JP2018005197A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus that, when there is a passage on the front side of the image forming apparatus, suppresses the image forming apparatus from protruding to the passage and facilitates passing through the passage.SOLUTION: In an image forming apparatus 1 comprising an image forming part 60 that forms images on a transfer sheet being a sheet, a width "W" being the length in the transverse direction of the body of the apparatus is twice or more of the length of a long side of the maximum transfer sheet on which the images are formed, and a depth "D" being the length in the fore-and-aft direction of the body of the apparatus is twice or less of the length of a short side of the maximum transfer sheet on which the images are formed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

Conventionally, an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet such as transfer paper is known.
As this type of image forming apparatus, Patent Document 1 describes an image forming apparatus having a certain depth and a certain width.

  However, when the depth is too large, when the front of the image forming apparatus is a passage, the image forming apparatus may protrude into the passage and may not easily pass through the passage.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet. It is at least twice the length of the side, and the length in the front-rear direction of the main body of the apparatus is not more than twice the length of the short side of the largest sheet on which an image is to be formed.

  According to the present invention, when the front side of the image forming apparatus is a passage, there is an excellent effect of suppressing the image forming apparatus from protruding into the passage and facilitating passage through the passage.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus in a state where a paper conveyance rotation unit is opened, as viewed from above. The perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus from the front right. The perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus from the left rear. The perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus which made the front left cover and the front right cover open state from the front left. The perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus which made the paper conveyance rotation part the open state from the state shown in FIG. 4 from the left front. FIG. 3 is a front view of the image forming apparatus showing the position of the image forming unit in the housing. FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of an image forming unit provided in the image forming apparatus. The perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus of the state which opened two right surface cover opening parts from the front right. FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective cross-sectional view of the lower right rear portion of the image forming apparatus in a state where the middle right side cover opening is opened from the state of FIG. 8. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an arrangement example in which a cabinet is arranged on the right side of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a first installation example of the image forming apparatus. Explanatory drawing of the 2nd installation example of an image forming apparatus. FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing a positional relationship between a space in a housing of the image forming apparatus and a paper transport rotation unit, (a) in a closed state, (b) in an open state, and (c) in a moving region in the housing. FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the positions of a paper feed conveyance path and a reverse conveyance path in a paper conveyance unit with broken lines. The perspective view explaining the procedure of jam processing. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus with the rear cover removed as viewed from the rear side. The perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus which removed the lower front cover and the lower back cover from the front right. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus main body unit from which an automatic document conveyance unit is removed from the image forming apparatus as viewed from the right front. The perspective view which looked at the automatic document conveyance unit from the front right. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus with the automatic document feeder unit open, as viewed from the right front. FIG. 19 is a top view of the main body of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an automatic document transport unit in a state in which a document can be stacked on a fed document stacking unit and a discharged document stacking unit as viewed from the front upper side. FIG. 23 is a top view of the automatic document conveyance unit in the state shown in FIG. 22. FIG. 24 is a cross-sectional view of the automatic document conveyance unit in the state shown in FIG. 23 when viewed from the front side. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an automatic document conveyance unit showing a relationship among a paper feed stacking area, a paper discharge stacking area, and a shielding area when viewed from the front side. The perspective view which looked at the automatic document conveyance unit of this embodiment from the right rear. FIG. 9 is a perspective explanatory view of the image forming apparatus of Modification 1 as viewed from the front slightly above. FIG. 9 is a perspective explanatory view of the image forming apparatus of Modification 2 as viewed from the front slightly above. The perspective explanatory view which looked at the image forming apparatus of the modification 3 which has arrange | positioned the cabinet in the both sides of the left-right direction from the front a little. The perspective explanatory view which looked at the image forming apparatus of the modification 4 which has arrange | positioned the cabinet in the both sides of the left-right direction from the slightly upper back. The perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus of the prior art example from the left front. The perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus of the prior art example from the front right. The perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus of the prior art from the left rear FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an installation example of a conventional image forming apparatus. 1 is a plan view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. 1 is a front view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a rear view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a left side view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a right side view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. 1 is a front perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment when the automatic document feeder unit is in use.

Hereinafter, embodiments of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described.
First, referring to FIGS. 31 to 33, an image forming apparatus having a configuration of a conventional in-cylinder discharge type image forming apparatus having a large depth (hereinafter referred to as “conventional image forming apparatus 1”). Will be described.
31 is a perspective view of the conventional image forming apparatus 1 as viewed from the left front, FIG. 32 is a perspective view of the conventional image forming apparatus 1 as viewed from the right front, and FIG. 33 is an image of the conventional example. It is the perspective view which looked at the forming apparatus 1 from the left rear.
The conventional image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 31 to 33 includes an image forming apparatus main body 100 and an automatic document conveying unit 200.

The image forming apparatus main body 100 includes a paper supply unit 2, a manual paper supply unit 3, a toner supply unit 4, a paper transport unit 5, a lower paper transport unit 5 e, an image forming unit 6, and an image fixing unit 7. And a printing paper discharge port 8 and a printing paper stacking unit 9. The toner replenishing unit 4 and the image forming unit 6 are provided inside the front exterior cover 101.
In addition, the image forming apparatus main body 100 includes a document reading unit 10, an operation panel 11, a rear electrical unit 12, an intake port 13, a ventilation unit 14, a blower fan 15, a filter unit 16, and an exhaust port 17. With. The rear electrical unit 12 is provided inside the rear exterior cover 102. The filter unit 16 is provided inside the exhaust port 17 provided in the rear exterior cover 102, and the blower fan 15 is provided further inside the filter unit 16.

  The automatic document transport unit 200 includes a fed document stacking unit 18, a document transport unit 19, a discharged document stacking unit 20, an opening / closing hinge unit 21, and a wiring unit 22.

FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram showing an installation example of the above-described conventional image forming apparatus 1.
Of the cabinets 31 arranged around the conventional image forming apparatus 1 in FIG. 34, the four cabinets on the front side in the figure form a boundary between the room space 402 on the near side and the indoor side wall passage 401 on the far side. It is installed as follows.
As shown in FIG. 34, in the case of installation along a wall in the indoor wall side passage 401, the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example is in close contact with or connected to the rear wall surface 30 and the left and right cabinets 31. Can not. Further, since the depth of the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example is larger than that of the cabinet, the position of the front surface of the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example and the position of the front surface of the cabinet 31 are not aligned. Further, the height of the upper surface of the conventional image forming apparatus 1 and the height of the upper surface of the cabinet 31 are not uniform. For this reason, it leads to the deterioration of the aesthetics of an installation environment.

  Further, since the depth of the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example is large, the protrusion to the front (the front of the hand in FIG. 34) becomes large, and the indoor wall side passage 401 becomes difficult to pass. Further, as shown in FIG. 33, the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example is provided with the exhaust port 17 on the rear surface. Therefore, the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example must be separated from the wall surface 30 and forward (see FIG. 34 in front of the hand in (34) becomes large, and the indoor wall side passage 401 becomes difficult to pass.

Next, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present invention will be described.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 adopting a configuration in which the depth is reduced as the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment as seen from the right front, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 as seen from the left rear. FIG.
2 and 3, the arrow “F” indicates the front direction of the image forming apparatus 1, the arrow “B” indicates the rear direction, the arrow “R” indicates the right direction, and the arrow “L” indicates the left direction.
The image forming apparatus 1 includes an image forming apparatus main body 100 and an automatic document feeder unit 200.

  The automatic document transport unit 200 includes a fed document stacking unit 18, a document transport unit 19, a discharged document stacking unit 20, and an operation panel 11. The fed document stacking unit 18 and the discharged document stacking unit 20 are configured to be rotatable around a rotating shaft in which a plate-like member on which a document is placed extends in the front-rear direction.

When reading an original using the automatic document feeder unit 200, as shown in FIG. 2, an inclination for placing the original is formed on the fed original stack 18 and the discharged original stack 20. On the other hand, when the automatic document transport unit 200 is not used, as shown in FIG. 3, the feed document stacking unit 18 and the discharged document stacking unit 20 are not inclined, and the entire upper surface of the image forming apparatus 1 is planar. It is the composition which becomes. The automatic document conveyance unit 200 according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which the operation panel 11 is disposed above the document conveyance unit 19.
The automatic document conveyance unit 200 of this embodiment is detachable from the image forming apparatus main body 100.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes a lower front cover 41, a lower rear cover 42, a front left cover 43, a front right cover 44, a right cover 45, a left cover 46, and a rear cover 47 as exterior covers that cover the image forming apparatus main body 100. Prepare.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 with the front left cover 43 and the front right cover 44 opened, as viewed from the left front, and FIG. 5 illustrates a sheet transport rotation unit 5a described later from the state illustrated in FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 in a state where is opened from the left front.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a bottom frame 48, a left frame 49 a, and a right frame 49 b, and the casing 40 is configured by fixing the above-described exterior cover to these frames.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, an image forming unit 60 that forms an image on the transfer paper P, an exhaust duct 63, and an electrical unit 61 are disposed in the housing 40 of the image forming apparatus main body 100. .
The image forming apparatus main body 100 includes the document reading unit 10 above the image forming unit 60, and includes a suction port 13 and an exhaust port 17 in a lower front cover 41 disposed below the image forming unit 60. Further, the exhaust duct 63 is provided with a filter portion 16.
As shown in FIG. 4, by opening the front right cover 44, a portion of the exhaust duct 63 including the filter unit 16 is exposed, and the filter unit 16 can be replaced.

  FIG. 6 is a front view of the image forming apparatus 1 showing the position of the image forming unit 60 in the housing 40. As illustrated in FIG. 6, in the image forming apparatus 1, the image forming unit 60 is arranged left-justified in the housing 40, and a jam processing space 70 is provided on the right side of the image forming unit 60 in the housing 40. FIG. 6 shows a state in which the exhaust duct 63 and the electrical component 61 arranged on the back side (rear side) of the jam processing space 70 are removed for convenience.

FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the image forming unit 60 provided in the image forming apparatus 1.
The image forming unit 60 includes a toner supply unit 4, a paper transport unit 5, an image forming unit 6, an image fixing unit 7, a printing paper discharge port 8, and a printing paper stacking unit 9.
The image forming unit 6 includes an intermediate transfer unit 50 having an intermediate transfer belt 57, and process cartridges 51 (Y, M, C, K) as four process units.

The intermediate transfer belt 57 is an intermediate transfer member that is stretched by a plurality of stretching rollers and moves in the direction of arrow A in FIG.
The suffixes Y, M, C, and K attached to the four process cartridges 51 indicate the specifications for yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. The four process cartridges 51 (Y, M, C, K) have substantially the same configuration except that the colors of the toners to be used are different, and hence the subscripts Y, M, C, K are omitted below. To explain.

  The process cartridge 51 is a unit that integrally supports a photosensitive member 52 that is a latent image carrier, a charging member 53 that is a charging unit, a developing device 54 that is a developing unit, and a photosensitive member cleaning device 55 that is a cleaning unit. The configuration is shaped like The individual process cartridges 51 can be attached to and detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus 1 by releasing the respective stoppers.

  The photoconductor 52 rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. 7 as indicated by an arrow in the figure. The charging member 53 is a roller-shaped charging roller, is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor 52, and is rotated by the rotation of the photoconductor 52. At the time of image formation, a predetermined bias is applied to the charging member 53 by a high voltage power source to charge the surface of the photoconductor 52. The process cartridge 51 of the first embodiment uses a roller-shaped charging member 53 that contacts the surface of the photoreceptor 52 as a charging unit. However, the charging unit is not limited to this, and non-contact such as corona charging. A charging method may be used.

The exposure device 56 exposes the surface of the photosensitive member 52 based on image information of the document image read by the document reading unit 10 or image information input from an external device such as a personal computer, and the photosensitive member 52. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface. In the present embodiment, an LED array is used as the exposure device 56 and is arranged over the entire image region in the longitudinal direction on the photoconductor 52 (direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 7).
The photoconductor cleaning device 55 cleans the transfer residual toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 52 that has passed the position facing the intermediate transfer belt 57.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the four process cartridges 51 are arranged in parallel in the surface movement direction of the intermediate transfer belt 57, and form toner images for the respective colors of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black on the photosensitive member 52, respectively. To do. The four process cartridges 51 transfer the toner images formed on the respective photoreceptors 52 so as to be superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 57 in order, and form a visible image on the intermediate transfer belt 57.

  As shown in FIG. 7, primary transfer rollers 58 serving as primary transfer units are disposed at positions facing the four photoconductors 52 with the intermediate transfer belt 57 interposed therebetween. A primary transfer bias is applied to the primary transfer roller 58 by a high voltage power source, and a primary transfer electric field is formed between the primary transfer roller 58 and the photosensitive member 52. By forming a primary transfer electric field between the photoconductor 52 and the primary transfer roller 58, the toner image formed on the surface of the photoconductor 52 is transferred to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 57. One of the plurality of stretching rollers that stretch the intermediate transfer belt 57 is rotated by the drive motor, so that the intermediate transfer belt 57 moves in the direction of arrow A in FIG. A full color image is formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 57 by sequentially transferring the toner images of the respective colors on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 57 moving on the surface.

  A secondary transfer roller 59 is disposed on the downstream side of the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 57 with respect to the position where the four process cartridges 51 face the intermediate transfer belt 57. The secondary transfer roller 59 is disposed at a position facing the secondary transfer opposing roller 59a, which is one of the stretching rollers, with the intermediate transfer belt 57 interposed therebetween, and the secondary transfer nip between the secondary transfer roller 59 and the intermediate transfer belt 57. Form. A predetermined voltage is applied between the secondary transfer roller 59 and the secondary transfer counter roller 59a to form a secondary transfer electric field.

  The image forming unit 60 includes a paper supply unit 2 having a plurality of paper feed trays 2 a below the four process cartridges 51. Further, on the right side of the intermediate transfer belt 57 in FIG. 7, the paper transport unit 5 having a paper feed transport path 67 and a reverse transport path 68 is provided. In the paper feed conveyance path 67, the transfer paper P is conveyed from below to above, and in the reverse conveyance path 68, the transfer paper P is conveyed from above to below. It is the structure of the vertical conveyance which conveys P.

  The transfer paper P fed from any of the plurality of paper feed trays 2 a of the paper replenishing unit 2 is guided to the paper feed conveyance path 67 of the paper conveyance unit 5, abutted by the registration roller pair 69 and stopped. The registration roller pair 69 starts to drive so that the transfer paper P reaches the secondary transfer nip at the timing when the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 57 reaches the secondary transfer nip. It is conveyed toward the next transfer nip. When the transfer sheet P passes through the secondary transfer nip, a full-color image formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 57 is formed between the secondary transfer roller 59 and the secondary transfer counter roller 59a. It is transferred onto the transfer paper P by the next transfer electric field.

  In the image forming unit 60, the image fixing unit 7 is disposed on the downstream side in the transport direction of the transfer paper P with respect to the secondary transfer nip. The transfer paper P that has passed through the secondary transfer nip reaches the image fixing unit 7, and the full-color image transferred onto the transfer paper P by the heating and pressurization in the image fixing unit 7 is fixed. In the case of single-sided printing or when an image is formed on the second side of double-sided printing, the transfer paper P on which the image has been fixed is transferred from the printing paper discharge port 8 to the cylinder of the image forming apparatus 1 by a discharge roller pair 8a. The data is output to the printing paper stacking unit 9 of the inner paper discharge unit 91.

On the other hand, when an image is formed on the first surface in the case of duplex printing, the transfer paper P on which the image is fixed is conveyed toward the reversal opening 64 where the reversal roller pair 64a is disposed. Then, the front end side of the transfer paper P passes through the reversal opening 64 and then comes out into the in-body paper discharge section 91. Before the rear end of the transfer paper P passes through the reversal roller pair 64a, the reversal roller pair 64a The reverse rotation is performed to guide the transfer paper P to the reverse conveyance path 68. The transfer paper P that has passed through the reverse conveyance path 68 is again guided to the paper feed conveyance path 67 and abuts against the registration roller pair 69. Thereafter, an image is formed on the second surface and output to the printing paper stacking unit 9.
The toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 57 without being transferred to the transfer paper P at the secondary transfer nip is collected by the transfer belt cleaning device 62.

As shown in FIG. 7, toner bottles 90 (Y, M, C, K) that store toner of each color are detachably attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus 1 in the toner replenishing unit 4 above the intermediate transfer belt 57. Has been placed.
The toner stored in the toner bottle 90 for each color is supplied to the developing device 54 for each color by a toner replenishing device corresponding to each color.

As shown in FIG. 2, the right cover 45 includes three right cover covers 45a in the vertical direction, and as shown in FIG. 3, the left cover 46 has three left cover covers 46a in the vertical direction. I have.
FIG. 8 shows a state in which the upper right and lower right cover covers 45a are removed from the three right cover covers 45a of the image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 2, and the two right cover openings 45b are opened. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 as viewed from the right front. FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective cross-sectional view of the lower right rear side of the image forming apparatus 1 in a state in which the right side cover lid 45a in the middle stage is removed and the right side cover opening 45b is opened from the state of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the right side cover lid 45a is removed and the right side cover opening 45b is opened, the exterior fastening portion 24 and the housing connecting portion 23 arranged in the right frame 49b are exposed. In the exterior fastening portion 24, the right surface cover 45 is fixed to the right frame 49b by screw fastening. The housing connecting portion 23 has a female screw for fixing and connecting the housings with screws when the other housing structure such as a cabinet 31 described later is arranged on the right side of the image forming apparatus 1. Is formed. The exterior fastening portion 24 and the housing connecting portion 23 are provided at the front end portion and the rear end portion of the three right side cover openings 45b, respectively, and are provided at a total of six locations on the right side surface of the image forming apparatus 1.
In the present embodiment, simple and inexpensive screw fastening is used as the case connecting portion 23, but a simple lock lever fastening that does not require a tool may be used.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an arrangement example in which the cabinet 31 is arranged on the right side of the image forming apparatus 1.
The cabinet 31 shown in FIG. 10 has four cabinet-side connecting portions 32 on the side surface. Then, the cabinet 31 can be fixed to the image forming apparatus 1 by screwing with the four housing connecting portions 23 exposed by opening the right side cover opening 45b of the upper and lower stages of the image forming apparatus 1.
By providing the cabinet side connecting portion 32 at a position that can face the housing connecting portion 23 of the image forming apparatus 1 in the cabinet 31, the left and right surfaces of the image forming apparatus 1 and the cabinet 31 are connected by screws and lock levers. Is possible.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the middle right surface cover opening 45b is opened, the right frame handle forming portion 49b1 which is a part of the right frame 49b is exposed. The upper edge of the right side cover opening 45b in the middle stage of the right side cover 45 is a transport handle 25 fixed to the right side cover opening 45b.
When the image forming apparatus 1 is transported, the force can be applied to the inner frame of the exterior cover by opening the middle right cover opening 45b and gripping the transport handle 25 to apply the force.
The same configuration as that of the housing connecting portion 23, the exterior fastening portion 24, and the transport handle portion 25 described above for the right side surface of the image forming apparatus 1 is also provided on the left side surface of the image forming apparatus 1.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the exhaust duct 63 and the electrical component 61 are disposed on the back side (rear side) of the jam processing space 70. The exhaust duct 63 and the electrical unit 61 are disposed on the outer side in the left-right direction with respect to the image forming unit 60.
For this reason, the image forming apparatus 1 can be made shorter in the length in the front-rear direction than the conventional image forming apparatus in which the exhaust duct 63 and the electrical component 61 are arranged outside in the front-rear direction of the image forming part. Space saving in the front-rear direction of the forming apparatus can be achieved.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a first installation example of the image forming apparatus 1, and FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a second installation example of the image forming apparatus 1.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the right side surface, the left side surface, and the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 have a flat shape without any unevenness. Further, the intake port 13 and the exhaust port 17 are provided in the lower front cover 41, and openings for intake and exhaust are not provided on the right side surface, the left side surface, and the rear surface.
Therefore, in the case of the installation along the wall surface 30 in the indoor wall side passage 401 shown in FIG. 11 or the boundary installation between the indoor wall side passage 401 and the living room space 402 shown in FIG. The left and right side surfaces and the rear surface can be arranged in close contact with each other. The arrangement is not limited to the arrangement in which the image forming apparatus 1 and the cabinet 31 are arranged side by side, and a plurality of image forming apparatuses 1 may be arranged in close contact in the left-right direction, and peripheral devices of the image forming apparatus 1 are arranged. You may arrange | position closely.

The image forming apparatus 1 can set the length in the front-rear direction shorter than that of the conventional image forming apparatus, that is, the depth can be reduced. In the present embodiment, since the depth of the image forming apparatus 1 is set to be the same as the depth of the cabinet 31, as shown in FIG. 11, when installed side by side along the wall surface 30, the front surface of the image forming apparatus 1. And the position of the front surface of the cabinet 31 can be aligned.
Further, since the entire upper surface of the image forming apparatus 1 can be planar, as shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, the upper surface is aligned with the cabinet 31 having the same height as the upper surface. It becomes possible. By aligning the position of the front surface and the height of the upper surface, it is possible to improve the aesthetics of the installation environment when the image forming apparatus 1 is installed.

  By aligning the upper surface height, the upper surface of the cabinet 31 and the upper surface of the image forming apparatus 1 become a continuous flat surface. Thereby, it is easy to move the bundle of documents to be fed to the automatic document feeder unit 200 from the state in the cabinet 31 to the fed document stacking unit 18 of the automatic document feeder unit 200. In addition, it is easy to move the document bundle loaded on the discharged document stacking unit 20 onto the cabinet 31.

Since the image forming apparatus 1 includes the housing connecting portions 23 on the right side surface and the left side surface, when the image forming apparatus 1 is arranged side by side with other housing structures such as the cabinet 31, the image forming apparatus 1 is connected by the housing connecting portion 23. It is possible.
Since the image forming apparatus 1 has a small depth, the image forming apparatus 1 is more likely to fall than the conventional image forming apparatus. However, the image forming apparatus 1 connects the cabinet 31 and the left and right surfaces, and connects the image forming apparatuses 1 to each other and other peripheral devices. Or the like, the image forming apparatus 1 can be prevented from overturning.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus 1 in a state in which the paper transport rotation unit 5a is opened, as viewed from the EE cross section of FIG. In FIG. 1, the front right cover 44 is closed for convenience.

  FIG. 13 is a plan view schematically showing the positional relationship between the space in the housing 40 of the image forming apparatus 1 and the paper transport rotation unit 5a. FIG. 13A shows a state in which the paper transport rotation portion 5a is closed, FIG. 13B shows a state in which the paper transport rotation portion 5a is opened, and FIG. 13C shows a paper in the housing 40. It is explanatory drawing which shows the movement area | region of the conveyance rotation part 5a.

When the image forming apparatus 1 forms an image, as shown in FIG. 13A, the sheet conveying rotation unit 5 a is closed, the transfer sheet P is conveyed by the sheet conveying unit 5, and the image is formed on the transfer sheet P. Form. When a paper jam occurs in the paper feed conveyance path 67 and the reverse conveyance path 68 of the paper conveyance unit 5, as shown in FIG. 13B, the paper conveyance rotation unit 5a is opened to cause a paper jam. Jam processing for removing the transfer paper P is performed.
As shown in FIGS. 5, 1, and 13, the sheet conveyance unit 5 can rotate around a sheet conveyance rotation shaft 5 c that extends in the vertical direction on the rear surface side (back side) of the image forming apparatus 1. A sheet conveyance rotation unit 5 a and a sheet conveyance fixing unit 5 b fixed to the image forming unit 60 are provided.
Since the paper transport unit 5 transports the transfer paper P in the vertical direction, the paper transport rotation unit 5a is moved in the left-right direction, whereby a paper feed transport path 67 and a reverse transport path 68 for transporting the transfer paper P in the vertical direction. Can be exposed.

  FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing the positions of the paper feed conveyance path 67 and the reverse conveyance path 68 in the paper conveyance unit 5 with broken lines. As shown in FIG. 14, the paper feed conveyance path 67 is mainly provided in the paper conveyance fixing portion 5b, and the reverse conveyance path 68 is mainly provided in the paper conveyance rotation portion 5a.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view for explaining a jam processing procedure.
When the image forming apparatus 1 forms an image, the image is formed with the front left cover 43 and the front right cover 44 closed as shown in FIG.
When a paper jam occurs in the paper feed conveyance path 67 or the reverse conveyance path 68 of the paper conveyance unit 5, the operator opens the front right cover 44 to expose the paper conveyance unit 5 as shown in FIG. Next, the paper transport rotation portion 5a is rotated around the paper transport rotation shaft 5c in the direction indicated by the arrow G in FIGS. 13B and 15B, and FIG. 13B, FIG. As shown in FIG. 15 (b), the paper transport rotation portion 5a is opened. As a result, as shown in FIG. 15B, the rotating portion inner opening / closing cover 5a1 of the paper conveyance rotating portion 5a and the fixing portion inner opening / closing cover 5b1 of the paper conveying fixing portion 5b are exposed.

  When a paper jam occurs in the paper feeding / conveying path 67, the fixed portion inner opening / closing cover 5b1 that can be rotated around a rotation shaft extending in the vertical direction is changed from the state shown in FIG. c) Rotate in the arrow H direction. As a result, as shown in FIG. 15C, the paper feed conveyance path 67 is exposed, and the transfer paper P jammed in the paper feed conveyance path 67 is removed. When a paper jam occurs in the reversal conveyance path 68, the rotation part inner side opening / closing cover 5a1 that can rotate around a rotation axis extending in the vertical direction is changed from the state shown in FIG. d) Rotate in the direction of arrow I. As a result, the reverse conveyance path 68 is exposed as shown in FIG. 15D, and the transfer paper P jammed in the reverse conveyance path 68 is removed.

As shown in FIG. 13, the image forming apparatus 1 opens the paper transport rotation unit 5 a and provides a jam processing space 70 for performing jam processing inside the housing 40.
Further, the exhaust duct 63 is provided in a region other than the moving region α, which is a cover member opening / closing passage space through which the paper transport rotation portion 5a moves between the closed state and the open state in the jam processing space 70. A portion extending in the vertical direction is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 13B, when the paper transport rotation portion 5a is opened, the exhaust duct 63 and the electrical component 61 are positioned on the rear side of the paper transport rotation portion 5a. Deploy. With this arrangement, when the image forming apparatus 1 is viewed from the front, at least a part of the projection view of the movement region α and the projection view of the electrical component 61 overlap, and the projection view of the movement region α and the exhaust duct At least a part of the projection drawing 63 overlaps.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the movement region α of the sheet conveyance rotation portion 5a that rotates about the sheet conveyance rotation shaft 5c that extends in the vertical direction provided on the rear surface side is within the housing 40. Thus, a jam processing space 70 is provided. Since the rotation angle of the paper conveyance rotation unit 5a is less than 90 [°], a dead space that does not contribute to securing the movement area α of the paper conveyance rotation unit 5a exists on the right rear surface side of the jam processing space 70. . By disposing the electrical component 61 and the exhaust duct 63 in the area that becomes the dead space, the empty area of the jam processing space 70 can be utilized. Thereby, the enlargement in the left-right direction of the image forming apparatus 1 in which the jam processing space 70 is provided in the housing 40 can be suppressed.

In the image forming apparatus 1, an electrical component 61 having a central processing unit (CPU) that is conventionally built in on the rear side of the apparatus is disposed outside the image forming unit 60 in the right direction. Accordingly, the depth of the image forming apparatus 1 can be reduced, and the passage in front of the image forming apparatus 1 (the indoor wall side passage 401 in FIG. 11) can be easily walked.

The conventional image forming apparatus 1 described with reference to FIGS. 31 to 34 has a configuration in which the upper portion of the sheet conveying unit 5 is opened with a lower hinge on the outer right surface to remove a paper jam.
On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment widens the apparatus width in the right direction, and does not open the outer right surface. 5 is opened to remove a paper jam.

  As a conventional image forming apparatus, there is a configuration in which an electrical part in which electrical members are collectively arranged is disposed in a housing behind an image forming part having a sheet conveyance path in order to save the labor and cost of assembly. Furthermore, as this electrical component, there is a configuration in which a number of electrical boards on which circuits equipped with electrical components are formed are stacked and concentrated. In such a configuration, the length of the image forming apparatus in the front-rear direction is the length of the sheet conveyance path plus the thickness of the electrical unit where the electrical components are collectively arranged, and the width of the apparatus (the length in the left-right direction). However, the depth (length in the front-rear direction) is increased. When the depth of the device increases, even if the rear surface is adjacently installed on the wall surface of the passage or the desk of the living room, the forward protrusion is large, so that the walkability of the passage is impaired.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, a plurality of electrical components 61 are configured by distributing electrical components. Further, at least one of the plurality of electrical units 61 is disposed on the right outside of the image forming unit 60 and on the right rear side of the apparatus that does not hinder the opening and closing of the sheet conveying rotation unit 5a of the sheet conveying unit 5.
In addition, in the conventional image forming apparatus, the electrical boards of the electrical unit 61, which are arranged in a concentrated manner in the front-rear direction of the apparatus, are dispersedly arranged so as not to overlap in the front-rear direction in the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. ing.
Although the width of the apparatus is increased by such an arrangement of the electrical component 61, the depth is reduced instead, and the protrusion to the front is small even if the rear surface is not adjacently installed on the wall surface of the passage or the desk of the living room. Can improve the difficulty of walking.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 with the rear cover 47 removed as viewed from the rear.
As shown in FIG. 16, the image forming apparatus 1 has a plurality of electrical units 61 arranged behind the image forming unit 60. These electrical units 61 need to be disposed near the motor for driving a motor or a driving member such as a roller member provided in the image forming unit 6, the paper supply unit 2, the image fixing unit 7, and the like. Some electrical components are arranged. By arranging a plurality of these electrical components 61 on the rear side of the apparatus instead of arranging them together, the width in the front-rear direction of each electrical component 61 can be reduced, and the image forming apparatus 1 The depth can be made smaller than before.

  Furthermore, the electrical component 61 having electrical components such as a control board including a central processing unit (CPU) that can perform the function without being arranged on the rear side of the image forming unit 60 other than the above is provided on the right side of the above-described device. Arranged at the rear. In the conventional image forming apparatus, the electrical component 61 having the electrical components arranged together with the other electrical components on the rear side of the image forming unit is used as a jam on the outer side in the left-right direction of the image forming unit 60 in the image forming device 1. It is arranged on the back side of the processing space 70. Thereby, the depth of the image forming apparatus 1 can be made smaller than that of the conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 with the lower front cover 41 and the lower rear cover 42 removed as viewed from the right front. As shown in FIG. 17, when the lower front cover 41 and the lower rear cover 42 are removed, the casters 71 fixed to the lower surface of the bottom frame 48 of the image forming apparatus 1 are exposed. The lower front cover 41 includes a connection duct 72 that connects the lower end of the exhaust duct 63 and the exhaust port 17.
Exhaust gas composed of air whose temperature has risen due to heat generated in the image forming unit 60 is guided from the upper part to the lower part of the exhaust duct 63 and is discharged from the exhaust port 17 through the connection duct 72.

  As shown in FIGS. 13 and 16, in the right rear region of the image forming apparatus 1 that does not hinder the opening / closing operation of the paper transport rotation unit 5 a and the arrangement of the electrical unit 61 arranged in the jam processing space 70, An exhaust duct 63 that exhausts heat from the image fixing unit 7 and the like downward rather than backward is disposed. With such an arrangement, it is possible to eliminate exhaust of the image forming apparatus 1 in the rear and left-right directions. By eliminating the exhaust to the rear, it is possible to realize an arrangement in which the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 is adjacent to the wall surface 30. Furthermore, as described above, since the movement region α is located inside the housing 40 and the paper transport rotation portion 5a opens and closes inside the housing 40, a member that opens and closes outside the housing 40 in the left-right direction is provided. It can be lost. The cabinet 31 can be mounted on the side surface in the left-right direction of the image forming apparatus 1 by eliminating exhaust to the outside in the left-right direction of the housing and eliminating a member that opens and closes outside in the left-right direction. Further, not only a tall post-processing unit (such as a finisher) is mounted on the left side surface of the image forming apparatus 1, but also a tall and large-capacity paper feed tray can be mounted on the right side surface.

18 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus main body 100 with the automatic document conveyance unit 200 removed from the image forming apparatus 1 as viewed from the right front, and FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the automatic document conveyance unit 200 as viewed from the right front. is there. FIG. 20 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 with the automatic document feeder unit 200 in an open state, as viewed from the front right. The state shown in FIG. 20 is obtained by rotating the automatic document transport unit 200 upward about the document transport unit rotating shaft 21a of the opening / closing hinge 21 fixed to the frame of the image forming apparatus main body 100 from the state shown in FIG. It becomes.
As shown in FIG. 20, the image forming apparatus 1 has a configuration in which the automatic document conveying unit 200 is accommodated in front of the rear surface of the image forming apparatus main body 100 when the automatic document conveying unit 200 is opened. Yes.

21 is a top view of the image forming apparatus main body 100 shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 18 and 21, when the automatic document feeder unit 200 is removed, the contact glass 10a on the upper surface of the document reading unit 10 is exposed.
FIG. 22 is a perspective view of the automatic document transport unit 200 in a state where documents can be stacked on the fed document stacking unit 18 and the discharged document stacking unit 20 as viewed from the upper front, and FIG. 23 is shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a top view of the automatic document feeder unit 200 in a state.

24 is a cross-sectional view of the automatic document feeder unit 200 in the state shown in FIG. 23 as seen from the front side.
As shown in FIG. 24, the automatic document transport unit 200 includes a paper feed rotation plate 18 a and a paper feed leading end side support plate 18 b in the paper feed document stacking unit 18, and the paper discharge rotation plate 20 a in the paper discharge document stacking unit 20. Is provided.
As shown in FIG. 19, in a state in which no document is stacked on the paper feed document stacking unit 18 and the paper discharge document stacking unit 20, the paper feed rotation plate 18 a and the paper discharge rotation plate 20 a are flat surfaces of the automatic document transport unit 200. The upper surface is formed.

  When the state shown in FIG. 19 is changed to the state shown in FIG. 22, the paper discharge rotation plate 20a of the paper discharge original stacking section 20 is rotated by 15 [°] in the direction of arrow J in FIG. The sheet feeding rotation plate 18a of the stacking unit 18 is rotated 173 [°] in the direction of arrow K in FIG.

By rotating the discharge rotation plate 20a by 15 [°] in the direction of arrow J in FIG. 24, the upper surface of the discharge rotation plate 20a becomes a discharged document stacking surface inclined by 15 [°] with respect to the horizontal plane. . As a result, a document that passes through the document conveyance path 19a of the document conveyance unit 19 and is discharged from the document discharge port 19b can be stacked on the upper surface of the sheet discharge rotation plate 20a.
Further, by rotating the sheet feeding rotation plate 18a by 173 [°] in the direction of the arrow K in FIG. 24, in the state shown in FIG. 19, the sheet feeding leading end side support located below the sheet feeding rotation plate 18a is supported. The plate 18b is exposed. As a result, the upper surfaces of the sheet feeding rotation plate 18a and the sheet feeding leading end side support plate 18b become sheet feeding document placement surfaces inclined by 7 [°] with respect to the horizontal plane, and directed toward the document conveying path 19a of the document conveying unit 19. Documents to be fed can be stacked.

The structure for rotating the paper discharge rotation plate 20a and the paper supply rotation plate 18a may be configured to manually rotate each of them, or in conjunction with the operation of manually rotating the paper supply rotation plate 18a. A configuration may be adopted in which the discharge rotation plate 20a is rotated.
Further, the paper discharge rotation plate 20a and the paper supply rotation plate 18a may be automatically rotated by an operation on the operation panel 11.

  In the automatic document conveyance unit 200 of the present embodiment, plate members (paper discharge rotation plate 20a and paper supply rotation plate 18a) on which the originals of the paper supply original stacking portion 18 and the paper discharge original stacking portion 20 are stacked are movable. In the configuration, the angle changes. With this configuration, when the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is not used, the upper surface of the automatic document conveyance unit 200 can be made flat by leveling the paper discharge rotation plate 20a and the paper supply rotation plate 18a. When the automatic document feeder unit 200 is not used, the upper surface becomes planar, so that the planar upper surface can be used as a work space, and the aesthetic appearance is improved.

  As shown in FIG. 24, the paper output document placement surface and the paper feed document placement surface are inclined with respect to the horizontal plane, but the heights of the upper ends thereof are substantially the same, and the operation panel 11 is disposed. The configuration is such that it does not protrude above the upper surface of the automatic document feeder unit 200.

  When all the discharged document stacking surfaces of the inclined discharged document stacking unit 20 protrude from the uppermost surface of the automatic document transport unit 200, the upper surface becomes a convex tone and the aesthetic appearance is impaired. Further, when half of the discharged document stacking surface of the inclined discharged document stacking unit 20 protrudes from the uppermost surface of the automatic document transport unit 200, the upper surface becomes convex and the appearance is slightly impaired. On the other hand, as in the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, if all the discharged document stacking surfaces of the inclined discharged document stacking unit 20 do not protrude from the uppermost surface of the automatic document transport unit 200, The aesthetics can be improved.

  When all of the discharged document stacking surfaces of the inclined discharged document stacking unit 20 protrude from the uppermost surface of the automatic document transport unit 200, the stacked documents are opened when the automatic document transport unit 200 is opened while the documents are stacked. Falls. Further, when half of the discharged document stacking surface of the inclined discharged document stacking unit 20 protrudes from the uppermost surface of the automatic document transport unit 200, the automatic document transport unit 200 is stacked even in the open state with the document loaded. The document does not fall. Furthermore, when all of the discharged document stacking surfaces of the inclined discharged document stacking unit 20 do not protrude from the uppermost surface of the automatic document transport unit 200, the automatic document transport unit 200 is stacked even in the open state with the document loaded. The document does not fall. The image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which all the discharged document stacking surfaces of the inclined discharged document stacking unit 20 do not protrude from the uppermost surface of the automatic document transport unit 200. Therefore, the stacked originals are not dropped even if the automatic original conveyance unit 200 is opened while the originals are stacked.

The automatic document transport unit 200 may be configured such that the surfaces on which the document is stacked of the fed document stacking unit 18 and the discharged document stacking unit 20 are fixed in the state shown in FIG. In the case of this configuration, the surface on which the document is stacked in the fed document stacking unit 18 is fixed in a state inclined by 7 ° with respect to the horizontal plane, and the surface on which the document is stacked on the discharged document stacking unit 20 is fixed with respect to the horizontal plane. Fix in an inclined state of 15 [°].
As shown in FIG. 22, even in a state where the original loading surfaces of the paper supply original stacking unit 18 and the paper output original stacking unit 20 can be stacked and the originals can be stacked, the automatic document conveyance in which the operation panel 11 is arranged is provided. There is no portion protruding above the upper surface of the unit 200. As a result, even if the document stacking surface is tilted, the automatic document transport unit 200 can be connected to the image forming apparatus main body 100 even when the automatic document transport unit 200 is opened as shown in FIG. It can be set as the structure settled in a near side rather than a rear surface.

  Further, the document stacking surface of the discharged document stacking unit 20 may be fixed in the state shown in FIG. 22, and the sheet feeding document stacking unit 18 may be configured to rotate the sheet feeding rotation plate 18a. In the case of this configuration, the surface on which the document is stacked of the discharged document stacking unit 20 is fixed in a state inclined by 15 [°] with respect to the horizontal plane. When the automatic document feeder unit 200 is not used, the paper feed rotation plate 18a forms a flat upper surface of the automatic document feeder unit 200, as in the state shown in FIG. When the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is used, similarly to the configuration described with reference to FIG. 24, the sheet feeding rotation plate 18a is rotated by 173 [°] to establish a contact between the sheet feeding rotation plate 18a and the sheet feeding leading end side support plate 18b. The upper surface is inclined by 7 [°] with respect to the horizontal plane so that the document can be stacked. Even if the surface of the discharged document stacking unit 20 on which the document is stacked is fixed at an angle of 15 ° with respect to the horizontal plane, it protrudes above the upper surface of the automatic document transport unit 200 on which the operation panel 11 is disposed. There is no part that you did. As a result, even when the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is in an open state, the automatic document conveyance unit 200 can be configured to fit in front of the rear surface of the image forming apparatus main body 100. Further, when the automatic document transport unit 200 is not used, the paper feed rotation plate 18a forms a horizontal surface on a part of the upper surface of the automatic document transport unit 200, and this part can be used as a work space. .

FIG. 25 is also a sectional view of the automatic document feeder unit 200 as seen from the front side. In FIG. 25, the paper feed stacking area W1 in the left-right direction of the paper feed document stacking section 18, the paper discharge stacking area W2 in the left-right direction of the discharge document stacking section 20, and the paper feed document stacking section 18 are the discharge document stacking section. The relationship with the shielding area | region W3 which shields a part of 20 is shown.
FIG. 26 is a perspective view of the automatic document feeder unit 200 according to this embodiment as viewed from the right rear.
As shown in FIG. 26, the automatic document conveyance unit 200 has an automatic document conveyance electrical unit 77 that accommodates electrical components such as a control base for controlling automatic document conveyance arranged on the rear side of the automatic document conveyance unit 200. The arrangement of the automatic document feeder electrical unit 77 is not limited to the rear side shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIGS. 24 and 25, the automatic document feeder electrical unit 77 may be arranged in a space in which the lower section of the sheet discharge rotation plate 20a inclined so as to be able to stack the documents is triangular.

  The dimensions of the conventional image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 31 to 34 are 590 [mm] in width (length in the left-right direction) and 690 [mm] in depth (length in the front-rear direction). The dimensions were a width of 1090 [mm] and a depth of 740 [mm]. In the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example, the right side of the exterior is opened to the right by the lower hinge and the upper portion of the sheet conveying unit 5 is opened, so that the occupied dimension is larger than the width of the image forming apparatus 1 itself. In the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example, the height of the automatic document conveyance unit 200 that rotates about the opening / closing hinge 21 is high, and when the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is opened, the automatic document conveyance unit 200 displays the image. The forming apparatus main body 100 protrudes rearward from the rear surface. For this reason, the depth of the occupied dimension is larger than the depth of the image forming apparatus 1 itself.

The dimensions of the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment are a width “W” (length in the left-right direction) of 900 [mm] and a depth “D” (length in the front-rear direction) of 450 [mm]. The dimensions are 900 [mm] in width and 450 [mm] in depth. The area of the apparatus is 407100 [mm ² ] for the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example, and is almost the same for the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment of 405000 [mm ² ]. The image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment can reduce the occupied area.

In the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the maximum sheet passing paper long side length is 420 [mm], and the maximum sheet passing sheet short side length is 300 [mm]. The image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a width (length in the left-right direction) of 900 [mm], which is 840 [mm] or more, which is twice the maximum length of the sheet passing paper. Yes. In addition, the depth (length in the front-rear direction) of the image forming apparatus 1 is 450 [mm], which is 600 [mm] or less, which is twice the short side length of the maximum sheet passing paper.
The conventional image forming apparatus 1 described above has a width (length in the left-right direction) of 590 [mm], which is smaller than 840 [mm], which is twice the maximum length of the sheet passing paper. Further, the depth (length in the front-rear direction) of the image forming apparatus 1 is 690 [mm], which is larger than 600 [mm] which is twice the short side length of the maximum sheet passing paper.

In the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1 of the conventional example is disposed on the rear side of the image forming unit (the exhaust duct 63 and the electrical unit 61) in the horizontal direction of the image forming unit 60. Arranged outside. Thereby, although the width dimension is increased, the depth dimension can be decreased.
Since the protrusion to the front of the device is reduced due to the small depth, it is possible to improve the difficulty of walking in the passage when the front of the device is a passage.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, since the moving region α is in the housing 40, the width of the size of the device and the width of the occupied size match. When the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is opened, the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is accommodated on the front side of the rear surface of the image forming apparatus main body 100, so that the depth of the apparatus and the depth of the occupied dimension coincide. Since the size of the apparatus and the occupied size coincide with each other, waste of the occupied size can be improved.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the depth of the image forming apparatus 1 is reduced by disposing a part of the electrical unit 61 built in the rear part of the image forming unit on the outer side in the left-right direction of the image forming unit 60 in the conventional image forming apparatus. . Thereby, as shown in FIG.11 and FIG.12, it can make it easy to walk a channel | path (interior wall side channel | path 401). Further, by adopting a configuration in which the rear surface and the left and right side surfaces of the image forming apparatus 1 do not have an exhaust port or an opening / closing part, it is possible to reduce waste of the occupied area that has spread outside the apparatus dimensions in the conventional image forming apparatus.

  The image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a depth of 450 [mm], and is smaller than a general image forming apparatus. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 11, even if the front side of the image forming apparatus 1 is a passage, the ease of walking in the passage of the passage is not impaired.

The image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is a non-cylinder discharge type, and the discharged sheets cannot be stacked within the main body installation area, and it is necessary to mount a discharge tray that protrudes to the left of the apparatus main body. is there. For this reason, compared with the in-body discharge type, the occupied dimension is larger than the apparatus size, and the efficiency of the occupied area is impaired.
Since the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is an in-body discharge type, a discharge tray protruding outside the outer surface of the apparatus main body is unnecessary, and the efficiency of the occupied area is improved.

  Further, in the conventional image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 33, an exhaust port 17 and a filter unit 16 are provided on the rear side of the apparatus. The heat of the electrical unit, fixing unit, and image forming unit is collected by the duct and fan and released to the outside from the exhaust port.However, when the electrical unit is centrally arranged inside the rear side of the device, the space and cost of the duct are reduced. In order to save, the exhaust port tends to be arranged on the rear side of the apparatus together with the replacement filter.

In the configuration in which the exhaust port 17 and the filter unit 16 are arranged on the rear side of the apparatus, a gap for heat release and filter replacement is necessary, so the rear face of the apparatus cannot be installed adjacent to a wall of a passage or a desk in a living room. The front side of the device protrudes into the passage, and the ease of walking in the passage is impaired.
In the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the exhaust port 17 is provided on the front side of the apparatus, and the exhaust port 17 is not provided on the rear side of the apparatus as shown in FIG. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, by opening the front right cover 44, the portion of the exhaust duct 63 that includes the filter portion 16 is exposed, the filter portion 16 can be replaced, and the jam processing space 70 is replaced. It becomes a gap. Thereby, the rear surface of the apparatus can be installed adjacent to the wall surface of the passage or the desk in the living room, the front side of the apparatus is suppressed from protruding into the passage, and the passage in front of the apparatus is easy to walk.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the front right cover 44 is larger than the front left cover 43, but a front right cover upper portion 44 a is connected above a part having the same shape as the front left cover 43. Since the front right cover 44 is a combination of upper and lower parts, it opens and closes together. When the front right cover 44 and the front left cover 43 are resin-molded products, it is possible to reduce the mold cost by using the same parts as the front left cover 43 for the lower parts of the front right cover 44.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 18 and the like, in the image forming apparatus 1 of the above-described embodiment, a portion protruding upward from the upper end portion of the casing 40 of the image forming apparatus main body 100 is included in the automatic document conveyance unit 200. Absent. The upper part of the housing 40 is a frame body that is open upward and forward, and the automatic document feeder unit 200 is housed inside the frame body.
In the configuration in which the automatic document conveyance unit 200 protrudes above the upper surface of the image forming apparatus main body 100 as in the image forming apparatus 1 of Modification 3 shown in FIG. 29, the opening / closing hinge portion 21 disposed on the rear surface side. Troublesome modeling is exposed.

On the other hand, if the automatic document feeder unit 200 is housed inside the upper frame of the housing 40 as in the image forming apparatus 1 of the embodiment, complicated modeling of the open / close hinge portion 21 is achieved. Exposure can be prevented.
For this reason, when the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 is installed at a position where the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 is conspicuous, as in the installation example in which the image forming apparatus 1 is installed at the boundary between the living room space 402 and the passage (the indoor wall side passage 401) shown in FIG. Even if you don't wear a peripheral device alone, you won't lose your aesthetics.
In addition, the gap between the lower surface of the automatic document feeder unit 200 and the upper surface of the image forming apparatus main body 100 is covered with the upper frame of the housing 40 except for the front side. For this reason, when the automatic document feeder unit 200 is opened and closed, it is possible to prevent the operator's finger from being caught between the lower surface of the automatic document feeder unit 200 and the upper surface of the image forming apparatus main body 100.

The image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment has a configuration in which an automatic document conveyance unit 200 is accommodated inside a frame body at an upper portion of a housing 40. In such a configuration, when a large-capacity sheet feeding tray, finisher, cabinet, or the like is connected to the left and right side surfaces of the image forming apparatus 1, the aesthetic appearance is not impaired.
Furthermore, since the upper surface of the image forming apparatus 1 is a work space, it is easy to place objects, write notes, and talk.
In the configuration in which the automatic document transport unit 200 protrudes upward as in the conventional image forming apparatus 1 as shown in FIGS. 31 to 34 and the upper surface of the image forming apparatus 1 does not have a plane as a work space, the upper surface is It is difficult to use as a work space. In contrast, in the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the upper surface can be easily used as a work space.

As shown in FIGS. 34 and 11, when the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 is disposed toward the wall surface 30, if the height of the automatic document feeder unit 200 is high, the following problems may occur. That is, when the automatic document feeder unit 200 is opened, the upper structure of the automatic document feeder unit 200 may collide with the wall surface 30 located on the rear surface.
In order to prevent this, if a gap is provided between the rear surface and the wall surface of the image forming apparatus 1, the image forming apparatus 1 protrudes forward, and the passage is formed when the front of the apparatus is a passage. It becomes difficult to walk.
In the configuration in which the height of the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is high and the upper structure of the automatic document conveyance unit 200 protrudes rearward from the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 when the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is opened, Such a problem arises. In other words, the occupied size becomes larger than the device size of the depth of the image forming apparatus 1.

Therefore, in order to reduce the occupied dimension of the depth, it is also important to reduce the height of the automatic document conveyance unit 200.
In the conventional image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 31 to 34, the automatic document transport unit 200 moves the paper feed tray (paper feed document stacking portion 18) and the paper discharge tray (paper discharge document stacking portion 20) up and down. Since they are stacked, the size in the horizontal direction can be reduced, but the height cannot be reduced.
If an attempt is made to reduce the height by narrowing the vertical gap between the paper feed tray and the paper discharge tray, it is difficult to take out the document from the paper discharge tray covered with the paper feed tray.

  In the automatic document transport unit 200 according to the present embodiment, the feed document stacking unit 18 and the discharged document stacking unit 20 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction instead of the up-down direction. Specifically, the width (length in the left-right direction) is increased, and the discharge tray (discharged document stacking portion 20) is moved to the right with respect to the feed tray (feeded document stacking portion 18). The height is lowered by reducing the overlap (shielding area W3) with the paper feed tray. Further, since the upper area of the upper surface of the paper discharge tray that is shielded from the upper side by the paper feed tray is reduced, as a result, it is possible to improve the ease of taking a small-size document that has been discharged to the paper discharge tray.

As shown in FIG. 2 and the like, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment has a configuration in which an operation panel 11 is embedded in an upper surface on a horizontal plane.
If the surface of the operation panel 11 is leveled and installed on the front surface of the apparatus, the operation panel 11 protrudes forward. If the front of the image forming apparatus 1 is a path, the path becomes difficult to walk.

  Further, when the operation panel 11 is installed on the upper surface of the automatic document conveyance unit 200 above the image forming apparatus 1 so that the surface of the operation panel 11 is vertical, the operation panel 11 protrudes upward. If the operation panel 11 protrudes upward on the upper surface of the automatic document conveyance unit 200, the operation panel 11 may protrude rearward from the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 when the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is opened. In a configuration in which the operation panel 11 protrudes rearward from the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1, when the image forming apparatus 1 is arranged along the wall surface 30, the operation panel 11 is moved to the image forming apparatus 1 when the automatic document transport unit 200 is opened. There is a risk of hitting the rear wall surface 30. In order to prevent this, if a gap is provided between the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 and the wall surface 30, the image forming apparatus 1 protrudes forward. Further, when the image forming apparatus 1 is installed close to the wall surface 30 and the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is opened and closed within a range where the operation panel 11 does not hit the wall surface 30, it is difficult to open and close the automatic document conveyance unit 200.

  In order to reduce the depth of the image forming apparatus 1 and make it easier to walk along the path ahead of the image forming apparatus 1, it is also important that the operation panel 11 does not protrude forward or upward. In the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the operation panel 11 is embedded in the upper surface on the horizontal plane, thereby realizing a configuration in which the operation panel 11 does not protrude forward or upward.

  Further, by arranging the operation panel 11 so as not to protrude from the upper surface of the image forming apparatus 1, the upper surface can be aligned with a large capacity paper feed tray, finisher or cabinet connected to the left and right of the image forming apparatus 1. . This not only impairs the aesthetics, but also the upper surface around the operation panel 11 becomes a work space. Therefore, when placing an object, writing a memo or speaking, the operation panel 11 is read and printed by the image forming apparatus 1. Easy to use besides. For example, a method of writing a memo or talking while looking at the display on the operation panel 11 and writing a memo on the operation panel 11 can be considered.

Further, in the configuration in which the operation panel 11 is arranged on a flat upper surface, the following usage method can be considered. Human body detection sensors and cameras are arranged on the front side and the rear side of the image forming apparatus 1 so that the operation panel 11 can be easily seen from the side where a person stands. The display is rotated 180 [°]. Thus, as in the installation example shown in FIG. 12, when the image forming apparatus 1 is installed on the boundary, even if a person on the living room space 402 side does not bother to move to the indoor wall side passage 401 side and stand on the front side of the apparatus, It becomes possible to perform the same operation from behind. Further, since the in-body discharge unit 91 is opened not only on the front side but also on the rear side, the transfer paper P output from the rear of the apparatus can be taken out without standing in front of the apparatus.
In the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, by disposing a part of the plurality of electrical components 61 in the jam processing space 70, the electrical component 61 disposed on the rear surface side of the image forming unit 60 can be made smaller than the conventional one. In addition, an opening communicating with the in-body discharge unit 91 can be provided on the rear side.

  An example of a specific shape of a printer having a scanner function as an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is illustrated in FIGS. 35 to 40 in a hexahedral view, and the apparatus front side and the apparatus rear side of the example illustrated in the hexagonal view. Side perspective views are shown in FIGS. 41 and 42. FIG. Further, FIG. 43 shows the use state of the automatic document feeder unit.

[Modification 1]
FIG. 27 is a perspective explanatory view of the image forming apparatus 1 of Modification 1 as seen from the front slightly above.
The image forming apparatus 1 according to the above-described embodiment has a configuration in which the automatic document conveyance unit 200 is disposed on the image forming apparatus main body 100.
In contrast, as shown in FIG. 27, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the first modification has a platen unit 81 that is detachably mounted on the image forming apparatus main body 100 instead of the automatic document feeder unit 200. Different from the image forming apparatus 1 of the embodiment. The pressure plate unit 81 includes an operation panel 11 and a pressure plate opening / closing hinge 76.

  The contact glass 10a on the upper surface of the document reading unit 10 is exposed by opening the pressure plate unit 81 around the pressure plate opening / closing hinge portion 76 by rotating it upward. An original image can be read by placing an original on the contact glass 10a and closing the pressure plate unit 81.

[Modification 2]
FIG. 28 is an explanatory perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 of Modification 2 as seen from a slightly upper front side.
The image forming apparatus 1 according to the above-described embodiment is a copying machine in which the document reading unit 10 is provided above the image forming apparatus main body 100 and the automatic document transport unit 200 is disposed above the document reading unit 10.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 28, the image forming apparatus 1 of Modification 2 does not include the document reading unit 10 above the image forming apparatus main body 100, but also includes an automatic document transport unit 200 and a pressure plate unit 81. There is no printer.
The image forming apparatus 1 of Modification 2 shown in FIG. 28 includes an operation panel 11 on an upper top plate 82 that does not open and close at the top of the image forming apparatus main body 100. The image forming apparatus 1 according to the second modification can share many of the exterior and internal structure with the image forming apparatus 1 according to the above-described embodiment, and can be made efficiently at low cost while suppressing the change portion.

[Modification 3]
FIG. 29 is a perspective explanatory view of the image forming apparatus 1 of Modification 3 in which the cabinets 31 are arranged on both sides in the left-right direction, as viewed from slightly above the front.
As shown in FIG. 29, in the image forming apparatus 1 according to the third modification, the height of the upper surface of the image forming apparatus main body 100 and the upper surface of the cabinet 31 are uniform. It is the structure which protruded upwards from the upper surface.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 29, by aligning the heights of the upper surface of the image forming apparatus main body 100 and the upper surface of the cabinet 31, a sense of unity can be enhanced, or the protrusion shape of the automatic document feeder unit 200 itself can be reduced. I have made it into a beautiful shape. As a result, the configuration is such that the beauty of the space is not impaired. With such a configuration, the automatic document feeder unit 200 that is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus main body 100 of the image forming apparatus 1 and the pressure plate unit 81 described in the first modification are arranged from the upper surface of the cabinet 31. May also protrude upward. Further, since the automatic document feeder unit 200 does not protrude rearward during the opening / closing operation, the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 can be disposed in close contact with the wall surface.

[Modification 4]
FIG. 30 is a perspective explanatory view of the image forming apparatus 1 of Modification 4 in which the cabinets 31 are arranged on both sides in the left-right direction, as viewed from the rear slightly above.
In the image forming apparatus 1 of the above-described embodiment, the in-body discharge unit 91 is opened on both the front side and the rear side, and the output transfer paper P can be received not only from the front side but also from the rear side. It has a configuration.
On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the modified example 4 has a holeless rear cover 83 that is not provided with an opening on the rear surface side, and the in-body discharge unit 91 is located on the rear surface side without holes from the rear surface side of the image forming apparatus 1. The cover 83 is covered.

As shown in FIG. 12, when the image forming apparatus 1 is installed like a reception counter at the boundary between the living room space 402 and the passage (the indoor wall side passage 401), the image forming apparatus 1 according to the fourth modification is used. The following advantages are obtained.
That is, as shown in FIG. 30, by covering the rear surface of the image forming apparatus 1 with the holeless rear surface cover 83, the beauty of the space can be further enhanced in accordance with the simple modeling of the cabinet 31.
Further, it is possible to prevent the print document from being exposed by making it difficult to remove the print discharge in the in-body discharge unit 91 from the rear side.
Furthermore, by not providing the opening on the rear surface side, it is possible to block the sound leakage of the printed paper and improve the quietness with respect to the rear.
The holeless rear cover 83 may be configured to be replaceable with the rear cover 47 of the image forming apparatus 1 of the above-described embodiment as an optional part.

  The image forming apparatus 1 according to the above-described embodiment or modification has a configuration in which the printing paper discharge port 8, the printing paper stacking unit 9 and the like are arranged on the left side of the apparatus as an example. A configuration in which at least one of the part 100 and the right and left is reversed may be used.

  The conveyance path cover member is not limited to the one in which the sheet conveyance path is exposed only by opening the sheet. A member that exposes the sheet conveyance path by moving another member after the opened state, such as the sheet conveyance rotation unit 5a of the above-described embodiment, may be used when the sheet conveyance path is exposed. Any member that moves in the left-right direction to the open state may be used.

  What was demonstrated above is an example, and there exists an effect peculiar for every following aspect.

(Aspect A)
In an image forming apparatus such as the image forming apparatus 1 including an image forming unit such as the image forming unit 60 that forms an image on a sheet such as the transfer paper P, the length in the left-right direction (width “W” or the like) in the apparatus main body is an image. Is longer than the length of the long side of the largest sheet (840 [mm], etc.), and the length in the front-rear direction (depth “D”, etc.) of the apparatus main body forms an image. It is not more than twice the length of the short side of the maximum target sheet (600 [mm] or the like).
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, the length in the left-right direction is set to be not less than twice the length of the long side of the maximum sheet to be image-formed, and the enlargement in the left-right direction is allowed. . Then, by allowing the enlargement in the left-right direction, the parts arranged in the position that affects the enlargement in the front-rear direction in the conventional image forming apparatus such as the electrical component 61 and the exhaust duct 63 are increased in the left-right direction. It becomes possible to arrange in the position which influences. As a result, the length in the front-rear direction of the main body of the apparatus can be made not more than twice the length of the short side of the maximum sheet on which an image is to be formed, and downsizing in the front-rear direction can be achieved. . By downsizing in the front-rear direction, when the front of the image forming apparatus is a passage, the image forming apparatus is prevented from protruding into the passage, and can easily pass through the passage.

(Aspect B)
An image forming unit such as an image forming unit 60 that forms an image on the sheet, and an electrical component such as a CPU, which has a sheet conveying path such as a sheet feeding conveyance path 67 and a reverse conveyance path 68 that convey a sheet such as transfer paper P In an image forming apparatus such as the image forming apparatus 1 having an electrical component such as the electrical component 61 having a sheet width, the apparatus main body when the sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction in the sheet conveyance path is the front-rear direction of the apparatus main body At least a part of the electrical component is provided outside the image forming unit in the left-right direction.
According to this configuration, as described in the above embodiment, by providing the electrical component on the outer side in the left-right direction of the image forming unit having the sheet conveyance path, the electrical component is provided on the outer side in the front-rear direction of the image forming unit. Also, the size in the front-rear direction can be reduced. By downsizing in the front-rear direction, when the front of the image forming apparatus is a passage, the image forming apparatus is prevented from protruding into the passage, and can easily pass through the passage.

(Aspect C)
In the mode B, the sheet conveyance rotation unit 5a and the like that expose the sheet conveyance paths such as the sheet conveyance path 67 and the reverse conveyance path 68 by moving from the closed state to the outside in the left-right direction to be in the open state. A housing such as a housing 40 provided with a road cover member and having a passage region when the cover member is opened and closed, such as a movement region α, which passes when the transport path cover member moves between a closed state and an open state; An electrical component such as the electrical component 61 is disposed in the housing.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, the cover member opening / closing pass region is located inside the housing, and therefore, a space for opening and closing the transport path cover member is formed on the outer side in the left-right direction of the image forming apparatus. There is no need to secure it. In addition, by providing an electrical component in an empty area of the internal space of the housing that is widened in the horizontal direction of the image forming unit in order to secure a space for opening and closing the conveyance path cover member that moves in the horizontal direction, the entire apparatus Increase in size can be suppressed.

(Aspect D)
An image forming unit such as an image forming unit 60 that forms an image on a sheet having a sheet conveying path such as a sheet feeding conveying path 67 and a reverse conveying path 68 for conveying a sheet such as transfer paper P, and a sheet of the image forming unit Paper transport that moves from the closed state to the open state and exposes the sheet transport path by moving to the outside of the image forming unit in the left-right direction of the apparatus body when the sheet width direction orthogonal to the transport direction is the front-rear direction of the apparatus body In an image forming apparatus such as the image forming apparatus 1 provided with a transport path cover member such as the rotation unit 5a, the movement area α and the like that pass when the transport path cover member moves between a closed state and an open state. A housing such as the housing 40 having a passage region when the cover member is opened and closed is provided.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, the cover member opening / closing pass region is located inside the housing, and therefore, a space for opening and closing the transport path cover member is formed on the outer side in the left-right direction of the image forming apparatus. There is no need to secure it. In addition, in a conventional image forming apparatus such as the electrical unit 61 in the internal space of the housing that is widened in the left and right direction of the image forming unit in order to secure a space for opening and closing the conveyance path cover member that moves in the left and right direction. It is possible to arrange components that have been arranged at positions that affect the increase in size in the front-rear direction. Thereby, size reduction of the front-back direction in an apparatus main body can be achieved. By downsizing in the front-rear direction, when the front of the image forming apparatus is a passage, the image forming apparatus is prevented from protruding into the passage, and can easily pass through the passage.

(Aspect E)
In the aspect C or D, the conveyance path cover member such as the paper conveyance rotation unit 5a covers one side surface (right side surface, etc.) of the image forming unit such as the image forming unit 60 in the closed state, and is parallel to the vertical direction. , And a rotation range of the conveyance path cover member is 90 [°. ].
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, the cover member opening / closing passage area is located on the rotation axis side (rear side) of the cover member opening / closing passage area such as the movement area α in the casing such as the casing 40. It is possible to provide a space that does not contribute to ensuring the safety. In this space, parts that have been arranged at positions that affect the size increase in the front-rear direction in the conventional image forming apparatus such as the electrical component 61 and the exhaust duct 63 are arranged, so that a passage region when the cover member is opened and closed is provided in the housing. With the provided configuration, an increase in the size of the apparatus in the left-right direction can be suppressed.

(Aspect F)
In any one of the aspects A to E, a front surface of the device outer surface such as the outer surface of the housing 40 in the front-rear direction is a front surface that can be opened and closed, such as the front right cover 44 and the front left cover 43. When the other surface that does not have an openable / closable exterior is used as the rear surface, no exhaust port such as the exhaust port 17 is disposed on the rear surface.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, there is no need to provide a gap for exhaust emission at the rear of the apparatus, so the apparatus rear surface can be installed adjacent to the wall of the passage or the desk of the living room. The side is suppressed from protruding into the passage, and the passage in front of the apparatus is easy to walk.

(Aspect G)
In any one of the aspects A to F, the exhaust port such as the exhaust port 17 is not disposed on at least one of the left and right sides of the outer surface of the apparatus such as the outer surface of the housing 40.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, there is no need to provide a gap for discharging exhaust gas between at least one surface in the left-right direction and another housing such as the cabinet 31. It can improve waste.

(Aspect H)
In any one of the aspects A to G, there is no opening / closing part such as the paper transport fixing part 5b on both the left and right sides of the outer surface of the apparatus such as the outer surface of the housing 40.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, it is not necessary to secure a space such as a moving area on the outside of the apparatus main body in the left-right direction for operations such as paper jam removal (jam processing). Thereby, it is possible to dispose the surface in the left-right direction adjacent to the other housing such as a wall surface or a cabinet, and the waste of occupied dimensions can be improved.

(Aspect I)
In any of the aspects A to H, more than half of the upper surface of the outer surface of the apparatus such as the outer surface of the housing 40 is planar.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, since the upper surface of the apparatus becomes a work space, it is easy to place an object, write a memo, and talk, and use it for a new application other than conventional reading printing. Can improve bitterness.

(Aspect J)
In any of the aspects A to I, a display operation unit such as the operation panel 11 is provided on the upper surface of the apparatus outer surface such as the outer surface of the housing 40, and the display operation unit is provided on any of the apparatus outer surfaces in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction. In contrast, the configuration does not protrude.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, since there is no forward projection even if the screen of the display operation unit is large, not only is it unnecessary to occupy dimensions and the difficulty of walking in the passage, but it is also difficult to use from behind. It is also possible to improve the difficulty in use.

(Aspect K)
In any of the aspects A to J, at least one of the length in the front-rear direction (depth “D”, etc.), the length in the left-right direction (width “W”, etc.), and the height of the upper surface is close It is standardized with peripheral devices such as a large capacity paper feed tray and finisher.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, by aligning the length in the front-rear direction with the peripheral device, the apparatus main body such as the image forming apparatus 1 does not protrude forward, and the passage in front of the apparatus can be easily walked. Further, by aligning the height of the upper surface, there is no portion protruding upward, and the upper surface becomes easy to use as a work space.

(Aspect L)
In any of the aspects A to K, at least one of the length in the front-rear direction (depth “D”, etc.), the length in the left-right direction (width “W”, etc.), and the height of the upper surface is the cabinet. It is unified with storage furniture such as 31.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, by aligning the length of the storage furniture with the length in the front-rear direction, the apparatus main body such as the image forming apparatus 1 does not protrude forward, and the passage in front of the apparatus is easy to walk. Further, by aligning the height of the upper surface, there is no portion protruding upward, and the upper surface becomes easy to use as a work space. In addition, since there is no variation in the length in the left-right direction, the difficulty of replacement at the time of replacement can be improved.

(Aspect M)
In any one of the aspects A to L, side cover members such as a right cover cover part 45a and a left cover cover part 46a that can be attached to and detached from the left and right sides of the outer surface of the apparatus such as the outer surface of the housing 40 are provided. Inside the opening such as the right surface cover opening 45b covered by the member, a transport handle such as the transport handle 25, a housing connection such as the housing connection 23, and an exterior fastening portion such as the exterior fastening portion 24 , At least one of
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, not only the transport handle, the case coupling portion, and the exterior fastening portion, which are each part used in the assembly and installation work, are arranged in a concentrated manner, but also the operations, configurations, and side surfaces. Since the lid member is unified, not only the installation time but also the mold cost can be improved.

(Aspect N)
In any of the aspects A to M, the automatic document in which the height of the upper end of the sheet feeding document stacking surface such as the sheet feeding tray inclined with respect to the horizontal plane and the sheet discharge document stacking surface such as the sheet discharge tray is the same An automatic document conveyance device such as a conveyance unit 200 is provided.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, it is possible to prevent the fed document stacking portion of the automatic document feeder from protruding upward. As a result, when the automatic document feeder is configured to rotate with respect to the apparatus main body, it is possible to prevent protrusions above the automatic document feeder from colliding with the surroundings and realize a configuration in which the automatic document feeder can be easily rotated. it can.

(Aspect O)
In any one of the aspects A to N, at least a part of a paper feed document stacking surface such as a paper feed tray is positioned above a paper discharge document stacking surface such as a paper discharge tray and above the paper discharge document stacking surface. An automatic document conveyance device such as an automatic document conveyance unit 200 is provided in which the shielding area (the area of the shielding area W3 or the like) where the sheet feeding document loading surface is located is equal to or less than half the area of the discharged document loading surface.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, it is possible to reduce the height by reducing the overlap between the fed document stacking surface and the discharged document stacking surface. In addition, by adopting a configuration that is large in the left-right direction, it is possible to secure a wide sheet feeding document stacking surface even with a small shielding area configuration, and a decrease in conveyance performance due to the small sheet feeding document stacking surface. Can be prevented.

(Aspect P)
In any of the aspects A to O, an image forming sheet stacking unit such as a printing paper stacking unit 9 that stacks sheets such as the transfer paper P on which an image is formed in the image forming unit such as the image forming unit 60 is provided. An opening for taking out the sheets stacked on the image forming sheet stacking unit is provided on both front and rear sides of the outer surface of the apparatus such as the outer surface of the housing 40.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, the sheet output to the image forming sheet stacking unit can be received from either the front-rear direction of the apparatus main body. An operation similar to the operation from the front of the apparatus main body can be performed, and the difficulty in use from the rear of the apparatus main body can be improved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Paper supply part 2a Paper feed tray 3 Manual paper supply part 4 Toner supply part 5 Paper conveyance part 5a Paper conveyance rotation part 5a1 Rotation part inner side opening / closing cover 5b Paper conveyance fixing part 5b1 Fixing part inner side opening / closing cover 5c Paper transport rotation shaft 5e Lower paper transport unit 6 Image forming unit 7 Image fixing unit 8 Print paper discharge port 8a Paper discharge roller pair 9 Print paper stacking unit 10 Document reading unit 10a Contact glass 11 Operation panel 12 Rear electrical unit 13 Air intake port 14 Ventilation portion 15 Blower fan 16 Filter portion 17 Exhaust port 18 Feeding document stacking portion 18a Feeding rotation plate 18b Feeding tip side support plate 19 Document transporting portion 19a Document transporting path 19b Document discharge port 20 Discharged document stacking portion 20a Discharge turning plate 21 Opening / closing hinge portion 21a Document conveying unit turning shaft 22 Wiring portion 23 Housing connecting portion 24 Exterior fastening portion 25 Transport handle portion 30 Wall surface 3 Cabinet 32 Cabinet side connecting part 40 Case 41 Lower front cover 42 Lower rear cover 43 Front left cover 44 Front right cover 44a Front right cover upper part 45 Right side cover 45a Right side cover cover 45b Right side cover opening 46 Left side cover 46a Left side cover lid Unit 47 rear cover 48 bottom frame 49a left frame 49b right frame 49b1 right frame handle forming unit 50 intermediate transfer unit 51 process cartridge 52 photoconductor 53 charging member 54 developing device 55 photoconductor cleaning device 56 exposure device 57 intermediate transfer belt 58 primary transfer Roller 59 Secondary transfer roller 59a Secondary transfer counter roller 60 Image forming unit 61 Electrical unit 62 Transfer belt cleaning device 63 Exhaust duct 64 Reverse opening 64a Reverse roller pair 67 Paper feed conveyance path 68 Reverse conveyance path 69 Stroller pair 70 Jam processing space 71 Caster 72 Connection duct 76 Pressure plate opening / closing hinge portion 77 Automatic document conveyance electrical component portion 81 Pressure plate unit 82 Upper surface top plate 83 Holeless rear cover 90 Toner bottle 91 In-body sheet discharge portion 100 Image forming apparatus main body portion 101 Front exterior cover 102 Rear exterior cover 200 Automatic document conveyance unit 401 Indoor wall side passage 402 Living room space P Transfer paper W1 Paper feed stacking area W2 Paper discharge stacking area W3 Shielding area α Moving area

JP 2004-252031 A

Claims (16)

In an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet,
The length in the left-right direction in the apparatus main body is at least twice the length of the long side of the largest sheet that is the target of image formation,
An image forming apparatus characterized in that the length in the front-rear direction of the apparatus main body is not more than twice the length of the short side of the largest sheet on which an image is to be formed. An image forming unit having a sheet conveyance path for conveying the sheet and forming an image on the sheet;
In an image forming apparatus comprising an electrical component having electrical components,
Providing at least a part of the electrical component on the outside of the image forming unit in the left-right direction of the apparatus main body when the sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction in the sheet conveying path is the front-rear direction of the apparatus main body. An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2.
A conveyance path cover member that exposes the sheet conveyance path by moving from the closed state to the outside in the left-right direction to be in an open state;
A cover member opening and closing passage region that passes when the transport path cover member moves between a closed state and an open state;
An image forming apparatus, wherein the electrical component is disposed in the housing. An image forming unit having a sheet conveyance path for conveying the sheet and forming an image on the sheet;
By moving to the outside of the image forming unit in the left-right direction of the apparatus main body when the sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction of the image forming unit is the front-rear direction of the apparatus main body, the closed state is opened, In an image forming apparatus comprising a conveyance path cover member that exposes a sheet conveyance path,
An image forming apparatus comprising: a housing in which a cover member opening / closing passage region that passes when the transport path cover member moves between a closed state and an open state is located inside. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 or 4,
The transport path cover member covers one side surface of the image forming unit in the left-right direction in the closed state, and moves between a closed state and an open state by rotating around a rotation axis parallel to the vertical direction. Configuration,
An image forming apparatus, wherein an angle of a rotation range of the transport path cover member is less than 90 [°]. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
Of the two front and rear directions on the outer surface of the apparatus, when the front surface has an exterior that can be opened and closed, and the other surface that does not have the exterior that can be opened and closed,
An image forming apparatus, wherein no exhaust port is disposed on the rear surface. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
An image forming apparatus, wherein an exhaust port is not disposed on at least one of the left and right sides of the outer surface of the apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
An image forming apparatus characterized in that there are no opening and closing parts on both sides in the left-right direction on the outer surface of the apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
An image forming apparatus, wherein at least half of the upper surface of the outer surface of the apparatus is planar. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
A display operation unit is provided on the upper surface of the outer surface of the apparatus,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display operation unit is configured not to protrude from any of the outer surfaces of the apparatus in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
At least one of the length in the front-rear direction, the length in the left-right direction, and the height of the upper surface is unified with a peripheral device arranged close to the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
At least one of the length in the front-rear direction, the length in the left-right direction, and the height of the upper surface is unified with the storage furniture. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
A side cover member that can be attached to and detached from both the left and right sides of the outer surface of the apparatus,
An image forming apparatus comprising: at least one of a transport handle, a housing connecting portion, and an exterior fastening portion inside an opening covered by the side cover member. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
An image forming apparatus comprising an automatic document feeder in which the heights of the upper ends of a fed document stacking surface and a discharged document stacking surface inclined with respect to a horizontal plane are the same. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
At least a part of the document stacking surface is positioned above the document stacking surface,
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an automatic document feeder that has a shielded area where the sheet feeding document stacking surface is positioned above the sheet discharge document stacking surface is less than half of the area of the sheet discharge document stacking surface. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
An image forming sheet stacking unit for stacking sheets on which images are formed in the image forming unit;
An image forming apparatus comprising an opening for taking out a sheet stacked on the image forming sheet stacking unit on both sides in the front-rear direction on an outer surface of the apparatus.

Images