A device for preventing the caking of waste toner from toner cartridges

Abstract

The present invention relates to a toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device, comprising: a waste toner bin; a partition, which is arranged in the waste toner bin and divides the waste toner bin into a first bin and a second bin, wherein the first bin has an opening, and the partition is provided with a powder inlet for the waste toner to enter from the first bin into the second bin; a first waste toner transport mechanism, which is arranged in the first bin and is used to transport the waste toner entering the first bin to the powder inlet position of the partition and transfer it to the second bin via the powder inlet; a second waste toner transport mechanism, which is arranged in the second bin and is used to transfer the waste toner entering the second bin from the powder inlet position of the partition to the inside of the second bin; and a reflux port is also provided in the partition corresponding to the inner area of ​​the second bin, so that the waste toner stored in the second bin can be returned to the first bin via the reflux port under the action of the second waste toner transport mechanism. The anti-caking device can store the waste toner uniformly in the waste toner bin and can prevent the waste toner from accumulating and agglomerating.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of printers, and in particular to a toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device. Background Art

[0002] In a laser printer, most of the imaging components are concentrated in the toner drum, and the quality of printing is actually largely determined by the toner drum. When the toner drum is in use, after the surface of the drum core (photosensitive drum) that absorbs toner contacts the printing paper, a portion of toner will remain due to the influence of charge distribution. In order not to affect the printing quality, these toners are generally treated as waste toner and separated from the surface of the photosensitive drum by a scraper and fall into the waste toner bin. In the prior art, the waste toner bin is generally installed between the photosensitive drum and the fixing roller. A scraper is provided at the opening of the waste toner bin to scrape off the toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and the toner separated from the surface of the photosensitive drum falls into the waste toner bin. The existing printer toner bin generally uses a screw or a paddle to transport waste toner in one direction. On the one hand, this waste toner handling method is easy to pile up waste toner to one side, and there is even a possibility that waste toner will overflow from the cleaning sheet; on the other hand, it also reduces the capacity of the waste toner bin, affecting the service life of the entire print cartridge.

[0003] In order to solve the above technical problems, the applicant's previously applied patent (application number CN201821364777.6) discloses a "waste powder conveying mechanism for toner cartridge waste powder bin", including: a first powder conveying screw, the threads on the screw are inclined from the two ends to the center, and the waste powder is conveyed from the two ends to the middle, and the middle section of the screw is provided with blades for stirring the waste powder; a second powder conveying screw is arranged in parallel with the first screw, and the threads on the screw are inclined from the center to the two ends, and the waste powder is conveyed from the middle to the two ends; a driving mechanism drives the first powder conveying screw and the second powder conveying screw to rotate in opposite directions. The waste powder conveying mechanism uses two powder conveying screws and sets different thread directions, which expands the axial and longitudinal conveying range and capacity of the waste powder, so that the waste powder can be fully dispersed to the waste powder bin, and the capacity of the waste powder bin is expanded.

[0004] However, the waste toner conveying mechanism in the above patent still has certain deficiencies in actual use. Although the waste toner can be more evenly dispersed into the waste toner bin through the transmission of the two powder feeding screws, thus expanding the capacity of the waste toner bin, as the powder feeding screws continue to rotate and convey, the waste toner will accumulate at the inner end of the waste toner bin (i.e., the end of the powder feeding screw transmission path), resulting in an increase in internal pressure. In addition, as the powder feeding screws rotate, friction generates high heat, causing the waste toner to agglomerate, thus affecting the service life of the toner cartridge. Therefore, how to provide a toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device that can evenly store waste toner in the waste toner bin and prevent waste toner from accumulating and agglomerating has become a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently by personnel in the field of technology. Summary of the invention

[0005] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device which can store waste toner evenly in a waste toner bin and avoid the waste toner from accumulating and agglomerating.

[0006] The technical solution adopted by the present invention to solve the above technical problems is: a toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device, comprising:

[0007] a waste toner bin having an opening for waste toner to enter therein;

[0008] A partition is provided in the waste toner bin and divides the waste toner bin into a first bin and a second bin, wherein the first bin has the opening, and the partition is provided with a powder inlet for waste toner to enter the second bin from the first bin;

[0009] A first waste toner conveying mechanism is provided in the first chamber, and is used to convey the waste toner entering the first chamber to the powder inlet of the partition, and transfer the waste toner to the second chamber through the powder inlet;

[0010] A second waste powder transport mechanism, disposed in the second chamber, for transferring the waste powder entering the second chamber from the powder inlet of the partition to the interior of the second chamber;

[0011] The partition plate is further provided with a reflux port in an inner area corresponding to the second chamber, so that the waste toner stored in the second chamber can be returned to the first chamber through the reflux port under the action of the second waste toner transporting mechanism.

[0012] In order to arrange the first and second bins of the waste powder bin reasonably so as to form a circulation or conveying path with a certain length between the powder inlet and the return port on the partition, the waste powder bin is strip-shaped, and the partition is arranged along the length direction of the waste powder bin, so that the first and second bins formed by the partition are also basically strip-shaped, wherein the first and second bins are arranged parallel to each other. Of course, the strip-shaped arrangement of the first and second bins facilitates the placement of the first and second waste powder conveying rods.

[0013] As an improvement, the powder inlet of the partition is located in the middle of the partition, and the partition has two return ports, which are respectively located at the two ends of the partition. The above-mentioned structural arrangement can make the waste carbon powder form two flow cycles in the first chamber and the second chamber, which effectively improves the dispersion effect of the waste carbon powder, reduces the probability of waste carbon powder being blocked during the flow process, and effectively avoids the problem of agglomeration of waste carbon powder during the transmission process. It can be imagined that the powder inlet and return port of the partition can be respectively arranged at the two end positions of the partition, thereby forming a flow cycle between the first chamber and the second chamber.

[0014] In order to enable the waste toner to be effectively transmitted in the first chamber and the second chamber along the length direction thereof and to be transferred between the two chambers through the powder inlet and the return port, the first waste toner transport mechanism is arranged along the length direction of the first chamber, and comprises two first axial pushing portions spaced apart along the length direction thereof and a first radial pushing portion located between the two first axial pushing portions, the outer ends of the two first axial pushing portions respectively corresponding to the two return ports, so as to transfer the waste toner in the first chamber from the two ends of the first chamber to the middle position, and the first radial pushing portion corresponding to the powder inlet of the partition, so as to transfer the waste toner in the first chamber to the second chamber via the powder inlet of the partition;

[0015] The second waste powder conveying mechanism is arranged along the length direction of the second chamber, and includes two second radial pushing parts spaced apart along its length direction and a second axial pushing part located between the two second radial pushing parts, the middle part of the second axial pushing part corresponds to the powder inlet of the partition, so as to convey the waste toner powder entering the second chamber from the powder inlet of the partition from the middle part to both ends of the second chamber, and the two second radial pushing parts correspond to the two reflux ports respectively, so as to transfer the waste toner powder parts transmitted to the two end positions of the second chamber to the first chamber via the above-mentioned two reflux ports.

[0016] As an improvement, the first waste powder conveying mechanism includes a first waste powder conveying rod that can rotate around its own axis, a first spiral push piece is spirally arranged along its length direction on the outer peripheral wall of the first waste powder conveying rod, and the length portion of the first waste powder conveying rod corresponding to the first spiral push piece constitutes the first axial pushing portion, the first waste powder conveying rod also has a first paddle extending radially outward on the outer peripheral wall corresponding to the powder inlet of the partition, and the length portion of the first waste powder conveying rod corresponding to the first paddle constitutes the first radial pushing portion, the second waste powder conveying mechanism includes a second waste powder conveying rod that can rotate around its own axis, a second spiral push piece is spirally arranged along its length direction on the outer peripheral wall of the second waste powder conveying rod, the second spiral push piece is divided into two sections with opposite spiral directions along the axial direction of the second waste powder conveying rod, and the length portion of the second waste powder conveying rod corresponding to the second spiral push piece constitutes the second axial pushing portion, the second waste powder conveying rod also has a second paddle extending radially outward on the outer peripheral wall corresponding to the two reflux ports of the partition, and the length portions of the second waste powder conveying rod corresponding to the two second paddles respectively constitute the two second radial pushing portions.

[0017] In order to transfer as much waste toner in the first chamber as possible to the second chamber, and at the same time, to return a small amount of waste toner stored in the second chamber to the first chamber only when the waste toner is seriously accumulated, the lower part of the partition is an arc-shaped curved part that gradually tilts from bottom to top toward the side where the first waste toner conveying rod is located, and the reflux port and the powder inlet are both arranged on the arc-shaped curved part, wherein the reflux port is located at the upper part of the arc-shaped curved part, and the powder inlet is located at the lower part of the arc-shaped curved part. Since the arc-shaped curved part is inclined and extends toward the side of the first waste toner conveying rod, the reflux port is arranged in the upper area of ​​the arc-shaped curved part, and the reflux port is roughly located in the upper area of ​​the first spiral push piece, so that the waste toner in the second chamber (corresponding to the waste toner attached to the upper area of ​​the arc-shaped curved part) can quickly fall into the first chamber when it starts to accumulate, and is quickly pushed along the length direction of the first chamber by the first spiral push piece in the first chamber, and will not accumulate at the reflux port position. Similarly, by arranging the powder inlet at the lower area of ​​the arc-shaped curved portion, the waste carbon powder in the first chamber can be quickly transferred to the second chamber through the powder inlet, thereby avoiding the accumulation of waste carbon powder at the powder inlet.

[0018] In order to make the waste toner conveying process at the reflux port position smoother and avoid waste toner clogging at the reflux port, the rotation direction of the first waste toner conveying rod and the rotation direction of the second waste toner conveying rod are consistent with the inclination direction of the arc-shaped curved portion.

[0019] In order to drive the first waste powder conveying rod and the second waste powder conveying rod to rotate in the same direction by the same driving device, a driving device is also included, and a driving gear is coaxially provided on the power output shaft of the driving device, a first gear is coaxially provided at one end of the first waste powder conveying rod, and a second gear is coaxially provided at one end of the second waste powder conveying rod, the first gear and the second gear are meshed through an auxiliary gear transmission, and the driving gear is meshed with the first gear.

[0020] In order to further control the reflux amount of waste toner from the second chamber to the first chamber, the maximum dimension of the reflux port in the length direction of the partition is smaller than the axial length of the second radial pushing portion of the second waste toner conveying rod.

[0021] In order to speed up the transfer of waste toner from the first chamber to the second chamber, the size of the powder inlet in the length direction of the partition is greater than the axial length of the first radial pushing portion of the first waste toner conveying rod.

[0022] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are as follows: the waste powder bin of the toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device is divided into a first bin and a second bin by a partition, and waste powder conveying mechanisms are provided in both bins. Under the action of the waste powder conveying mechanisms in the two bins, the waste toner on the toner cartridge that enters the waste powder bin can be more evenly dispersed into the waste powder bin, thereby expanding the capacity of the waste powder bin. On the other hand, when the amount of waste toner entering the second bin increases, under the action of the second waste powder conveying mechanism, the waste toner therein can be partially transferred from the reflux port of the partition to the first bin, and then transferred to the powder inlet by the first waste powder conveying mechanism of the first bin, and enter the second bin again, forming a flow cycle. In this process, there will be no serious accumulation of waste toner inside the second bin, and the heat generated by the friction action of the waste powder conveying mechanism inside the second bin will also be taken out of the second bin and cooled with the flow cycle of the waste toner, thereby effectively avoiding the problem of waste toner agglomeration and extending the service life of the toner cartridge. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 An exploded view of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3 A front view of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 4 for Figure 3 Sectional view at AA in the middle;

[0027] Figure 5 for Figure 3 Sectional view at the middle BB;

[0028] Figure 6 for Figure 1 The structural diagram of the first waste powder transport mechanism is omitted;

[0029] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of a partition according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 8 is a side view of a partition according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Fig. 9 A front view of a first waste toner transporting mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Fig.10 It is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the first waste toner transporting mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Fig.11 A front view of a second waste toner transport mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Fig.12 Schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the second waste toner transporting mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] The present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0036] See also Figure 1-Figure 12 A toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device comprises a waste toner bin 10, a partition 20, a first waste toner transport mechanism 30, a second waste toner transport mechanism 40 and a driving device.

[0037] See also Figure 1 and Figure 2 The front of the waste toner bin 10 has an opening 13 for waste toner to enter, and the cross section of the waste toner bin 10 is substantially U-shaped. Figure 3 and Figure 4 , the partition 20 is arranged in the waste powder bin 10, and divides the waste powder bin 10 into a first chamber 11 and a second chamber 12. Specifically, the waste powder bin 10 in this embodiment is strip-shaped, and the partition 20 is arranged along the length direction of the waste powder bin 10, so that the first chamber 11 and the second chamber 12 formed by the partition 20 are also basically strip-shaped, wherein the first chamber 11 is located at the front, and the second chamber 12 is located at the rear, and the two are arranged parallel to each other. The strip-shaped arrangement of the first chamber 11 and the second chamber 12 facilitates the placement of the first waste powder conveying mechanism 30 (the first waste powder conveying rod 33) and the second waste powder conveying mechanism 40 (the second waste powder conveying rod 43). The front part of the first chamber 11 has a strip-shaped opening consistent with its length direction, and the opening is the opening 13 of the waste powder bin 10 for the waste toner to enter.

[0038] See also Figure 7 and Figure 8 , the partition 20 is a strip-shaped plate. In order to facilitate the fixing of the partition 20 on the waste powder bin 10, the upper edge of the partition 20 is fixed on the upper edge of the opening 13 of the waste powder bin 10, and the lower edge of the partition 20 extends to the middle position of the bottom plate of the waste powder bin 10, and is connected with the bottom surface of the bottom plate, so as to divide the waste powder bin 10 into a first chamber 11 located at the front and a second chamber 12 located at the rear. The partition 20 is provided with a powder inlet 21 for waste toner to enter the second chamber 12 from the first chamber 11, and a reflux port 22 for waste toner to enter the first chamber 11 from the second chamber 12.

[0039] See also Figure 2 and Figure 5The first waste toner conveying mechanism 30 is provided in the first chamber 11 and arranged along the length direction of the first chamber 11, and is used to convey the waste toner entering the first chamber 11 to the powder inlet 21 of the partition 20, and transfer it to the second chamber 12 through the powder inlet 21. The second waste toner conveying mechanism 40 is provided in the second chamber 12, and is used to transfer the waste toner entering the second chamber 12 from the powder inlet 21 of the partition 20 to the inside of the second chamber 12, wherein the partition 20 is further provided with a reflux port 22 corresponding to the inner area of ​​the second chamber 12, and under the action of the second waste toner conveying mechanism 40, part of the waste toner stored in the second chamber 12 can be returned to the first chamber 11 through the reflux port 22. The waste toner returned from the second chamber 12 to the first chamber 11 is transported to the powder inlet 21 of the partition 20 together with the waste toner subsequently entering the first chamber 11 under the action of the first waste toner transport mechanism 30, and then enters the second chamber 12 again, forming a cycle.

[0040] See also Figure 1 and Figure 6 , in order to form two flow cycles of waste toner in the first chamber 11 and the second chamber 12, so as to effectively improve the dispersion effect of waste toner, reduce the probability of waste toner blocking during the flow process, and avoid the problem of agglomeration of waste toner during the transmission process. The powder inlet 21 of the partition 20 in this embodiment is located in the middle of the partition 20. There are two reflux ports 22, which are respectively located at the two ends of the partition 20. It can be imagined that the powder inlet 21 and the reflux port 22 of the partition 20 can be set at one, and both are respectively set at the two end positions of the partition 20, thereby forming a flow cycle between the first chamber 11 and the second chamber 12. Of course, the above-mentioned reflux port 22 and the powder inlet 21 can also be set in multiple according to actual needs (that is, set at multiple positions in the length direction of the partition 20), so that the waste toner in the waste powder bin 10 forms multiple flow cycles.

[0041] Combination Fig. 9 and Fig.10, the first waste powder conveying mechanism 30 includes two first axial pushing parts 31 spaced apart along the length direction thereof and a first radial pushing part 32 located between the two first axial pushing parts 31. Specifically, the first waste powder conveying mechanism 30 in this embodiment includes a first waste powder conveying rod 33 that can rotate around its own axis, and the first waste powder conveying rod 33 is a spiral push rod. The outer peripheral wall of the first waste powder conveying rod 33 has a first spiral pushing piece 331 spirally arranged along the length direction thereof, and the spiral directions of the two first spiral pushing pieces 331 are opposite. The outer ends of the two first spiral pushing pieces 331 correspond to the two reflux ports 22 respectively, so as to transfer the waste carbon powder in the first chamber 11 from the two ends of the first chamber 11 to the middle position. The outer peripheral wall of the first waste powder conveying rod 33 also has a first paddle 332 extending radially outward, and the first paddle 332 is located between the two first spiral pushing pieces 331 and corresponds to the position of the powder inlet 21 of the partition 20. When the first paddle 332 rotates with the first waste toner conveying rod 33, the waste toner in the first chamber 11 can be pushed into the second chamber 12 through the powder inlet 21 of the partition 20. In this embodiment, the length portion of the first waste toner conveying rod 33 corresponding to the first spiral pushing piece 331 constitutes the above-mentioned first axial pushing portion 31. The length portion of the first waste toner conveying rod 33 corresponding to the first paddle 332 constitutes the above-mentioned first radial pushing portion 32.

[0042] Combination Fig.10 and Fig.11The second waste powder conveying mechanism 40 includes two second radial push parts 42 spaced apart along the length direction thereof and a second axial push part 41 located between the two second radial push parts 42. The second waste powder conveying mechanism 40 includes a second waste powder conveying rod 43 that can rotate around its own axis, and the second waste powder conveying rod 43 is a spiral push rod. A second spiral push piece 431 is spirally arranged along the length direction on the outer peripheral wall of the second waste powder conveying rod 43, and the second spiral push piece 431 is divided into two sections (two adjacent sections) with opposite spiral directions along the axial direction of the second waste powder conveying rod 43. The combination position of the two sections of the second spiral push piece 431 with opposite spiral directions corresponds to the powder inlet 21 of the partition 20, so as to transfer the waste carbon powder entering the second chamber 12 from the powder inlet 21 of the partition 20 from the middle part to the two ends of the second chamber 12. The outer peripheral wall of the second waste powder conveying rod 43 is also provided with a second paddle 432 extending radially outward at the position corresponding to the two reflux ports 22 of the partition 20. When the second waste toner conveying rod 43 rotates, the second paddle 432 rotates accordingly to push the waste toner in the second chamber 12 into the first chamber 11 through the reflux port 22 of the partition 20. Specifically, the length portion of the second waste toner conveying rod 43 corresponding to the second spiral push piece 431 constitutes the above-mentioned second axial push portion 41. The length portions of the second waste toner conveying rod 43 corresponding to the two second paddles 432 respectively constitute the above-mentioned two second radial push portions 42.

[0043] See also Figure 4 and Figure 5In addition, another important innovation of this embodiment is that the lower part of the partition 20 is designed as an arc-shaped curved part 23 that gradually tilts from bottom to top toward the side where the first waste powder conveying rod 33 is located, and the curvature of the arc-shaped curved part 23 is adapted to the outer edge of the first spiral pushing piece 331. Among them, the reflux port 22 and the powder inlet 21 are both arranged on the arc-shaped curved part 23, and the reflux port 22 is specifically located at the upper part of the arc-shaped curved part 23, and the powder inlet 21 is located at the lower part of the arc-shaped curved part 23. Because for the waste toner bin 10 of the printer for storing waste toner, what the user expects is that, on the one hand, the waste toner can be evenly stored in the waste toner bin 10 and transferred to the second chamber 12 as much as possible to increase the capacity of the waste toner bin 10; on the other hand, when the waste toner stored in the second chamber 12 accumulates to a certain extent, a small amount of waste toner can be quickly returned to the first chamber 11 to avoid the waste toner in the second chamber 12 from agglomerating due to friction and high heat after excessive accumulation. In this embodiment, the partition 20 adopts the structural setting of the above-mentioned arc-shaped curved portion 23, which can better solve the above-mentioned problem. Since the arc-shaped curved portion 23 extends obliquely toward one side of the first waste powder conveying rod 33, and the above-mentioned reflux port 22 is arranged in the upper area of ​​the arc-shaped curved portion 23, the reflux port 22 is roughly located in the upper area of ​​the first spiral push piece 331. Therefore, the waste toner in the second chamber 12 (corresponding to the waste toner attached to the upper area of ​​the arc-shaped curved portion 23) can quickly fall into the first chamber 11 when it begins to accumulate, and is quickly pushed along the length direction of the first chamber 11 by the first spiral push piece 331 in the first chamber 11, and will not accumulate at the position of the reflux port 22. In order to further control the reflux amount of waste toner from the second chamber 12 to the first chamber 11, the maximum dimension d1 of the reflux port 22 in the length direction of the partition 20 is smaller than the axial length of the second radial push portion 42 of the second waste powder conveying rod 43, see for details. Figure 7 Furthermore, in order to make the waste toner conveying process at the reflux port 22 smoother and avoid the waste toner from being blocked at the reflux port 22 , the rotation direction of the first waste toner conveying rod 33 and the rotation direction of the second waste toner conveying rod 43 are consistent with the inclination direction of the arc-shaped curved portion 23 .

[0044] Combination Figure 7 In this embodiment, the powder inlet 21 is disposed in the lower area of ​​the arc-shaped curved portion 23 of the partition 20. Thus, under the action of the first paddle 332, the waste toner in the first chamber 11 can be quickly transferred to the second chamber 12 through the powder inlet 21, thereby preventing the waste toner from accumulating at the powder inlet 21. In addition, in order to speed up the transfer of the waste toner from the first chamber 11 to the second chamber 12, the dimension d2 of the powder inlet 21 in the length direction of the partition 20 is greater than the axial length of the first radial pushing portion 32 of the first waste toner conveying rod 33.

[0045] See also Figure 1 In this embodiment, the first waste powder conveying rod 33 and the second waste powder conveying rod 43 are driven by the same driving device and rotate in the same direction, wherein a driving gear 51 is coaxially arranged on the power output shaft of the driving device, one end of the first waste powder conveying rod 33 extends out of the end wall of the waste powder bin 10 and is coaxially arranged with a first gear 52, and one end of the second waste powder conveying rod 43 also extends out of the end wall of the waste powder bin 10 and is coaxially arranged with a second gear 53. The first gear 52 and the second gear 53 are meshed with each other through an auxiliary gear 54, wherein the auxiliary gear 54 can be sleeved and connected to a gear shaft corresponding to the end wall of the waste ink bin, and the driving gear 51 meshes with the first gear 52.

[0046] The action process of the toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device of this embodiment is as follows:

[0047] After the driving device is started, the first waste powder conveying rod 33 and the second waste powder conveying rod 43 can rotate synchronously, wherein the first spiral pushing piece 331 of the first waste powder conveying rod 33 has two sections, and the spiral directions are opposite, so that the waste toner falling into the first chamber 11 can be conveyed from both sides of the first chamber 11 to the middle position. When the waste toner is conveyed to the middle of the first chamber 11, the first paddle 332 of the first waste powder conveying rod 33 can be paddled toward the powder inlet 21 of the partition 20, so as to be pushed into the second chamber 12 through the powder inlet 21. When the waste toner enters the middle of the second chamber 12, it will be pushed again on the second spiral pushing piece 431 (divided into spiral directions). The waste toner is then transported from the middle of the second chamber 12 to both ends under the push of the two opposite sections) and gradually accumulated at both ends of the second chamber 12. When the waste toner at both ends accumulates to a certain extent, a small amount of waste toner can be quickly returned to the first chamber 11 through the reflux port 22 under the action of the second paddles 432 at both ends of the second waste toner transporting rod 43, thereby avoiding the problem of waste toner agglomeration caused by friction and high heat after excessive accumulation. Finally, under the action of the two first spiral pushing pieces 331 of the first waste toner transporting rod 33, the waste toner is transported from both ends of the first chamber 11 to the powder inlet 21 in the middle position, and then enters the second chamber 12 again, thereby forming a flow circulation of the waste toner.

[0048] The advantages of the toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device of the present embodiment are as follows: the waste toner bin 10 of the toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device is divided into a first chamber 11 and a second chamber 12 by a partition 20, and both chambers are provided with a waste toner transport mechanism. Under the action of the waste toner transport mechanism in the two chambers, the waste toner on the toner cartridge that enters the waste toner bin 10 can be more evenly dispersed into the waste toner bin 10, thereby expanding the capacity of the waste toner bin 10. On the other hand, when the amount of waste toner powder entering the second chamber 12 increases, under the action of the second waste toner conveying mechanism 40, part of the waste toner powder can be transferred from the reflux port 22 of the partition 20 to the first chamber 11, and then transported to the powder inlet 21 by the first waste toner conveying mechanism 30 of the first chamber 11, and enters the second chamber 12 again, forming a flow cycle. During this process, there will be no serious accumulation of waste toner powder inside the second chamber 12, and the heat generated inside the second chamber 12 due to the friction action of the waste toner conveying mechanism will also be carried out of the second chamber body and cooled with the flow cycle of the waste toner powder, thereby effectively avoiding the problem of waste toner powder agglomeration and extending the service life of the toner cartridge.

Claims

1. A toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device, comprising: A waste toner bin (10) having an opening (13) for waste toner to enter; a partition (20) disposed in the waste toner bin (10) and dividing the waste toner bin (10) into a first bin chamber (11) located at the front and a second bin chamber (12) located at the rear, the first bin chamber (11) having the opening (13), and a powder inlet (21) for waste toner to enter from the first bin chamber (11) into the second bin chamber (12) being disposed on the partition (20); A first waste toner conveying mechanism (30) is disposed in the first chamber (11) and is used to convey the waste toner entering the first chamber (11) to the powder inlet (21) of the partition (20), and transfer the waste toner to the second chamber (12) via the powder inlet (21); A second waste powder transport mechanism (40) is disposed in the second chamber (12) and is used to transfer the waste powder entering the second chamber (12) from the powder inlet (21) of the partition (20) to the interior of the second chamber (12); The invention is characterized in that: the partition (20) is further provided with a reflux port (22) in an inner area corresponding to the second chamber (12), so that the waste toner stored in the second chamber (12) can be returned to the first chamber (11) through the reflux port (22) under the action of the second waste toner transport mechanism (40); The lower part of the partition (20) is an arc-shaped curved part (23) which is gradually inclined from bottom to top toward the side where the first waste powder transporting mechanism (30) is located, and the reflux port (22) and the powder inlet (21) are both arranged on the arc-shaped curved part (23), wherein the reflux port (22) is located at the upper part of the arc-shaped curved part (23), and the powder inlet (21) is located at the lower part of the arc-shaped curved part (23).

2. The toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The waste powder bin (10) is strip-shaped, and the partition (20) is arranged along the length direction of the waste powder bin (10), so that the first bin chamber (11) and the second bin chamber (12) formed after being separated by the partition (20) are also basically strip-shaped, wherein the first bin chamber (11) and the second bin chamber (12) are arranged parallel to each other.

3. The toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The powder inlet (21) of the partition (20) is located in the middle of the partition (20), and the partition (20) has two reflux ports (22), which are respectively located at two ends of the partition (20).

4. The toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The first waste toner conveying mechanism (30) is arranged along the length direction of the first chamber (11), and comprises two first axial pushing parts (31) arranged at intervals along the length direction thereof and a first radial pushing part (32) located between the two first axial pushing parts (31), the outer ends of the two first axial pushing parts (31) respectively corresponding to the two return ports (22), so as to be used for conveying the waste toner in the first chamber (11) from the two ends of the first chamber (11) to the middle position, and the first radial pushing part (32) corresponding to the powder inlet (21) of the partition (20), so as to be used for transferring the waste toner in the first chamber (11) to the second chamber (12) via the powder inlet (21) of the partition (20); The second waste powder conveying mechanism (40) is arranged along the length direction of the second chamber (12), and comprises two second radial pushing parts (42) arranged at intervals along the length direction thereof and a second axial pushing part (41) located between the two second radial pushing parts (42); the middle part of the second axial pushing part (41) corresponds to the powder inlet (21) of the partition (20), so as to be used for conveying the waste toner powder entering the second chamber (12) from the powder inlet (21) of the partition (20) from the middle part to both ends of the second chamber (12); the two second radial pushing parts (42) respectively correspond to the two return ports (22), so as to be used for transferring the waste toner powder parts transmitted to the two end positions of the second chamber (12) into the first chamber (11) via the above-mentioned two return ports (22).

5. The toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The first waste powder conveying mechanism (30) comprises a first waste powder conveying rod (33) which can rotate around its own axis, the outer peripheral wall of the first waste powder conveying rod (33) has a first spiral pushing piece (331) which is spirally arranged along its length direction, and the length portion of the first waste powder conveying rod (33) corresponding to the first spiral pushing piece (331) constitutes the first axial pushing portion (31), the outer peripheral wall of the first waste powder conveying rod (33) corresponding to the position of the powder inlet (21) of the partition (20) also has a first paddle (332) extending radially outward, and the length portion of the first waste powder conveying rod (33) corresponding to the first paddle (332) constitutes the first radial pushing portion (32), and the second waste powder conveying mechanism (40) comprises a first waste powder conveying rod (33) which can rotate around its own axis A second waste powder conveying rod (43) is rotatable, a second spiral push piece (431) is spirally arranged on the outer peripheral wall of the second waste powder conveying rod (43) along its length direction, the second spiral push piece (431) is divided into two sections with opposite spiral directions along the axial direction of the second waste powder conveying rod (43), and the length portion of the second waste powder conveying rod (43) corresponding to the second spiral push piece (431) constitutes the second axial push portion (41), and the outer peripheral wall of the second waste powder conveying rod (43) corresponds to the position of the two return ports (22) of the partition (20) and further has a second paddle (432) extending radially outward, and the length portions of the second waste powder conveying rod (43) corresponding to the two second paddles (432) respectively constitute the two second radial push portions (42).

6. The toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The rotation direction of the first waste powder conveying rod (33) and the rotation direction of the second waste powder conveying rod (43) are both consistent with the inclination direction of the arc-shaped curved portion (23).

7. The toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device according to claim 6, characterized in that: The invention also comprises a driving device, wherein a driving gear (51) is coaxially arranged on a power output shaft of the driving device, a first gear (52) is coaxially arranged on one end of the first waste powder conveying rod (33), a second gear (53) is coaxially arranged on one end of the second waste powder conveying rod (43), the first gear (52) and the second gear (53) are meshed with each other through an auxiliary gear (54), and the driving gear (51) is meshed with the first gear (52).

8. The device for preventing waste toner from agglomerating as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that: The maximum dimension of the reflux port (22) in the length direction of the partition plate (20) is smaller than the axial length of the second radial pushing portion (42) of the second waste powder conveying rod (43).

9. The toner cartridge waste toner anti-caking device according to claim 8, characterized in that: The size of the powder inlet (21) in the length direction of the partition (20) is greater than the axial length of the first radial pushing portion (32) of the first waste powder conveying rod (33).

Images