US 12,474,652 B2
Image forming apparatus having detection of stored toner amount
Tetsushi Uneme, Kanagawa (JP); Shinichi Nishida, Kanagawa (JP); Tsuyoshi Ogawa, Tokyo (JP); Masahiro Suetsugu, Kanagawa (JP); and Kengo Sakai, Kanagawa (JP)
Assigned to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Nov. 17, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/512,721.
Application 18/512,721 is a continuation of application No. 17/552,604, filed on Dec. 16, 2021, granted, now 11,860,556.
Claims priority of application No. 2020-218238 (JP), filed on Dec. 28, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0085822 A1, Mar. 14, 2024
Int. Cl. G03G 15/08 (2006.01)
CPC G03G 15/0848 (2013.01) [G03G 15/0862 (2013.01); G03G 15/0865 (2013.01); G03G 15/0855 (2013.01); G03G 2215/0891 (2013.01); G03G 2215/0894 (2013.01); G03G 2215/0897 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An image forming apparatus to which a replenishment container is detachably attached, the image forming apparatus comprising:
(i) an apparatus body;
(ii) a photosensitive drum; and
(iii) a process unit attached to the apparatus body, the process unit including:
(iii-i) a frame including a storage portion configured to store toner;
(iii-ii) a replenishing port to which the replenishment container is detachably attached and through which the toner is replenished from the replenishment container to the storage portion;
(iii-iii) a developing roller configured to supply the toner to the photosensitive drum, the developing roller being supported by the frame;
(iii-iv) an agitation member configured to agitate the toner stored in the storage portion, the agitation member including a rotation shaft rotatable about a rotational axis extending in a longitudinal direction of the developing roller and a sheet attached to the rotation shaft, and
(iii-v) an output unit configured to output a signal according to an amount of the toner stored in the storage portion, the output unit being supported by the frame, the output unit including:
(iii-v-i) a circuit board;
(iii-v-ii) a light emitting portion configured to emit light, the light emitting portion being attached to the circuit board; and
(iii-v-iii) a light receiving portion configured to receive the light emitted from the light emitting portion and having passed through an interior of the storage portion, the light receiving portion being attached to the circuit board,
wherein when viewed in the longitudinal direction, the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion are disposed, in a horizontal direction, between the replenishment port and the rotational axis of the agitation member.