JPH087404Y2 - Image forming unit replacement time management device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming unit replacement timing management apparatus.

[Prior art]

A photosensitive drum or an image forming unit including the photosensitive drum (hereinafter referred to as DS) used in a conventional image forming apparatus is provided with a management unit for managing the life of the photosensitive drum. That is, when a certain number of photosensitive drums are printed and the drum counter shows a certain number, a display requesting replacement of the photosensitive drums is displayed.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are views showing a mechanism for detecting whether or not the photoconductor drum is a new one, and a usage state display showing whether the photoconductor drum or DS1 is a new one or used. The member is provided on the photosensitive drum side or the DS1 side. Sixth
The figure is a schematic perspective view showing the above-mentioned use state detecting operation, and a micro switch 4 is provided in the housing (image forming apparatus) 2.
The DS1 is configured to be attachable to and detachable from the image forming apparatus main body. Actuator 5 is DS for micro switch 4.
A cam 6 is rotatably attached to the tip of the DS1 so as to project so as to be opposed to the DS1. The cam 6 pivotally attached to the tip of the DS1 operates the micro switch 4 by contacting the cam 6 and the actuator 5 when the DS1 is set in the main body of the image forming apparatus, and the usage state of the photosensitive drum in the DS1 is changed. A drum counter (not shown) is reset to clear the photosensitive drum replacement request. Next, when printing is started, the cam 6 pivotally attached to the leading end of the DS1 rotates and the contact with the actuator 5 is released. FIG. 7 is a view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG. 6, and a shaft 7 is axially supported on the end surface of DS1 and a gear 8 with teeth 9 partially cut on the shaft 7 is provided.
Is fitted. Further, the cam 6 is formed in a substantially elliptical shape and has teeth 10 which mesh with the teeth 9 of the gear 8 in the long axis direction. The cam 6 is biased by a spring 11 in the clockwise direction with respect to the drawing. There is. When the DS1 is mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus, the actuator 5 of the micro switch 4 is in contact with the long axis direction of the cam 6 to bring the micro switch 4 into the "ON" state. Since the cam 6 rotates in the direction (counterclockwise) to rotate clockwise, the cam 6 lays down as shown by the broken line 6a, and the side of the cam 6 contacts the stopper 12 provided on the end face of the DS1. The cam 6 comes into contact with the cam 6 and is locked in a lying state. Therefore, the contact state between the actuator 5 and the cam 6 is separated, and the micro switch 4 is turned off, so that it is determined that the DS1 is not a new product.

[Problems of conventional technology]

The operation of determining whether the conventional photosensitive drum or DS is new is as described above when the mounting mechanism of the photosensitive drum or DS is operated or when the power is turned on.
It is determined whether or not the actuator 5 is pressed. If the actuator 5 is pressed, the drum counter for managing the replacement time of the photosensitive drum is reset. For this reason, only the reset of the drum counter is performed with a new photosensitive drum or DS, and before the image forming apparatus starts the printer operation, the old DS or photosensitive drum that has been used again is replaced and printing is performed. Since the old DS or photoconductor drum can be used any number of times, it is not possible to accurately measure the life of the DS or photoconductor drum, or the DS of which the life has expired
Alternatively, a photosensitive drum may be used, and there is a problem that an image defect or the like occurs.

[Purpose of device]

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming unit replacement time management device capable of preventing unauthorized use of an old photosensitive drum or DS.

[Key points of device]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image forming unit replacement timing management device for an image forming apparatus, wherein an image forming unit including at least a photosensitive drum is configured to be detachable from an image forming apparatus main body. Is provided on the image forming apparatus main body to detect whether the image forming unit is new or not, and whether the image forming unit is new or not by detecting the use status displaying member provided on the image forming apparatus main body side. Discriminating means for discriminating, a counter for measuring the amount of the image forming unit used in the image forming operation, the counter is counting a predetermined number, and the mounted image forming unit is not new by the discriminating means. If it is determined that the image forming operation is prohibited, a prohibiting unit that prohibits the image forming operation and a predetermined amount of image forming operation while the determining unit continues detecting the new product. Identification means for identifying that the usage status display member is not a new article according to the execution of a predetermined amount of image forming operation; And a reset control means for resetting the counter.

[Example of device]

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partial side sectional view of the DS of the present invention. Before explaining this configuration, a liquid crystal is shown as an example of the image forming apparatus applied to the image forming unit replacement timing management apparatus of the present invention according to FIG. An example of a printer will be described.

The liquid crystal printer 13 used in this example shown in FIG. 2 has a so-called shell structure formed by being divided into an upper machine body 13a and a lower machine body 13b. The upper machine body 13a has a hinge portion 13c as a center, and as necessary. It is possible to open it.
Further, the upper body 13a is biased in the opening direction by a torsion spring (not shown), and the biasing force of the torsion spring and the weight of the upper body 13a are substantially parallel to each other in the state indicated by the two-dot chain line. Has been done.

A photosensitive drum 14 is rotatably supported in a substantially central portion inside a lower body 13b of the liquid crystal printer 13 and is rotationally driven in a direction of an arrow C at a predetermined speed. Around the photoconductor drum 14, a charger 15 for uniformly charging the photoconductor drum 14 along the rotation direction thereof, a liquid crystal shutter, etc. are built-in, and an optical signal corresponding to the input image information is supplied to the surface of the photoconductor drum 14. A print head 16 for irradiating the electrostatic latent image to form an electrostatic latent image, a developing device 17 for supplying toner to the formed electrostatic latent image to visualize the toner image, and a transfer device 18 for transferring the toner image onto a sheet, Photoconductor drum
14 Cleaner that removes toner that has not been transferred to the peripheral surface 19
And a paper feed cassette 20 for stacking and storing paper, a paper feed roller 21 for carrying out the paper one by one from the paper feed cassette 20,
A conveyance roll 22 that conveys a sheet and conveys it between the photoconductor drum 14 and the transfer unit 18, a fixing unit 23 that fixes the toner on the transferred sheet by heat and pressure, and a discharge roll that discharges the sheet after fixing to the outside of the machine. It consists of 24.

DS in the liquid crystal printer 13 is as shown by the dotted line in FIG.
It is composed of a photosensitive drum 14, a charger 15, and a cleaner 19. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a part of the configuration of the DS, which includes the photosensitive drum 14, the charger 15, and the cleaner 19 in the casing 25 as described above, and the DS in the casing 25 at the lower end of the cleaner 19.
A hole 28 into which a cylindrical member 26 constituting the usage state indicating member 3 showing whether the product is new or used is inserted. This hole
A plate-shaped projecting piece 29 is disposed in the 28, and is slidably fitted in a groove 27 formed in the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical member 26. A central hole is formed in the center of the cylindrical member 26 to form a female screw, and a male screw is formed on the shaft 30 to be screwed with the female screw formed in the central hole of the cylindrical member 26. Although not shown, the shaft 30 is rotatably supported by the casing 25. Further, an opening 31 is formed on the lower surface of the casing 25, and when DS is arranged in the liquid crystal printer main body, a supporting plate on the liquid crystal printer main body side.
The actuator 44 of the micro switch 43 arranged at 32 projects from the opening 31, and the periphery of the cylindrical member 26 is the actuator.
It is configured to abut the tip of 44.

FIG. 3 shows a circuit block diagram of the image forming unit replacement timing management device of this example. In the CPU (central processing unit) 33, in addition to ROM 35 and RAM 36, a non-volatile RAM 34 for storing the value of the drum counter is used as a bus. Connected via wires. The drum counter is composed of the CPU 33 and a predetermined memory area of the RAM 36, and the calculation result obtained by the counting process of the CPU 33 is stored in the RAM.
Stored in 36. In addition, the CPU 33 has a photosensitive drum 14 or D
A display unit 37 for displaying a request for replacing S, an interface 42 for inputting a print start signal, etc., a micro switch 43 for discriminating whether or not the DS shown in FIG. 1 is attached to the liquid crystal printer main body, and the upper body 13a is closed. A shell close detection switch 38 for detecting whether or not the sheet has been discharged, and a discharge detection switch 39 provided near the discharge roll 24 are also connected. The other end of each of these switches 43, 38, 39 is grounded, and the CPU3
The connection end with 3 is connected to the power supply through pull-up resistors R ₁ , R ₂ and R ₃ . Reference numerals 40 and 41 are input / output ports of the CPU 33 (microcomputer). Sensor signals of each part in the printer are input to the input port 40, and operation of the operating part in the printer is input from the output port 41. A control signal or the like is output.

The operation of the liquid crystal printer and the DS replacement timing management device having the above-described configurations will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 (a), (b) and FIG. When the DS (photosensitive drum 14) is attached to the liquid crystal printer main body, the actuator 44 of the micro switch 43 provided in the liquid crystal printer main body moves from the opening 31 formed in the bottom of the DS casing 25 to the circumference of the cylindrical member 26. It comes into contact with the surface and becomes the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 (a). Here, when a drive motor (not shown) provided in the liquid crystal printer rotates, the driving force in the E direction is transmitted to the shaft 30 via the transmission mechanism, and the male screw formed on the shaft 30 and the female screw of the cylindrical member 26 are screwed together. The cylindrical member 26 moves in the direction of arrow D because the plate-like protrusions 29 planted in the casing 25 are engaged in the grooves 27 of the cylindrical member 26. The axial length of the cylindrical member 26 is set in relation to the rotation speed of the shaft 30 and the pitch of the screw formed on the shaft 30, and one sheet of paper is printed after the new DS is set in the liquid crystal printer body. The length between the plate-like protrusions 29 and the grooves 27 of the cylindrical member 26 is set to a length that allows the engagement between the plate-like protrusions 29 and the grooves 27 of the cylindrical member 26 to be released. Therefore,
For example, if it takes 10 seconds to print one sheet of paper, the cylindrical member 26 is set to separate from the plate-like protrusion 29 within at least 10 seconds.

When the groove 27 of the cylindrical member 26 separates from the plate-like protrusion 29 in this manner, the cylindrical member 26 does not move in the D direction as shown in FIG. 4 (b). Due to the movement of the cylindrical member 26, the actuator 44 of the micro switch 43, which had been in the state where the opening 31 was blocked and could not enter the DS, was changed to the cylindrical member 26.
Since it is no longer pressed by the peripheral surface of the CPU, it is in the "off" state, and the CPU 33 knows from the photosensitive drum or DS used by the OFF signal from the microswitch 43. That is, when a predetermined amount of image forming operation is executed, a means for changing the position of the cylindrical member 26, which is a use state display member, from a position indicating a new article to a position indicating not being a new article is provided in response to the operation. Is.

Next, the operation of this example will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S _{1 of} FIG. 5, the CPU 33 determines whether the power is turned on or the shell close detection switch 38 is operated. This judgment is made based on whether or not the shell close detection switch 38 is turned on and a ground level signal is input to the CPU 33. The determination of power-on is made by a signal input to the CPU 33 (not shown). If it is determined that either of them is on, the photosensitive drum 14
It is determined whether or not the life state of, that is, the value of the drum counter that counts the number of prints exceeds a predetermined value. In this case, if DS is set in the liquid crystal printer and the drum counter does not exceed the predetermined value, N
And proceed to judgment (S ₆ ). On the other hand, the lifetime value of the drum counter photosensitive drum i.e., that exceeds the predetermined value (S ₂ is Y), the process proceeds to decision (S _3), DS is determined whether or not new. For this determination, see the state of the micro switch 43, which is a determination means for determining whether the DS is new or used,
If it is in the “on” state, it is judged as new, and if it is in the “off” state, it is judged as used. Now the microswitch in step S ₃ is “on”
In the state (state of FIG. 4 (b)), a high signal is output from the micro switch 43 to the CPU 33, and the replacement request is displayed on the display unit 37 as the old DS is used (S ₄ ). In the subsequent step (STOP) processing, the operation of the device is stopped (prohibition means).

After that, when the DS is replaced with a new DS and the shell close operation is performed, the judgment (S ₁ , S ₂ ) is judged as Y (S ₃ ) as described above.
Is executed. At this time, the micro switch 43 is in the ON state (the state shown in FIG. 4 (a) or FIG. 1), and the CPU 33 causes the DS
Is judged to be new. Next, a flag is set as shown in the processing (S ₅ ) (DSFg = 1). In this state, wait until it becomes ready to print (READY). The ready determination (S ₆ ) becomes Y when, for example, the heater of the liquid crystal printer has completed warm-up. Print command signals via the interface 42 in the next decision Once turned ready (S ₇₎ to determine whether supplied. Here, if there is a print command (S ₇ is Y), the printing operation is executed by the CPU33 (S _8). The printing of one sheet is completed by the above-mentioned predetermined operation of the image forming members 15, 16, 17, 18, etc. shown in FIG. 2, and the sheet discharge roll 24 shown in FIG. When the sheet discharge by the paper detection switch 39 is detected (S ₉ is Y), the drum flag (DSFG) is 1
Whether or not it is determined (S ₁₀ ). If DSFg = 1 here (if the flag is set), it means that the DS set before printing started was new.
Step S ₉ and with a DS of new by step S ₁₀ will be that the image forming operation of a predetermined amount of (one sheet paper) is executed is identified (identification means), determination (S ₁₁₎
Then, the CPU 33 determines for confirmation whether or not the micro switch 43 is still in the "ON" state. If the micro switch 43 remains "on" even though one sheet of paper has been printed, it means that for some reason the state of FIG. 4 (a) has remained and the cylindrical member 26 has not moved. issues an alarm (S _12), and stops the printing operation for error processing. Meanwhile, the micro switch 43 is “off”
If it is, it is judged that the new cylindrical member 26 of the DS has moved normally to the state shown in FIG. 4 (b), the drum counter is reset, and the drum flag (DSFg) is set to 0 (S ₁₃ , S ₁₄ ). After that, the count value for the printing operation (S ₈ ) performed as described above is incremented by 1 (S ₁₅ ) in the drum counter reset in S ₁₃ . After that, this process (S ₁₅ ) is executed for each print operation while the DS is sequentially used by the print operation. The count value of the drum counter that is incremented and stored in the RAM 36 is stored in the nonvolatile RAM 34 when the power switch of the printer is turned off. With the above operation, the value of the drum counter is reset to the initial value only when a new DS is installed and one print operation is completely completed, so the used DS that does not press the actuator 44 of the micro switch 43 Even if is mounted, the printing operation cannot be executed if the count value of the drum counter exceeds the predetermined value.

Incidentally, in the above-mentioned configuration, the replacement of the DS has been described, but it is needless to say that the same configuration can be adopted in the replacement of the photosensitive drum itself, and the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. Various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied not only to the liquid crystal printer but also to various image forming apparatuses.

[Effect of device]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the drum counter is not reset to the initial value by simply mounting a new DS, and therefore it is possible to eliminate unauthorized use of the DS or the photosensitive drum. In addition, it is possible to accurately count the life of the photosensitive drums and efficiently replace the drum set or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial side sectional view of a DS showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a liquid crystal printer used for the explanation of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a timing of replacing an image forming unit of the present invention. FIG. 4 (a) and FIG. 4 (b) are operation block diagrams of the usage state detection member of the photosensitive drum or DS of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the present invention, FIG. FIG. 7 shows a conventional example. 3 ... Usage status display member 14 ... Photosensitive drum, 25 ... Cleaner, 26 ... Cylindrical member, 27 ... Groove, 29 ... Plate-shaped projection piece, 30 ... Shaft, 33 ...
… Microcomputer, 43 …… Microswitch, 44
...... Actuator.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An image forming unit replacement timing management device for an image forming apparatus, wherein an image forming unit including at least a photosensitive drum is configured to be detachable from a main body of the image forming apparatus. A usage state display member that indicates whether the forming unit is new, and a determination unit that is provided on the image forming apparatus main body side and that determines whether the image forming unit is new by detecting the usage state display member; A counter that measures the amount used by the image forming unit in the image forming operation, and a counter that counts a predetermined number and that the installed image forming unit is not a new product. Prohibiting means for prohibiting the image forming operation, and a predetermined amount of image forming operation being executed while the discrimination means continues to detect a new article Identification means for identifying, means for changing the usage status display member to a state indicating that it is not a new article in response to execution of a predetermined amount of image forming operation, and reset control for resetting the counter according to the output of the identification means. An image forming unit replacement time management device comprising: