Processing box

Abstract

The invention discloses a process cartridge, comprising: a housing including a first housing and a second housing connected to the first housing, the housing having a first end and a second end opposite to each other in a first direction; the photosensitive drum is supported on the second shell and can rotate around the axis of the photosensitive drum extending along the first direction; the developing roller is supported on the first shell and can rotate around the axis of the developing roller extending in the first direction; the first coupling piece is located at the first end of the shell, and the first coupling piece can receive external force and drive the photosensitive drum and the developing roller to rotate; the second coupling piece is located at the first end of the shell, the second coupling piece can receive the external force different from the external force received by the first coupling piece so as to rotate relative to the shell, and the rotation of the second coupling piece and the rotation of the photosensitive drum are mutually independent.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of electronic photographic imaging, in particular to a processing box. Background Art

[0002] The prior art discloses a processing box, which is detachably installed in an imaging device, wherein the imaging device includes a driving force applying component that can output driving force, the processing box includes a coupling member that can be coupled with the driving force applying component and receive the driving force outputted by it, the processing box also includes a shell and a developing roller and a photosensitive drum rotatably supported on the shell, as well as a developing roller gear and a photosensitive drum gear respectively arranged at one end of the developing roller and the photosensitive drum. The driving force received by the coupling member can be transmitted to the photosensitive drum gear through the developing roller gear, thereby driving the developing roller and the photosensitive drum to rotate; in order to avoid the developing roller from being in pressure contact with the photosensitive drum for a long time when the processing box is not performing a printing task, causing the developing roller to deform and affecting the printing quality, the developing roller is constructed to be movable between a contact position in contact with the photosensitive drum and a separation position so that the developing roller is separated from the photosensitive drum when the processing box is not performing a printing task. During this process, the first shell supports the developing roller to move together.

[0003] However, the imaging device includes a component that reciprocates and retracts during printing, and the process cartridge lacks a structure to limit the reciprocating motion of this component, resulting in a loud noise during printing. Furthermore, in existing process cartridges, because the developing roller supported on the first housing is spaced away from the swing axis of the first housing, the developing roller gear moves significantly relative to the photosensitive drum gear during the separation of the developing roller. As the developing roller moves from the separation position to the contact position, there is a high probability that the teeth of the developing roller gear and the teeth of the photosensitive drum gear will not fully engage, potentially interfering with each other. Once the two gears begin to rotate after receiving a driving force, the instantaneous increase in torque can easily damage the developing roller gear or the photosensitive drum gear, reducing their service life. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To solve the above problems, the present invention provides a new process cartridge, which is mainly achieved through the following technical solutions:

[0005] A process cartridge, installable in an imaging device, comprising:

[0006] The housing comprises a first housing and a second housing connected to the first housing, wherein the housing has a first end and a second end oppositely disposed in a first direction;

[0007] a photosensitive drum supported on the second housing and rotatable about a photosensitive drum axis extending in the first direction;

[0008] a developing roller supported on the first housing and rotatable about a developing roller axis extending in a first direction;

[0009] The process cartridge also includes:

[0010] A first coupling member is located at the first end of the housing, and the first coupling member can receive external force and drive the photosensitive drum and the developing roller to rotate;

[0011] The second coupling member is located at the first end of the shell. The second coupling member can receive an external force different from that received by the first coupling member and rotate relative to the shell. The rotation of the second coupling member is independent of the rotation of the photosensitive drum.

[0012] Furthermore, a photosensitive drum gear is provided at one end of the photosensitive drum, the photosensitive drum gear is engaged with the first coupling member, and the second coupling member is spaced apart from the photosensitive drum gear in the first direction.

[0013] Furthermore, the rotation axis of the second coupling member coincides with the axis of the photosensitive drum.

[0014] Furthermore, the second housing includes a first protective cover provided at a first end of the housing, a second protective cover provided at a second end of the housing, and a main body portion with at least a portion located between the first protective cover and the second protective cover;

[0015] The second coupling member is connected to the first protective cover.

[0016] Furthermore, the first protective cover and the main body are integrally formed; or the first protective cover, the second protective cover and the main body are integrally formed.

[0017] Furthermore, the processing box also includes a force receiving protrusion. When the processing box is placed with the photosensitive drum and the developing roller located at the lower end of the processing box and the axis of the photosensitive drum located at the lower end of the axis of the developing roller, the force receiving protrusion is located at the lower end of the shell. The force receiving protrusion can receive the driving force of the imaging device and drive the developing roller to move in the direction away from the photosensitive drum.

[0018] Furthermore, the imaging device includes a braking force applying component, and the second coupling member includes a driving force receiving part and a braking force receiving part, the driving force receiving part can receive the driving force of the imaging device and force the second coupling member to rotate, and the braking force receiving part can engage with the braking force applying component of the imaging device.

[0019] Furthermore, the processing box also includes a transfer gear, a developing roller gear is provided at one end of the developing roller, the first coupling member is engaged with the transfer gear and the developing roller gear, and the transfer gear is engaged with the photosensitive drum gear.

[0020] Furthermore, the number of the transmission gears is an odd number, and the transmission gears are arranged on the second housing.

[0021] Furthermore, the developing roller gear and the photosensitive drum gear are spaced apart, and the developing roller gear is farther away from the second end of the housing than the photosensitive drum gear in the first direction.

[0022] The present invention provides a process cartridge that, by providing a second coupling member connected to a reciprocatingly extending and retracting component in an imaging device, restricts the reciprocating motion of the component in the imaging device, effectively reducing abnormal noise during printing. Furthermore, the process cartridge's transfer gear is positioned closer to the swing axis of the first housing. As a result, during the contact and separation process between the developing roller and the photosensitive drum, the teeth of the first coupling member move less relative to the transfer gear, essentially preventing the two from disengaging. This significantly improves the gear's service life compared to existing technologies. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a process cartridge of the present invention from a first perspective;

[0024] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a process cartridge according to the present invention from a second viewing angle;

[0025] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the process cartridge of the present invention from a third viewing angle;

[0026] Figure 4 1 is an exploded schematic diagram of the gear train of the process cartridge of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the gear train of the process cartridge of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 6 4 is a schematic diagram of the processing box of the present invention from a fourth viewing angle. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] To facilitate the description of the processing box 100 in the present invention, the various directions of the processing box 100 will be defined below. The extension direction of the rotation axis of the photosensitive drum 105 (photosensitive drum rotation axis) is the first direction. In the first direction, the shell 101 has a first end and a second end relative to each other, the first coupling member 111 is arranged at the first end of the shell 101, and the chip electrical contact surface 102a is arranged at the second end of the shell 101.

[0030] like Figure 1-6 As shown, the present invention discloses a processing box 100, which can be detachably installed in an imaging device having a power supply component, an electrical contact and a first driving force applying component, a second driving force applying component and a braking force applying component. In the present invention, the imaging device is an electronic photographic imaging device (i.e., a printer).

[0031] The process cartridge 100 includes a housing 101 having a first housing 101a and a second housing 101b connected to each other, wherein the first housing 101a can accommodate developer, and the second housing 101b includes a first protective cover 101b1 and a second protective cover 101b2 respectively provided at a first end of the housing 101, and a main body 101b3 at least partially located between the first protective cover 101b1 and the second protective cover 101b2. The first protective cover 101b1 and the main body 101b3 are integrally formed. This means that only one set of molds is required in the process of producing the first protective cover 101b1 and the main body 101b3, thereby reducing the production cost of the processing box 100, and the two do not need to be assembled with each other during the assembly process of the processing box 100, so this also helps to improve the assembly efficiency of the processing box 100; further, the first protective cover 101b1, the second protective cover 101b2 and the main body 101b3 are integrally formed, which can further reduce the production cost of the processing box 100 and improve the assembly efficiency of the processing box 100.

[0032] The processing box 100 also includes a developing roller and a powder feeding roller (not shown in the drawings) supported on the first shell 101a, a photosensitive drum 105 and a charging roller (not shown in the drawings) supported on the second shell 101b, wherein when the processing box 100 performs printing work, the developing roller carries a developer, and the charging roller can uniformly charge the photosensitive drum 105. After the charged photosensitive drum 105 is selectively irradiated by the laser in the imaging device, an electrostatic latent image can be formed on the outer surface of the photosensitive drum 105. The developing roller can transport the developer carried on the developing roller to the photosensitive drum 105 through contact with the photosensitive drum 105 to develop the electrostatic latent image thereon and form a developer image on the photosensitive drum 105. Subsequently, the developer image can be transferred to the transfer belt through contact between the photosensitive drum 105 and the transfer belt of the imaging device. Finally, the transfer belt can transfer the developer image to a recording medium (such as paper).

[0033] The process cartridge 100 further includes an electrode 103 disposed on the housing 101. The electrode 103 has an electrode electrical contact surface 103a that can electrically contact a power supply component of the imaging device. In the first direction, the electrode electrical contact surface 103a is disposed at the second end of the housing 101. Specifically, the electrode 103 is disposed on the second protective cover 101b2. The electrode electrical contact surface 103a is configured to supply this power to the charging roller. In other words, the electrode 103 can receive power from the imaging device and supply the received power to the charging roller to ensure that the charging roller can charge the photosensitive drum 105. Furthermore, the process cartridge 100 further includes a chip 102. The chip 102 has a chip electrical contact surface 102a that electrically contacts an electrical contact of the imaging device. The chip electrical contact surface 102a and the electrode electrical contact surface 103a are separated by a distance in the second direction to prevent electrical interference between the two. In the first direction, the chip electrical contact surface 102a is disposed farther from the first end of the housing 101 than the electrode electrical contact surface 103a.

[0034] Specific reference 4-5, the processing box 100 also includes a first coupling member 111 (first coupling protrusion 111), in the first direction, the first coupling member 111 is arranged at the first end of the shell 101, at least a portion of which can be covered by the first protective cover 101b1, so that the first coupling member 111 is stably positioned to prevent it from loosening from the processing box 100, and the first coupling member 111 can be coupled with the first driving force applying member of the imaging device and can receive the first driving force output thereof to rotate; further, the processing box 100 also includes a developing roller gear 113 provided at one end of the developing roller for driving the developing roller to rotate and a powder feeding roller gear 114 provided at one end of the powder feeding roller for driving the powder feeding roller to rotate. 0, the developing roller gear 113 and the powder feeding roller gear 114 are both in contact and meshing with the teeth of the first coupling member 111, so that the first coupling member 111 can drive the developing roller gear 113 and the powder feeding roller gear 114 to rotate, thereby making the developing roller gear 113 drive the developing roller to rotate, and the powder feeding roller gear 114 drive the powder feeding roller to rotate; further, the processing box 100 also includes a transfer gear 115 in contact and meshing with the first coupling member 111, and a photosensitive drum gear 116 provided at one end of the photosensitive drum 105 in contact and meshing with the transfer gear 115, wherein, compared with the rotation axis of the developing roller gear 113, the rotation axis of the transfer gear 115 is closer to the swing axis of the first housing 101a, and the photosensitive drum gear 116 is closer to the swing axis of the first housing 101a. It is constructed to have a power transmission relationship with the photosensitive drum 105, that is, the driving force of the photosensitive drum gear 116 can be transmitted to the photosensitive drum 105. Preferably, the photosensitive drum gear 116 is fixedly connected to one end of the photosensitive drum 105. In this way, the driving force output by the first coupling member 111 can be transmitted to the photosensitive drum gear 116 through the transmission gear 115, and then the photosensitive drum gear 116 can drive the photosensitive drum 105 to rotate; that is, after receiving the driving force, the first coupling member 111 can drive the developing roller, the powder feeding roller and the photosensitive drum 105 to rotate, that is, the processing box 100 only needs to be arranged with one coupling member to drive the rotating member in the processing box 100 to rotate, which greatly simplifies the structure of the processing box 100; from the above description It can be known that the number of the transfer gear 115 is 1, but the number of the transfer gears 115 of the process cartridge 100 of the present invention can also be an odd number such as 3, 5, 7, 9, etc., so as to ensure that the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 105 and the rotation direction of the developing roller are opposite, and avoid that when the two rotate in the same direction, the developer on the developing roller is difficult to be transported to the photosensitive drum 105, thereby causing problems in printing quality. However, the transfer gear 115 of the process cartridge 100 of the present invention is preferably 1. On the one hand, this helps to reduce the number of the transfer gears 115 and reduce production costs. On the other hand, because the space of the process cartridge 100 is small, it is difficult to arrange too many transfer gears 115. Therefore, the transfer gear 115 is preferably 1;Furthermore, considering the space available for the process cartridge 100, the transmission gear 115 is disposed on the second housing 101b. Of course, in some embodiments, it may also be disposed on the first housing 101a. However, the process cartridge 100 of the present invention employs a preferred embodiment.

[0035] Typically, in the processing cartridge 100, in order to prevent the developing roller from contacting the photosensitive drum 105 with a certain pressure for a long time when the processing cartridge 100 is not performing a printing task, thereby causing the developing roller to deform and affecting the printing quality, the processing cartridge 100 is provided with a force receiving protrusion 104 at the lower end of the shell 101. When there is no need to perform a printing task, the force receiving protrusion 104 can receive the pushing force of the pushing protrusion of the imaging device and move. The moved force receiving protrusion 104 can drive the first shell 101a to move, so that the developing roller supported on the first shell 101a can move in a direction away from the photosensitive drum 105. That is, the developing roller can move from a contact position in contact with each other to a separation position separated from each other in response to the movement of the force receiving protrusion 104. In this way, the developing roller can be separated from the photosensitive drum 105 at a specific time, thereby reducing the probability of deformation of the developing roller to a certain extent; based on the above structure, in order to avoid the frequent contact or separation of the developing roller with the photosensitive drum 105, the developing roller gear 113 connected to one end of the developing roller and the photosensitive drum gear 116 connected to one end of the photosensitive drum 101 also contact each other and interfere with each other, therefore, in the processing box 100 of the present invention, the developing roller gear 113 and the photosensitive drum gear 116 are spaced apart, and the two have a spacing distance d1. More specifically, in the first direction, compared with the photosensitive drum gear 116, the developing roller gear 113 is arranged at a position farther away from the second end of the shell 101, which will help the processing box 100 to better arrange the gears in space.

[0036] Furthermore, the processing box 100 also includes a second coupling member 112. The second coupling member 112 is located at the first end of the shell 101 in the first direction and is installed on the first protective cover 101b1. Preferably, the second coupling member 112 can be fastened to the first protective cover 101b1 by an elastic buckle or installed on the first protective cover 101b1 by an interference fit to prevent it from loosening from the first protective cover 101b1; the second coupling member 112 includes a driving force receiving portion 112a, and the driving force receiving portion 112a can receive the second driving force of the imaging device. The second driving force of the adding component forces the second coupling member 112 to rotate, that is, the second coupling member 112 is rotatable relative to the first protective cover 101b1. In order to prevent the braking force applying component of the imaging device from making abnormal noise due to the reciprocating extension and retraction, the second coupling member 112 also includes a braking force receiving portion 112b. The braking force receiving portion 112b can axially engage with the braking force applying component of the receiving imaging device and can not only receive the braking force, but also limit the reciprocating extension and retraction of the braking force applying component, thereby avoiding the occurrence of the above-mentioned problem; for details, refer to Figure 6 Furthermore, the rotation axis of the second coupling member 112 coincides with the rotation axis of the photosensitive drum gear 116, that is, the rotation axis of the second coupling member 112 and the rotation axis of the photosensitive drum gear 116 are coaxially arranged. However, it is worth mentioning that in the processing cartridge 100 of the present invention, the second coupling member 112 has no power transmission relationship with the photosensitive drum gear 116 or the photosensitive drum 105, that is, the second driving force received by the second coupling member 112 cannot be transmitted to the photosensitive drum 105, and the driving force received by the photosensitive drum 105 is still transmitted from the first coupling member 111; therefore, in this case In this case, the second coupling member 112 is spaced apart from the photosensitive drum gear 116 and the photosensitive drum 105. Preferably, as one of the preferred embodiments of the processing box 100, the second coupling member 112 is spaced apart from the photosensitive drum gear 116 in the first direction, and the two have a first spacing distance d2 in the first direction, but the arrangement structure of the two is not limited to this. The second coupling member 112 can also be constructed to overlap with the photosensitive drum gear 116 in the first direction, but the two do not maintain contact. This is not a limitation, but the present invention adopts a preferred embodiment to simplify the structure of the second coupling member 112.

[0037] The present invention provides a processing box, in which the transfer gear of the processing box is arranged closer to the swing shaft of the first shell. Therefore, during the contact and separation process between the developing roller and the photosensitive drum, the tooth portion of the first coupling member has a smaller movement relative to the transfer gear, so the two will basically not be out of engagement. Compared with the existing technology, the service life of the gear can be improved to a certain extent.

Claims

1. A process cartridge, installable in an imaging device, comprising: The housing comprises a first housing and a second housing connected to the first housing, wherein the housing has a first end and a second end oppositely disposed in a first direction; a photosensitive drum supported on the second housing and rotatable about a photosensitive drum axis extending along the first direction; a developing roller supported on the first housing and rotatable about a developing roller axis extending along the first direction; It is characterized in that the processing box also includes: a first coupling member, located at the first end of the housing, wherein the first coupling member can receive external force and drive the photosensitive drum and the developing roller to rotate; The second coupling member is located at the first end of the shell. The second coupling member can receive an external force different from that received by the first coupling member and rotate relative to the shell. The rotation of the second coupling member is independent of the rotation of the photosensitive drum.

2. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein A photosensitive drum gear is provided at one end of the photosensitive drum, and the photosensitive drum gear is engaged with the first coupling member. The second coupling member is spaced apart from the photosensitive drum gear in the first direction.

3. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein The rotation axis of the second coupling member coincides with the axis of the photosensitive drum.

4. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein The second housing includes a first protective cover provided at the first end of the housing, a second protective cover provided at the second end of the housing, and a main body portion at least partially located between the first protective cover and the second protective cover; The second coupling member is connected to the first protective cover.

5. The process cartridge according to claim 4, wherein: The first protective cover is integrally formed with the main body; or the first protective cover, the second protective cover and the main body are integrally formed.

6. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein The processing box also includes a force receiving protrusion. When the processing box is placed in a posture where the photosensitive drum and the developing roller are located at the lower end of the processing box and the axis of the photosensitive drum is located at the lower end of the axis of the developing roller, the force receiving protrusion is located at the lower end of the shell. The force receiving protrusion can receive the driving force of the imaging device and drive the developing roller to move in a direction away from the photosensitive drum.

7. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus comprises a braking force applying member, wherein The second coupling member includes a driving force receiving portion and a braking force receiving portion. The driving force receiving portion can receive the driving force of the imaging device to force the second coupling member to rotate, and the braking force receiving portion can engage with the braking force applying component of the imaging device.

8. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein The processing box also includes a transfer gear, one end of the developing roller is provided with a developing roller gear, the first coupling member is engaged with the transfer gear and the developing roller gear, and the transfer gear is engaged with the photosensitive drum gear.

9. The process cartridge according to claim 8, wherein The number of the transmission gears is an odd number, and the transmission gears are arranged on the second housing.

10. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein The developing roller gear and the photosensitive drum gear are spaced apart from each other, and the developing roller gear is farther away from the second end of the housing than the photosensitive drum gear in the first direction.

Images