Fixing Unit Guide and Connector Alignment During Installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image forming apparatuses face challenges in easily engaging connectors of a fixing device with the main frame due to complex movement trajectories during installation, leading to potential misalignment and difficulty in electrical connections.
Innovation Solution
The image forming apparatus incorporates guides and connectors that guide the fixing device into the main frame through a series of processes, ensuring easy engagement by using reference portions, guides, and connectors that tilt and tilt surfaces to maintain alignment, along with movable and fixed connectors and springs to facilitate stable connection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the unit is installed into the main frame with a complicated movement trajectory, then the installation flexibility is improved, but the connector engagement reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The frame-side connector is designed to be movable relative to the main frame, allowing it to dynamically adjust its position during the installation process. This enables the connector to accommodate complicated movement trajectories while maintaining reliable engagement with the unit-side connector throughout the multi-step installation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces guides (first guide and second guide) as intermediary elements that mediate between the unit and the main frame during installation. These guides constrain and direct the movement trajectory, ensuring that despite complex installation paths, the connectors remain properly aligned and engaged.
2Ease of operation
If the connector is made movable to accommodate complex trajectories, then the ease of operation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connector system is segmented into two distinct parts: a frame-side connector attached to the main frame and a unit-side connector attached to the removable unit. This segmentation allows the frame-side connector to be movable while keeping the unit-side connector simple and fixed, distributing the complexity appropriately.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable frame-side connector combines multiple functions: it serves as both the electrical connection interface and the mechanical positioning element. By merging these functions, the patent reduces the need for additional separate components that would otherwise be required to guide and engage the connectors.
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming apparatus includes a main frame and a unit installable in an installation position in the main frame. The main frame has a first guide, a second guide, a groove, and a frame-side connector. The frame-side connector is movably held by the main frame. The unit has a first reference portion and a unit-side connector. The unit is installed in the main frame by a first process in which the first reference portion is guided by the first guide, a second process, in which the first reference portion is guided by the second guide, and a third process, in which the first reference portion is received in the groove and the unit is located in the installation position. The unit-side connector engages the frame-side connector in the first process, and the frame-side connector moves as the unit-side connector moves in the second process and in the third process.