Exhaust air cleaning apparatus and image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9977400-B2
Application number	US-201414568861-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2014
Priority date	Dec 13, 2013
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

An exhaust air cleaning apparatus includes a cleaning duct for cleaning air to be exhausted from an exhaust port of an image forming apparatus. In the cleaning duct, a fan and a filter are provide between an inflow part connected with the exhaust port of the image forming apparatus and a discharge port for discharging air from the inside of the cleaning duct. The exhaust air cleaning apparatus further includes a pressure adjusting part for adjusting the pressure in the cleaning duct. The pressure adjusting part performs pressure adjustment so that the pressure at a pressure adjusting position located between the inflow part and the fan in the cleaning duct falls within an appropriate pressure range determined in advance to be equal to or less than atmospheric pressure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An exhaust air cleaning apparatus including a cleaning duct for cleaning air to be exhausted from an image forming apparatus through an exhaust port of the image forming apparatus, the exhaust air cleaning apparatus including:
an inflow part communicated with an inside of the cleaning duct and connected with the exhaust port of the image forming apparatus;
a discharge port through which air in the cleaning duct is to be discharged out of the cleaning duct;
a fan for allowing air to flow from the inflow part toward the discharge port and a filter for collecting fine particles in the air, the fan and the filter being provided between the inflow part and the discharge port in the cleaning duct;
a pressure adjusting part configured to perform adjustment of pressure in the cleaning duct,
the pressure adjusting part being configured to adjust the pressure in the cleaning duct so that pressure at a pressure adjusting position located between the inflow part and the fan in the cleaning duct falls within an appropriate pressure range determined in advance to be equal to or less than atmosphere pressure; and
an adjusting-position pressure value output section configured to output an adjusting-position pressure value indicative of the pressure at the pressure adjusting portion,
wherein the pressure adjusting part is configured to perform the pressure adjustment by:
adjusting a discharge air flow rate of the fan so that the pressure indicated by the adjusting-position pressure value falls within the appropriate pressure range, and
decreasing the discharge air flow rate of the fan when the pressure indicated by the adjusting-position pressure value is less than a set pressure value determined in advance within the appropriate pressure range, or
increasing the discharge air flow rate of the fan when the pressure indicated by the adjusting-position pressure value exceeds the set pressure value.

2. The exhaust air cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the adjusting-position pressure value output section is configured to output a gauge pressure as the adjusting-position pressure value.

3. The exhaust air cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the appropriate pressure range is determined in a range of 0 Pa or less and −30 Pa or more in gauge pressure.

4. The exhaust air cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the cleaning duct includes a plurality of inflow parts, and
the pressure adjusting part is configured to perform the pressure adjustment when the pressure adjusting position corresponds to a position between the fan and the inflow part located most downstream of the plurality of inflow parts in an air flowing direction in the cleaning duct.

5. An exhaust air cleaning apparatus including a cleaning duct for cleaning air to be exhausted from an image forming apparatus through an exhaust port of the image forming apparatus, the exhaust air cleaning apparatus including:
an inflow part communicated with an inside of the cleaning duct and connected with the exhaust port of the image forming apparatus;
a discharge port through which air in the cleaning duct is to be discharged out of the cleaning duct;
a fan for allowing air to flow from the inflow part toward the discharge port and a filter for collecting fine particles in the air, the fan and the filter being provided between the inflow part and the discharge port in the cleaning duct;
a pressure adjusting part configured to perform adjustment of pressure in the cleaning duct,
the pressure adjusting part being configured to adjust the pressure in the cleaning duct so that pressure at a pressure adjusting position located between the inflow part and the fan in the cleaning duct falls within an appropriate pressure range determined in advance to be equal to or less than atmospheric pressure; and
an adjusting-position pressure value output section configured to output an adjusting-position pressure value indicative of the pressure at the pressure adjusting position;
an opening and closing gate provided in a position between the pressure adjusting position and the fan and configured to adjust an opening area in the cleaning duct at the position, and
wherein the pressure adjusting part is configured to perform the pressure adjustment by adjusting an opening degree of the opening and closing gate by predetermined amounts so that the pressure indicated by the adjusting-position pressure value falls within the appropriate pressure range.

6. The exhaust air cleaning apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the adjusting-position pressure value output section is configured to output a gauge pressure as the adjusting-position pressure value.

7. An exhaust air cleaning apparatus including a cleaning duct for cleaning air to be exhausted from an image forming apparatus through an exhaust port of the image forming apparatus, the exhaust air cleaning apparatus including:
an inflow part communicated with an inside of the cleaning duct and connected with the exhaust port of the image forming apparatus;
a discharge port through which air in the cleaning duct is to be discharged out of the cleaning duct;
a fan for allowing air to flow from the inflow part toward the discharge port and a filter for collecting fine particles in the air, the fan and the filter being provided between the inflow part and the discharge port in the cleaning duct;
a pressure adjusting part configured to perform adjustment of pressure in the cleaning duct,
the pressure adjusting part being configured to adjust the pressure in the cleaning duct so that pressure at a pressure adjusting position located between the inflow part and the fan in the cleaning duct falls within an appropriate pressure range determined in advance to be equal to or less than atmospheric pressure;
an adjusting-position pressure value output section configured to output an adjusting-position pressure value indicative of the pressure at the pressure adjusting position; and
an opening and closing gate provided in a position between the pressure adjusting position and the fan and configured to adjust an opening area in the cleaning duct at the position,
wherein the pressure adjusting part is configured to perform the pressure adjustment by:
adjusting an opening degree of the opening and closing gate so that the pressure indicated by the adjusting-position pressure value falls within the appropriate pressure range, and
decreasing the opening degree of the opening and closing gate when the pressure indicated by the adjusting-position pressure value is less than a set pressure value determined in advance within the appropriate pressure range, or
increasing the opening degree of the opening and closing gate when the pressure indicated by the adjusting-position pressure value exceeds the set pressure value.

8. An exhaust air cleaning apparatus including a cleaning duct for cleaning air to be exhausted from an image forming apparatus through an exhaust port of the image forming apparatus, the exhaust air cleaning apparatus including:
an inflow part communicated with an inside of the cleaning duct and connected with the exhaust port of the image forming apparatus;
a discharge port through which air in the cleaning duct is to be discharged out of the cleaning duct;
a fan for allowing air to flow from the inflow part toward the discharge port and a filter for collecting fine particles in the air, the fan and the filter being provided between the inflow part and the discharge port in the cleaning duct;
a pressure adjusting part configured to perform adjustment of pressure in the cleaning duct,
the pressure adjusting part being configured to adjust the pressure in the cleaning duct so that pressure at a pressure adjus

Assignees

• Konica Minolta Inc

Inventors

• Yamaguchi Masahiro
• Tashiro Shigeru
• Matsuura Kuniya
• Mizuno Hiroshi
• Satou Masayuki
• Yoshikawa Shoichi

Classifications

• B01D46/446

  by pressure measuring · CPC title

• G03G21/206 Primary

  Conducting air through the machine, e.g. for cooling, filtering, removing gases like ozone · CPC title

• B01D46/0041

  for feeding · CPC title