Image forming apparatus

Abstract

To prevent occurrence of a malfunction in a component inside a housing due to dust entering the housing during recovery of an image forming apparatus, and thereby increase the recycling ratio of the component in the image forming apparatus.SOLUTION: A sheet attachment member 400 is arranged between an upper wall part 110 of a housing 100A and an image forming unit 500 with respect to a vertical direction, to be superimposed on a housing through hole 70 when seen from the vertical direction. A dust-proof sheet is attached to the sheet attachment member 400 at a position superimposed on a tray through hole 303 when seen from the vertical direction during recovery of an image forming apparatus 100. The attachment of the dust-proof sheet to the sheet attachment member 400 allows the dust-proof sheet to prevent dust from falling on a component such as the image forming unit 500 in the image forming apparatus 100 with the dust-proof sheet attached, even if dust accumulated in an air duct 302 enters the housing 100A during transportation. Consequently, the recycling ratio of the component such as the image forming unit 500 inside the housing 100A can be increased.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction peripheral.

Background Art

[0002] Recently, used image forming apparatuses used in offices and the like have been collected, and the image forming apparatus is reproduced in the same manner as a new one using recycled parts taken out from the collected image forming apparatus and reproduced and new parts, and shipped as a recycled machine to the market. The image forming apparatus uses relatively expensive parts and parts using rare resources as economic values, and improvement of their reuse rate is desired. In Patent Document 1, a method of improving the reuse rate of parts in an image forming apparatus is proposed by disassembling the collected image forming apparatus into a plurality of units, attaching a unit determined to be reusable by inspection and a new unit replaced with the unit to a reuse housing, and reproducing the image forming apparatus.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, conventionally, dust and dirt that enter the inside of the housing of the image forming apparatus during collection may fall on the parts inside the housing, and malfunctions may occur in the parts due to the dust and dirt. As a result, there is a risk that the reuse rate of parts in the image forming apparatus may be lowered.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of improving the reuse rate of parts.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a housing, an image forming unit provided in the housing for forming an image on a recording material, a fan, an air flow path portion through which the air flow generated by the fan passes, a through hole formed in a lower portion of the air flow path portion and communicating between the inside and the outside of the air flow path portion, and a sheet mounting portion provided in the housing below the air flow path portion in the vertical direction and at a position overlapping the through hole when viewed in the vertical direction, on which a sheet different from the recording material can be mounted.

[0007] An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a housing, an image forming unit provided in the housing for forming an image on a recording material, a through hole formed in an upper wall portion of the housing and communicating between the inside and the outside of the housing, and a sheet mounting portion provided in the housing below the through hole in the vertical direction and at a position overlapping the through hole when viewed in the vertical direction, on which a sheet different from the recording material can be mounted.

Advantages of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent malfunctions of components in the housing due to dust and dirt entering the housing of the image forming apparatus during recovery, and improve the reuse rate of components in the image forming apparatus.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Embodiment for Carrying out the Invention

[0010] <Image forming apparatus> Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described. First, the outline of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The image forming apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 is a so - called in - body discharge type apparatus, and includes a housing 100A, a document reading unit 40 for reading image information of a document, and a stacking tray 300.

[0011] The document reading unit 40 is disposed above the housing 100A in the vertical direction. A discharge space 200 through which a recording material is discharged from inside the housing 100A is formed between a part of the upper surface of the housing 100A and a part of the document reading unit 40. The housing 100A has an upper wall portion 110 disposed above the image forming unit 500 (see FIG. 2) so that the stacking tray 300 can be disposed in the discharge space 200 and the stacking tray 300 can be mounted. The stacking tray 300 as a stacking portion has a stacking surface 305 for stacking the recording material discharged from inside the housing 100A to the discharge space 200. In this embodiment, the image - formed recording material is discharged from inside the housing 100A to the stacking tray 300 in a direction from right to left.

[0012] In addition, on the housing 100A, an operation unit 50 having a display unit capable of displaying various information and keys capable of inputting various information according to user operations is disposed so as to face the front. In this specification, when the user operates the operation unit 50 to operate the image forming apparatus 100, the side where the user stands is called "front (or front)", and the opposite side is called "back (or rear)". Also, the left when viewed from the front is called "left", and the right when viewed from the front is called "right".

[0013] The housing 100A, although not shown in the figure, is composed of a front plate provided on the front side of the image forming apparatus 100, a rear plate provided on the rear side and supporting each unit together with the front plate, a stay connecting the front plate and the rear plate, a metal frame supporting the front plate, etc., and is covered by an exterior cover constituting the appearance of the image forming apparatus 100. As the exterior cover, a front cover 101, a cassette cover 102, and a front upper cover 104 are arranged on the front. As shown in the figure, in the vertical direction, the front cover 101 is arranged above the cassette cover 102, and the front upper cover 104 is arranged above the front cover 101. Also, side covers 105, 106 are arranged on the left and right sides, and further a rear cover 107 is arranged on the rear. The front cover 101 is an opening / closing door provided on the housing 100A so as to be openable and closable. The cassette cover 102 is attached to a sheet cassette 60 (see FIG. 2) on which a recording material for forming a toner image is loaded, and a gripping portion is formed so that it is easy for the user to grip when pulling out the sheet cassette 30 to the front.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 100 is a so-called intermediate transfer type full-color printer in which four-color image forming units Pa, Pb, Pc, Pd of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black are arranged to face an intermediate transfer belt 7. The image forming apparatus 100 is provided with an image forming unit 500 in the housing 100A (inside the housing) that forms a toner image on a recording material S in accordance with an image signal from an original reading unit 40 or an external device such as a personal computer (not shown). The image forming unit 500 includes the image forming units Pa, Pb, Pc, Pd and an intermediate transfer belt unit 600. Note that examples of the recording material S for forming a toner image include various types of sheet materials such as plain paper, thick paper, rough paper, embossed paper, coated paper, etc., plastic films, and cloth.

[0015] The conveyance process of the recording material S in the image forming apparatus 100 will be described. The recording material S is stored in a stacked form in the sheet cassette 60 and is supplied one by one by the supply roller pair 61 in accordance with the image forming timing. The recording material S supplied by the supply roller pair 61 is conveyed to the registration roller pair 62 disposed in the middle of the conveyance path. Then, skew correction and timing correction of the recording material S are performed by the registration roller pair 62, and the recording material S is sent to the secondary transfer portion T2. The secondary transfer portion T2 is formed by the secondary transfer inner roller 8 and the secondary transfer outer roller 9 facing each other with the intermediate transfer belt 7 interposed therebetween, and is a nip portion that transfers the toner image from the intermediate transfer belt 7 onto the recording material S by applying a predetermined pressure and a secondary transfer bias.

[0016] Regarding the conveyance process of the recording material S up to the secondary transfer portion T2 described above, the formation process of the image that is sent to the secondary transfer portion T2 at the same timing will be described. First, the image forming units Pa to Pd will be described. However, since the image forming units Pa to Pd for each color are basically the same except for the color of the toner, hereinafter, the yellow image forming unit Pa will be described as a representative example.

[0017] The image forming unit Pa includes a photosensitive drum 1a, a charger 2a, a developing unit 4a, and a photosensitive drum cleaner 6a. The surface of the rotatably driven photosensitive drum 1a is uniformly charged in advance by the charger 2a, and then an electrostatic latent image is formed by the exposure unit 3a driven based on the signal of the image information. Next, the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 1a is developed into a toner image by the developing unit 4a. The developing unit 4a develops the electrostatic latent image with the toner contained in the developer and forms a toner image on the photosensitive drum 1a.

[0018] Thereafter, a predetermined pressure and a primary transfer bias are applied by the primary transfer roller 5a disposed to face each other with the photosensitive drum 1a and the intermediate transfer belt 7 interposed therebetween, and the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 1a is primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 7. The primary transfer residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 1a after the primary transfer is removed by the photosensitive drum cleaner 6a.

[0019] In the case of this embodiment, there are four sets of image forming units Pa to Pd for yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (Bk). However, the number of colors is not limited to four, and the order of the colors is not limited to this either. Further, the developing device 4a uses a two-component developer containing non-magnetic toner and magnetic carrier as the developer. In this case, since the toner is consumed during development, toner can be supplied from toner bottles Ta, Tb, Tc, and Td containing toner to the developing devices 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d of each color. The replenishing developer pre-stored in the toner bottles Ta to Td is supplied to each of the developing devices 4a to 4d by a toner replenishing device (not shown).

[0020] The intermediate transfer belt 7 onto which the toner image is primarily transferred is an endless belt stretched by the secondary transfer inner roller 8, the tension roller 17, and the stretching rollers 18 and 19, and is moved in the direction of arrow B in the figure. The image forming processes of each color processed in parallel by the above-described image forming units Pa to Pd of each color are performed at a timing to sequentially overlap on the toner image of the color primarily transferred upstream in the moving direction on the intermediate transfer belt 7. As a result, finally, a full-color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 7 and conveyed to the secondary transfer unit T2. The secondary transfer residual toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 7 after passing through the secondary transfer unit T2 is removed from the intermediate transfer belt 7 by the belt cleaner 11. Note that the above-described primary transfer rollers 5a to 5d, the intermediate transfer belt 7, the secondary transfer inner roller 8, the tension roller 17, and the stretching rollers 18 and 19, etc. are integrally provided as the intermediate transfer belt unit 600.

[0021] With the conveyance process and the image formation process described above, in the secondary transfer unit T2, the timing of the recording material S and the full-color toner image coincides, and secondary transfer is performed in which the toner image is transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 7 to the recording material S. Thereafter, the recording material S is conveyed to the fixing device 13, and the toner image is fixed to the recording material S by applying heat and pressure with the fixing device 13. The fixing device 13 includes a fixing roller heated by a heater (not shown) and a pressure roller that abuts against the fixing roller to form a fixing nip portion, and heat and pressure are applied to the recording material S passing through the fixing nip portion to fix the toner image to the recording material S. The recording material S with the toner image fixed by the fixing device 13 is conveyed upward (i.e., vertically conveyed), and is discharged from the inside of the housing 100A by the discharge roller pair 64 serving as a discharge unit and is stacked on the stacking surface of the stacking tray 300. Note that the stacking tray 300 may be detachably disposed on the housing 100A.

[0022] As the image forming apparatus 100 operates, heat is generated in the image forming units Pa to Pd, the intermediate transfer belt unit 600, the fixing device 13, etc. disposed in the housing 100A. If the temperature inside the housing 100A becomes too high due to the heat generated therein, it may affect the formation of the toner image and cause image defects. Therefore, in order to suppress the temperature rise inside the housing 100A, outside air outside the housing 100A is taken in through the intake port 304 by the intake fan 301, and the air inside the housing 100A is exhausted to the outside of the housing 100A through an exhaust port (not shown) by the intake air.

[0023] In the case of this embodiment, an air inlet 304 is formed in the loading tray 300, and an intake fan 301 for sucking external air is provided at the air inlet 304. And inside the loading tray 300, an air duct 302 is formed so that the air flow generated by the intake fan 301 passes through. That is, the air duct 302 is arranged above the image forming unit 500 in the vertical direction and forms an air flow path portion through which the air sucked by the intake fan 301 passes. And at the lower part of the loading tray 300, a plurality of tray through-holes 303 are formed as through-holes (first through-holes) communicating the inside and the outside of the air duct 302 so as to allow air flow between the inside and the outside of the loading tray 300. The tray through-hole 303 is formed as an outlet for allowing air to flow out from the air duct 302 to the housing 100A. Thereby, the external air sucked from the air inlet 304 flows in the loading tray 300 along the air duct 302 and flows out from the tray through-hole 303 to the upper wall portion 110 of the housing 100A. Note that instead of the air duct 302, a rib member formed on the inner surface of the hollow loading tray 300 may partition the space inside the loading tray 300 to form an air flow path portion.

[0024] On the other hand, in the upper wall portion 110 of the housing 100A facing the lower part of the loading tray 300, at a position corresponding to the tray through-hole 303, a housing through-hole 70 is formed as a second through-hole communicating the outside and the inside of the housing 100A so as to allow air flow between the outside and the inside of the housing 100A. The housing through-hole 70 is formed at a position overlapping the tray through-hole 303 when viewed from the vertical direction and is formed as an inlet for allowing the air flowing out from the tray through-hole 303 to flow into the housing 100A. Thereby, the outside air sucked by the intake fan 301 passes through the air duct 302 and flows into the housing 100A through the tray through-hole 303 and the housing through-hole 70, so that the temperature rise inside the housing 100A is suppressed.

[0025] <Playback system process> By the way, as already described, recently, the image forming apparatus 100 has been reproduced using recycled parts taken out and reproduced from the used image forming apparatus 100 recovered from offices and the like and new parts, and the image forming apparatus 100 has been reproduced as if it were new and shipped to the market as a recycled machine. Therefore, a recycling system for recycling the image forming apparatus 100 and shipping the recycled machine will be described with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a process diagram showing the recycling system of the image forming apparatus 100.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 3, a new image forming apparatus 100 is shipped to the user (S101), and the shipped image forming apparatus 100 is used by the user (S102). The used image forming apparatus 100 that has become unnecessary after being used by the user for a certain period of time is packed and transported by a service technician and then delivered to a transporter and transported to a recycling factory (S103). The recovered image forming apparatus 100 is subjected to an acceptance inspection at the recycling factory, and a determination is made as to whether to recycle each image forming apparatus 100 or not (S104). The image forming apparatus 100 that is not recycled is sent to a raw material conversion / waste disposal process, and raw material conversion such as material recycling or waste disposal such as incineration is performed (S107).

[0027] The image forming apparatus 100 stores history information such as, for example, the number of copied sheets, failure history, part replacement history, cleaning history, and recycling history. Alternatively, in the case of the image forming apparatus 100 connected to a cloud server on the network at the user's site, the above-described history information is stored in the cloud server. At the recycling factory, among the recovered image forming apparatuses 100, those whose recycling times exceed the upper limit or those whose quality assurance period has passed are excluded from recycling based on the history information stored in the image forming apparatus 100 or the cloud server. In addition, the operation of the image forming apparatus 100 is checked, and those that do not operate or those whose output images are below a certain level are excluded from recycling. By performing such an acceptance inspection before the disassembly / sorting / cleaning process described later, it is possible to exclude in advance the image forming apparatus 100 that is not suitable for recycling from the recycling target, and thus it is not necessary to disassemble / sort / clean the image forming apparatus 100 uselessly, and the recycling work of the image forming apparatus 100 can be performed efficiently.

[0028] On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 100 to be recycled is sent to the disassembly, sorting, and cleaning process, and is disassembled into the housing 100A (specifically, the frame), units composed of a plurality of parts, single parts, etc. The disassembled parts are sequentially sorted and cleaned (S105). That is, the image forming apparatus 100 determined to be recyclable in the acceptance inspection is disassembled into parts in the disassembly process. Then, the disassembled units and single parts are cleaned. For example, after the exterior cover is removed from the housing 100A, it is cleaned as a single part. As the cleaning method, a method is determined according to the object, and there are, for example, a method of blowing off with air, a method of cleaning with water or a solvent, a method of wiping with a cloth impregnated with a solvent, and the like.

[0029] Inspection is performed on the disassembled, sorted, and cleaned parts and units, and it is determined whether to recycle them, convert them into raw materials, or discard them (S106). In this acceptance inspection process, the cleaned frame, units, and single parts are inspected, and it is determined whether to reuse them. For example, for a single part such as a frame, rust and deformation are inspected, for a gear, the degree of wear is inspected, for an exterior cover, discoloration is inspected, and based on the inspection results, it is determined whether to reuse it. Also, as a unit composed of a plurality of parts, for example, after the developing device 4a is removed from the housing 100A, it is determined whether to reuse it based on information such as the operating time of the developing device 4a as a unit. The developing device 4a determined to be reused as a unit is further disassembled into parts. The developing container is cleaned and recycled, the sleeve is cleaned and recycled, and the gear is converted into raw materials or the like. Alternatively, without being disassembled into parts, it is cleaned and recycled as a unit.

[0030] Using the recycled parts and new parts taken out and recycled from the collected used image forming apparatus 100, a recycled machine in which the image forming apparatus 100 is recycled like a new one is produced (S109). At this time, when there are no recycled parts, they are replaced with new parts (S108). The recycled machines produced at the recycling factory are shipped to the market again (S110).

[0031] At the recycling factory, the inventory of recycled parts and new parts is managed by an inventory management system. Based on the unstable incoming situation of recycled parts, new parts are ordered, thus optimizing the inventory levels of recycled parts and new parts at the recycling factory. As described above, in the recycling production process of recycling the image forming apparatus 100 in the same way as new products, the recycled machines are produced using the recycled parts and new parts that have passed the inspection. This recycling production process may be realized by a recycling production line using the frames, units, and single parts to be recycled, or may be realized by a mixed-flow production line with the production line of new products using only new parts. Also, by standardizing parts among different models of the image forming apparatus 100, recycled parts may be used for models other than the collected models.

[0032] Before the recycled machines produced in the recycling production process are shipped, in addition to the same checks as normal new products, checks dedicated to the recycled machines are performed. For example, it includes confirmation of the update of various counter information such as the number of recycling times and the number of copied sheets, linkage with the cloud server, and confirmation of the assignment of the ID indicating the recycled machine. The recycled machines are shipped to the user destination where a purchase or a contract such as rental or lease has been concluded, just like new products.

[0033] As described above, the used image forming apparatus 100 is transported to the recycling factory by a carrier, and an operation check is performed at the recycling factory (S103, S104). However, conventionally, during the transportation of the image forming apparatus 100, there was a risk that dust (hereinafter referred to as dust), such as dust and dirt deposited in the air duct 302, would fall into the image forming unit 500 inside the housing 100A through the tray through-hole 303 and the housing through-hole 70. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, the used image forming apparatus 100 may be transported with the loading tray 300 removed from the housing 100A. In that case, during transportation, there was a risk that external dust would enter the housing 100A through the exposed housing through-hole 70 and fall onto the image forming unit 500.

[0034] The dust that has fallen onto the image forming unit 500 may, along with the above-described operation check, affect the operations of the driving units of the image forming sections Pa, Pb, Pc, Pd and the intermediate transfer belt unit 600, or may damage the surfaces of the intermediate transfer belt 7 and the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d. Therefore, conventionally, due to dust, for example, the reuse rate of the image forming unit 500 has been low. Thus, in the present embodiment, when collecting the used image forming apparatus 100, a dust-proof sheet is attached so that the dust deposited in the air duct 302 or external dust does not fall onto components such as the image forming unit 500 within the housing 100A through the housing through-hole 70. Hereinafter, the configuration of the present embodiment for realizing this will be described.

[0035] As shown in FIG. 2, in the image forming apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, a sheet mounting member 400 as a sheet mounting section is provided within the housing 100A. The sheet mounting member 400 is arranged within the housing 100A between the upper wall section 110 of the housing 100A and the image forming unit 500 in the vertical direction so as to overlap the housing through-hole 70 when viewed from the vertical direction. Further, the sheet mounting member 400 is arranged between the air duct 302 and the image forming unit 500 in the vertical direction such that a dust-proof sheet 450 (see FIG. 7(a)) can be mounted at a position overlapping the tray through-hole 303 when viewed from the vertical direction.

[0036] The sheet mounting member 400 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7(c) while referring to FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the sheet mounting member 400. The sheet mounting member 400 is screwed, for example, to a bending pedestal (not shown) provided on the front and rear side plates of the housing 100A. As shown in FIG. 5, the sheet mounting member 400 has a sheet insertion portion 401, a pair of guide portions 402, a contact portion 403, and a support column 404. A sheet insertion port 401a into which a dust-proof sheet 450 (see FIG. 7(a)), which is a sheet different from the recording material S, can be inserted is formed in the sheet insertion portion 401. In the case of the present embodiment, the sheet mounting member 400 is disposed in the housing 100A with the sheet insertion port 401a facing forward. Note that the front cover 101 (see FIG. 1) covers and hides the sheet insertion port 401a when viewed from the insertion direction (arrow X direction) of the dust-proof sheet 450 in the closed state.

[0037] The pair of guide portions 402 are provided so as to face each other in the width direction intersecting the insertion direction (arrow X direction) of the dust-proof sheet 450 and to extend in the insertion direction from the sheet insertion portion 401. A guide groove 402a is formed inside the guide portion 402, and the dust-proof sheet 405 inserted from the sheet insertion port 401a is guided to be slidable along the guide groove 402a. A contact portion 403 is provided so as to bridge the pair of guide portions 402 at the downstream end in the insertion direction of the pair of guide portions 402. The dust-proof sheet 405 is inserted until the downstream end in the insertion direction abuts against the contact portion 403, and the dust-proof sheet 405 is mounted at a position overlapping the tray through-hole 303 when viewed from the vertical direction in a state of abutting against the contact portion 403.

[0038] The support column 404 extends in the insertion direction from the sheet insertion portion 401. The support column 404 is disposed between the pair of guide portions 402 in the width direction and restricts the downward movement of the dust-proof sheet 450. However, the support column 404 is disposed at a position that does not overlap the tray through-hole 303 when viewed from the vertical direction so as not to obstruct the flow of air flowing from the air duct 302 into the housing 100A.

[0039] FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing the vicinity of the sheet insertion opening of the sheet mounting member 400. As shown in FIG. 6, a protrusion 410 is formed in a part of the sheet insertion opening 401a of the sheet insertion portion 401. The protrusion 410 as a restricting portion protrudes upward from below in the sheet insertion opening 401a so as to leave a gap allowing the insertion of the dust-proof sheet 450, and restricts the movement of the mounted dust-proof sheet 450 in the direction opposite to the insertion direction (arrow X direction). The mounted dust-proof sheet 450 is restricted so as not to come out of the sheet insertion opening 401a by the upstream end in the insertion direction abutting against the protrusion 410.

[0040] Further, the sheet insertion portion 401 has a notch portion 411 notched on the downstream side in the insertion direction from the protrusion 410 so that a part 450a (see FIG. 7(c)) of the mounted dust-proof sheet 450 is exposed in a part of the sheet insertion opening 401a. The notch portion 411 is formed such that the upstream end of the dust-proof sheet 450 is positioned between the downstream end of the notch portion 411 and the upstream end of the sheet insertion portion 401 with respect to the insertion direction in a state where the dust-proof sheet 450 is mounted. In other words, the notch portion 411 is formed so that a part 450a of the upstream end of the dust-proof sheet 450 is exposed from the sheet insertion portion 401 when viewed from the vertical direction. Further, the notch portion 411 is formed to have a width direction length (for example, 15 to 30 mm) that allows an operator at the recycling factory to grip a part 450a of the exposed dust-proof sheet 450. By doing so, the operator can remove the dust-proof sheet 45 from the sheet insertion opening 401a by pinching the mounted dust-proof sheet 450 with a finger or the like.

[0041] The dust-proof sheet 450 may have a deflection amount of about 3 mm or less during insertion, and examples of the material include a polyvinyl chloride film. The dust-proof sheet 450 is mounted when the image forming apparatus 100 is recycled and is not mounted during use of the image forming apparatus 100. Therefore, it is preferable that the dust-proof sheet 450 does not allow air to pass through without considering the pressure loss so as to more surely prevent dust from falling onto the image forming unit 500. Further, since the removed dust-proof sheet 450 is reused after being cleaned, it is preferable that the dust-proof sheet 450 is easy to clean and reusable.

[0042] Figs. 7(a) to 7(c) are diagrams for explaining the attachment of the dust-proof sheet 450 to the sheet attachment member 400. Fig. 7(a) shows the state before the sheet is attached, Fig. 7(b) shows the state during the sheet attachment, and Fig. 7(c) shows the state after the sheet is attached.

[0043] As shown in Fig. 7(a), the service technician starts inserting the dust-proof sheet 450 from the sheet insertion / removal port 401a while fitting both ends in the width direction of the dust-proof sheet 450 into the guide grooves 402a of the guide portions 402. As shown in Fig. 7(b), as the dust-proof sheet 450 is inserted by the service technician, it slides along the guide groove 402a until it gets over the protrusion 410 and abuts against the abutting portion 403. As shown in Fig. 7(c), when the dust-proof sheet 450 gets over the protrusion 410 and abuts against the abutting portion 403, the service technician ends the insertion operation. The thus-attached dust-proof sheet 450, as described above, has its upstream end in the insertion direction abutting against the protrusion 410 and does not come out from the sheet insertion / removal port 401a. Also, a part 450a of the upstream end of the dust-proof sheet 450 is exposed from the sheet insertion / removal portion 401 when viewed from the vertical direction through the notch portion 411. In this way, the service technician can attach the dust-proof sheet 450 at a position overlapping the tray through-hole 303 when viewed from the vertical direction without bringing the dust-proof sheet 450 into contact with the image forming unit 500 or the like by pushing the dust-proof sheet 450 into the sheet insertion / removal port 401a.

[0044] As described above, in this embodiment, the sheet mounting member 400 is disposed between the upper wall portion 110 of the housing 100A and the image forming unit 500 with respect to the vertical direction so as to overlap the housing through-hole 70 when viewed from the vertical direction. And, when the image forming apparatus 100 is being recovered, a dust-proof sheet 450 is mounted on the sheet mounting member 400 at a position that overlaps the tray through-hole 303 when viewed from the vertical direction by a service technician. In this way, when the dust-proof sheet 450 is mounted on the sheet mounting member 400, in the image forming apparatus 100 with the dust-proof sheet 450 mounted thereon, even if dust deposited in the air duct 302 enters the housing 100A during transportation, it is difficult for the dust to fall onto components inside the housing 100A such as the image forming unit 500 due to the dust-proof sheet 450. Thereby, it is possible to prevent malfunction of components inside the housing 100A such as the image forming unit 500 caused by dust that has entered the housing 100A, and thus it is possible to improve the reuse rate of the components inside the housing 100A.

[0045] <Other Embodiments> In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the in-body discharge type image forming apparatus 100 having the document reading unit 40 is taken as an example, but it is not limited thereto. For example, an upper surface discharge type image forming apparatus that does not have the document reading unit 40 may be used. Also, it is not limited to a vertical conveyance type image forming apparatus that conveys the recording material S from below upward with respect to the main body grounding surface of the housing 100A as shown in FIG. 2, and a horizontal conveyance type image forming apparatus that conveys the recording material S in the left-right direction with respect to the main body grounding surface may also be used.

[0046] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the intermediate transfer type image forming apparatus 100 in which the toner image is primarily transferred from the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d of each color to the intermediate transfer belt 7 and then the toner image is secondarily transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 7 to the recording material S has been described as an example, but it is not limited thereto. The above-described embodiment is also applicable to a direct transfer type image forming apparatus in which the toner image is directly transferred from the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d of each color that carry and rotate the toner image to the recording material S.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0047] 40... document reading unit, 64... discharge section (pair of discharge rollers), 70... second through hole (through hole in housing), 100... image forming apparatus, 100A... housing, 101... opening and closing door (front cover), 110... upper wall section, 300... loading section (loading tray), 301... fan (intake fan), 302... air flow path section (air duct), 303... through hole (first through hole, tray through hole), 400... sheet mounting section (sheet mounting member), 401a... sheet insertion / removal opening, 402... guide section, 410... restriction section (protrusion), 411... notch section, 450... dustproof sheet, 500... image forming unit, S... recording material

Claims

1. A housing, an image forming unit provided in the housing for forming an image on a recording material, a fan, an air flow path portion through which the air flow generated by the fan passes, a through hole formed in a lower portion of the air flow path portion and communicating between the inside and the outside of the air flow path portion, a sheet mounting portion provided in the housing below the air flow path portion in the vertical direction and at a position overlapping the through hole when viewed in the vertical direction, where a sheet different from the recording material can be mounted, An image forming apparatus characterized by the above.

2. The air flow path portion is disposed above the image forming unit in the vertical direction, In the housing, the sheet mounting portion is configured such that the sheet is disposed between the air flow path portion and the image forming unit in the vertical direction. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

3. The sheet mounting portion has a sheet insertion / removal port through which the sheet can be inserted and removed, and a guide portion for guiding the movement of the sheet inserted from the sheet insertion / removal port to a position overlapping the through hole. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

4. The sheet mounting portion has a restricting portion for restricting the movement of the mounted sheet in a direction opposite to the insertion direction. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

5. The sheet mounting portion has a notch portion notched on the downstream side of the insertion direction with respect to the restricting portion so that a part of the mounted sheet is exposed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, characterized by the above.

6. A discharging portion for discharging the recording material on which an image is formed by the image forming unit from the housing to the outside, A stacking portion having a stacking surface for stacking the recording material discharged by the discharging portion, The air flow path portion is formed inside the stacking portion. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

7. The housing is disposed above the image forming unit and has an upper wall portion on which the stacking portion is mounted, A second through hole communicating between the outside and the inside of the housing is formed at a position corresponding to the through hole in the upper wall portion of the housing. The sheet mounting portion is disposed between the upper wall portion and the image forming unit in the vertical direction and overlaps the second through hole when viewed in the vertical direction. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, characterized by the above.

8. A document reading unit for reading an image of a document above the housing in the vertical direction is provided. There is a space between a part of the upper surface of the housing and a part of the document reading unit in the vertical direction, through which the recording material is discharged by the discharging unit. The stacking unit is disposed in the space. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that.

9. The housing has an opening / closing door provided so as to be openable and closable. In a closed state, the opening / closing door covers the sheet insertion / removal opening when viewed from the sheet insertion direction. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that.

10. A housing, An image forming unit provided in the housing for forming an image on a recording material, A through hole formed in the upper wall portion of the housing and communicating between the inside and the outside of the housing, In the housing, below the through hole in the vertical direction and at a position overlapping the through hole when viewed in the vertical direction, a sheet mounting portion on which a sheet different from the recording material can be mounted, An image forming apparatus, characterized in that.

Images