Image forming apparatus having a two direction rotatable stirring member

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11360410-B2
Application number	US-202117226253-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2021
Priority date	Apr 13, 2020
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes a toner storing portion, a stirring member that stirs the toner by rotating inside the toner storing portion, a driving unit for rotating the stirring member in a first rotation direction and in an opposite second rotation direction. A control portion controls the motor such that a rotation direction of the stirring member is changed from the first rotation direction to the second rotation direction, and a detection unit that detects a rotation state of the motor, wherein the control portion determines whether to end the rotating operation or not based on the rotation state detected by the detection unit, and wherein the rotation state includes a rotation speed or a rotation amount of the motor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a toner storing portion that stores toner;
a stirring member that stirs the toner by rotating inside the toner storing portion;
a driving unit that includes a motor and is capable of rotating the stirring member in a first rotation direction and in a second rotation direction, which is an opposite direction to the first rotation direction, by a driving force of the motor;
a control portion configured to control the motor to perform a rotating operation to rotate the stirring member, wherein in the rotating operation, the control portion controls the motor such that a rotation direction of the stirring member is changed from the first rotation direction to the second rotation direction; and
a detection unit that detects a rotation state of the motor,
wherein the control portion determines whether to end the rotating operation or not based on the rotation state detected by the detection unit, and
wherein the rotation state includes a rotation speed or a rotation amount of the motor.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control portion is configured to end the rotating operation in a case where (i) the rotation speed or the rotation amount detected by the detection unit maintains at least a predetermined rotation speed or rotation amount, or (ii) the rotation speed or the rotation amount detected by the detection unit maintains a predetermined range of the rotation speed or the rotation amount, while the stirring member is kept rotating in one rotation direction for a predetermined period.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the control portion alternately changes the rotation direction of the stirring member, until (i) the rotation speed or the rotation amount detected by the detection unit maintains at least a predetermined rotation speed or rotation amount, or (ii) the rotation speed or the rotation amount detected by the detection unit maintains a predetermined range of the rotation speed or the rotation amount.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein when a number of times of changing the rotation direction exceeds a predetermined number of times, an error message is displayed.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the toner storing portion is configured as a toner cartridge, so as to be attached to or detached from an apparatus main body of the image forming apparatus.

6. The image forming apparatus comprising:
a toner storing portion that stores toner;
a stirring member configured to stir the toner by rotating inside the toner storing portion;
a driving unit that includes a motor and is capable of rotating the stirring member in a first rotation direction and in a second rotation direction, which is an opposite direction to the first rotation direction, by a driving force of the motor;
a control portion configured to control the motor to perform a rotating operation to rotate the stirring member, wherein in the rotating operation, the control portion controls the motor such that a rotation direction of the stirring member is changed from the first rotation direction to the second rotation direction;
a detection unit that detects a rotation state of the motor; and
a seal member which seals an opening of the toner storing portion and a part of which is fixed to the stirring member,
wherein the control portion determines whether to end the rotating operation or not based on the rotation state detected by the detection unit, and
wherein the control portion executes a seal removal operation, which removes the seal member from the opening by rotating the stirring member, after the rotating operation.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 ,
wherein the control portion sets a first rotation direction of the stirring member in the rotating operation to the same direction as the rotation direction of the stirring member in the seal removal operation.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7 ,
wherein in a case where the rotation direction of the stirring member in the rotating operation is an opposite direction to the rotation direction of the stirring member in the seal removal operation, the control portion does not determine whether to end the rotating operation or not.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8 ,
wherein the control portion starts the seal removal operation without stopping the rotation of the stirring member.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 ,
wherein in the rotating operation, the motor rotates the stirring member in a range where the seal member is not removed from the opening by the rotation of the stirring member.

11. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a toner storing portion that stores toner;
a stirring member configured to stir the toner by rotating inside the toner storing portion;
a driving unit that includes a motor and is capable of rotating the stirring member in a first direction and in a second direction, which is an opposite direction to the first direction, by a driving force of the motor; and
a control portion configured to control the motor such that a rotation direction of the stirring member changes between the first direction and the second direction if a rotation speed of the motor does not reach a predetermined speed or a rotation amount of the motor does not reach a predetermined amount.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein the control portion is configured to control the motor such that the stirring member is kept rotating in one rotation direction for a predetermined period if the rotation speed of the motor reaches the predetermined speed or the rotation amount of the motor reaches the predetermined amount.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 12 ,
wherein when a number of times of changing the rotation direction exceeds a predetermined number of times, an error message is displayed.

14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11 , further comprising: a seal member which seals an opening of the toner storing portion and a part of which is fixed to the stirring member such that the seal member is removed from the opening by rotating the stirring member.

15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the seal member is removed from the opening by rotating the stirring member in the first direction.

16. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the control portion is configured to control the motor to perform (i) a first rotating operation to rotate the stirring member in the first direction at a first speed, and (ii) a second rotation operation to rotate the stirring member in the first direction at a second speed faster than the first speed, and
the second rotation operation is performed after the first rotation operation.

17. The image forming apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the seal member is removed from the opening by the second rotation operation.

18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the control portion is configured to control the motor to perform a third rotating operation to rotate the stirring member in the second direction, and
the third rotation operation is performed after the first rotation operation and before the second rotation operation.

19. The image forming apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein the seal member is removed from the opening by the second rotation operation.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Ishimoto Mizuki
• Itoh Masatoshi

Classifications

• G03G15/0889 Primary

  for agitation or stirring · CPC title

• G03G21/1647 Primary

  Mechanical connection means · CPC title