Rotatable Toner Container Shutter Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional toner supply devices face issues with toner spillage during handling and replacement, leading to operational and maintenance challenges, including contamination of operators and equipment.
Innovation Solution
A toner container with a rotatable body and shutter mechanism, allowing controlled rotational action and locking state, which prevents toner spillage during handling and attachment/detachment, and simplifies the structure for improved operativity and maintenance performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the toner cartridge is mounted to the toner supply device with a rotatable container body, then the ratio of toner stored in the toner cartridge can be increased, but toner spills out and falls from the toner discharge port causing contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter member is positioned in advance to cover the toner discharge port before the toner cartridge is rotated or mounted. This preliminary closing action prevents toner from spilling out when the container body is rotated, while still allowing the container to maintain its rotatable design for increased toner storage capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The shutter member acts as an intermediary element between the toner storage space and the external environment. It controls the opening and closing of the discharge port, mediating between the need for toner storage (rotatable container) and the need to prevent contamination (toner spillage)
2Ease of operation
If the toner cartridge structure is simplified to improve operativity, then ease of operation is improved, but toner spillage control may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter mechanism is merged with the toner cartridge body structure, where the shutter member is integrated into the container body rather than being a separate complex mechanism. This merging maintains simplicity for ease of operation while still providing reliable toner spillage prevention through the shutter's opening and closing action
Data Source
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AI summary
A toner bottle (200) that is composed of a main body (201) having a bottle-side toner discharge port (201R) for discharging toner and a bottle holder (300) that encloses the bottle-side toner discharge port (201R) and rotatably holds the main part (201) and is constructed such that the main part is rotated in its peripheral direction to thereby discharge the toner charged in it out of the bottle. The toner bottle is characterized in that the bottle holder has a guide portion that is able to position and hold the main part at a position with respect to its rotational direction, and the main part has a hooking piece (205) that is able to position and hold itself with respect to the direction of rotation by means of the guide portion.