Rotary body driver with planetary gear transmission and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A rotary body driver comprising:

• a driving source to generate a driving force;
• a planetary gear transmission connected to the driving source to receive the driving force therefrom and including:
• a sun gear rotatable by the driving force received from the driving source;
• a plurality of planet gears meshed with and surrounding the sun gear with an identical interval between the adjacent planet gears;
• a rotatable carrier to rotatably support the plurality of planet gears;
• an outer gear encircling and meshed with the plurality of planet gears;
• an output shaft combined with and supporting the carrier;
• a rotary body shaft mounting the rotary body and connected to the output shaft of the planetary gear transmission to transmit the driving force received from the output shaft to the rotary body;
• a bracket to which the driving source and the planetary gear transmission are fastened;
• and
• an anchor mounted on the support plate, through which the bracket is anchored to the support plate,
• wherein the rotary body shaft is rotatably supported by a bearing mounted on a support plate that houses the rotary body in such a manner that the rotary body shaft is fixedly positioned in a radial direction thereof and the outer gear is elastically deformable in a radial direction thereof.

A rotary body driver comprising:

• a driving source to generate a driving force;
• a planetary gear transmission connected to the driving source to receive the driving force therefrom and including:
• a sun gear rotatable by the driving force received from the driving source;
• a plurality of planet gears meshed with and surrounding the sun gear with an identical interval between the adjacent planet gears;
• a rotatable carrier to rotatably support the plurality of planet gears;
• an outer gear encircling and meshed with the plurality of planet gears;
• an output shaft combined with and supporting the carrier;
• a rotary body shaft mounting the rotary body and connected to the output shaft of the planetary gear transmission to transmit the driving force received from the output shaft to the rotary body;
• and
• an aluminum die casting fastened to the support plate,
• wherein the rotary body shaft is rotatably supported by a bearing mounted on a support plate that houses the rotary body in such a manner that the rotary body shaft is fixedly positioned in a radial direction thereof and the outer gear is elastically deformable in a radial direction thereof.

A rotary body driver comprising:

• a driving source to generate a driving force;
• a planetary gear transmission connected to the driving source to receive the driving force therefrom and including:
• a sun gear rotatable by the driving force received from the driving source;
• a plurality of planet gears meshed with and surrounding the sun gear with an identical interval between the adjacent planet gears;
• a rotatable carrier to rotatably support the plurality of planet gears;
• an outer gear encircling and meshed with the plurality of planet gears;
• an output shaft combined with and supporting the carrier;
• a rotary body shaft mounting the rotary body and connected to the output shaft of the planetary gear transmission to transmit the driving force received from the output shaft to the rotary body;
• an outer gear cap attached to one end of the outer gear facing the rotary body to shield the carrier and the plurality of planet gears;
• and
• a thrust regulator, separately provided from the outer gear, to regulate movement of the outer gear cap toward the rotary body in a direction parallel to an axial direction of the output shaft of the planetary gear transmission.