CN210666365U

CN210666365U - Processing box

Info

Publication number: CN210666365U
Application number: CN201921955143.2U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 胡飞
Original assignee: Jiangxi Yibo Electronic Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Jiangxi Yibo Electronic Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-11-13
Filing date: 2019-11-13
Publication date: 2020-06-02
Anticipated expiration: 2029-11-13

Abstract

A process cartridge detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus including a main assembly and a supporting member movable between a first position and a second position; the first position is that the supporting member is located in the main assembly and the process cartridge is located at an image forming position; the second position is such that the supporting member is moved relative to the main assembly to be retracted from the first position, the process cartridge including, a photosensitive unit, a developing unit; a side cover, a moving member, which is movable relative to the side cover; the moving member may be supported by the supporting member when the supporting member is located at the first position; the moving member moves relative to the edge cover and is always supported by the support member during the movement of the support member from the first position to the second position. The technical problems that in the prior art, the protrusions are prone to breaking and the processing box is prone to shaking are solved.

Description

Processing box

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a process cartridge used in an image forming apparatus.

Background

The image forming apparatus forms an image on a recording material using electrophotography. Examples of the image forming apparatus include an electrophotographic copying machine, an electrophotographic printer (e.g., a laser beam printer, an LED printer), a facsimile machine, a word processor, and the like. The process cartridge includes at least one of an electrophotographic photosensitive drum as an image bearing member and a process device (developer bearing member (developing roller)) capable of acting on the drum, the electrophotographic photosensitive drum and the process device being integrally configured as a process cartridge detachably mountable to the image forming apparatus. As image forming apparatuses of today are more and more miniaturized, in image forming apparatuses that can perform color printing, a moving member that can move relative to an image forming apparatus main body is generally provided, and a plurality of process cartridges for image formation can be simultaneously supported on the moving member. When the service life of one or more processing boxes in the image forming device is over, the processing boxes need to be replaced by new processing boxes, a user needs to pull the supporting component out of the image forming device main body, and the processing boxes are pulled out along with the supporting component; the user can then take the old process cartridge out of the image forming apparatus, replace it with a new one, and mount the support member into the image forming apparatus main body after the process cartridge has been replaced.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view in a prior art image forming apparatus; fig. 2 is a schematic view of a related art process cartridge, a supporting member supporting the process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus. In the related art, the image forming apparatus 1 is configured as a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box body having a door cover 2 that can be opened and closed; the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with a supporting member 3 in its entirety, and the supporting member 3 is configured in a drawer shape, and a plurality of accommodating chambers 3K, 3C, 3M, 3Y for

accommodating process cartridges

4K, 4C, 4M, 4Y of different colors are provided therein. In the prior art, the fixing projections 6 are provided on the left and right sides of the process cartridge, respectively, and a plurality of grooves 7K/7C/7M/7Y are provided on the supporting member 3 when the supporting member 3 is pulled out from the main body of the image forming apparatus 1 in the B direction as shown in the drawing to mount the process cartridge 4K/4C/4M/4Y to the housing chamber 3K/3C/3M/3Y of the supporting member 3, and the fixing projections 6 on the left and right sides of the casing of the process cartridge are inserted into the grooves 7K/7C/7M/7Y and supported by the grooves 7K/7C/7M/7Y. However, in this process cartridge mounting process, the fixing projection 6 of the process cartridge is in hard contact with the support surface of the recess, and the fixing projection 6 is subjected to a large impact and is easily broken. Also when the user pushes the supporting member 3 to which the process cartridge is to be mounted in the a direction to a predetermined image forming position in the image forming apparatus, the positioning groove 5 on the process cartridge is supported by the boss on the side wall of the image forming apparatus, but moves downward when the supporting member 3 moves in the illustrated C direction relative to the image forming apparatus main body; at this time, the fixing projection 6 is out of contact with the groove 7 in the supporting member 3, the process cartridge is out of contact with the supporting member 3, there is no support between the supporting member 3 and the process cartridge, shaking may occur, and thus the process cartridge may not be stably positioned in the image forming position, thereby affecting the image forming quality of the process cartridge.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In order to solve the technical problem, the utility model provides a processing box: detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus including a main assembly and a supporting member which can support a plurality of the process cartridges, the supporting member being movable between a first position and a second position; the first position is that the supporting member is located in the main assembly and the process cartridge is located at an image forming position; the second position is such that the supporting member is moved relative to the main assembly to be retracted from the first position, the process cartridge including, a photosensitive unit including a photosensitive drum for forming an electrostatic latent image; a developing unit including a developing roller that conveys a developer to the photosensitive drum; a side cover connectable to the developing unit and the photosensitive unit; a moving member movable relative to the edge cover; the moving member may be supported by the supporting member when the supporting member is located at the first position; the moving member moves relative to the edge cover and is always supported by the support member during the movement of the support member from the first position to the second position.

The supporting member has a third position outside the main assembly, and the moving member moves relative to the edge cover during mounting of the process cartridge to the supporting member at the third position.

The edge cover is characterized by further comprising an elastic member, one end of the elastic member is abutted against the edge cover, and the other end of the elastic member is abutted against the moving component.

The side covers and the moving parts are respectively provided with two side covers and two side covers are arranged on two sides of the processing box.

The side cover is provided with an accommodating groove, the moving part is provided with an inserting block, and the inserting block can be inserted into the accommodating groove.

The side cover is provided with a guide part, the moving component is provided with a concave part, the concave part can be inserted into the guide part, and the moving component can move along the guide part relative to the side cover.

The utility model provides a processing box, the both sides of processing box are provided with the moving part, when processing box installation to the supporting component in the image forming device, the moving part on the processing box can with supporting component elastic contact has avoided prior art processing box when the installation, and fixed arch and supporting component rigid contact lead to the fixed arch in the processing box to produce too big impact force, cause protruding cracked technical problem. And when the supporting component moves downwards relative to the image forming device, namely retracts relative to the image forming position, the moving component can still be in contact with the supporting component and supported by the supporting component, and in the process, the processing box does not shake relative to the supporting component, so that the processing box can be stably positioned at the image forming position, the image forming operation is completed, and the processing box can realize high-quality image forming.

Description of the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a prior art image forming apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a process cartridge, a support member, and an image forming apparatus in the related art;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the process cartridge of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded view of the process cartridge of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a first side assembly of the process cartridge according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the first side assembly of the process cartridge of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a first moving member of the process cartridge according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a second side assembly of the process cartridge of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing the process cartridge of the present invention mounted to a support member;

fig. 10 is a schematic view of the process cartridge mounted to and just in contact with the supporting member when the supporting member is outside the main assembly of the image forming apparatus;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a process cartridge fully mounted to a supporting member when the supporting member is outside the main assembly of the image forming apparatus

Fig. 12 is a schematic view of the supporting member in the main assembly of the image forming apparatus with the process cartridge in the image forming position;

fig. 13 is a schematic view of the supporting member being located in the image forming apparatus main assembly and retracted from the position shown in fig. 12 with respect to the movement of the main assembly.

The specific implementation mode is as follows:

embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

As shown in fig. 3, the process cartridge 20 of the present invention includes a developing unit 21, a photosensitive unit 22, a first side assembly 60, and a second side assembly 70; wherein the structure of the developing unit 21 is substantially identical to that of the related art, and includes a developer tank containing developer and a developing roller (not shown) that can convey the developer to the photosensitive unit 22; the photosensitive unit 22 is provided therein with a photosensitive drum (not shown) that develops an electrostatic latent image, a cleaning unit that cleans the surface of the photosensitive drum (not shown), and the like. The first side assembly 60 is disposed at a first side end of the process cartridge, the first side end of the process cartridge is provided with a power supply unit for supplying power to the process cartridge, the first side assembly 60 may partially cover the conductive member and other members of the process cartridge disposed at the first side end, preventing the members on the first side end of the process cartridge from being interfered with other foreign substances; the second side end of the process cartridge is set as a driving end, and may be provided with a driving force transmission member such as a drum gear for providing a driving force, a developing roller gear for providing a driving force to the developing roller, and the second side assembly 70 may partially cover the driving force transmission member in the process cartridge to prevent other foreign substances from interfering with the normal operation of the driving force transmission member.

As shown in fig. 5, the first side member 60 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape, and can connect the developing unit 21 and the photosensitive unit 22; the first side assembly 60 includes a first elastic member 32, a first moving member 31, and a first edge cover 23. In the present embodiment, the first side cover 23 is configured to be substantially rectangular, is injection-molded from a resin material, and is provided with a first positioning groove 25 and a second positioning groove 26, the second positioning groove 26 being separated from the first positioning groove 25 by a certain gap, the first positioning groove 25 being provided to cooperate with the support column 12 in the support member; the second positioning groove 26 is arranged to match with a positioning post 51 on the side wall of the image forming device, wherein the shape of the first positioning groove 25 can be arranged in different shapes according to the specific structure in the supporting component; the number of the first positioning grooves 25 may be set to one or more; the shape of the second positioning groove 26 may be set to different shapes according to the shape of the positioning boss in the image forming apparatus, and the number may be set to one or more; the first side cover 23 is further provided with a receiving groove 23c for receiving the first moving member 31, a limit boss 23d for limiting the movement of the first moving member 31, and a guide portion 23b for guiding the movement of the first moving member 31. In the present embodiment, the first elastic member 32 is configured as a spring, but the first elastic member 32 may alternatively be configured as another elastic member structure such as a tension spring, a torsion spring, or the like, and in the present embodiment, one end of the first elastic member 32 is abutted by the first side cover 23, and the other end of the first elastic member 32 is abutted by the first moving member 31. As shown in fig. 7, the first moving member 31 is configured in a substantially elongated shape, and includes a recess 31a, and the recess 31a is insertable into the guide portion 23b of the first side cover 23, so that the first moving member 31 is movable in a direction defined by the guide portion 23b when an external force is applied thereto; the first moving member 31 is further provided with an elastic member mounting portion 31b which is provided in a columnar shape and can accommodate one end of the first elastic member 32; the first moving member 31 is further provided with an insertion block 31c, and the insertion block 31c is configured as a substantially rectangular block, protruding from the main body portion of the first projection 31 toward one side of the first lid 23, and is insertable into the receiving groove 23c provided in the first lid 23.

The second side assembly 70 of the present invention comprises a second side cover 24, a second elastic member 42 and a second moving member 41. In the present embodiment, the second side cover 24 is also provided with a first positioning groove 25 and a second positioning groove 26 (not shown) at positions symmetrical to the first side cover 23. The second elastic member 42 is also configured as a spring, but may be provided as another elastic member such as a torsion spring or a tension spring, and one end of the second elastic member 42 abuts against the second lid and the other end abuts against the second moving member 41. The second moving member 41 is formed in a substantially zigzag shape having a first end 41a and a second end 41 b. The first end 41a and the second end 41b may abut against the second side cover 24, respectively. When the process cartridge 20 is not mounted to the support member 10, the process cartridge 20 is in a free state with the first end 41a abutting against the second side cover 24; when the process cartridge 20 is mounted to the support member 10, the second end 41b abuts the second side cover 24 while the second elastic member 42 is compressed. In the present embodiment, the shapes of the first moving member 31 and the second moving member 41 are different, and of course, the shapes of the first moving member 31 and the second moving member 41 may be the same, and in the present embodiment, the first moving member 31 and the second moving member 41 are respectively disposed in the first side cover 23 and the second side cover 24, alternatively, the first moving member 31 and the second moving member 41 may be disposed in other places of the process cartridge, for example, the first moving member and the second moving member may be disposed on the developing unit housing, or disposed in other places such as the photosensitive unit housing, as long as they can achieve the technical effects of the present invention.

How the process cartridge operates in the image forming apparatus will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 9 to 12. For the sake of convenience of description, only the operation of the first side assembly 60 of the process cartridge and the supporting member 10 is described, and the operation of the second side assembly 720 and the supporting member is similar to that of the first side assembly, and the description will not be repeated.

The image forming apparatus is provided therein with a main assembly (not shown) which can accommodate therein other members such as the supporting member 10 and the process cartridge 20, the supporting member 10 being mountable to or removable from the image forming apparatus in the direction of an arrow a or B in fig. 9, and positioning posts 51 being provided on both left and right side walls of the image forming apparatus, respectively. The support member 10 is provided with a plurality of accommodating portions 10a for accommodating process cartridges of different colors, a support portion 11 is provided in each of the accommodating portions 10a, the support portion 11 is configured as a substantially concave groove, and support posts 12 are provided on both left and right sides of the accommodating portion 10a, respectively.

As shown in fig. 10, when the supporting member 10 is located outside the image forming apparatus, the user can mount the process cartridge 20 of the present invention into the accommodating portion 10a of the supporting member 10 along the direction D shown in fig. 10; the process cartridge 20 moves downward by an external force and its own weight, the first moving part 31 of the first side assembly 60 of the process cartridge and the second moving part 41 of the second side assembly contact the supporting portion 11 of the supporting member 10, respectively, while the first elastic member 32 and the second elastic member 42 are compressed, and the first moving part 31 and the second moving part 42 move upward with respect to the first and

second flaps

23 and 24, respectively.

As shown in fig. 11, when the process cartridge 20 is completely mounted to the support member 10, the support posts 12 on the left and right sides of the support member 10 support the first positioning grooves 25 on the left and right sides of the process cartridge, respectively, while the first moving member 31 and the second moving member 32 of the process cartridge are supported by the support portions 11 in the support member 10, respectively, and the process cartridge 20 is stably supported by the support member 10.

As shown in fig. 12, when the user mounts the process cartridge 20 into the main assembly of the image forming apparatus in the a direction shown in fig. 9 together with the supporting member 10, the process cartridge 20 is located at a predetermined image forming position. The second positioning groove 26 in the process cartridge is supported by the positioning post 51 on the side wall of the image forming apparatus, and the first positioning groove 25 is supported by the supporting post 12 in the supporting member 10; while the first moving member 31 of the process cartridge is supported by the support portion 11 in the support member 10, so that the process cartridge 20 is stably located in the predetermined image forming position.

When the process cartridge needs to execute a print job, after the door cover in the image forming apparatus is closed, the supporting member 10 moves downward relative to the image forming apparatus to retract from the position shown in fig. 12 to the position shown in fig. 13, and at this time, since the first side cover 23 and the second positioning groove 26 of the second side cover in the process cartridge are respectively supported by the positioning posts 51 on the two side walls of the image forming apparatus, the process cartridge 20 does not move downward along with the supporting member 10; however, since the supporting member 10 is moved downward relative to the main assembly in the direction of fig. E, the first positioning groove 25 on the process cartridge 20 is no longer supported by the supporting post 12 on the supporting member 10, and the first moving member 31 and the second moving member 41 on the process cartridge are moved downward by the elastic restoring force of the first elastic member 32 and the second elastic member 42, respectively, but during the retracting process of the supporting member 10 until reaching the predetermined position shown in fig. 13, the first moving member 31 and the second moving member 41 remain in contact with the supporting surface 11 of the supporting member and are supported by the supporting portion 11, so that it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem that the process cartridge rattles due to unstable support during the downward movement of the supporting member 10.

When the process cartridge needs to be replaced after completing the image forming job, the user opens the door cover in the image forming apparatus, and the supporting member 10 moves upward from the position shown in fig. 13 to the position shown in fig. 12, and in this process, the supporting portion 11 in the supporting member 10 presses the first moving member 31 and the second moving member 41 first, so that the first moving member 31 and the second moving member 41 move upward relative to the first side cover 23 and the second side cover 24, and at the same time, the first elastic member 32 and the second elastic member 32 are compressed until moving to the position shown in fig. 12. Then the supporting member 10 and the process cartridge 20 are pulled out from the image forming apparatus together again.

Compared with the prior art that the bulge on the side cover of the processing box can be completely separated from the supporting part when the supporting part retracts, the processing box is only supported by the positioning column on the side wall of the image forming device, so that the sliding is easy to occur. The utility model discloses a processing box moves down and in-process to the position that figure 13 shows from the position of picture representation 12 at the supporting component, and the last moving part of processing box keeps in contact with the supporting component always to processing box is supported by reference column 51 and supporting part 11 simultaneously, and processing box is located predetermined image forming position steadily and can not take place to rock, has prevented to influence the problem emergence of formation of image quality because of processing box can not be located predetermined image forming position steadily. And, work as the utility model discloses a when processing box installs to the supporting component, owing to be provided with the elastic component between limit cover and movable part, so first movable part and second movable part can contact with the supporting component elastically, can make movable part play the cushioning effect with the supporting component in the installation, have avoided prior art processing box to take place fixed arch and supporting component rigid contact easily when the installation, lead to protruding too big impact force of production in the installation, cause protruding cracked technical problem. And in the process that the processing box finishes the imaging task and is taken out of the image forming device, the supporting part is firstly in elastic contact with the moving part, so that the problem of breakage caused by hard impact in the prior art can be avoided.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, but not to limit it; although the invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some technical features may be equivalently replaced; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention in its corresponding aspects.

Claims

1. A process cartridge detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus including a main assembly and a supporting member, the supporting member supporting a plurality of the process cartridges, the supporting member being movable between a first position and a second position; the first position is that the supporting member is located in the main assembly and the process cartridge is located at an image forming position; the second position being that the supporting member is moved relative to the main assembly to retract from the first position, the process cartridge comprising,

a photosensitive unit including a photosensitive drum for forming an electrostatic latent image;

a developing unit including a developing roller that conveys a developer to the photosensitive drum;

a side cover connectable to the developing unit and the photosensitive unit;

a moving member movable relative to the edge cover;

the method is characterized in that: the moving member may be supported by the supporting member when the supporting member is located at the first position; the moving member moves relative to the edge cover and is always supported by the support member during the movement of the support member from the first position to the second position.

2. A process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said supporting member has a third position outside said main assembly, and wherein said moving member moves relative to said edge cover during mounting of said process cartridge to the supporting member at said third position.

3. A process cartridge according to claim 2, further comprising an elastic member, one end of which abuts against said edge cover, and the other end of which abuts against said moving part.

4. A process cartridge according to claim 2, wherein said edge cover and said moving member are provided in two, respectively, at both sides of said process cartridge.

5. A process cartridge according to claim 2, wherein a receiving groove is provided on said edge cover, and an insertion block is provided on said moving member, said insertion block being insertable into said receiving groove.

6. A process cartridge according to claim 5, wherein a guide portion is provided on said edge cover, and a recess is provided on said moving member, said recess being insertable into said guide portion, said moving member being movable relative to said edge cover along said guide portion.