JPS6159364A - Copying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the malfunction, etc., of the copying machine when a wrong unit is loaded, and to allow common components to be used by performing control based upon the identification information of a replaceable unit. CONSTITUTION:Shield plates 1-1 and 1-2 for different identification information are fitted to mount part of units A and B which are attachable to and detach able from the copying machine body, and when a unit is attached, its informa tion is read by the photosensor 2 of the copying machine body side. If the unit is found wrong on the basis of the output of the sensor 2, control for alarm generation, power-on inhibition, etc., is performed. Therefore, malfunction, defec tive image formation, and machine trouble during the mounting of the wrong unit are prevented, components of the copying machine body other than the units are allowed to be used in common, and the unit mounting structure is standardized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to electrophotographic copying machines with replaceable units.

PRIOR TECHNOLOGY In order to explain the typical structure of a conventional unit replaceable copying machine, FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of an electrophotographic copying machine, in which 100 is the copying machine main body, and 101 is a contact on which a copy document is placed. A glass 102 is an optical system that scans the copy original placed on the contact glass 101, and this optical system 102 scans the image of the copy original in the 50th to 141st positions in response to commands from operation keys, which will be described later. It has a function that allows you to change the magnification to any magnification within the range. Reference numeral 103 denotes a drum-shaped photoreceptor, which repeats the cycles of charging, erasing, exposing, developing, transferring, separating the copy paper, cleaning, and eliminating static electricity while rotating in the direction of the arrow.

Reference numeral 104 denotes a charger disposed facing the surface of the photoreceptor 103 to uniformly charge the surface, and 105 indicates a portion of the photoreceptor 103 that does not correspond to the original image along the rotation direction of the photoreceptor 103. At the next position, the surface of the photoreceptor 103 is exposed to document light guided by the optical system 102, and an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the document image is formed.

This electrostatic latent image is developed with toner by the next developing unit 106.

112 is a transfer charger for transferring the toner image on the photoreceptor 103 onto copy paper; 113 and 114 are separation chargers and separation claws for separating the copy paper from the surface of the photoreceptor 103; 115 is a photoreceptor 103; A cleaning unit having a recycling function removes and collects the toner remaining on the surface and returns the collected toner to the developing device 106 side, and 116 indicates a means for eliminating static electricity from the surface of the photoreceptor 103.

In addition, 107 and 108 are paper feed cassettes, 109 and 110 are paper feed rollers, 111 are registration rollers, and 11
7 is a fixing section.

In addition, the control section 100a and the optical system control section 100c of the copying machine main body 100 are each equipped with a microprocessor and a ROM that stores control programs corresponding to each device.
, a RAM serving as a work area, and input/output circuits corresponding to each device.

In addition, the operation mode of the copying machine 100, the variable magnification of the optical system, the selection of the paper feed cassette, the designation of the number of copies, the start of printing, etc. are input into the operation display section 100b attached to an appropriate location on the top surface of the copying machine 100 housing. It is equipped with various input keys and various indicators that display their selection and setting status.

FIG. 5(a) is a plan view showing an example of the operation display section 100b, and FIG. 5(b) is a partially enlarged view thereof. In FIG. 5(a), 121 indicates the number of copies. 122 is an equal size key for setting the copy magnification to the same size, 123 is a reduction key for setting the reduced copy mode and its magnification, and 124 is an enlarged copy mode and its magnification. This is an enlarged key for setting. Every time you turn on the reduction key 123, the reduction magnification changes from 93 to 97.
It changes cyclically as follows: 82nd → 71st → 61st → 50th → 93rd →...

Every time you turn on the enlargement key 124, the enlargement magnification increases to 115 inches →
It changes cyclically like 122918 → 141ji → 115chi →... 126 and 127 are a zoom up key and a zoom up key, respectively.

Also (in figure b1, 131 is a variable magnification of 101 to 14
When set to 1st section, "Zoom" is displayed and Zoo%
(Equal size) is displayed, “Equal size” is displayed, and 50
This is a variable magnification mode indicator that displays "Reduction" when set to 99 to 99.

132a is a magnification ratio display that displays the magnification ratio set by the reduction key 123, enlargement key 124, zoom down key 125, and zoom up key 126;
This is a zoom mode indicator that indicates that a magnification ratio other than the standard magnification ratio selected by is set.

Conventionally, in an electrophotographic copying machine composed of each unit having the above-described structure, a developing unit 106, a cleaning unit 115, an eraser 105, a fixing unit 11, etc.
7 or the operation display section 100b, etc., are each formed to be replaceable with respect to the copying machine main body 100, but since the unit is not equipped with means for distinguishing it from other units, for example, the toner recycling system Even if a color unit with a different developing unit and cleaning unit was installed in a monochrome copying machine, it could not be detected.

Furthermore, in order to prevent the above-mentioned incorrect setting of units, the shapes of the units are changed so that physically incorrect units cannot be set, making it difficult to share and standardize parts.

Purpose Therefore, the present invention provides a copying machine with replaceable units.
Malfunction when the wrong unit is installed.

Defective Image 9 The purpose of this is to prevent the occurrence of machine failures and to promote the standardization of parts. Here, "unit replaceable" means (a) replacement at the user's stage, such as replacing the developing unit and cleaning unit in a 9f cycle monochrome copying machine, and (b) at the manufacturing and assembly stage at the manufacturer, for example. This means replacing the unit based on changes in the specifications of the operation display section or main control section depending on the destination.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The copying machine of the present invention will now be described in accordance with the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows an example of identification means attached to each unit in a copying machine with replaceable units according to the present invention. Each unit) A and B has different combinations of shielding plates 1-] in their mounting parts.

1-χ... is installed, unit) A or B
By setting the unit in the main body of the copying machine, ON and OFF signals are generated from the optical sensor 2, thereby identifying the different units. In this embodiment, a 4-bit signal is used.

In a recycling monochrome copying machine, the color of toner in the developing unit 106 and the cleaning unit 11
The color of the toner collected from No. 5 needs to be the same as the color of the toner collected from No. 5. In a monochrome copying machine that changes the color of a copied image by changing a plurality of color toners, in order to change the toner color, it is necessary to simultaneously replace the developing unit 106 and cleaning unit 115 containing the same toner. . At this time, each unit has the identification plate 1 described earlier.
-1° and 2,9. If + is applied, even if you accidentally replace only one unit and try to operate it, the identification signals from each unit will not match the predetermined combination. This makes it possible to prevent accidents such as copying machine malfunctions, defective images, or mechanical breakdowns. The unit identification means differs only in the shape of the shielding plate attached to the mounting portion of each unit, and does not affect other configurations, making it possible to share and standardize parts.

Of course, if the identification signals from each replaced unit match a predetermined combination in the storage device of the main body of the copying machine, all of the above-mentioned constraints are of course released. Incidentally, it is left to the technical level of those skilled in the art to increase or decrease the number of bits of the optical reading means, or to change the design of this part to a mechanical-electric type or magnetic sensor, etc., as necessary.

Embodiment 2 Parts 2(a) and 2(b) are another embodiment of the present invention, and show circuit diagrams for each destination of a copying machine. Circuit diagram (a)
In (b), all other units use equipment with 100V specifications, and if the power source is AC115V for the destination, the autotransformer 3 lowers the voltage and supplies it to the AClooV, but only the fixing unit 117 uses a large-capacity heater. Because it is used, the input is directly from the power supply without passing through the autotransformer 3 [see Figure 2(b)].

Therefore, the fixing units shown in circuit (b) are not compatible, and installing the wrong unit may cause mechanical failure. In this case as well, by applying the identification means described in the first embodiment to the autotransformer equipped circuit and the fixing unit compatible therewith, it is possible to prevent the wrong unit from being installed. When an incorrect unit is installed, the main control device displays the incorrect setting, gives a warning, or prohibits turning on the power to the incorrectly installed unit.

Embodiment 3 FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, and shows the relationship between the operation display section and the main control device in a copying machine. The operation display section 100b has units for Japanese display, English display, etc. depending on the destination, and is designed to perform different operations depending on the operation mode. Therefore, the operation display section is provided with a CPU independently and sends a unit identification signal to the main control device, and the main control device performs control based on the identification signal.

Embodiment 4 As another embodiment of the present invention, an eraser unit 105 is attached to a photoreceptor 103 in a copying machine.

This requires selecting and assembling one of a plurality of modifications, such as differences in paper standards and erasing for copying modified versions, and is specified depending on the type of copying machine. Even in this type of assembly, erroneous assembly can be prevented by attaching the identification means described in the first embodiment to the eraser unit 105, as in the case explained in the other embodiments.

Effects Since the copying machine of the present invention is as described above, it is possible to display an erroneous set, warn, or prohibit power-on by reading by the unit identification means, such as a shielding plate, or by a signal from the operation display section. Further, since the other configurations can be made the same by changing only the unit identification means, it is possible to share parts and standardize the mounting structure of the units.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a copying machine with replaceable units according to the present invention, mainly a conceptual diagram of unit identification means attached to each unit, and FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the copying machine. It is an electric circuit diagram by destination showing an example, and the (al
is for the commercial power supply area of 100V, and its (BL is 115V)
It is a circuit diagram for V supply area. FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the same copying machine, showing the relationship between the operation display section and the main control device of the copying machine, and FIG. 4 shows a conventional copying machine with replaceable units. 5 is a plan view of the operation display section, (a) is an overall view, and (b) is a side sectional view.
) shows a partially enlarged view. 1-1+1-2...shielding plate

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) In a copying machine configured so that units can be replaced,
A copying machine characterized in that each unit is provided with identification display means, and when the units are assembled into a main body, control is performed based on the identification information. (2) A copying machine according to claim (1), wherein the units are a developing section and a cleaning section in a recycling type monochrome copying machine. (3) The copying machine according to claim (1), wherein the unit is a fixing section. (4) A copying machine according to claim (1), wherein the unit is an operating section. (5) A copying machine according to claim (1), wherein the unit is an eraser. (6) A copying machine according to claim (1), further comprising control means for displaying and warning that an incorrect unit has been installed when the wrong unit is installed.