Toner Container Storage Portion Protection via Nesting
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing toner containers for image forming apparatuses are prone to physical damage, which can lead to the storage portion being broken and resulting in the image forming apparatus's inability to acquire information about the toner, causing issues with image forming and developing operations.
Innovation Solution
A toner container design featuring a container body with a pair of guide portions on its bottom surface, a storage portion positioned between these guide portions, and a mounting mechanism that includes guide ditches and a lock member, which protects the storage portion from physical contact and ensures secure mounting and information transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the storage portion is attached on the surface of the toner container in an exposed manner, then the information about toner can be easily read by the reading portion, but the storage portion is likely to be subjected to physical contact and broken
Solution Approach 1:
The storage portion is embedded within a recess formed in the bottom surface of the container body, creating a nested structure where the storage portion is housed inside the container body rather than being exposed on the outer surface. This nesting protects the storage portion from physical contact while maintaining electrical connection capability with the reading portion through the container body's contact portion.
2Reliability
If the storage portion is protected from physical contact, then the reliability is improved, but the reading portion may have difficulty in electrically contacting the storage portion
Solution Approach 1:
The container body acts as an intermediary element that bridges the reading portion and the storage portion. The reading portion electrically contacts the storage portion through the container body's contact portion, which serves as a conductive mediator. This allows information reading while maintaining the protective recess structure that shields the storage portion from physical damage.
Data Source
AI summary
A toner container according to one aspect of the present disclosure is a toner container to be detachably mounted on an image forming apparatus. The toner container includes a container body, a pair of guide portions, and a storage portion. The container body contains toner. The pair of guide portions are provided on a bottom surface of the container body and allow the container body to be guided in a mounting direction toward a mounting position that allows toner to be supplied from the container body to the image forming apparatus. The storage portion is attached at a predetermined position between the pair of guide portions on the bottom surface of the container body. The storage portion stores information about toner contained in the container body.