Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Takamasa Tsukada

Junichi Yokoi

Yoshiyuki Okazaki

Hiroshige Hiramatsu

Junichi Hashimoto

Ryuya Yamazaki

Ryosuke Sakai

Masamitsu Takahashi

Mayu Wakamatsu

Shusaku Tsusaka

Eiji Kawahara

An image forming apparatus, having a photosensitive drum assembly, an exposure head, and a bearing, is provided. The photosensitive drum assembly includes a photosensitive drum and a flange disposed at an end of the photosensitive drum in an axial direction of an axis of the photosensitive drum. The flange contacts an inner surface of the photosensitive drum. The exposure head includes a plurality of light emitters aligned along the axial direction of the photosensitive drum, a lens array focusing light from the light emitters on the photosensitive drum, and a head frame to support the light emitters and the lens array. The bearing has a first contact face to contact the exposure head to define a distance between the lens array and the photosensitive drum along a direction of an optical axis of the light.

Image forming apparatus

Image forming apparatus and drum unit

Drum unit

An image forming apparatus, including a photosensitive drum, an exposure head, a base frame, and a spring, is provided. The exposure head includes light emitters, a lens array, and a head frame, and is movable between an exposable position and a retracted position. The base frame supports the photosensitive drum and includes a reference face. The reference face is configured to define a position of the exposure head with regard to a sub-scanning direction, which is orthogonal to a direction of an optical axis of the light from the light emitters and to a direction of a rotation axis of the photosensitive drum, by being contacted by the head frame of the exposure head when the exposure head is at the exposable position. The spring is arranged in the head frame and presses the head frame toward the reference face.

Image forming apparatus, drum unit, and manufacturing method for the image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a lower casing, an upper casing, an arm, and a brake member. The lower casing includes a photosensitive body. The upper casing includes an exposure unit configured to expose the photosensitive body. The upper casing is configured to pivot on a predetermined axis relative to the lower casing between a closed position where the upper casing covers an upper portion of the lower casing and an open position where the upper casing exposes the upper portion of the lower casing. The slider is attached to the upper casing and is configured to slide in a sliding direction orthogonal to the predetermined axis. The arm includes a first end pivotably connected to the lower casing and a second end pivotably connected to the slider. The brake member is configured to control a speed of the slider when the slider slides in the sliding direction.

Image forming apparatus including upper casing which opens and closes relative to lower casing

An image forming apparatus, including a housing, a communication interface, a light source unit, and a light guide, is provided. The communication interface includes a communication board and a looped antenna for near field communication. The communication board is arranged to be covered by the housing and has an aperture portion. The looped antenna is arranged on a circumferential edge of the aperture portion to be looped around the aperture portion. The light source includes a light source board, arranged at a position opposite to the housing across the communication interface along a direction of thickness of the communication board, and a light source mounted on the light source board. The light guide extends from the light source through the aperture portion toward the housing.

An image forming apparatus, having a main body, a top cover, a first exposure device, a second exposure device, and a linkage mechanism, is provided. The top cover is pivotable about a first pivot axis. The first exposure device and the second exposure device are supported by the top cover pivotably about a second pivot axis and a third pivot axis, respectively. The second exposure device is at a position closer to the first pivot axis than the first exposure device. The linkage mechanism moves the first exposure device from a first retracted position toward a first exposing position and the second exposure device from a second retracted position toward a second exposing position in conjunction with the top cover moving between a first position and a second position. The linkage mechanism moves the first exposure device at a timing later than the second exposure device.

An image forming apparatus, comprising: a body casing; a drum unit; a belt unit; and a waste toner storage unit, the drum unit comprising: a photosensitive drum; a cleaning unit; and a conveying unit configured to convey toner removed by the cleaning unit, the belt unit comprising: a belt and a unit electric contact, the conveying unit comprises: a conveying member to convey the toner removed by the cleaning unit in a moving direction of the drum unit; and a conveying tube having a discharging outlet configured to let toner carried by the conveying member be discharged to the waste toner storage unit, wherein the discharging outlet is disposed on a downstream side with respect to a body electric contact in a direction pointing from an inside position to an outside position of the drum unit in a state where the drum unit is disposed at the inside position.

A cleaning unit includes a first accommodating chamber, a first conveyer, a cleaner, and a developing agent conveyer. The accommodating chamber is configured to accommodate therein developing agent. The accommodating chamber has one end portion and another end portion. The first conveyer is configured to convey the developing agent from the one end portion toward the another end portion. The cleaner is configured to collect developing agent from a belt in contact with a photosensitive member. The developing agent conveyer has a collection opening through which developing agent collected from a component other than the belt. The developing agent conveyer is configured to convey the developing agent from the collection opening toward the first accommodating chamber. The cleaner and the developing agent conveyer are positioned at the one end portion.

Cleaning unit and image forming apparatus provided with the same

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier configured to carry thereon a developer image, an endless belt configured to be rotated while contacting the image carrier, a first cleaning roller having an outer surface made of semiconductor material and configured to electrically remove attachments attached on the endless belt, and a backup roller made of metal and arranged to oppose the first cleaning roller with the endless belt being interposed therebetween. The endless belt has a nip portion at which both the backup roller and the first cleaning roller contact the endless belt while opposing each other, and the first cleaning roller contacts the endless belt at a more upstream side than the nip portion in a moving direction of the endless belt.

Belt cleaning configuration for an image forming apparatus

A collection device including: an accommodation part configured to accommodate therein collected adhering substance; and a detection part configured to detect an amount of the adhering substance in the accommodation part and including, a moving member configured to move from a first position to a second position, the accommodation part being capable of accommodating therein the adhering substance when the moving member is arranged at the first position and being full of the adhering substance when the moving member is in the second position, and a restraining member configured to restrain the moving member from moving from the first position to the second position when the moving member is arranged at the first position, and restrain the moving member from moving from the second position to the first position when the moving member is arranged at the second position.

Growing community of inventors

Ichinomiya, Japan

Takamasa Tsukada