JP2000227733A - Electrophotographic photoreceptor flange and electrophotographic photoreceptor provided therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To fit a flange to a photoreceptor drum by reducing the distortion of the photoreceptor drum or the flange without causing a grounding defect when the flange is fitted to the photoreceptor drum. SOLUTION: This electrophotographic photoreceptor flange 1 is used by being fitted to the aperture end of the electrophotographic photoreceptor drum having a photosensitive layer on the outside circumferential surface of a cylindrical conductive substrate. Then, the flange 1 is constituted so that a ring-like groove 2 is engraved at the outside circumference of the engagement part 4 thereof engaged with the inside circumferential surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor drum and a ring-like elastic member 3 whose maximum outside circumferential diameter is set to be larger than the outside circumferential diameter of the engagement part 4 is fitted in the groove 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photosensitive member (hereinafter, also simply referred to as "photosensitive member") and a structure of an electrophotographic photosensitive member flange (hereinafter, simply referred to as "flange") used therein. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, an electrophotographic photoreceptor has a flange formed at an opening end of a photoreceptor drum provided with a functional layer such as a photosensitive layer on a cylindrical conductive substrate made of a metal or a resin subjected to a conductive treatment. Are formed by fitting. Then, a rotational driving force is transmitted from the electrophotographic apparatus via the flange. Therefore, the photosensitive drum and the flange must be securely fixed. Conventionally, in the flange shown in FIG. 5, in order to securely attach the flange to the photosensitive drum, an adhesive is applied to an outer peripheral end of the photosensitive drum, and the flange is fixed by the adhesive. A method in which the flange is pressed into and fixed to the photosensitive drum using a press-fitting machine, or after the flange is inserted into the photosensitive drum, an external force is applied to the outer peripheral end of the photosensitive drum facing the flange fitting portion, and the flange is sandwiched and fixed. The method was used.

However, when the above-described fixing method is used, there are the following problems. In other words, in the method of fixing with the adhesive, since the adhesive is an insulating material, even if the location to which the adhesive is applied is considered carefully, there is a possibility that a ground failure may occur due to poor conduction. In the method of fixing by press-fitting, if the diameter of the fitting portion is increased to further enhance the press-fitting effect, the photosensitive drum may be distorted and affect image characteristics. Furthermore, in the method, when the flange is sandwiched by an external force at the end of the photosensitive drum, the flange portion sandwiched by the magnitude of the external force is distorted.
The amount of distortion must be considered when designing the flange.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the above, the number of ground contacts is increased,
Various attempts have been made to optimize the dimensions and structure of a cylindrical conductive substrate (hereinafter also referred to as a "base tube") and a flange, but each method has advantages and disadvantages and has not been technically established. is the current situation.

In view of the above situation, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device which can be mounted with a reduced amount of distortion of the photosensitive drum or flange without causing a ground failure when mounting the flange on the photosensitive drum. An object of the present invention is to provide a photographic photosensitive member flange and an electrophotographic photosensitive member provided with the flange.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of diligent studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventor has found that the above-mentioned object can be achieved by attaching an elastic material of a specific form to a fitting portion of a flange. The present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention relates to an electrophotographic photosensitive member flange used by being attached to an opening end of an electrophotographic photosensitive drum having a photosensitive layer on an outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical conductive substrate. An annular groove is engraved on the outer periphery of the fitting portion with the inner peripheral surface of the body drum, and an annular elastic member having a maximum outer diameter larger than the outer diameter of the fitting portion is fitted into the annular groove. It is assumed that.

In the flange of the present invention, it is preferable that two or more annular grooves are formed, and the annular member is fitted in each annular groove.

Further, an electrophotographic photosensitive member according to the present invention is provided with the above-mentioned electrophotographic photosensitive member flange.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a flange according to the present invention, in which two annular grooves 2 are cut in a fitting portion 4 of a flange main body 1, and annular elastic members 3 are fitted into the annular grooves 2, respectively. . The material used for the flange body 1 is not particularly limited, and a conventionally used synthetic resin or the like can be used. Further, an annular groove 2 is formed on the outer periphery of the fitting portion 4 of the flange main body 1 with the photosensitive drum.

The width and depth of the annular groove 2 can be appropriately set so as to be compatible with the annular elastic member 3 to be fitted. Also, the number is not particularly limited, but is preferably 2 or more. The annular elastic member 3 is fitted into the annular groove 2 as shown in FIG.

The material used for the annular elastic member 3 preferably has a rubber strength of JIS 50 ° to 90 °, more preferably 70 ° to 80 °. JIS 90 °
If it is more than the above, the mounting strength will be insufficient, and if it is less than 50 °, there is a possibility that a deviation from the photosensitive drum may occur. Specifically, fluorine rubber, nitrile rubber,
Examples include, but are not limited to, butadiene rubber, natural rubber, chlorobrene rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, silicone rubber, urethane rubber, and the like. In addition, the shape of the annular elastic member 3 can be appropriately set so as to correspond to the dimensions of the annular groove 2 such as the thickness thereof. It is necessary to firmly fix the photosensitive drum and the flange so as not to hinder reliable transmission of the rotational driving force.

For example, FIG. 2 shows a state in which the annular elastic member is removed from the flange of the present invention when one annular groove is provided. In FIG. 2, the mounting strength of the flange is increased by using an annular elastic member thicker than the case where the number of the annular grooves shown in FIG. 1 is two. Conversely, when the number of annular grooves is increased, the attachment can be strengthened by using a plurality of thin elastic members.

FIG. 3 shows the manner in which the flange of the present invention is attached to the photosensitive drum. The fitting portion 4 in which the annular elastic member 3 is fitted has a portion whose diameter is larger than the inner diameter of the photosensitive drum 5 due to the expansion of the elastic member. 5 may be attached.

[0015]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to experimental facts shown as examples. The flange of the present invention in which the elastic member is attached to the fitting portion shown in FIG. 4 as an example, the conventional flange shown in FIG. 5 as a comparative example, and the flanges of Examples and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 will be described below. It was produced as described above. Table 1 below shows the diameter of the fitting portion of each of the produced flanges, and the dimensions and inner diameters of the photosensitive drums used in each of the examples and comparative examples.

[0016]

[Table 1]

EXAMPLE An annular elastic member was fitted into a flange main body having an annular groove formed in a fitting portion as shown in FIG. 4 to produce a flange of the present invention. The diameter of the fitting portion was 28.62 mm.
The diameter of this fitting portion of 28.62 mm is the maximum outer diameter of the annular elastic member after the annular elastic member has been fitted. The outer diameter of the flange fitting portion without the elastic member is 28.50 mm. This flange has an outer diameter of 30.0 mm and an inner diameter of 28.5.
It was mounted on a photosensitive drum having a length of 1 mm and a length of 348 mm using a press-fitting machine.

Comparative Example 1 A conventional flange having a fitting portion diameter of 28.50 mm was
An adhesive (trade name: LOCTITE403) is applied to the end of the photosensitive drum similar to that in the embodiment, and the flange is adhered to the end of the photosensitive drum. Attached.

Comparative Example 2 The conventional flange used in Comparative Example 1 has an inner diameter of 28.40.
It was mounted on a photoreceptor drum having the same dimensions as in the example except for mm using a press-fitting machine.

Comparative Example 3 The conventional flange used in Comparative Example 1 was fitted to a photosensitive drum having the same dimensions as the example, and the end facing the fitted portion was fixed by being sandwiched by an external force. It was attached to the photosensitive drum.

Evaluation of Flange For each of the photosensitive drums to which the flange was attached by the method shown in the above embodiment and Comparative Examples 1 to 3, the mounting strength, the amount of deformation of the tube of the photosensitive drum at the fitting portion, and Was evaluated. The mounting strength was determined by marking both the flange and the photosensitive drum, and judging from the displacement of both marking portions after 100 images were output. The evaluation of the amount of deformation of the tube of the photosensitive drum was performed by measuring the outer diameter of a portion 5 mm from the end of the photosensitive drum before and after the flange was attached. The results are shown in Table 2 below.

[0022]

[Table 2]

As is clear from the above results, the mounting strength is at a level that does not cause any problem in any of the methods.
It can be seen that the method (1) involves a large amount of deformation of the photosensitive drum, and a greater load on the photosensitive drum when mounting than the other methods. Further, Comparative Example 1 has no deformation and is excellent, but as described above, the use of the adhesive may cause a ground failure, and there are many complaints in the market. On the other hand, it was revealed that the flange of the example had no grounding defect, had a small load at the time of mounting, and could maintain sufficient mounting strength.

When the produced flange of the present invention was mounted on the photosensitive drum, no problems such as poor grounding, flange, distortion of the photosensitive drum, and detachment of the flange did not occur. It was also confirmed that no problem was found on the image. That is, according to the flange of the present invention, it was confirmed that the mounting strength to the photosensitive drum was sufficiently obtained without applying a load to the photosensitive drum and the flange.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a flange which does not cause a ground failure and has a small load upon mounting, and an electrophotographic photosensitive member having the flange.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a flange according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which an annular elastic member is removed from a flange according to another example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which a flange of the present invention is attached to a photosensitive drum.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which an annular elastic member is fitted into a flange main body.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the structure of a conventional flange.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Flange main body 2 Annular groove 3 Annular elastic member 4 Fitting part 5 Photoconductor drum

Claims (3)

[Claims] An electrophotographic photosensitive member flange attached to an opening end of an electrophotographic photosensitive drum having a photosensitive layer on an outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical conductive substrate, wherein: An electrophotographic device characterized in that an annular groove is engraved on the outer periphery of a fitting portion with the peripheral surface, and an annular elastic member having a maximum outer diameter larger than the outer diameter of the fitting portion is fitted into the annular groove. Photoreceptor flange. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein said annular groove is formed in two or more.
The photoreceptor flange for electrophotography according to the above. 3. An electrophotographic photosensitive member comprising the electrophotographic photosensitive member flange according to claim 1.