JP2000310227A - Rolling bearing for heating roller and fixing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat roller rolling bearing whose circumference is not stained by grease leakage and its fixing device. SOLUTION: In this bearing, a steel roller 10 loaded with a bearing load and a PTFE high polymer material nonload roller 11, having lubricity and rolling adhesion are wholly arranged in roller-shape, and lubricative powder produced by shaving the surface of the nonload roller 11 through its rolling are adhered to the roller 10 and each of their raceway surfaces 8, 9. Thus the filling-in of grease is unnecessary, and copying form can be prevented from a stain due to grease leakage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rolling bearing for a heat roller incorporating a heat source, and a fixing device using the rolling bearing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a fixing device such as a copying machine or a facsimile machine has been required to have a high-speed processing capability. Are often adopted.

FIG. 3 shows a conventional copier fixing device employing a ball bearing 32 as a bearing for a heat roller 31. Since the heat roller 31 in which the heat source is incorporated has a high temperature at the bearing portion, the heat roller 31 is rotatably supported by the steel plate frame 34 of the main body with the ball bearing 32 via the heat insulating sleeve 33, and the driving force is applied to the shaft end. A transmission gear 35 is provided. A pressure roller 37 urged by a spring 36 is provided on the heat roller 31.
Is pressed, and the toner is heated and pressed between these rollers 31 and 37 to be fixed on the copy paper.

A non-metallic material having a low thermal conductivity, such as heat-resistant resin, is usually used for the heat-insulating sleeve. To protect this heat-insulating sleeve, a rolling bearing such as a ball bearing or a roller bearing has an inner ring. Is used, and heat-resistant grease is used as a lubricant for the rolling bearing.

[0005]

The above-mentioned conventional roller bearing for heat rollers is mounted on a high-temperature shaft via a heat-insulating sleeve, but becomes extremely high during use. For this reason, there is a problem in that the heat-resistant grease of the lubricant softens and leaks from the bearing, and contaminates copy paper and the like.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat roller rolling bearing and a fixing device that do not stain the surroundings due to grease leakage.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, a rolling bearing for a heat roller according to the present invention comprises a plurality of load rollers for applying a bearing load between a raceway surface of an inner race and a raceway surface of an outer race. And one or more non-load rollers that do not apply a bearing load, and the non-load rollers are formed of a material having lubricity and transferability.

That is, a non-load roller formed of a material having lubricating and rolling properties is interposed between the raceway surfaces of the inner and outer races and a load roller for applying a bearing load. The use of heat-resistant grease is made unnecessary by attaching the lubricating powder produced by scraping from the surface to the load rollers and the raceway surfaces of the inner and outer rings as a lubricant. The reason why the rolling element of the bearing is formed into a roller shape is to increase the rolling contact area with the raceway surface and to secure a sufficient amount of the lubricating powder to be generated.

The load rollers and the non-load rollers interposed between the raceway surfaces of the inner and outer rings are arranged in a dense full-roller shape in the circumferential direction so that the load rollers and the non-load rollers are brought into contact with each other. Lubricating powder can be evenly attached to the load rollers. Of course, the lubricating powder can be evenly attached to each raceway surface. In addition, by adopting the full-roller arrangement, the number of loaded rollers can be increased to increase the load-bearing load of the bearing, and the length of the bearing can be reduced by eliminating the need for a cage. If the lengths of the bearings are the same, the length of the rollers can be increased to increase the withstand load.

Materials for forming the non-load rollers include:
PTFE-based polymer materials or crystalline solid metal sulfides can be employed. As a crystalline solid metal sulfide having lubricity and transferability, there is tungsten disulfide and the like.

Further, according to the present invention, a transfer material on which toner has been transferred is passed between a heat roller and a pressure roller to heat and transfer the toner.
In a fixing device for fixing a toner to a material to be transferred by pressing, a configuration is adopted in which any one of the above-mentioned rolling bearings for heat rollers is used as a bearing for supporting the heat roller.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described. This rolling bearing 1
As shown in FIG. 1A, a heat insulating sleeve 4 is fitted to an inner diameter surface of an inner ring 3 having a bent portion 2 at one end, and a flange member 7 is press-fitted and fixed to an outer diameter surface of an outer ring 6 having side plates 5 at both ends. As shown in FIG. 1B, between the raceway surfaces 8 and 9 of the inner ring 3 and the outer ring 6, as shown in FIG. The non-load rollers 11 made of material are arranged in a full-roller configuration.
The non-load rollers 11 are disposed between the two consecutive rollers 10.

The PTFE-based polymer material forming the non-load rollers 11 has lubricity and transferability, and is brought into rolling contact with the adjacent steel roller 10 and each of the raceway surfaces 8 and 9.
Lubricating powder generated by scraping off the surface of the non-load roller 11 adheres to the roller 10 and each of the raceway surfaces 8 and 9 as a lubricant. Therefore, the rolling bearing 1 does not need to contain grease, and no grease leaks.

The inner ring 3, the outer ring 6, and the flange member 7
Is formed by pressing a thin steel plate, and the tip diameter of the bent portion 2 of the inner ring 3 is
And a gap is provided between the bent portion 2 and the side plate 5 to prevent contact between the bent portion 2 and the side plate 5 due to thermal expansion.

The heat insulating sleeve 4 is made of heat-resistant resin,
A projection 12 is provided on the same end as the bent portion 2 and a flange 13 is provided on the other end. The tip diameter of the projection 12 is formed to be larger than the inner diameter of the inner ring 3 and the flange 1
The outer diameter of 3 is formed larger than the inner diameter of the right side plate 5, and a resin washer 14 is fitted between the side plate 5 and the flange 13.

The inner ring 3 is fitted between the projection 12 of the heat insulating sleeve 4 and the flange 13, and the bent portion 2 of the inner ring 3 is formed.
The side plates 5 of the outer ring 6 are axially constrained by the flange 13 of the heat insulating sleeve 4 and the inner ring 3 and the outer ring 6 are assembled integrally with the heat insulating sleeve 4.

In the above-described embodiment, two non-load rollers made of a PTFE-based polymer material are arranged between two steel load rollers. However, in the non-load rollers, the bearing load is secured by the load rollers. One or more arbitrary numbers can be arranged within a possible range. Further, as a material for the non-loaded roller, a crystalline solid metal sulfide such as tungsten disulfide can be used in addition to the PTFE-based polymer material.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a fixing device of a copying machine in which a heat roller 15 is supported by the rolling bearing 1. In this fixing device, a heat roller 15 is rotatably supported by a rolling bearing 1 via a heat insulating sleeve 4, and a gear 16 for transmitting a driving force is attached to a shaft end of the heat roller 15. A pressure roller 18 urged by a spring 17 is pressed against the heat roller 15, and the toner is heated and pressed between the heat roller 15 and the pressure roller 18 to be fixed on copy paper.

The heat insulating sleeve 4 is fixed to a shaft 20 of the heat roller 15 by a retaining ring 19,
Are axially fixed to the steel plate frame 21 of the copying machine by the flange member 7. The resin washer 14
Is for buffering a thrust load between the outer ring 6 side plate 5 and the heat insulating sleeve 4 flange 13 generated with the rotation of the heat roller 15. That is, even if a moment load acts on the rolling bearing 1 due to the bending of the shaft 20, the thrust load is buffered by the washer 14 so that the thrust load does not concentrate on the local portions of the side plate 5 and the flange 13.

[0020]

As described above, the rolling bearing for a heat roller according to the present invention is a non-load rolling roller formed of a material having lubricity and rolling properties together with a load roller for bearing load, between the raceways of the inner and outer rings. Since the rollers are interposed, the lubricating powder generated by scraping from the surface by the rolling of the non-load roller is attached to the load roller and the raceway surface of the inner and outer rings,
It is not necessary to fill in grease, and a fixing device such as a copying machine using the rolling bearing for supporting the heat roller can prevent copy paper and the like from being stained by grease leakage.

Further, by arranging the loaded rollers and the non-loaded rollers in the form of full rollers between the raceway surfaces of the inner and outer rings, the loaded rollers and the non-loaded rollers are brought into contact with each other, and the lubricating powder is loaded. Can be evenly attached to each raceway surface, and the number of built-in load rollers and the length can be increased to increase the load-bearing load of the bearing. The use of the full-roller arrangement can omit the retainer, so that the bearing can have a compact length if there is enough load-bearing load.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of a rolling bearing, and FIG.
Is a sectional view taken along line BB of a.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional front view showing an embodiment of a fixing device of a copying machine;

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional front view showing a conventional fixing device of a copying machine;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rolling bearing 2 Bending part 3 Inner ring 4 Heat insulation sleeve 5 Side plate 6 Outer ring 7 Flange member 8, 9 Track surface 10 Roller 11 Non-load roller 12 Projection 13 Flange 14 Washer 15 Heat roller 16 Spring 17 Gear 18 Pressure roller 19 Stop ring 20 Shaft 21 steel plate frame

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G03G 15/20 103 G03G 15/20 103 F Term (Reference) 2H033 AA35 BB36 3J101 AA13 BA10 CA15 CA32 EA33 EA52 FA13 FA32 GA53 3J103 AA02 FA01 FA19 FA26 FA30 GA02 GA52 GA57 GA60 GA66 HA08 HA31 HA35 HA43

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A non-load roller having a plurality of load rollers for applying a bearing load and one or more non-load rollers not applying a bearing load interposed between a raceway surface of an inner ring and a raceway surface of an outer ring. Rolling bearings for heat rollers, made of lubricating and transferable materials. 2. The rolling bearing for a heat roller according to claim 1, wherein the loaded rollers and the non-loaded rollers interposed between the raceway surfaces of the inner and outer rings are arranged in a circumferentially dense full-roller shape. 3. The material for forming the non-load rollers is PT.
The rolling bearing for a heat roller according to claim 1, wherein the rolling bearing is a FE-based polymer material. 4. The rolling bearing for a heat roller according to claim 1, wherein the material forming the non-load rollers is a crystalline solid metal sulfide. 5. A fixing device for passing a transfer material onto which a toner has been transferred between a heat roller and a pressure roller, and heating and pressing to fix the toner on the transfer material. A fixing device using the rolling bearing for a heat roller according to any one of claims 1 to 4.