Image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021318643-A1
Application number	US-202117226253-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 9, 2021
Priority date	Apr 13, 2020
Publication date	Oct 14, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is an image forming apparatus including: 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 that controls the motor to perform a rotating operation to rotate the stirring member, and a detection unit that detects a rotation state of the motor. The control portion determines whether to end the rotating operation or not based on the rotation state detected by the detection unit.

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 that controls the motor to perform a rotating operation to rotate the stirring member; 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.

2 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the rotation state includes a rotation speed or a rotation amount of the motor.

3 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 ,
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.

4 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 ,
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.

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

6 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
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.

7 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , 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,
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.

8 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 7 ,
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.

9 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 8 ,
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.

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

11 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 7 ,
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.

12 . 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.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Ishimoto Mizuki
• Itoh Masatoshi

Classifications

• G03G21/1647 Primary

  Mechanical connection means · CPC title

• G03G15/0889 Primary

  for agitation or stirring · CPC title