JPH0357906A - Apparatus for measuring true roundness of drum and checking apparatus of mounting state of flange of drum - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently measure the true roundness of a transferred drum and to check the mounting state of a flange into the drum by rotating the drum at a constant position while supporting the central part of each flange of the drum by a shaft, and irradiating a light so that a part of the light is interrupted by a side edge of the drum. CONSTITUTION:The central part of each flange 2,3 mounted in a drum 1 is supported by a supporting shaft 14, 22. The drum 1 is rotated by driving a motor 12. A light is irradiated from a light emitting part 4 provided at the lateral side of a transfer line of the drum so that a part of the light is interrupted by a side edge of the drum 1 rotated at a constant position, which is received by a photodetecting part 5. A reference edge 6 is provided to interrupt the light from the side opposite to the side edge of the drum 1. The distance H between the side edge of the drum 1 and reference edge 6 is obtained on the basis of the detecting result of the photodetecting part 5, so that the true roundness of the drum is measured. When the flange 2 while being supported by the shaft is pressed upwards by a pressing mechanism 10, the drum 1 is raised. The position of a receiving mechanism 20 which butts against the flange 3 at the upper end of the drum 1 at this time is detected by a position sensor 7, so that the mounting state of the flanges 2,3 can be checked.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is directed to improving the roundness of a drum having flanges attached to both ends, such as a photoreceptor drum used in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine. The present invention relates to a drum roundness measuring device for measuring the roundness of a drum, and a device for inspecting the flange attachment state of such a drum.

(Prior Art) A photosensitive drum installed in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine has an image formed on its outer peripheral surface while being rotated. For this reason, if the photosensitive drum attached to the image forming apparatus main body is not perfectly circular, the outer peripheral surface may vibrate during rotation, and the image formed on the outer peripheral surface may be distorted. For this reason, photoreceptor drums used in image forming apparatuses are required to have highly accurate circularity such that the vibration width (width) in the effective image forming area is 150 μm or less. In the manufacturing process, the roundness of each photoreceptor drum manufactured is measured.

Rotational force is transmitted to the photosensitive drum through flanges attached to each end.

For this reason, the roundness measurement in the photoreceptor drum manufacturing process has conventionally been carried out by attaching flanges 2 and 3 to both ends of the photoreceptor drum l, which has a photoreceptor layer formed on its outer peripheral surface, as shown in FIG. It is carried out with each installed. To measure the roundness of the photoreceptor drum 1, the photoreceptor drum 1 transported through a predetermined production line is once taken out from the transport line, and the center of each flange 2 is pivoted with a rotating pin or the like having a tapered tip. do. Then, with the dial gauge 100 in contact with a non-image area other than the effective image forming area H on the outer peripheral surface of the photoreceptor drum 1, the rotary bottle is rotated to rotate the photoreceptor drum 1, and the dial gauge lOO is The roundness of the photoreceptor drum 1 is measured based on the vibration width detected.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, roundness measurement in the manufacturing process of the photoreceptor drums 1 is carried out by rotating the photoreceptor drums 1 one by one, which are being transported on a transport line, by being pivotally supported on a rotating bin. However, there is a problem in that the measurement efficiency is very poor. Since the roundness of the photoreceptor drum 1 is measured by a dial gauge 100 that is brought into contact with the non-image forming area of the photoreceptor drum 1,
Roundness in the imaging area is not actually measured;
There is also the problem that data on roundness, which affects actual image characteristics, cannot be obtained.

Further, each flange 2 and 3 is attached to each end of the photoreceptor drum l.
However, if they are not installed in the specified condition,
The photoreceptor drum 1 does not rotate integrally with the flanges 2 and 3, and there is also the problem that the roundness of the photoreceptor drum 1 cannot be accurately measured.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances and problems, and its purpose is to improve the roundness and the roundness of drums such as photoreceptor drums that are continuously transported on the line. It is an object of the present invention to provide a drum roundness measuring device and a drum flange mounting state inspection device capable of efficiently measuring and inspecting the mounting state of flanges attached to each end.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The drum roundness measuring device of the present invention has a drum conveying line in which flanges are attached to both ends and is conveyed in a vertical state. a rotation imparting mechanism that supports and rotates the drum in a fixed position; a light emitting unit that irradiates light from a side of the drum conveyance line so that a part of the light is blocked by one side edge of the drum that rotates in a fixed position; a light receiving part that receives light emitted from the light emitting part; and a reference edge that blocks part of the light emitted from the light emitting part along one side edge of the drum from a side opposite to the one side edge of the drum. and a means for detecting a change in the distance between one side edge of the drum rotating in a fixed position and the reference edge based on the detection result of the light receiving section, thereby achieving the above object.

Further, the drum flange attachment state inspection device of the present invention includes:
In a drum conveyance line with flanges attached to both ends and conveyed in a vertical state, there is a push-up mechanism that presses the flange attached to the lower end upward to support the shaft, and the drum is lifted up by the push-up mechanism. The above object is achieved by comprising an elevating member that comes into contact with the flange at the upper end and moves up and down following the flange, and a position sensor that detects when the elevating member has risen to a predetermined position. be done.

(Function) According to the drum roundness measuring device of the present invention, the roundness of the drum, which has flanges inserted at each end and is transported on a predetermined drum transport line, can be measured on the drum transport line. , and therefore the roundness of each drum continuously conveyed on the drum conveyance line can be measured with high efficiency. Furthermore, since the roundness of any position on the drum can be measured without contact using light such as a laser beam, for example, in the case of a photoreceptor drum with a photosensitive layer formed on its outer circumferential surface, its effective image form can be measured. The circularity of a region can be directly measured.

According to the drum flange attachment state inspection device of the present invention,
The flange attachment condition of each drum conveyed on the drum conveyance line with a flange attached to each end can be continuously inspected.

(Example) The present invention will be described below with reference to Examples.

The drum roundness measuring device and the drum flange attachment state inspection device of the present invention can be applied, for example, to a photoconductor drum in which a photoconductor layer is formed on the outer peripheral surface and a flange is attached to each end, in a photoconductor drum manufacturing process. It is installed on the drum conveyance line.

FIG. 1(a) and FIG. 1(1)) show the process of attaching the flanges 2 to each end of the drum 1, respectively.

In the flange mounting process, as shown in FIG.
is held vertically and transported by the pallet P so that the end on the side where the flange 2 is attached is on the lower side. The conveyance line includes a drum 1 having a flange 2 attached to its lower end.
are sequentially held vertically by the noclet P and conveyed.

A through hole 21 is formed in the axial center of the flange 2 . Furthermore, a through hole P1 is formed in the pallet P concentrically with respect to the drum 1 held vertically.

In the drum transport line, as shown in FIG. 1(b), another flange 3 is lowered to the upper end of the drum 1 as shown by arrow X, and is press-fitted into the upper end of the drum 1. be done. A through hole 31 is also formed in the axial center of the flange 3. In this manner, the flanges 2 and 3 are attached to each end of the drum 1, thereby manufacturing the photosensitive drum.

A drum 1 fitted with flanges 2 and 3 at each end is
The drum is held vertically by a pallet P and transported to a position where a drum roundness measuring device and a drum flange attachment state inspection device are installed.

As shown in FIG. 1(C), the drum conveyance line includes:
A rotation imparting mechanism is provided for use in a drum roundness measurement device and a drum flange attachment state inspection device. The rotation imparting mechanism includes a push-up mechanism 10 disposed below the drum conveyance line, and a receiving mechanism 20 disposed above the conveyance line to face the push-up mechanism 10.

The push-up mechanism 10 has a motor 12 attached to the upper part of the cylinder 11 so as to be raised and lowered by the cylinder 1l. The rotating shaft 13 of the motor 12 is vertical and protrudes upward. A support shaft 14 is attached to the rotating shaft l3.

The upper part of the support shaft 14 has a conical shape that tapers upward.

The receiving mechanism 20 includes a double rod type cylinder 21 arranged vertically, and a rotatable support shaft attached to the lower part of the downwardly protruding part of the rod 21a of the two-cylinder cylinder 2l in a downwardly hanging state. 22. The support shaft 22 has a conical shape that tapers toward the bottom. The support shaft 22 is always urged downward by a push spring 23. Above the cylinder 21,
A position sensor 7 is provided to detect when the upwardly projecting portion of the rod 21a has risen to a predetermined position. The position sensor 7 constitutes a drum flange attachment state inspection device, and uses, for example, a photoelectric switch consisting of a light emitting part and a light receiving part.

As shown in FIG. 1(C), the pallet P is
0 and the receiving mechanism 20, the cylinder 2 of the receiving mechanism 20 is moved as shown in FIG. 1(d).
1, the support shaft 22 is lowered, and the through hole 3 of the 7 flange 3 is lowered.
1, and the drum 1 is positioned. In this state, as shown in FIG. 1(e), the upper part of the support shaft 14 is raised by the cylinder 11 of the push-up mechanism 10 through the through-hole pt of the pallet P, and is fitted into the through-hole 21 of the flange 2. will be combined. In this state, the cylinder 1l is attached to the support shaft 14.
further rise, push up flange 2, and remove drum l.
is raised from the pallet P.

At this time, the support shaft 22 of the receiving mechanism 20 is raised following the flange 3 against the urging force of the push spring 23 that urges the support shaft 22 downward. Therefore, Fig. 1(e)
As shown in FIG. 2, when the drum 1 is lifted off the pallet P by the push-up mechanism 1O, the drum 1 is supported by the upper and lower support shafts 22 and 14.

At this time, an inspection is performed using a drum flange attachment state inspection device. Cylinder 21 in the receiving mechanism 20
Position sensor 7 for detecting the upper end position of the rod 21a
When the flanges 2 and 3 are attached to each end of the drum 1 in a predetermined state, when the drum 1 is lifted by a predetermined lifting width h from the pallet P by the action of the push-up mechanism 10, It is arranged to detect the upper end of the rod 21a. Therefore, when the position sensor 7 detects the position of the rod 21a, it is detected that the flanges 2 and 3 are accurately press-fitted into each end of the drum 1 and are in a predetermined mounting state.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drum roundness measuring device includes laser emitting units disposed on each side of the position where the drum l is supported by each of the support shafts 22 and l4 in the drum conveyance line. 4 and a laser light receiving section 5. For example, the laser light emitting unit 4 irradiates the upper and lower parts of the drum 1 with laser light R so as to have an appropriate width dimension with respect to the drum transport direction (direction indicated by arrow L in FIG. 2). A part of the irradiated laser light R is blocked by one side edge of the drum 1. The upper and lower parts of the drum 1 that are irradiated with the laser beam R are within an area corresponding to the effective image forming area of the manufactured photosensitive drum.

Outside the drum conveyance area on the drum conveyance line, the laser is irradiated from the laser emitting part 4 toward the laser light receiving part 5, and is irradiated along one side edge of the drum without being blocked by the one side edge of the drum l. A reference edge 6 disposed so as to block the laser beam R from the side opposite to one edge of the drum 1.
is installed. The reference edge 6 is the laser receiver 5
The reference position of the laser beam R received at is defined.

The roundness measurement of the drum 1 is carried out as follows. As described above, when the drum 1 is vertically supported by the upper and lower support shafts 22 and 14, the motor 12 in the push-up mechanism 10 is rotated, and the rotation is transferred to the through hole 21 of the flange 2. It is transmitted to the flange 2 via the fitted support shaft 14, and the drum 1 is rotated. At this time, the laser light R is emitted from the laser light emitting section 4, and the laser light R that has passed between the drum l and the reference edge 6 is received by the laser light receiving section 5. The reception result of the laser beam R received by the laser light receiving section 5 is manually inputted into a calculation section (not shown), and the distance 1! between the reference edge 6 and the side edge of the rotating drum l is determined. l}[ is determined by the position (
The calculations are performed sequentially using the reference position m) as a reference. Thereby, the runout of the drum 1 during rotation is quantitatively measured, and the roundness of the drum 1 is measured.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the drum roundness measuring device of the present invention can measure the roundness of the drum while the drum is being transported on the drum transport line, so it can measure the roundness with high efficiency. measurement work. Since roundness is measured using a non-contact method using light such as a laser beam, it is possible to measure the roundness of any position on the drum with high precision. Roundness can be taught directly.

Further, the drum flange attachment state inspection device of the present invention includes:
The flange attachment state of the drum can be accurately and reliably inspected on the drum conveyance line.

4. of. What! B Figures 1(a) and 1(b) are operation explanatory diagrams of the flange mounting process, and Figures 1(c), 1(d), and 1(e) are diagrams of the drum shaft of the present invention, respectively. An explanatory diagram of the operation of the circularity measuring device and the drum flange attachment state inspection device,
FIG. 2 is a plan view for explaining the operation of the drum roundness measuring device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Drum, 2, 3... Flange, 4... Laser emitting part, 5... Laser light receiving part, 6... Reference edge, 7... Position sensor 10... Push-up mechanism, 21・
... Cylinder, 21a... Rod, P... Pallet, R... Laser light.

that's all

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A rotation imparting mechanism that pivotally supports the center of each flange of the drum and rotates it to a fixed position on a drum conveyance line in which flanges are attached to both ends and is conveyed in a vertical state; a light emitting section that emits light from the side of the drum conveyance line so that a portion of the light is blocked by one side edge of the drum rotating in a fixed position; and a light receiving section that receives the light emitted from the light emitting section. , a reference edge that blocks part of the light emitted from the light emitting part along one side edge of the drum from the side opposite to the one side edge of the drum, and a determination result based on the detection result of the light receiving part. A drum roundness measuring device comprising: a means for measuring a change in the distance between one side edge of a rotating drum and a reference edge; 2. On a drum conveyance line with flanges attached to both ends and conveyed in a vertical state, there is a push-up mechanism that presses the flanges attached to the lower end upwards to support the shaft, and the drum is lifted up by the push-up mechanism. A drum flange attachment state inspection device comprising: an elevating member that comes into contact with a flange at the upper end of a drum and moves up and down following the flange; and a position sensor that detects when the elevating member has risen to a predetermined position.