Abstract
In this paper, the optimized design and strength analysis have been presented based on the finite element and Taguchi's experimental methods. The stress, strain and displacement characteristics of OPC drum tubes are affected by rolling contact pressures between an OPC drum tube and a paper, design parameters of an aluminum tube and material properties. The OPC drum tubes with nine different geometrical models are analyzed for design parameters that are related to the outer diameter, the thickness, and the length of an aluminum tube for a toner cartridge. The optimized design parameters for an aluminum tube may be selected as the outer diameter of 28 mm, the thickness of 0.8 mm, and the length of 220 mm. But the currently used aluminum tube for a laser printer is fairly optimized based on the Taguchi's design analysis. The calculated FEM results showed that the affection ratio of the design parameter t, which may control the strength of an aluminum tube, is the most influential parameter among the length and an outer diameter of a tube.