Systems and methods for remanufacturing imaging components

#The present invention generally relates to manufacturing, remanufacturing or repairing replaceable imaging components, and more particularly to apparatus and techniques for replacing a rotatable drum or roller, such as an organic photo conductor (OPC) drum, a toner adder roller, a developer roller, a primary charge roller, and the like, for example, of a replaceable imaging cartridge.

#In the imaging industry, there is a growing market for the remanufacture and refurbishing of various types of replaceable imaging cartridges such as toner cartridges, drum cartridges, inkjet cartridges, and the like. These imaging cartridges are used in imaging devices such as laser printers, xerographic copiers, inkjet printers, facsimile machines and the like, for example. Imaging cartridges, once spent, are unusable for their originally intended purpose. Without a refurbishing process these cartridges would simply be discarded, even though the cartridge itself may still have potential life. As a result, techniques have been developed specifically to address this issue. These processes may entail, for example, the disassembly of the various structures of the cartridge, replacing toner or ink, cleaning, adjusting or replacing any worn components and reassembling the imaging cartridge.

#Laser printer toner cartridges are typically composed of two portions. These sections are the waste bin assembly which houses the OPC drum and the toner hopper which houses the toner adder roller. During the remanufacturing of a laser printer toner cartridge, the OPC drum and the toner adder roller may need to be replaced due to the wear or damage of the OPC drum and the toner adder roller. Typically, the OPC drum is held in place by opposing removable plates and the toner adder roller is held in place with a removable bushing. The removable plates are typically attached to the waste bin by screws which allow a remanufacturer to easily remove at least one of the removable plates, replace the OPC drum, and reattach the removable plate. Such a technique allows for OPC drum replacement without causing damage to the toner cartridge.

#FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the drive side end of an HP 2600 toner cartridge;

#FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the non-drive side end view of an HP 2600 toner cartridge;

#FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the OPC drum and end caps of an HP 2600 toner cartridge;

#The following detailed description of preferred embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings which illustrate specific embodiments of the invention. In the discussion that follows, specific systems and techniques for repairing, manufacturing or remanufacturing a toner cartridge, such as an HP 2600 toner cartridge, are disclosed. Other embodiments having different structures and operations for the repair, remanufacture and operation of other types of replaceable imaging components and for various types of imaging devices, such as laser printers, inkjet printers, copiers, facsimile machines and the like, do not depart from the scope of the present invention. For example, while the following detailed description refers to the installation of OPC drums, the techniques of the present invention may also be utilized with other types of rotatable members, such drums and rollers, of imaging cartridges which are rotatably held by rotatable member retaining elements of the imaging cartridges. The following description is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the rotatable members described herein.

#FIGS. 1 and 2 show perspective views of a prior art toner cartridge 100. The toner cartridge 100 includes, among other components, a toner hopper assembly 102 and a waste bin assembly 104. The waste bin assembly 104 includes a waste bin 106 and an organic photo conductor (OPC) drum 108. The OPC drum 108 comprises a cylindrical aluminum tube having first and second hubs 110 and 112, with each hub 110 and 112 extending from an end of the OPC drum 108. The second hub 112 includes a trilobe 111 extension which is used by the printer to rotate the OPC drum 108 during the printing process. The OPC drum 108 is held in place by a drive side end cap 114 and a non-drive side end cap 116 which include OPC retaining members 118 and 120, respectively, also known as rotatable member retaining elements. The OPC retaining members 118 and 120 each include cylindrical openings 119 and 121 respectively which engage and hold the ends of the hubs 110 and 112 during the rotation of the OPC drum 108. The cylindrical opening 121 of the OPC retaining member 120 is narrowed at the end by a flange 122. A clearer view of the this relationship is provided in FIG. 3 which shows a cross-sectional view of a portion of the waste bin assembly 104 including the OPC drum 108, the drive side end cap 114 and the non-drive side end cap 116. See also FIGS. 3A and 3B, which show perspective views of the waste bin assembly 104 after removal from the toner cartridge 100. These end caps 114 and 116 are secured to the waste bin 106 using, among other techniques, an adhesive, which inhibits the removal of either of the end caps 114 and 116 without causing undesirable damage to the end caps 114 and 116 and the waste bin 104. As described above, such damage may result in print defects when the toner cartridge 100 is reassembled. Thus, it is desirable to remove a currently installed OPC drum and replace it with a new OPC drum without disturbing the end caps 114 and 116. As described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/193,944, entitled “Systems and Methods for Remanufacturing Imaging Components” filed on Jul. 28, 2005, and incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, a variety of suitable techniques may be used to remove the currently installed rotatable member, such as the OPC drum, with causing undesirable damage to the rotatable member retaining elements, such as end caps 114 and 116. After the old OPC drum is removed, a replacement OPC drum must be installed.

#The present invention provides systems and methods installing an OPC drum in a toner cartridge having end caps that are fixedly secured to the waste bin or other portion of the toner cartridge. In general, the techniques described below may be used with either the drive side end cap 114, the non-drive side end cap 116, or both. For example, one technique may be used with the drive side end cap 114 and a different technique may be used with the non-drive end cap 116, or the same technique may be used with both the drive side end cap 114 and the non-drive side end cap 116.