in the memory of the laser scanner unit 12 (see FIG. 1) as described above.

  When the original is read as described above, the LED lamp 34 moves in the reverse direction in the optical frame 31 and returns to the home position shown in FIG. 2, and the LED lamp 34 reciprocates in the sub-scanning direction every time the original is read. At this time, the FFC 37 having one end connected to the LED lamp 34 transmits a control signal to the LED lamp 34 while bending.

  Incidentally, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the hook-shaped wiring guide 39 is configured as a rectangular cylindrical member in which the lower end of one side is notched in a slit shape, and the FFC 37 is formed from the notched portion 39a. By passing, the FFC 37 is clamped by the wiring guide 39.

  Thus, in the present embodiment, the portion of the FFC 37 that slides along at least the wiring guide 39 is valley-folded with the center line in the width direction as a boundary and is bent into a V-shaped cross section. One end edge 37 a in the direction is engageable with a corner portion 39 b of the wiring guide 39.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the FFC 37 having one end connected to the LED lamp 34 is bent by the image reading operation and a part of the FFC 37 slides in the wiring clamp 39, the FFC 37 is displaced laterally. Even so, the FFC 37 bent into a V-shaped cross section has one end 37a in the width direction engaged with the corner portion 39b of the wiring guide 39. For this reason, the FFC 37 is prevented from coming off from the arrangement guide 39 (the wiring guide 39 from coming out from the cutout portion 39a), and the removed portion comes into contact with the LED lamp 34 which is a movable portion and is damaged as in the prior art. And other problems do not occur.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the wiring guide 39 is configured as a rectangular cylindrical member with a part cut away, the FFC 37 can be easily inserted and removed from the cutout portion 39a of the wiring guide 39, and the exchangeability of the FFC 37 is improved. As a result, it is possible to improve the assembly workability.

<Embodiment 2>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 is a partial perspective view showing a flexible cable fixing guide structure according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the wiring guide 39 is configured as a rectangular cylindrical member whose upper end of one side is notched in a slit shape, and the FFC 37 is passed by the wiring guide 39 by passing the FFC 37 from the notch 39a. It is clamped.

  In the present embodiment, at least a portion of the FFC 37 that slides along the wiring guide 39 is folded in a mountain shape with the center line in the width direction as a boundary, and is bent in an inverted V-shaped cross section. One end edge 37 a is engageable with a corner portion 39 c of the wiring guide 39.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the FFC 37 having one end connected to the LED lamp 34 is bent by the image reading operation and a part of the FFC 37 slides in the wiring clamp 37, the FFC 37 is displaced laterally. However, since the FFC 37 bent in a V-shaped cross section has one edge 37a in the width direction engaged with the corner portion 39c of the wiring guide 39, the FFC 37 is disengaged from the arrangement guide 39 (notch portion of the wiring guide 39). And the FFC 37 does not come into contact with the LED lamp 34 and is not damaged.

  Also in this embodiment, since the wiring guide 37 is configured as a rectangular cylindrical member with a part cut away, the FFC 37 can be easily inserted and removed from the cutout portion 39a of the wiring guide 39, and the FFC 37 can be replaced. The effect of improving the performance and assembly workability is obtained.

  Although the present invention has been described with respect to an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an image reading apparatus of a color multifunction peripheral, the present invention can be similarly applied to a flexible cable fixing guide structure in other devices. Of course.

1M Magenta image forming unit 1C Cyan image forming unit 1Y Yellow image forming unit 1K Black image forming unit 2a to 2d Photosensitive drum 3a to 3d Charger 4a to 4d Developing device 5a to 5d Transfer roller 6a to 6d Drum cleaning device 7 Intermediate transfer belt 8 Driving roller 9 Tension roller 10 Secondary transfer roller 11 Belt cleaning device 12 Laser scanner unit (LSU)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 Paper feed cassette 14 Pickup roller 15 Feed roller 16 Retard roller 17a-17d Toner container 18 Flapper 19 Registration roller pair 20 Paper discharge tray 21 Fixing device 22 Carrying roller pair 23 Paper discharge roller pair 24 Reverse roller pair 25 Manual feed tray 26 Feed roller 27 Transport roller pair 30 Image reading device 31 Optical frame 32 Contact glass 33 Open / close cover 34 LED lamp (light source)
35 Imaging lens 36 CCD
37 Flexible cable (FFC)
37a One end edge in the width direction of the flexible cable 38 Control board 39 Wiring guide 39a Notch portions 39b, 39c of the wiring guide 50 Corners of the wiring guide 50 Automatic document feeder (ADF)
100 Image forming apparatus body S1 to S3 Conveyance path

Claims (4)

A fixed guide structure using a flexible cable wiring guide with one longitudinal end attached to the fixed side and the other end attached to the movable side,
A flexible cable characterized in that the flexible cable is bent into a V-shaped cross section with a center line in the width direction as a boundary, and a corner portion on which the one end edge in the width direction of the flexible cable can be engaged with the wiring guide. Fixed guide structure.   2. The flexible cable fixing guide structure according to claim 1, wherein the flexible cable is folded in a valley or a mountain with a center line in the width direction as a boundary.   3. The flexible cable fixing guide structure according to claim 1, wherein the wiring guide is formed of a cylindrical member partly cut away. An image forming apparatus comprising the flexible cable fixing guide structure according to claim 1.

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