POWDER CONVEYANCE MECHANISM, POWDER CONVEYING METHOD, DEVELOPER STORAGE CONTAINER, CARTRIDGE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a powder conveyance mechanism that can reduce a dead space in a conveyance path of powder compared with the conventional one.SOLUTION: A powder conveyance mechanism includes a conveying member 10b that is arranged below powder and conveys the powder, and a vibration providing member that provides the reciprocating acceleration in a conveyance surface direction F2 extending along a powder conveyance surface of the conveying member 10b. The maximum acceleration a1 in the powder conveyance direction provided to the conveying member 10b by the vibration providing member is made smaller than the maximum acceleration a2 in the opposite direction to the powder conveyance direction provided to the conveying member 10b by the vibration providing member, and thereby the powder is conveyed in the powder conveyance direction by the conveying member 10b. 【課題】粉体の搬送経路のデッドスペースを従来よりも低減させることができる粉体搬送機構を提供する。【解決手段】粉体の下側に配置され、粉体を搬送する搬送部材１０ｂと、搬送部材１０ｂの粉体搬送面に沿う搬送面方向Ｆ２に往復の加速度を付与する振動付与部材と、を備え、振動付与部材が搬送部材１０ｂに付与する粉体搬送方向の最大加速度ａ１は、振動付与部材が搬送部材１０ｂに付与する粉体搬送方向の反対方向の最大加速度ａ２よりも小さくすることで、粉体が搬送部材１０ｂによって粉体搬送方向に搬送される粉体搬送機構を構成した。【選択図】 図４