Toner conveying device and image forming apparatus including the same

{
  "publication_number": "US8938189B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Toner conveying device and image forming apparatus including the same",
  "abstract": "A toner conveying device of the present disclosure includes a conveying screw, a toner conveying pipe, and a plurality of convex portions that are formed on an inner wall surface of the toner conveying pipe. The conveying screw has a rotary shaft and a conveying vane that is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft. The toner conveying pipe has a circular section, and the conveying screw is rotatably disposed inside the toner conveying pipe. Each of the convex portions is formed within an area defined by half the circumference along the inner wall surface of the toner conveying pipe and supports the conveying screw so that an axial center of the rotary shaft substantially coincides with a center axis of the toner conveying pipe.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A toner conveying device, comprising: a conveying screw that has a rotary shaft and a conveying vane formed on an outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft; a toner conveying pipe that has a circular section and inside which the conveying screw is rotatably disposed; and a plurality of convex portions that are formed on an inner wall surface of the toner conveying pipe, and each of which is formed within an area defined by half a circumference along the inner wall surface of the toner conveying pipe and supports the conveying screw so that an axial center of the rotary shaft substantially coincides with a center axis of the toner conveying pipe, wherein the convex portions are inclined faces that are formed at a lower portion of the inner wall surface of the toner conveying pipe so as to support an outer peripheral edge of the conveying vane and, as seen from a direction of the center axis of the toner conveying pipe, the inclined faces form substantially a V-shape symmetrical with respect to the center axis.",
    "2. The toner conveying device according to claim 1, wherein each of the inclined faces forms an angle of not less than 40° and not more than 60° with respect to a horizontal plane.",
    "3. The toner conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the toner conveying pipe is formed by combining together an upper pipe constituting an upper half of an outer peripheral surface of the toner conveying pipe as seen from an axial direction thereof and a lower pipe constituting a lower half of the outer peripheral surface, and the inclined faces are formed integrally with an inner wall surface of the lower pipe.",
    "4. The toner conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the convex portions are formed so that, at a substantially middle portion of the conveying screw in a longitudinal direction thereof, they are opposed to the conveying screw over a length not more than one third of a total length of the conveying screw.",
    "5. An image forming apparatus comprising the toner conveying device according to claim 1."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present disclosure relates to a toner conveying device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copy machine, a printer, a facsimile, a multifunctional peripheral having functions of these apparatuses, or the like.\n\nA conventional image forming apparatus generally performs a process in which a powdered developer is mainly used to visualize, by use of a developing device, an electrostatic latent image formed on an image bearing member such as a photosensitive drum or the like, and a visualized image (toner image) thus formed is transferred onto a recording medium and then is subjected to fixing processing. Toner remaining on the surface of the image bearing member is removed by a cleaning device, after which a new toner image is formed thereon. The residual toner that has been removed by the cleaning device is stored in a waste toner bottle. When the waste toner bottle becomes filled to capacity after a predetermined number of times of printing, a user is notified as such, and the waster toner bottle is discarded to be replaced with a new one.\n\nIt has been known to use, as a waste toner collecting path from the cleaning device to the waste toner bottle, a toner conveying path constituted by a pipe-shaped conveying passage including inside thereof a conveying screw.",
  "cpc": [
    "G03G 15/0891",
    "B65G 33/32",
    "G03G 15/0844",
    "G03G 21/105",
    "G03G 2215/0827"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B65G 33/32",
    "G03G 15/08",
    "G03G 21/10"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Kyocera Document Solutions Inc"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Koji Murata",
    "Naoki Yamane",
    "Tatsuhiko Yoshii"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2013-01-28",
  "publication_date": "2015-01-20",
  "grant_date": "2015-01-20",
  "priority_date": "2012-02-20",
  "application_number": "US-201313751457-A",
  "family_id": "47721996",
  "cited_by_count": 1,
  "citations": [
    "JPH09218627A",
    "US6070035A",
    "JP2002132109A",
    "JP2005091809A",
    "JP2006176269A"
  ]
}