Integrated Support Bracket for Image Forming Apparatus Gear Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image forming apparatuses often experience misalignment between the support bracket and the main body frame, leading to improper engagement of driving and driven gears, which results in inadequate transmission of rotational force to the cartridge components, affecting the operation and image quality.
Innovation Solution
An integrated support bracket with driving gear units and guides is coupled to the main body frame, featuring protrusions on the cartridge that align with grooves on the bracket, ensuring precise mounting and minimizing positional variance between the gear units, thus maintaining proper engagement and force transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the guide and driving gears are provided on separate bodies (main body frame and separate bracket), then the structure is simpler and easier to manufacture, but misalignment occurs between the bracket and main body frame, resulting in improper gear engagement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the guide and driving gears into a single integrated support bracket that is coupled to the main body frame. This merging of previously separate components (guide on main body frame, driving gears on separate bracket) into one unified structure eliminates misalignment issues between separate bodies while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through modular design.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the support bracket is separate from the main body frame, then the cartridge can be easily removed and replaced, but the relative positions of the bracket and main frame may shift over time, causing misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
By integrating the guide and driving gears into a single support bracket that couples to the main body frame, the patent achieves both cartridge replaceability and position stability. The integrated bracket maintains fixed relative positions of guiding and driving components while allowing the entire cartridge assembly to be easily removed and replaced as a unit.
3Ease of manufacture
If the guide and driving gears are on separate bodies, then each component can be manufactured independently, but improper engagement between driving and driven gears results in inadequate force transmission
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the guide and driving gears into a single integrated support bracket, ensuring that the driving gears and guide are pre-aligned relative to each other. This integration guarantees proper engagement between driving and driven gears, ensuring reliable force transmission from the driving gears to the cartridge components while maintaining ease of manufacture through modular bracket design.
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming apparatus, includes: a main body frame; a process cartridge which comprises a driven gear unit which is driven to form a visible image on an image carrying body; and a bracket device which comprises a bracket main body which is coupled to the main body frame, a driving gear unit which is supported to the bracket main body, and which is to be engaged with the driven gear unit, and a guide which guides the process cartridge into a mounting position in the main body frame.