Drum Unit Waste Toner Conveyor Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing electrophotographic image forming apparatuses face challenges in minimizing the size of the drum unit while accommodating the waste-toner conveyor pipe, leading to potential increases in the overall size of the image forming unit.
Innovation Solution
The drum unit configuration includes a second conveyor member disposed between the side plate and the ends of the drum bodies in the axial direction, which restricts the increase in size by optimizing the space usage and integrating the waste-toner conveyor within the existing structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the waste-toner conveyor pipe is disposed outside the process cartridges while being supported by the frame, then the conveyor pipe can be properly installed and function, but the size of the image forming unit increases
Solution Approach 1:
The waste-toner conveyor pipe is nested within the drum unit structure by disposing it between the side plate and the drum bodies. This nesting approach allows the conveyor pipe to be housed within the existing drum unit volume without requiring additional external space, thereby resolving the contradiction between maintaining conveyor functionality and minimizing overall unit size
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyor pipe is repositioned from a traditional external frame-supported configuration to an internal positioning between the side plate and drum bodies. This dimensional reorganization utilizes previously unused internal space within the drum unit, allowing the conveyor pipe to function without increasing the external dimensions of the image forming unit
2Adaptability or versatility
If the frame has space for both installing the waste-toner conveyor pipe and supporting the process cartridges, then both functions can be accommodated, but it becomes difficult to avoid increasing the size of the drum unit
Solution Approach 1:
The space between the side plate and drum bodies, which would traditionally be unused or wasted space, is repurposed to accommodate the waste-toner conveyor pipe. This multi-functional use of the same spatial region allows the drum unit to house both the process cartridges and the conveyor pipe without requiring additional volume, thereby achieving versatility without size increase
Data Source
AI summary
A drum unit includes a photosensitive drum, a side plate, a cleaning unit, a waste-toner conveyor unit. The photosensitive drum has a first drum body and a second drum body, each having a photosensitive layer and a supported portion extending from one end of the drum body in a first direction along a rotational axis of the photosensitive drum. The side plate supports the supported portions. The cleaning unit has cleaners and conveyors corresponding to the drum bodies so as to remove waste toner from the photosensitive drums and convey the waste toner removed by the cleaners in the first direction. The waste-toner conveyor unit has a collecting conveyor configured to convey the waste toner conveyed by the. The collecting conveyor is disposed between the side plate and the drum bodies. The collecting conveyor is disposed below the first conveyor.