Powder supply device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10503100-B2
Application number	US-201715845024-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2017
Priority date	Dec 19, 2016
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

A powder supply device including: a powder fluidizing unit which blows air into the powder in the tank to fluidize the powder; a powder supply path forming member which forms a powder supply path in which one end is the ejection port and the other end is an inflow port connected to the tank, wherein the fluidized powder flows into the inflow port so as to be ejected from the ejection port through the powder supply path; an air blower which blows air toward the powder that is about to flow into the inflow port; and a hardware processor, wherein the hardware processor is capable of executing supply flow rate control of controlling a powder ejection amount from the ejection port according to an air blowing amount by the air blower by controlling the air blowing amount.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A powder supply device which ejects a powder stored in a tank from a predetermined ejection port to supply the powder, the powder supply device comprising:
a powder fluidizing unit which blows air into the powder in the tank to fluidize the powder;
a powder supply path forming member which forms a powder supply path in which one end is the ejection port and the other end is an inflow port connected to the tank, wherein the powder in the tank which is fluidized by the powder fluidizing unit flows into the inflow port so as to be ejected from the ejection port through the powder supply path;
an air blower which blows air toward the powder that is about to flow into the inflow port; and
a hardware processor, wherein
the hardware processor is capable of executing supply flow rate control of controlling a powder ejection amount from the ejection port according to an air blowing amount by the air blower by controlling the air blowing amount, and the air blowing amount by the air blower is increased to reduce or stop a powder ejection.

2. The powder supply device according to claim 1 , wherein
the air blower is capable of blowing an air blowing amount which makes the powder ejection amount from the ejection port be zero, and
the hardware processor is capable of executing supply stop control of stopping powder supply by controlling the air blowing amount by the air blower to make the powder ejection amount from the ejection port be zero after the powder is supplied by the supply flow rate control.

3. The powder supply device according to claim 1 , further comprising a supply path opening/closing unit which closes the powder supply path by sucking air from a mixture of the powder and air in the powder supply path through a filter to temporarily aggregate the residual powder, the filter being impermeable to the powder and permeable to air.

4. The powder supply device according to claim 3 , wherein the hardware processor is capable of executing supply stop control of stopping powder supply by controlling the supply path opening/closing unit to make an opening degree of the powder supply path be zero after the powder is supplied by the supply flow rate control.

5. The powder supply device according to claim 3 , wherein the hardware processor is capable of executing supply stop control of stopping powder supply by controlling the supply path opening/closing unit to make an opening degree of the powder supply path be zero after the powder is supplied by controlling the supply path opening/closing unit to control the opening degree of the powder supply path.

6. The powder supply device according to claim 2 , further comprising a measure which measures the powder ejected from the ejection port and inputs a measurement value to the hardware processor, wherein the hardware processor controls a timing of stopping the powder supply based on the measurement value of the measure.

7. The powder supply device according to claim 6 , wherein the hardware processor is capable of setting a target value of a supply amount of the powder and executing deceleration stop control of decelerating the powder ejection amount as the measurement value of the measure approaches the target value and stopping the powder supply.

8. The powder supply device according to claim 1 , wherein the powder supply path is a horizontal path or a rising slope path from the inflow port to a predetermined dimension.

Assignees

• Konica Minolta Inc

Inventors

• Toda Toru

Classifications

• B65B1/34

  Adjusting weight by trickle feed · CPC title

• B65B39/007

  Guides or funnels for introducing articles into containers or wrappers · CPC title

• G03G15/0894 Primary

  Reconditioning of the developer unit, i.e. reusing or recycling parts of the unit, e.g. resealing of the unit before refilling with toner · CPC title

• B65B1/16

  by pneumatic means, e.g. by suction · CPC title

• G03G15/0877 Primary

  Arrangements for metering and dispensing developer from a developer cartridge into the development unit · CPC title