KR20070044704A - Image forming apparatus having auxiliary paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is to easily align the main body of the image forming apparatus and the auxiliary paper feeder, to securely couple the auxiliary paper feeder from being detached from the main body when external force is applied, and to easily separate the auxiliary paper feeder from the main body when necessary, main body; A printing unit installed in the main body and printing an image on paper; A main paper feeding cassette detachably installed on the main body and configured to feed paper to the printing unit; A first auxiliary paper feeding device attached to a lower portion of the main body to provide auxiliary paper feeding to the printing unit; And a first coupling part provided at a lower end of the main body to be coupled to the first auxiliary paper feeding device to the lower part of the main body, and being coupled to the first coupling part to be complementarily coupled to an upper end of the first auxiliary paper feeding device. It provides an image forming apparatus having a second coupling portion provided in the.

Description

An image forming apparatus having an auxiliary paper feeder {Image forming apparatus having second cassette feeder}

1 is a side cross-sectional view schematically showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view showing an operating state of the engaging portion when the auxiliary sheet feeding device of FIG. 1 is separated from the main body of the image forming apparatus.

3 is a side cross-sectional view schematically showing an image forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10, 20: main body of image forming apparatus 50, 60: printing unit

100, 200: photosensitive drum 101, 201: charging roller

102, 202: Optical scanning unit 103, 203: Developer

103a, 203a: Developing roller 104a, 204a: First transfer roller

104b and 204b: second transfer roller 105 and 205: fixing unit

106, 206: Main paper cassette 107, 207: Cleaning member

108, 208: Static eliminator 109, 209: Paper feed path

110, 122, 210, 222: pickup roller 111, 211: alignment roller

112, 212: exit rollers 120, 220: auxiliary paper feeder

121, 221: auxiliary paper cassette 123, 223: relay roller

124, 125, 224, 225, 324, 325: first, second, third, fourth coupling part

125a, 225a, 325a: locking jaw 130, 230, 330: fixing part

130a, 230a, 330a: handle portion 130b, 230b, 330b: hook portion

130c, 230c, 330c: spring portion A, A1, A2: coupling portion

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having an auxiliary paper feeding device, and more particularly, to easily align the main body of the image forming device and the auxiliary paper feeding device, and to prevent the auxiliary paper feeding device from being separated from the main body when an external force is applied. An image forming apparatus having an auxiliary paper feeding device, which can be coupled to and easily detachable from the main paper feeding device.

In general, an image forming apparatus irradiates light on the surface of the photoconductor by a photoelectric unit such as a charging process, a laser scanning unit (LSU), which charges the surface of the photoconductor to a predetermined potential, and thus electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductor. ) The developing process of supplying toner, a developer, to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive member, and developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive member to a toner image, which is a visible image, and the paper loaded in the main paper cassette. A feeding process for drawing the paper along the feed path through which the paper is conveyed, a transfer process for transferring the toner image formed on the photosensitive member to the fed paper as described above, and pressurizing the toner image transferred to the paper at high temperature and high pressure. The fixing process to fix the paper to the paper, and to discharge the finished paper out of the image forming apparatus. It is not provided with a process.

In the image forming apparatus for forming an image on a paper by the above process, the paper loading capacity of the main paper feed cassette is usually about 150 to 250 sheets, and the auxiliary paper feeder having a separate driving mechanism to use a larger capacity paper is used. It is common to mount a second cassette feeder (SCF) auxiliary to the main body of the image forming apparatus.

The auxiliary paper feeder is usually mounted on the lower part of the main paper cassette to feed paper. The auxiliary paper feeder is generally provided with a pickup roller and a relay roller to feed the loaded paper into the image forming apparatus.

On the other hand, when the auxiliary paper feeder is mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus, the auxiliary device is aligned and coupled by the coupling part, wherein the coupling part includes a first coupling part formed at the lower end of the main body and an upper end of the frame of the auxiliary paper feeding device. It includes a second coupling portion formed at a position corresponding to the first coupling portion of.

However, in the related art, the second coupling part has a straight pin shape and the first coupling part has a groove shape into which the second coupling part is inserted, so that any external force is applied to the image forming apparatus, such as when the image forming apparatus is moved from one place to another. A part of the image forming apparatus main body located on the side to which the external force is applied when applied to the main body of the apparatus is lifted upward by the force component of the force so that the pin-shaped second engaging portion is separated from the first engaging portion of the groove shape.

In addition, in order to improve the above problems, it is also possible to increase the height of the pin-shaped second coupling portion, in which case the second coupling portion is not able to withstand the external force and other problems occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the auxiliary paper feeder can be easily aligned with the main paper feeder and the main body of the image forming apparatus, and can be firmly coupled so that the auxiliary paper feeder is not separated from the main body when an external force is applied. It is an object to provide an image forming apparatus having a.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus having an auxiliary paper feeding device, which can easily separate the auxiliary paper feeding device from the main body when necessary.

According to the invention,

main body;

A printing unit installed in the main body and printing an image on paper;

A main paper feeding cassette detachably installed on the main body and configured to feed paper to the printing unit;

A first auxiliary paper feeding device attached to a lower portion of the main body to provide auxiliary paper feeding to the printing unit; And

A first coupling part provided at a lower end of the main body and coupled to the first coupling part to complement the first auxiliary paper feeding device to a lower portion of the main body to an upper end portion of the first auxiliary paper feeding device. There is provided an image forming apparatus having a second coupling unit.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a first catching jaw is formed at one end of the second coupling portion, and a first hook portion is formed at one end of the first fixing portion so that the first hook portion is the first catching jaw. The second coupling part is fixed by the first fixing part by the locking.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first fixing portion further comprises a first spring portion on the side of the first hook portion, the first spring portion thereof is fixed to the main body and the first hook of the first fixing portion The elastic force is applied to the first hook portion to be caught by the first locking jaw of the second coupling portion.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the first coupling portion has a groove shape, and the second coupling portion has a L-shape inserted into the first coupling portion.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a third coupling part and a second fixing part having the same or similar shape as that of the first coupling part and the first fixing part are further installed at the lower end of the first auxiliary paper feeding device. A lower portion of the first auxiliary sheet feeding device, a fourth coupling portion is formed at the position of the upper end corresponding to the third coupling portion, and further provided with a second auxiliary paper feeding device for providing auxiliary feeding.

Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus having an auxiliary paper feeding apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a side cross-sectional view schematically illustrating an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view illustrating an operation state of a coupling unit when the auxiliary sheet feeding apparatus of FIG. 1 is separated from a main body of the image forming apparatus. Side cross section view.

1 and 2, the image forming apparatus includes a main body 10, a printing unit 50 for printing an image on a sheet S1 by an electrophotographic process, and a sheet S1 by the printing unit 50. Main feed cassette 106 for feeding), the first coupling portion 124 and the fixing portion 130 provided on the lower end of the main body 10, and auxiliary feeding to the printing unit 50 It is provided with an auxiliary paper feeder 120 for providing.

The printing unit 50 includes four toners each containing toners of different colors, for example, cyan, magenta, magenta, yellow and black. A developing unit 103, a photosensitive drum 100 as a photosensitive member, a charging roller 101, a transfer belt 104, first and second transfer rollers 104a and 104b, a static eliminator 108, and a fixing unit 105 It includes.

The four developing units 103 are cartridge types detachably mounted to the main body 10, and therein, solid powder toners of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K) colors, respectively. Is accepted. The developing units 103 each have a developing roller 103a for supplying these toners to an electrostatic latent image formed in the photosensitive drum 100 to form a toner image.

The developing roller 103a attaches the toner contained in the developing unit 103 to its outer periphery and supplies it to the photosensitive drum body 100. The developing roller 103a contains a solid powdery toner, and supplies these toners to an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 100 to develop a toner image.

The photosensitive drum 100 is coated with a photoconductive material layer on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical metal drum by vapor deposition or the like, and is installed to expose a portion of the outer circumferential surface. The photosensitive drum 100 is rotated in a predetermined direction, and an electrostatic latent image corresponding to an image to be printed by light irradiated from the optical scanning unit 102 to be described later is formed on the outer circumferential surface thereof.

A charging bias voltage is applied to the charging roller 101 in order to charge the outer circumference of the photosensitive drum 100 to a uniform potential. Instead of the charging roller 101, a corona discharger (not shown) may be employed.

Toner images of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) colors sequentially formed on the photosensitive drum 100 are sequentially transferred to the transfer belt 104. The toner image is overlaid on the transfer belt 104 to form a color toner image. On the inner circumference of the transfer belt 104, a plurality of support rollers are installed. A plurality of support rollers support the transfer belt 104 and rotate in a predetermined direction.

The first transfer roller 104a transfers the toner image developed on the photosensitive drum 100 to the transfer belt 104, and the second transfer roller 104b is superimposed on the transfer belt 104 in four colors. Is transferred back to paper.

The cleaning member 107 is in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 100 to scrape off the waste toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 100 after the transfer process to transfer the waste toner storage unit (not shown). To perform.

Further, another cleaning member may be provided to remove the waste toner remaining on the transfer belt 104 after the toner image is transferred to the paper S1.

The static eliminator 108 serves to remove electric charge remaining on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum 100 in the pre-charging step. The static eliminator 108 irradiates a predetermined amount of light to the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum 100 to remove electric charges remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 100.

The fixing unit 105 applies heat and pressure to the toner image transferred to the paper S1 to fix the toner image to the paper S1.

The discharge roller 112 discharges the paper S1 on which the fixing is completed, out of the image forming apparatus.

The paper S1 discharged by the discharge roller 112 along the paper feed path 109 from the printing unit 50 is loaded in a stacking unit (not shown).

Specific configurations and operations of the first coupling part 124 and the fixing part 130 provided at the lower end of the main body 10 will be described later.

In addition, the image forming apparatus includes a main paper feeding cassette 106 provided at a lower portion thereof to feed the paper S1 to the printing unit 50.

The paper S1 loaded on the main paper feed cassette 106 is drawn out by a pick-up roller 110 and is conveyed toward the paper transfer unit 109.

The alignment roller 111 is installed in the paper transfer unit 109. The alignment roller 111 has a toner image on a desired portion of the paper S1 before the paper S1 conveyed by the pickup roller 110 passes between the transfer belt 104 and the second transfer roller 104b. The paper S1 is aligned so that it can be transferred. The paper S1 transferred as described above passes between the transfer belt 104 and the second transfer roller 104b, and the toner image is transferred to the paper S1. The toner image transferred to the sheet S1 is fixed to the sheet S1 via the fixing unit 105, and discharged out of the image forming apparatus by the discharge roller 112.

The image forming apparatus having the above configuration further includes an auxiliary paper feeding device 120 to supplement the paper feeding capacity of the main paper cassette 106.

The auxiliary paper feeder 120 includes a secondary paper feed cassette 121, a pickup roller 122, a relay roller 123, and a second coupling part 125.

The auxiliary paper feeding cassette 121 is configured to be mounted on and detachable from a frame (not shown) of the auxiliary paper feeding device 120 for loading the auxiliary paper S2.

The pickup roller 122 draws out the paper S2 loaded on the auxiliary paper cassette 121 and transfers it toward the paper conveying unit 109.

The relay roller 123 transfers the paper supplied by the pickup roller 122 to the alignment roller 111 provided in the image forming apparatus main body 10.

The portion at which the image forming apparatus main body 10 and the auxiliary sheet feeding unit 120 are coupled to each other is referred to as a coupling portion (A). That is, the coupling part A includes the first coupling part 124, the fixing part 130, and the second coupling part 125.

Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings will be described in detail the specific configuration and operation of each component included in the coupling portion (A).

The first coupling part 124 is formed at the lower end of the image forming apparatus main body 10. Specifically, the first coupling portion 124 is provided with one or two or more along the lower edge of the main body 10. In the present embodiment, the first coupling part 124 is formed in a groove shape.

The second coupling part 125 is formed at a position of the upper end of the auxiliary paper feeder 120 corresponding to the first coupling part 124. Specifically, the second coupling portion 125 is formed in the same number as the number of the first coupling portion 124 along the edge of the auxiliary paper feeder 120 frame (not shown). In the present embodiment, the second coupling part 125 is formed in a L shape.

When the auxiliary paper feeder 120 is mounted on the main body 10 of the image forming apparatus, the second letter-shaped coupling part 125 is inserted into the first coupling part 124 having a groove shape. At this time, since the groove-shaped first coupling portion 124 is formed wide so that the second coupling portion 125 can be inserted smoothly, a predetermined gap is formed between the first coupling portion 124 and the second coupling portion 125. A gap of the gap is formed.

By the way, the image forming apparatus is often moved from an initially installed place to another suitable place in accordance with a request for convenience of use or efficient use of space. In addition, when the image forming apparatus is moved to another place adjacent to the installed place, it is common to move the image forming apparatus by pushing it in a predetermined direction.

At this time, the user pushes the main body 10 of the image forming apparatus in one direction. In this case, the image forming apparatus main body 10 positioned on the pushing side of the image forming apparatus is lifted upward by the force of force. The likelihood of separation of the second coupling part 125 of the magnetic shape from the first coupling part 124 of the groove shape becomes very large.

In order to improve the above problems, the image forming apparatus includes a fixing part 130 at the lower end of the main body 10. The fixing part 130 is installed at a position adjacent to the first coupling part 124 to fix the second coupling part 125 but releases the fixing as necessary.

Hereinafter, a process of fixing or releasing the fixing of the second coupling part 125 by the fixing part 130 will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A locking jaw 125a is formed in the second coupling part 125, and a handle part 130a and a hook part 130b are formed in the fixing part 130. In addition, the fixing portion 130 further includes a spring portion 130c on the hook portion 130b side, the spring portion 130c of which one end is fixed to the main body 10 and the hook portion of the fixing portion 130 ( The elastic force is applied to the hook portion 130b so that the 130b is caught by the locking projection 125a of the second coupling portion 125.

When the auxiliary paper feeder 120 is mounted on the main body 10 of the image forming apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1, the hook portion 130b of the fixing portion 130 is formed by the elastic force of the spring portion 130c. It is fixed to the locking step (125a) of the two engaging portion (125).

In this way, even if an external force is applied to the main body 10 such that the image forming apparatus is moved from one place to another, even if a force acting upward on a part of the main body 10 acts as a second coupling part ( Instead of the 125 being separated from the first coupling part 124, a force acting upward as in the main body 10 also acts on the auxiliary paper feeding device 120, so that the main body 10 and the auxiliary paper feeding device 120 are applied. ) Are moved together in the same direction.

On the other hand, in order to separate the auxiliary paper feeder 120 from the main body 10 of the image forming apparatus, the user lifts the handle 130a of the fixing part 130 from the bottom upward to lift the main body 10 upward. do. At this time, while the handle 130a is lifted upward, the hook 130b is forced to face the spring 130c. That is, in this case, the hook portion 130b is separated from the locking step 125a of the second coupling portion 125 while compressing the spring portion 130c as shown in FIG. 2. By doing so, the auxiliary paper feeding unit 120 can be easily separated from the main body 10 of the image forming apparatus when necessary.

3 is a side cross-sectional view schematically showing an image forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a main body 20, a pickup roller 210, an alignment roller 211, a paper feed path 209, a printing unit 60, a main paper cassette 206, and a first coupling part. 224 and the first fixing part 230, the first and second auxiliary paper feeding apparatuses 220a and 220b, and the discharge roller 212.

The printing unit 60 includes four developing units 203, a developing roller 203a, a photosensitive drum 200, a charging roller 201, a cleaning member 207, a light scanning unit 202, a transfer belt 204, The first and second transfer rollers 204a and 204b, the static eliminator 208, and the fixing unit 205 are included.

The first and second auxiliary paper feeding apparatuses 220a and 220b include auxiliary paper feeding cassettes 221a and 221b, pickup rollers 222a and 222b, and relay rollers 223a and 223b, respectively.

The present embodiment differs from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in that at least two auxiliary paper feeders are mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus. That is, in the present embodiment, the auxiliary paper feeder 220 includes a first auxiliary paper feeder 220a and a second auxiliary paper feeder 220b.

The second coupling part 225 is formed at a position corresponding to the first coupling part 224 at the upper end of the first auxiliary paper feeding device 220a, and the first coupling part 224 and the first fixing part at the lower end thereof. A third coupling part 324 and a second fixing part 330 of the same or similar type as that of 230 are respectively installed. The first and second fixing parts 230 and 330 include handle portions 230a and 330a, hook portions 230b and 330b, and spring portions 230c and 330c, respectively.

A fourth coupling part 325 is formed at an upper end of the second auxiliary paper feeding device 220b at a position corresponding to the third coupling part 324.

 The portion where the image forming apparatus main body 20 and the first auxiliary paper feeder 220a are coupled to each other is a coupling portion A1, and the portion where the first auxiliary paper feeder 220a and the second auxiliary paper feeder 220b are coupled to each other. Is referred to as a coupling portion A2. That is, the coupling part A1 includes the first coupling part 224, the first fixing part 230, and the second coupling part 225, and the coupling part A2 includes the third coupling part 324, The second fixing part 330, the fourth coupling part 325 is included.

Here, in order to separate only the second auxiliary paper feeder 220b from the main body 20 of the image forming apparatus, the handle 330a of the second fixing part 330 must be lifted up from the bottom to lift the image forming apparatus. In order to separate the first and second auxiliary paper feeders 220a and 220b from the main body 20, the handle 230a of the first fixing part 230 needs to be lifted up from the bottom.

According to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus having an auxiliary paper feeder, which can easily align the auxiliary paper feeder and the main body of the image forming apparatus and firmly couple the auxiliary paper feeder so as not to be separated from the main body when an external force is applied. Can be.

In addition, according to the present invention, there can be provided an image forming apparatus having an auxiliary paper feeding device, which can easily separate the auxiliary paper feeding device from the main body if necessary.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible to those skilled in the art. Will understand. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the claims below.

Claims (5)

main body; A printing unit installed in the main body and printing an image on paper; A main paper feeding cassette detachably installed on the main body and configured to feed paper to the printing unit; A first auxiliary paper feeding device attached to a lower portion of the main body to provide auxiliary paper feeding to the printing unit; And A first coupling part provided at a lower end of the main body and complementarily coupled to the first coupling part to couple the first auxiliary paper feeding device to a lower portion of the main body to an upper end portion of the first auxiliary paper feeding device; An image forming apparatus having a second coupling portion provided. The method of claim 1, A first catching jaw is formed at one end of the second coupling part, and a first hook portion is formed at one end of the first fixing part so that the first hook part is caught by the first catching jaw. An image forming apparatus, characterized in that fixed by the first fixing portion. The method of claim 2, The first fixing part further comprises a first spring portion on the side of the first hook portion, One end of the first spring portion is fixed to the main body and the first hook portion of the first fixing portion to give the elastic force to the first hook portion so as to be caught on the first locking jaw of the second coupling portion Forming device. The method of claim 1, And the first coupling part has a groove shape, and the second coupling part has a L shape inserted into the first coupling part. The method of claim 1, At the lower end of the first auxiliary paper feeder, a third coupling part and a second fixing part having the same or similar shape as that of the first coupling part and the first fixing part are further installed. An image forming apparatus, further comprising a second auxiliary paper feeder provided at a lower end of the first auxiliary paper feeder at a position corresponding to the third coupling part and providing auxiliary paper feeding. .

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