32 results about "Toner refill" patented technology

In a developing device of the present invention for depositing toner on an image carrier to thereby develop a latent image formed thereon, a toner refilling device is configured to refill, when the toner is short, fresh toner at a position where the developing device is situated.

A toner supplying device which is capable of individually supplying toners of different colors. The toner supplying device can include a driving source; a plurality of toner receptacles in which different color toners are contained and respective toner discharging members are provided in order to discharge toners while being driven by power transmitted from the driving source; and a plurality of spring clutches to selectively transmit power from the driving source to the toner discharging members. The toner supplying device according to the present general inventive concept can be advantageously employed in toner-refill type color image forming apparatuses in view of the miniaturization of the apparatus and reduction in the manufacturing costs.

A toner replenishing device having a stable performance without causing variation of the toner suction pressure, even if the toner characteristics vary in a toner vessel in a volume-reducing type toner carrying device. In the toner replenishing device comprising a flexible toner storing vessel, a sucking means for arrying the toner in the toner storing vessel to a prescribed place by a negative pressure, and a substantially airtight toner carrying passage, the toner storing vessel being reduced in volume by sucking the toner, the sucking means is a single-shaft eccentric screw pump, whose operation time is longer than the time for generating a maximum pressure.

A toner cartridge (20) includes a main cartridge body (30) having a housing formed with an opening (350) and also having a rotary shaft (41) supported by the housing for rotation about an axis thereof, a detachable member (60) mounted to the opening (350) and having a toner outlet (610) through which the toner (T) is discharged and a sealing film (70) having a first end so attached to the detachable member (60) as to close the toner outlet (610) and a second end attached to a part of the main cartridge body (30), the first end of the sealing film (70) being peeled off from the detachable member (60) by the rotation of the rotary shaft (41).

A remanufacturing method of remanufacting a process cartridge includes (a) a step of preparing a used process cartridge which comprises a toner developing container, a cleaning container and pins for coupling the toner developing container and the cleaning container at opposite longitudinal ends of the process cartridge; the toner developing container including a toner accommodating portion, a toner supply opening, a developing roller and a developing blade; the cleaning container including an electrophotographic photosensitive drum; (b) a container separating step of separating the process cartridge into the toner developing container and the developing container by disengaging the pins from the process cartridge; (c) a developing roller dismounting step of dismounting the developing roller from the toner developing container separated by the container separating step; (d) a developing blade dismounting step of dismounting the developing blade from the toner developing container separated by the container separating step; (e) an elastic member mounting step of mounting an elastic member to a longitudinally inside of an end seal provided adjacent each of opposite longitudinal ends of a or the developing roller, at a position laterally outside of the end seal; (f) a developing blade mounting step of mounting a or the developing blade on a or the toner developer container; (g) a developing roller mounting step of mounting a or the developing roller on the toner developer container having the developing blade; (h) a toner refilling step of refilling the toner into a or the toner accommodating portion of the toner developing container having the developing blade and the developing roller; and (i) a container coupling step of coupling the toner developing container having the developing blade and the developing roller with a or the cleaning container by engaging a or the pin into them.

A toner refill device includes first and second adapter units defining first and second refill openings, and first and second closure members movable between closed positions open and closed positions to respectively close and open the refill openings. The second closure member has a passage forming element connecting the refill openings when the second closure member is in the open position. The second adapter unit defines an accommodation space for accommodating the passage forming element when the second closure member is in the closed position. The closure members are adapted to be coupled to one another for a joint movement relative to the adapter units. The closure members are rotatably supported in their respective adapter units so as to be jointly rotatable about a common axis of rotation. The second refill opening and the accommodation space are angularly offset from one another about said common axis of rotation.

A toner cartridge includes a main cartridge body having a housing formed with an opening and also having a rotary shaft supported by the housing for rotation about an axis thereof, a detachable member mounted to the opening and having a toner outlet through which the toner is discharged and a sealing film having a first end so attached to the detachable member as to close the toner outlet and a second end attached to a part of the main cartridge body, the first end of the sealing film being peeled off from the detachable member by the rotation of the rotary shaft.

A supply recycling system for recycling supply goods used in an office-automation equipment includes a toner refilling process including removing waste toner from a toner bottle retrieved from a market, and filling the toner bottle with new toner; and a steelmaking-dust molding process including blending the waste toner removed at the toner refilling process with steelmaking dust, and molding the steelmaking dust blended with the waste toner.

The invention relates to a developing device and an image forming apparatus provided with the same. The developing device of this disclosure has: a housing, a developing roller, a developer conveying path, a partition board, a second communication path, a developer receiving port, a first conveying member, a second conveying member, and a conveyance capability inhibition part. A toner is cyclically conveyed in a first conveying path and a second conveying path. A first stirring screw is disposed in the first conveying path and driven into ration around a first rotation axis for toner conveyance. Formed downstream of the first stirring screw by the conveyance capability inhibition part is a toner accumulation part, and the amount of toner refilled from a toner refill port is adjusted. Where an aperture area of the first communication path is A1 and a circular area formed by an outer circumferential edge of the first stirring screw in section orthogonal to the first rotation axis is A2, relationship 0.5Ax2

A hopper engagement device includes a base member having an orifice releasably engaging with a toner container. The orifice is provides an interference fit with an opening of the container. The engagement device includes a sealing member on the container wherein the sealing member includes an adhesive portion configured to engage an outer surface of a lid. When the lid is opened, the sealing member is peeled off from an opening of the container. A toner refilling kit includes a hopper engagement device having an orifice and a toner hopper container having a removable sealing member having an adhesive portion. The adhesive portion engages an outer surface of a hopper cover when the container engages the hopper engagement device. A toner container includes an opening and a sealing member attached to the opening. A refill kit includes a base member having an orifice and a toner container.

A toner supplying device which is capable of individually supplying toners of different colors. The toner supplying device can include a driving source; a plurality of toner receptacles in which different color toners are contained and respective toner discharging members are provided in order to discharge toners while being driven by power transmitted from the driving source; and a plurality of spring clutches to selectively transmit power from the driving source to the toner discharging members. The toner supplying device according to the present general inventive concept can be advantageously employed in toner-refill type color image forming apparatuses in view of the miniaturization of the apparatus and reduction in the manufacturing costs.

A toner refill device includes first and second adapter units defining first and second refill openings, and first and second closure members movable between closed positions open and closed positions to respectively close and open the refill openings. The second closure member has a passage forming element connecting the refill openings when the second closure member is in the open position. The second adapter unit defines an accommodation space for accommodating the passage forming element when the second closure member is in the closed position. The closure members are adapted to be coupled to one another for a joint movement relative to the adapter units. The closure members are rotatably supported in their respective adapter units so as to be jointly rotatable about a common axis of rotation. The second refill opening and the accommodation space are angularly offset from one another about said common axis of rotation.

A developing device develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive drum. A bottle rotation sensor detects rotation of a toner bottle that stores toner. A bottle motor drives the toner bottle for rotation to thereby discharge toner from the toner bottle. A hopper-internal toner sensor detects presence / absence of toner stored in a hopper that stores toner discharged from the toner bottle. A replenishment unit replenishes toner stored in the hopper to the developing device. Which of failure of the bottle rotation sensor and rotation failure of the toner bottle has occurred is determined based on a detection result of the bottle rotation sensor and a detection result of the hopper-internal toner sensor.

An image forming device and an operating method are provided. The operating method included outputting a notification indicating that a cartridge in an image forming device needs to be refilled with toner, in accordance with the notification, performing a preparatory operation for entering a refill mode when it is determined that an operation mode of the image forming device is to be switched to the refill mode for refilling the cartridge with toner, when the preparatory operation is completed, controlling the image forming device such that only an operation related to the toner refilling is performed according to the refill mode, and when the refill mode is terminated, switching the operation mode of the image forming device to a job mode for performing a predetermined job in the image forming device.

A toner replenishing apparatus includes: a toner storage that stores toner for replenishment; an agitation paddle that is arranged in the toner storage and rotates to agitate toner stored in the toner storage; a conveyance member that is disposed in a lower part of the toner storage and is used to convey the toner stored in the toner storage toward a developer; and an agitation member that moves along with rotation of the agitation paddle, wherein the conveyance member is arranged away from the agitation paddle in a plan view, and the agitation member agitates the toner located above the conveyance member, which is a part of the toner stored in the toner storage.

The invention relates to a toner cartridge toner supplementing mechanism which comprises a toner cartridge body with a toner bin and further comprises a toner supplementing box matched and butted above the toner bin, a toner inlet is formed in the butting surface of the toner bin, and a toner outlet opposite to the toner inlet is formed in the butting surface of the toner supplementing box; a toner outlet assembly for bringing toner powder to the toner outlet is arranged in the toner supplementing box, and the toner outlet assembly is in transmission connection with an action mechanism in the toner cartridge main body through a reduction gear set. The toner cartridge toner supplementing mechanism is convenient for toner supplementing operation, and can effectively control the toner supply quality and the toner supply amount.

A developing device develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive drum. A bottle rotation sensor detects rotation of a toner bottle that stores toner. A bottle motor drives the toner bottle for rotation to thereby discharge toner from the toner bottle. A hopper-internal toner sensor detects presence / absence of toner stored in a hopper that stores toner discharged from the toner bottle. A replenishment unit replenishes toner stored in the hopper to the developing device. Which of failure of the bottle rotation sensor and rotation failure of the toner bottle has occurred is determined based on a detection result of the bottle rotation sensor and a detection result of the hopper-internal toner sensor.

In a new printer, a toner cartridge is mounted in the state where there is no toner in a reserve tank, and toner of the amount of filling toner D therein is supplied with the amount of full accommodation toner E for filling up the reserve tank by a toner supply mechanism. The toner of the amount of remaining surplus toner F remains in the toner cartridge. The amount of toner consumption G is measured by a dot counter during a printing execution. In the case where a toner density sensor detects a toner decreasing, the toner is supplied to a developing unit from the reserve tank. When it becomes G>F, it display-informs a user of "toner cartridge exchange is allowed". Hereby, it enables to exchange the toner cartridge without stopping operation of the main body of the image forming apparatus using a two-component developer.

A developing device (20) of this disclosure has: a housing (210), a developing roller (21), a developer conveying path (220), a partition board (22), a second communication path (224), a developer receiving port (25), a first conveying member (23), a second conveying member (24), and a conveyance capability inhibition part (26). A toner is cyclically conveyed in a first conveying path (221) and a second conveying path (222). A first stirring screw is disposed in the first conveying path and driven into ration around a first rotation axis for toner conveyance. Formed downstream of the first stirring screw by the conveyance capability inhibition part is a toner accumulation part (27), and the amount of toner refilled from a toner refill port is adjusted. Where an aperture area of the first communication path is A1 and a circular area formed by an outer circumferential edge of the first stirring screw in section orthogonal to the first rotation axis is A2, relationship 0.5×A2<A1<1.2×A2 is satisfied.

A toner replenishing device includes a toner container that stores toner, a toner replenishing device that supplies toner from the toner container to a developing device, and a toner condition detector that detects an aggregated condition of the toner stored in the toner container. A toner softening device is provided to soften toner stored in the toner container. A controller is also provided to drive the toner softening device for a prescribed time period in accordance with a detection result obtained by the toner condition detector.

A rechargeable toner cartridge without an inner air filter passage includes a toner refilling hole and a connection portion. The toner refilling hole is an opening used to refill toner. Both of the connection portion and the toner refilling hole are disposed on one end of the toner cartridge, and penetrate through a housing of the toner cartridge. In the rechargeable toner cartridge, an air flow path from the toner refilling hole to the connection portion is a direct path without passing through an air filter element. A filter device matching and being used with the toner cartridge as well as a rechargeable toner cartridge assembly are also provided. This technology prevents air pollution or bad effects to human health while a user is refilling the toner into the rechargeable toner cartridge.