JP2593977B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrostatic copying machine or an electrostatic original reading device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive drum is visualized into a toner image, and then transferred to paper. Also, a so-called portable type is provided (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-17453).

An image forming apparatus of this type includes an optical system that forms an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive member by illuminating and scanning a document using a rod-shaped lamp such as a fluorescent lamp, and an electrostatic system formed on the photosensitive member. An image forming unit that visualizes the latent image into a toner image and then transfers the latent image to paper;
Including a fixing unit for fixing the toner image transferred to the paper, the paper is introduced into the apparatus main body, and the hot air generated by the heat-generating components such as a paper transporting unit and a lamp discharged from the apparatus main body through the image forming unit is exhausted out of the casing. Exhaust fan, a drive system for driving them, a control circuit, and other functional components such as electrical components. And each of these functional components
Each is attached to a metal reinforcing frame that is disposed in a box-shaped casing made of a synthetic resin molded product and includes a pair of side plates and a stay that connects the side plates to each other.

[0004]

In order to spread the image forming apparatus having the above structure for home use and personal use, it is desirable to reduce the size and weight of the image forming apparatus as much as possible and to reduce the manufacturing cost and the selling price. However, in the above-described conventional image forming apparatus, since the exhaust fan exhausts air in a wide range over the entire width of the lamp despite the fact that both ends of the lamp are particularly hot, the heat of the lamp can be sufficiently reduced. In order to exhaust air, it is necessary to use a fan having a relatively large exhausting ability as the above-mentioned exhaust fan.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide an image forming apparatus capable of performing sufficient exhaust using an exhaust fan having a small exhaust capacity.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises an optical system for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive member by illuminating and scanning an original using a rod-shaped lamp. And an image forming unit that visualizes the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor into a toner image and then transfers the toner image to a sheet of paper, and a fixing unit that fixes the toner image transferred to the sheet of paper. And an image forming apparatus including a paper transport unit that discharges the apparatus body through the image forming unit and an exhaust fan that exhausts hot air in a casing of the apparatus body.
A pair of intake ducts connecting both ends of the lamp and the exhaust fan are provided in the casing, and a toner collection container for storing the collected toner is disposed at a predetermined position between the exhaust fan and the lamp. The container is sealed with a lid made of synthetic resin, and a duct member constituting the intake duct is integrally formed on the lid alone or in combination with a part of a casing.

[0007]

According to the image forming apparatus having the above configuration, a pair of intake ducts connecting the both ends of the lamp and the exhaust fan are used.
In particular, since the hot air at both ends of the lamp, which has a high temperature, can be efficiently exhausted, the heat of the lamp can be sufficiently exhausted even if an exhaust fan having a small exhausting ability is used.

In addition, the exhaust duct is a single duct member integrally formed on a lid for closing the toner collection container.
Alternatively, since it is configured by a combination of the duct member and a part of the casing, there is almost no cost burden for the intake duct.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a copying machine as an image forming apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention. This copying machine has a casing 2 made of synthetic resin,
An optical system 3 for illuminating and scanning a document moved by the document table 1 and guiding reflected light from the document to the photosensitive drum 42;
The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 42 is
An image forming unit 4 for transferring the image to a sheet after the image is visualized by a printer, and a fixing unit 6 for fixing the toner image transferred to the sheet in the middle, are arranged. After the introduction, the paper transport unit 5 that is discharged from the paper output port 27 through the image forming unit 4, a drive system for driving the platen 1, the image forming unit 4, the paper transport unit 5, and the like, and controls the driving of these units And a functional component such as an exhaust fan 7 for exhausting hot air inside the casing 2.

The casing 2 is composed of an upper casing 24 and a lower casing 25 having a monocoque structure screwed so as to be separable from each other.
It is supported by each casing. 22 in the drawing
Denotes a paper feed tray, 23 denotes a paper discharge tray, and 11 denotes a document holder. The optical system 3 includes an upper casing 2
4, a rod-shaped fluorescent lamp 31 that illuminates and scans the document through a slit 24c formed on the upper surface of the document 4, a rod lens 32 that guides reflected light from the document to the photosensitive drum 42, and the like.
It is arranged inside the optical housing 33.

The image forming section 4 has a charger 43, a developing device 41, a transfer charger 44, and a cleaner 45 arranged in this order around a photosensitive drum 42, and is uniformly charged by the charger 43. After forming an electrostatic latent image by forming an original image on the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 thus formed, the electrostatic latent image is visualized into a toner image by the developing device 41, and the toner image is formed by the transfer charger 44. This is a conventionally known configuration in which the toner is transferred to a sheet and the residual toner is collected by a cleaner 45. A developing device 41, a photosensitive drum 42, a transfer charger 44, and a cleaner 45 as components of the image forming unit 4
Each is assembled to the image forming frame 46 to form a unit. The charging charger 43 is held by the optical housing 33 of the optical system 3.
The image forming frame 46 is made of a synthetic resin molded product. The image forming frame 46 includes a toner collecting container 4 for storing the toner collected by the cleaner 45.
7 are integrally formed.

The toner collecting container 47 is a tray-like container having a rectangular planar shape, and its upper opening is closed by a lid 48 made of synthetic resin. This prevents toner from scattering. The developing device 41 includes a toner cartridge 41c detachably mounted to a developing housing 41a made of a synthetic resin, and a toner supply roller 41d for supplying the toner dropped and supplied from the toner cartridge 41c to the inside of the developing housing 41a. And the developing housing 4
A stirring roller 4 for stirring the toner supplied inside 1a
1e, and a developing roller 41f for supplying toner to the photosensitive drum 42.

The paper transport section 5 nips the paper with the leading end inserted from the paper feed port 26 and introduces the paper into the apparatus body 2, and pushes the leading end of the paper transported by the transport roller pair 51. The fixing unit 6 is provided with a registration stopper 52 for temporarily holding the sheet, and the fixing unit 6. The fixing unit 6 fixes the toner image transferred onto the sheet while nipping and conveying the sheet. The heat roller 61 includes a heat roller 61 heated by a built-in heater, and a pressure roller 62 driven by being pressed against the heat roller 61.

The exhaust fan 7 is disposed above the downstream end of the sheet transport unit 5 and is located at a predetermined position between the exhaust fan 7 and the fluorescent lamp 31 of the optical system 3. 47 are arranged. The exhaust fan 7 is composed of, for example, a sirocco fan, and both ends on the intake side have lids 48 for closing the toner collecting container 47.
Are connected to both ends of the fluorescent lamp 31 through a pair of intake ducts D provided on both sides of the fluorescent lamp 31 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The intake duct D is formed integrally along the both sides of the lid 48, and has a L-shaped cross-section duct member 48a also serving as a side wall of the lid 48, and is formed to hang down on the ceiling surface of the upper casing 24. Of the upper casing 24 are formed by a hanging piece 24f that abuts against the duct member 48a. Note that the optical housing 33 that houses the fluorescent lamp 31 and the like has a cut-out side wall portion facing the intake duct D so as to allow communication between the intake duct D and the fluorescent lamp 31.

According to the above embodiment, a pair of intake ducts D
Thereby, the hot air at both ends of the fluorescent lamp 31, which becomes particularly high in temperature, can be efficiently exhausted, so that the inexpensive exhaust fan 7 having a small exhausting ability can be used without lowering the exhaust efficiency.
Can be used. Moreover, the above intake duct D
However, since it is constituted by a part of the upper casing 24 and a part of the lid 48 for closing the toner collecting container 47, the number of parts and the number of assembling steps do not increase, and
There is almost no cost increase due to the intake duct D.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper end of the groove-shaped duct member 48a is formed without forming the hanging piece 24f on the upper casing 24. The intake duct D may be configured by directly contacting the ceiling surface of the upper casing 24. As shown in FIG. 5, the duct member 48a may be formed in a frame-shaped cross section. In this case, the intake duct D is constituted by the duct member 48a alone without being combined with a part of the upper casing 24. be able to.

[0017]

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the hot air at both ends of the fluorescent lamp, which becomes particularly hot, can be efficiently exhausted by the pair of intake ducts. A small and inexpensive exhaust fan can be used. Moreover, since the intake duct is constituted by a part of the upper casing and a part of the lid closing the toner collecting container, there is almost no cost burden for the intake duct.

[0018] Therefore, there is an effect that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway plan view of a copying machine as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing an internal configuration.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part showing another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a main part showing still another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Casing 3 Optical system 31 Fluorescent lamp 4 Image forming unit 42 Photoreceptor drum 48 Lid 48a Duct member 5 Paper transport unit 6 Fixing unit 7 Exhaust fan D Intake duct

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An optical system for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive member by illuminating and scanning a document using a rod-shaped lamp, and visualizing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member into a toner image And a fixing unit for fixing the toner image transferred to the sheet, and a sheet conveying unit for introducing the sheet into the apparatus main body and discharging the sheet from the apparatus main body through the image forming unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: an exhaust fan that exhausts hot air in a casing of an apparatus main body; a pair of intake ducts that connect both ends of a lamp and an exhaust fan are provided in the casing; A toner collecting container for storing the collected toner is disposed at a predetermined position between the toner collecting container and the toner collecting container. The toner collecting container is sealed by a synthetic resin lid, and the lid is used alone or in combination with a part of the casing. At the above intake An image forming apparatus, wherein a duct member constituting a duct is integrally formed.