Image forming apparatus and method thereof

Abstract

An image forming apparatus having an improved structure to enable a user to conveniently operate the image forming apparatus at a front of the image forming apparatus, and a method thereof. The image forming apparatus includes a main body formed with a discharge port at a front portion, a printing unit mounted inside the main body and disposed adjacent to a front panel of the main body, a feeding unit to feed paper printed by the printing unit toward a rear panel of the main body, and a discharge reversal unit to reverse a moving direction of the paper fed by the feeding unit to feed the paper to the discharge port. A sensor to detect a moving position of the paper and a paper guide guiding movement of the paper is mounted between the feeding unit and the discharge reversal unit.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a discharge port facing towards a front portion of a main body; a discharge tray disposed adjacent to the discharge port; a printing unit mounted inside the main body to perform a printing operation on a print medium, the printing unit including a plurality of developing devices mounted in a stacked arrangement in the main body to form an image on the print medium and a transfer belt arranged between the plurality of developing devices and a front panel of the main body; a fixing unit configured to fix the image formed on the print medium by the printing unit; and a discharge reversal unit configured to receive the print medium from the printing unit and including at least one roller arranged in a rear region of the main body that is configured to be rotatable in both a forward direction and a reverse direction, wherein the discharge tray is formed on a top surface of the main body between the discharge port and the front panel, and the transfer belt and a duplex-print circulation path are disposed in the main body at positions at least partially overlapping the discharge tray with respect to a vertical direction of the main body, and wherein, in a duplex printing mode, after the printing unit performs a printing operation on a first surface of the print medium, the print medium is refed to the printing unit via the duplex-print circulation path to perform a printing operation on a second surface of the print medium, and after the printing unit performs a printing operation on the second surface of the print medium, then a moving direction of the print medium passing through the discharge reversal unit is subsequently reversed, and the print medium is fed to the discharge port.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a feeding unit to feed the print medium passing through the printing unit towards the rear region of the main body, wherein the discharge reversal unit is arranged to reverse a moving direction of the print medium fed from the feeding unit.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the feeding unit comprises: a discharge feed roller arranged to rotate by receiving a drive power from a driving source; and a feed backup roller arranged to rotate while contacting the discharge feed roller.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: a paper guide having a first guide surface to guide movement of the print medium from the feeding unit to the discharge reversal unit and a second guide surface to guide movement of the print medium moved in the reverse direction by the discharge reversal unit toward the discharge port.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one roller of the discharge reversal unit comprises: a discharge reversal roller; and a discharge reversal backup roller arranged to rotate while contacting the discharge reversal roller.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the front panel of the main body is provided to be opened and closed to access the printing unit and a duplex printing unit through the front panel.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a paper tray arranged at a bottom of the image forming apparatus, wherein the print medium picked up from the paper tray is arranged to be drawn up past the stack of developing devices towards the top of the image forming device and is then guided towards the discharge reversal unit at the rear of the main body.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fixing unit comprises a heat roller and a press roller arranged respectively to apply heat and pressure to the print medium to fix an image onto the print medium, the heat roller and press roller arranged above the transfer belt.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one roller of the discharge reversal unit is configured to switch from rotating in the forward direction to rotating in the reverse direction after a leading edge of the print medium has passed through the discharge reversal unit and before a trailing edge of the print medium has passed through the discharge reversal unit.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a print path extending upward between the plurality of developing devices and the transfer belt, the print path extending to be inclined toward the rear region of the main body, wherein the duplex-print circulation path is extended to be inclined toward the rear region of the main body.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a paper supply cassette configured to accommodate the print medium therein, the paper supply cassette being detachably mounted to a lower portion of the front panel of the main body; and a pickup roller configured to pick up the print medium accommodated in the paper supply cassette.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the pickup roller is disposed in the main body such that an axial direction of the pickup roller is perpendicular to a direction in which the paper supply cassette is mounted to the main body.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a discharge process, the at least one roller of the discharge reversal unit is rotated in the forward direction to feed the print medium toward a rear panel of the main body and after a predetermined period of time elapses, the at least one roller of the discharge reversal unit is rotated in the reverse direction to feed the print medium toward the discharge port such that the print medium is discharged on the discharge tray in a state in which a printed side of the print medium faces downward.

14. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a discharge port facing towards a front portion of a main body; a discharge tray disposed adjacent to the discharge port; a printing unit mounted inside the main body to perform a printing operation on a print medium, the printing unit including a plurality of developing devices mounted in a stacked arrangement in the main body to form an image on the print medium and a transfer belt arranged between the plurality of developing devices and a front panel of the main body; a fixing unit configured to fix the image formed on the print medium by the printing unit; a discharge reversal unit configured to selectively feed the print medium to either the discharge port or a duplex-print circulation path and including at least one roller arranged in a rear region of the main body that is configured to be rotatable in both a forward direction and a reverse direction; and a paper guide including a first guide surface provided to guide movement of the print medium between the discharge reversal unit and the duplex-print circulation path and a second guide surface provided to guide movement of the print medium between the discharge reversal unit and the discharge port, wherein, in a discharge process, the at least one roller of the discharge reversal unit is rotated in the forward direction to feed the print medium toward a rear panel of the main body, and after a predetermined period of time elapses, the at least one roller of the discharge reversal unit is rotated in the reverse direction to feed the print medium toward the discharge port, wherein, in a duplex printing mode, after the printing unit performs a printing operation on a first surface of the print medium, the print medium is refed to the printing unit via the duplex-print circulation path to perform a printing operation on a second surface of the print medium, and after the printing unit performs a printing operation on the second surface of the print medium, then the moving direction of the print medium passing through the discharge reversal unit is subsequently reversed, and the print medium is fed to the discharge port, and wherein the first guide surface of the paper guide is inclined downward and extends toward the duplex-print circulation path in both the duplex printing mode and during the discharge process, and the second guide surface of the paper guide is inclined upward and extends toward the discharge port in both the duplex printing mode and during the discharge process.

15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the discharge tray is formed on a top surface of the main body between the discharge port and the front panel, and the transfer belt and the duplex-print circulation path are disposed in the main body at positions at least partially overlapping the discharge tray with respect to a vertical direction of the main body.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) These and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a side-sectional view illustrating an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

(3) FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a portion extracted from FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 is a view illustrating an operation of discharging printed paper in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept; and

(5) FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a duplex printing operation in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(6) Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures.

(7) FIG. 1 is a side-sectional view illustrating an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept, and FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a portion extracted from the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1.

(8) As illustrated in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept includes a main body 10 which forms an exterior appearance and supports components mounted therein, a paper supply unit 20 which supplies paper S upon which an image is to be printed, a printing unit 30 which prints the image on the paper S using a developing unit 30a and a transfer unit 30b, a fixing unit 40 which fixes the printed image onto the paper S, a paper discharge unit 100 which discharges the printed paper S outside through a discharge port 11 formed at the front portion of the main body 10, and a duplex printing unit 50 to print an image on another surface of the paper S. Thus, the duplex printing unit 50 provides that a printing operation is performed on two sides of the paper S as the paper S is fed through the image forming apparatus.

(9) A paper feeding path 12, through which the paper S moves, is defined inside the main body 10. The paper feeding path 12 includes a print path 12a and a duplex-print circulation path 12b. While the paper S passes through the print path 12a, the printing operation is performed by the developing unit 30a and the transfer unit 30b. When performing the duplex print operation, the paper S which is printed on one surface passes through the duplex-print circulation path 12b to be guided to an upstream side of the printing unit 30.

(10) The paper supply unit 20 includes a paper supply cassette 22 which has a paper tray 21 on which the paper S to be printed is loaded, a pickup roller 23 which picks up the paper S loaded on the paper tray 21 sheet by sheet, and a feed roller 24 which feeds the picked-up paper S toward the printing unit 30. The paper supply cassette 22 is detachably mounted to a lower portion of a front panel 10a of the main body 10.

(11) The developing unit 30a includes four developing devices 30Y, 30M, 30C and 30K, in which toners of different colors, e.g., yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K), are respectively contained. Each of the developing devices 30Y, 30M, 30C and 30K are provided with photosensitive members 31 on which an electrostatic latent image is formed by respective exposure units 60. The respective exposure units 60 irradiate light corresponding to image information of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) to the photosensitive members 31 of the respective developing devices according to a print signal.

(12) Each of the developing devices 30Y, 30M, 30C and 30K includes a charge roller 32 to charge each of the photosensitive members 31 to a predetermined electric potential, a developing roller 33 to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on each of the photosensitive members 31 into a toner image, and a supply roller 34 to supply the toner to the developing roller 33 and to adhere the toner thereto.

(13) The transfer unit 30b transfers the toner image developed on the photosensitive members 31 to the paper S. The transfer unit 30b includes a transfer belt 35 which circulates while contacting the photosensitive members 31, a driving roller 36 which drives the transfer belt 35, a tension roller 37 which maintains a constant tensile force of the transfer belt 35, and four transfer rollers 38 which transfer the toner image developed on the photosensitive members 31 onto the paper S.

(14) The fixing unit 40 is included to fix the transferred image onto the paper S by applying heat and pressure to the paper S. The fixing unit 40 includes a heat roller 41 which has a heat source to heat the toner-transferred paper S and a press roller 42 which is disposed opposite to the heat roller 41 and maintains a constant fixing pressure with the heat roller 41.

(15) The duplex printing unit 50 is can feed the paper S, which has an image printed on one surface, toward the upstream side of the printing unit 30 so as to perform another print operation on another surface of the paper S. The duplex printing unit 50 includes a guide frame 51 which forms the duplex-print circulation path 12b, and duplex-print feed rollers 52 which are mounted on the duplex-print circulation path 12b to feed the paper S.

(16) In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the printing unit 30, the fixing unit 40, the print path 12a, and the duplex-print circulation path 12b are disposed adjacent to the front panel 10a of the main body 10. The front panel 10a of the main body 10 may be opened and closed so as to access the printing unit 30, the fixing unit 40, the print path 12a, and the duplex-print circulation path 12b. Accordingly, when replacing expendable components (i.e., a toner cartridge, etc.) in the printing unit 30 or the fixing unit 40, or when removing jammed paper S from the print path 12a or the duplex-print circulation path 12b, a user can perform the above functions at the front of the image forming apparatus, thereby increasing convenience in use. Further, it is unnecessary to free a space around the image forming apparatus to perform the above replacement or jammed paper S removal operations. Accordingly, the user can utilize space around the image forming apparatus more efficiently.

(17) As described above, when the printing unit 30, the fixing unit 40, the print path 12a, and the duplex-print circulation path 12b are disposed adjacent to the front panel 10a of the main body 10, the paper S having passed through the fixing unit 40 is directed toward a rear panel 10b of the main body 10. Accordingly, the paper discharge unit 100 is configured to reverse the moving direction of the paper S fed toward the rear panel 10b of the main body 10 and discharge the paper to the front of the main body 10.

(18) As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the paper discharge unit 100 includes a feeding unit 110 which feeds the paper S having passed through the fixing unit 40 toward the rear panel 10b of the main body 10, a discharge reversal unit 120 which reverses the moving direction of the paper S fed by the feeding unit 110, and discharge rollers 130 which are disposed between the discharge reversal unit 120 and the discharge port 11 and discharge the paper S fed by the discharge reversal unit 120 to a discharge tray 13 formed on a top surface of the main body 10.

(19) The discharge reversal unit 120 is configured to feed the paper S toward the rear panel 10b of the main body 10 during a predetermined time period and then reverse the moving direction of the paper S at a specific point of time so that the paper moves toward the discharge port 11 formed at the front portion of the main body 10. The discharge reversal unit 120 is disposed at a rear of the discharge rollers 130. The discharge reversal unit 120 includes a discharge reversal roller 121 which is mounted to be rotatable in forward and reverse directions, and a discharge reversal backup roller 122 which contacts the discharge reversal roller 121 to rotate together therewith. The discharge reversal roller 121 rotates by receiving a drive power from a driving source (not illustrated).

(20) The image forming apparatus further includes a sensor 140 which is provided between the feeding unit 110 and the discharge reversal unit 120 to detect a position of the moving paper S. If the sensor 140 detects the passing of a rear end of the paper S, the rotational direction of the discharge reversal roller 121 is reversed to feed the paper S in the reverse direction after an elapse of a predetermined time.

(21) The image forming apparatus further includes a paper guide 150 which is provided between the feeding unit 110 and the discharge reversal unit 120 to guide the movement of the paper S. The paper guide 150 includes a first guide surface 151 which guides the paper S moving from the feeding unit 110 to the discharge reversal unit 120, and a second guide surface 152 which guides the paper S whose moving direction is reversed by the discharge reversal unit 120 to the discharge rollers 130. The embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrates that the paper guide 150 having both the first guide surface 151 and the second guide surface 152 is provided to guide the movement of the paper S between the feeding unit 110 and the discharge reversal unit 120 and between the discharge reversal unit 120 and the discharge rollers 130. However, an embodiment of the present general inventive concept can also be modified to include a first paper guide having the first guide surface 151 and a second paper guide having the second guide surface 152 provided separately.

(22) In the paper discharge process, the feeding unit 110 feeds the paper S having passed through the fixing unit 40 to the discharge reversal unit 120. In the duplex printing process, the feeding unit 110 reverses the moving direction of the paper S at a specific point of time to feed the paper S to the duplex-print circulation path 12b. The feeding unit 110 includes a discharge feed roller 111 which rotates by receiving a drive power from the driving source (not illustrated), and a feed backup roller 112 which contacts the discharge feed roller 111 to rotate together therewith. The discharge feed roller 111 is provided to be rotatable in forward and reverse directions.

(23) The image forming apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2 further includes a sensor 160 which is provided between the fixing unit 40 and the feeding unit 110 to detect the position of the moving paper. If the sensor 160 detects the passing of the rear end of the paper in the duplex print mode, the rotational direction of the discharge feed roller 111 is reversed to feed the paper in the reverse direction after the elapse of a predetermined time.

(24) A nip portion 123 of the discharge reversal unit 120, where the discharge reversal roller 121 contacts the discharge reversal backup roller 122, may be positioned higher than a corner 153 of the paper guide 150 where the first guide surface 151 is contiguous to the second guide surface 152. If the moving direction of the paper S guided by the first guide surface 151 is reversed by the discharge reversal roller 121, the rear end of the paper S having passed through the paper guide 150 moves again toward the paper guide 150. At this time, because the corner 153 of the paper guide 150 is positioned lower than the nip portion 123 of the discharge reversal unit 120, the rear end of the paper S can be smoothly fed to the second guide surface 152 without an additional paper guide member. FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which the nip portion 123 is positioned higher than the corner 153 by a height h.

(25) The nip portion 123, where the discharge reversal roller 121 contacts the discharge reversal backup roller 122, may also be positioned higher than a nip portion 113 where the discharge feed roller 111 contacts the feed backup roller 112. FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which the nip portion 123 is positioned higher than the nip portion 113 by a height H.

(26) Hereinafter, the operation of the image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4.

(27) The print operation and the paper discharge operation will be first described. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, if a print command is input, the respective exposure units 60 irradiate light corresponding to image information of yellow, magenta, cyan and black colors to the photosensitive members 31 of the respective developing devices 30Y, 30M, 30C and 30K to form the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive members 31. The developing rollers 33 of the respective developing devices 30Y, 30M, 30C and 30K supply the toner to the respective photosensitive members 31 to develop the electrostatic latent image on the respective photosensitive members 31 into the yellow, magenta, cyan and black toner image.

(28) The paper S picked up by the pickup roller 23 is attached to the transfer belt 35 and fed at the same speed as the running speed of the transfer belt 35. A voltage of an opposite polarity to the toner adhering to the photosensitive members 31 is applied to the transfer rollers 38, and the toner image on the photosensitive members 31 is transferred onto the paper S. As the paper S is fed, the yellow, magenta, cyan and black toner image formed on the respective photosensitive members 31 is overlappingly transferred onto the paper S in sequence, so that the complete color toner image is formed on the paper S.

(29) The toner image transferred onto the paper S is fixed to the paper S while the paper S passes through the fixing unit 40. The paper S having passed through the fixing unit 40, is fed toward the rear panel 10b of the main body 10 by the discharge feed roller 111. At this time, the movement of the paper S is guided by the first guide surface 151 of the paper guide 150. If the front end of the paper S advances to the discharge reversal roller 121, the paper S is continuously fed toward the rear panel 10b of the main body 10 by the discharge reversal roller 121.

(30) The paper S moving as described above is detected by the sensor 140, which is disposed between the discharge feed roller 111 and the discharge reversal roller 121. If the sensor 140 detects the rear end of the paper S, the rotational direction of the discharge reversal roller 121 is reversed to feed the paper S in the reverse direction after a predetermined amount of time elapses. The paper S is guided by the second guide surface 152 of the paper guide 150 and fed toward the discharge port 11 formed at the front portion of the main body 10. Then, the paper is discharged to the discharge tray 13 formed on the top surface of the main body 10 by the discharge rollers 130. A dotted line in FIG. 3 refers to the paper which is fed by the discharge reversal roller 121, whose rotational direction is reversed.

(31) Next, the duplex print operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4. The paper S, which has been printed on one surface and passed through the fixing unit 40, moves toward the discharge feed roller 111. The paper S moving toward the discharge feed roller 111 is detected by the sensor 160, which is disposed between the fixing unit 40 and the discharge feed roller 111. If the sensor 160 detects the rear end of the paper S, the rotational direction of the discharge feed roller 111 is reversed to feed the paper S in the reverse direction after the elapse of a predetermined time. The paper S advances into the duplex-print circulation path 12b, and is fed toward the upstream side of the printing unit 30 by the duplex-print feed rollers 52. While undergoing again the developing, transferring and fixing processes, the other surface of the paper S is printed upon. The duplex-printed paper S passes again through the fixing unit 40 and is discharged outside of the main body 10 through the paper discharge operation as described above with reference to FIG. 3.

(32) As apparent from the above description, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept is configured such that a paper upon which an image is to be printed is supplied from a front portion of the image forming apparatus, and the printed paper is discharged to the front portion of the image forming apparatus. In addition, the user is enabled to easily remove jammed paper, or replace expendables in the apparatus, at the front of the apparatus. Accordingly, convenience in use increases, and space around the image forming apparatus can be utilized more efficiently.

(33) Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.