JP2001166654A - Image forming material removing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an image forming material removing device which can maintain the ability to retreat a hot meltable resin from a regulating region and to remove an image forming material from an image holding member for a long period with a simple constitution. SOLUTION: A layer thickness maintaining blade 30 for scraping the hot meltable resin from an image release layer 20 is provided with a slit 50 for movement and the toners containing the hot meltable resin deposited in the regulating region is expelled through the slit 50 for movement, thereby, the layer thickness of the image release layer 20 can be surely maintained at a desired thickness. Therefore, the ability to separate the holding member from the image release layer 20 can be maintained for a long period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming material removing apparatus, and more particularly, to removing an image forming material from an image forming member formed with an image forming material containing a hot-melt resin and removing the image forming member. The present invention relates to a reusable image forming material removing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the importance of protecting forest resources has been recognized from the viewpoint of protecting the natural environment of the entire earth, and reducing the use of wood resources as paper resources has become an important issue. As part of a reduction in the use of wood resources, reuse of used paper without discarding used paper and the like as garbage is now being promoted.

[0003] However, before the used paper is collected and reused as recycled paper, there are, for example, problems such as: • The problem of leakage of confidential documents and data of the company when the used paper is collected; There are many problems such as the transportation cost, the location and management of collected waste paper and the like.- There are many problems such as deterioration of pulp quality when waste paper is re-pulped, problems related to deinking treatment of ink and the like constituting an image part, and related equipment. .

In order to solve such a problem, in recent years, there has been proposed a technique for easily reproducing and using an image carrier such as a sheet on which an image is formed. One of them is an eraser disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-64473.

[0005] As shown in FIG.
Uses an endless sheet 116 (image peeling member) suspended by a heat roller 112 and a cooling roller 114, and presses an erasable paper 118 (image holding member) against a heat-meltable resin 120 on the endless sheet 116 to apply a pressing roller. 124. Thereafter, the erasable paper 118 is separated from the hot-melt resin 120,
The toner 122 (image forming material) is peeled from the erasable paper 118 to regenerate the erasable paper 118.

[0006]

However, in this eraser 110, when a large number of erasable papers 118 are continuously processed, a large amount of toner 122 peeled off from the erasable papers 118 adheres to the endless sheet 116, and the endless sheet Hot melt resin 120 on 116
Since the thickness of the layer is large, the erasable vapor 118 may be embedded in the heat-meltable resin 120 and cannot be separated from the endless sheet 116. In particular,
In the case of a color image, the amount of toner is larger than that of a black-and-white image.
20 becomes thicker than in the case of a black-and-white image, and the above-mentioned problems become more pronounced.

When a large amount of the toner 122 accumulates on the endless sheet 116 as described above, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
As described in No. 72, it is possible to maintain a constant layer thickness of the heat-fusible resin 120 on the endless sheet 116 by scraping off the surplus heat-fusible resin 120 with a removing means such as a blade. Conceivable. In this case, it is desired that the blade be made closer to the endless sheet 116 so that the layer thickness of the heat-meltable resin 120 is reduced.

However, when the blade is brought closer to the endless sheet 116 in this manner, a region where the blade and the endless sheet 116 face each other (in this region, the layer thickness of the heat-meltable resin 120 becomes substantially constant). Since the area is regulated as described above, the area is hereinafter referred to as “regulated area”.)
The pressure when the hot-melt resin 120 passes through is increased, and a new problem such as bending or breakage of the blade occurs. If the blade is made rigid to prevent such bending or breakage of the blade, breakage of the blade can be avoided, but the load on the drive system for driving the endless seat 116 increases. Therefore, in practice, the heat-meltable resin 120
It is difficult to reduce the thickness of the layer.

Further, the excess heat-meltable resin 120 adhered to the blade does not drop easily even if the endless sheet 116 circulates, and the drive system of the endless sheet 116 is stopped once or the temperature of the regulation area is raised to increase the heat-meltable resin. Resin 120
It is necessary to take measures such as increasing the viscosity of the resin, and the structure of the apparatus becomes complicated, and the recovery efficiency of the surplus hot-melt resin 120 becomes poor.

In view of the above facts, the present invention reduces the pressure generated in the regulation area, evacuates the surplus hot-melt resin from the regulation area, and removes the image forming material from the image holder with a simple structure. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming material removing apparatus capable of maintaining its ability for a long period of time.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the image forming surface of the image carrier is brought into contact with the softened image peeling layer by the contacting means. Since an image is formed by fusing and fixing an image forming material containing a heat-fusible resin on the image forming surface, the image forming material is integrated with the image peeling layer of the image peeling member. Then, in a state where the cohesive force between the integrated image peeling layer and the image forming material is larger than the adhesive force of the image forming material to the image holding member, the image forming surface is separated from the image peeling layer, The image forming material adheres to the image peeling layer and is removed (peeled) from the image carrier.

Also, since the layer thickness maintaining means moves relative to the image peeling member while maintaining a predetermined distance, the regulation area (the area where the layer thickness maintaining means and the image peeling member face each other).
In, the excess of the heat-fusible resin constituting the image release layer of the image release member is scraped off by the layer thickness maintaining means.
The excess heat-meltable resin scraped off and present in the portion facing the image peeling member is retracted to the non-facing portion (the portion other than the facing portion) by the retracting means provided in the layer thickness maintaining means. Excess heat-fusible resin does not accumulate in the facing portion. Therefore, the pressure of the hot-melt resin in the regulation area (hereinafter, referred to as “regulation area pressure”) is reduced, and the layer thickness of the image peeling layer can be reliably maintained at a certain thickness or less, so that the image peeling layer The image carrier can be reliably separated from the image peeling layer without being buried in the image carrier and cannot be separated. Further, the ability to remove the image forming material from the image holding member can be maintained for a long time. In addition, it is not necessary to make the layer thickness maintaining means robust in consideration of deformation and damage, and the energy required to move the image peeling member relative to the layer thickness maintaining means is reduced. Is simplified and the cost is reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a moving path is provided inside the layer thickness maintaining means to constitute the retreating means according to the first aspect of the present invention, so that excess heat-meltable resin is removed from the facing portion to the non-facing portion. To be retracted from the opposing portion. In addition, since the excess heat-fusible resin can be positively moved from the facing portion to the non-facing portion by utilizing the pressure in the regulation area, the excess heat-fusible resin can be efficiently evacuated from the facing portion. Can be done.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the number of holes, the shape, the cross-sectional area, etc. of the holes for movement are changed by forming the holes for movement in the layer thickness maintaining means as the movement path, thereby controlling the pressure in the regulation area. It becomes possible. As a result, in the regulation area, the layer thickness of the image release layer can be reliably maintained at a desired thickness necessary for separating the image holder, and therefore, the ability to separate the image holder from the image release layer for a long time. Can be maintained.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the pressure in the regulation area increases at the widthwise end of the image peeling layer and decreases relatively at the center in the widthwise direction. For this reason, the excess heat-meltable resin existing in the facing portion flows from the width-direction end to the center in the width direction, and in the regulation region, the heat-melt resin spreads outward in the width direction from the image peeling layer. Can be prevented.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the excess heat-meltable resin moves outward in the width direction at the facing portion, and the moved heat-meltable resin faces the vicinity of the width-direction end of the image peeling layer. When reaching the position, the hot-melt resin is retracted from the facing portion by the moving hole formed at this position. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the heat-fusible resin from spreading outward in the width direction from the image peeling layer in the regulation region.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the pressure in the regulation area can be maintained substantially uniformly in the width direction, so that the excess heat-meltable resin in the opposing portion can be evacuated evenly in the width direction. it can.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the retracting means has a storage portion capable of storing the hot-melt resin at a position facing the image peeling member.

Therefore, even if the image peeling layer of the image peeling member has a drop-off portion (a portion where the heat-fusible resin is missing and the thickness of the image peeling layer is reduced), the drop-out portion is in the vicinity of the storage portion. When passing through, the hot-melt resin stored in the storage section is replenished to the drop-out section, and as a result, the drop-out section disappears, and the image peeling layer is restored to a constant thickness. As described above, since the layer thickness of the image peeling layer can be stably maintained at a constant thickness, the ability to remove the image forming material can also be maintained constant, and the image forming material can be stably removed from the image holding member. In the invention according to claim 8, the end of the storage section is located inside the width direction end of the image peeling layer in the width direction.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the heat-fusible resin from spreading outward in the width direction from the image peeling layer in the regulation region.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a temperature control device for controlling a temperature of a portion of the layer thickness maintaining device facing the peeling member within a predetermined range.

That is, the temperature of the hot-melt resin in the regulation region is maintained within a predetermined range without being affected by the external environment and the like, and the viscosity of the hot-melt resin can be controlled within a certain range. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the resistance when the layer thickness maintaining means relatively moves with respect to the image peeling member, and to maintain the regulation area pressure within a certain range. This makes it possible to reliably maintain the thickness of the image release layer at a certain level or less, so that the image release layer is not buried in the image release layer and cannot be separated. Can be separated from layers. Further, the ability to remove the image forming material from the image holding member can be maintained for a long time.

[0023]

FIG. 1 shows an image forming material removing apparatus 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The image forming material removing apparatus 10 has a housing 11, and an image peeling roll 12 is rotatably supported by the housing 11 by supporting means (not shown).
A pressing roll 14 is supported above the image peeling roll 12 so as to be rotatable around an axis parallel to the image peeling roll 12.

As shown in detail in FIG. 2, the image peeling roll 12 includes a metal base 16 formed in a cylindrical shape, a silicone rubber 18 coated on the outer peripheral surface of the metal base 16, and a silicone rubber 18. And an image peeling layer 20 made of a heat-fusible resin provided on the surface (outer peripheral surface) of the image forming apparatus, and is rotated at a constant angular velocity in the direction of arrow R by a driving unit (not shown). I have.

As the metal substrate 16, an appropriate material can be appropriately selected in consideration of strength, durability, dimensional stability against heat, and the like. For example, it can be selected from metal materials such as stainless steel and nickel.

The image peeling layer 20 is made of the same hot-melt resin as the binder resin of the toner T removed from the paper P by the image forming material removing device 10, and has a thickness of 20 to 200 μm. 30-100
The range of μm is desirable.

A halogen lamp 22 for heating the image peeling roll 12 is provided inside the metal base 16.
Further, a temperature sensor 24 for detecting the temperature of the outer peripheral surface of the image peeling roll 12 is provided at a position in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the image peeling roll 12. When the surface temperature of the image peeling roll 12 is detected by the temperature sensor 24, a control circuit (not shown) performs feedback control (flashing control) of the halogen lamp 22 based on an output from the temperature sensor 24. As a result, the halogen lamp 22 is turned on and off, and the image release layer 20 of the image release roll 12 is maintained at a predetermined temperature sufficient to soften the heat-fusible resin constituting the image release layer 20. Further, the predetermined temperature is a temperature at which the hot-melt resin does not permeate the paper P.

The term "softening" as used herein means that the viscosity of the heat-fusible resin constituting the image peeling layer 20 is lower, but the viscosity is higher than that of the "melted" state described later, and the outer shape is changed. For this purpose, a larger force is required than in the “melted” state, and the adhesive layer has a bonding force with the hot-melt resin constituting the toner T.

As shown in FIG. 1, the pressing roll 14 is formed by forming an elastic layer 28 of an elastic body such as rubber on the outer periphery of a cylindrical member 26 formed of a hard material such as metal. . The pressing roll 14 is pressed toward the image peeling roll 12 by a pressing mechanism (not shown), and the image peeling roll 12 and the pressing roll 14
The sheet P is to be held. When the image peeling roll 12 is rotated in the direction of arrow R by a driving unit (not shown) in a state where the sheet P is sandwiched in this manner, the sheet P is transported in the direction of arrow A.

Outside the image peeling roll 12, a metal layer thickness maintaining blade 30 formed in a substantially plate-like rectangular shape is fixed. The longitudinal direction of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 coincides with the axial direction of the image peeling roll 12. Also,
As shown in FIG. 3, the facing surface 30 </ b> A facing the image peeling roll 12 has a smooth flat shape, and maintains a predetermined distance K between the facing surface 30 </ b> A and the silicone rubber 18. When the thickness of the image peeling layer 20 is larger than the predetermined interval K, the rotation of the image peeling roll 12 causes the image peeling layer 20 to move relatively to the layer thickness maintaining blade 30. Reference numeral 30 blocks and scrapes off excess heat-fusible resin, and maintains the thickness of the image peeling layer 20 at a constant thickness. Therefore, the area between the facing surface 30A and the silicone rubber 18 is the regulation area 13 that substantially regulates the thickness of the image peeling layer 20.

Hereinafter, the term “width direction” refers to the longitudinal direction of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30, ie, the direction along the axis of the image peeling roll 12, and the term “width” refers to
The length along the width direction is referred to.

A ceramic heater 32 is mounted on the layer thickness maintaining blade 30. A temperature sensor 34 is attached to the ceramic heater 32 so as to be in contact therewith. When the surface temperature of the ceramic heater 32 is detected by the temperature sensor 34, the ceramic heater 32 is feedback-controlled by a control circuit (not shown), and the surface of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is maintained at a predetermined temperature. This temperature is a predetermined temperature sufficient to bring the heat-fusible resin constituting the image peeling layer 20 into a molten state or a softened state. Accordingly, the heat of the ceramic heater 32 is transmitted to the image peeling layer 20 in the regulation region 13 via the layer thickness maintaining blade 30, and the image peeling layer 20 is melted or softened and melted in the vicinity of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30. And an intermediate state.

As used herein, “melting” refers to the image release layer 20.
The viscosity of the hot-melt resin that constitutes the resin decreases, and the outer shape is easily changed by a small shear stress. Therefore, for example, when the hot-melt resin is put into a container having a predetermined shape, it corresponds to the shape of the container. Image peeling roll 1)
A sufficient adhesive force acts between the silicone rubber 18 and the second silicone rubber 18 and does not fall even when gravity acts.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is provided between the outer peripheral surface of the image peeling roll 12 and the facing surface 3.
The position of the contact point with the 0A angle (edge portion 38) is fixed so as to be a predetermined mounting angle θ at an angle on the upstream side in the rotation direction. The mounting angle θ depends on the viscosity of the hot-melt resin, the coefficient of friction with the surface of the image release layer 20, and the image release roll 12.
Is determined as appropriate depending on the rotational angular velocity and the like. In the drawing, the mounting angle θ of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is an obtuse angle,
The angle may be a right angle or an acute angle as long as it is mounted so as to satisfy the above conditions.

A storage groove 36 whose longitudinal direction is the axial direction of the image peeling roll 12 is formed on the facing surface 30A of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 so as to leave the periphery of the facing surface 30A. Further, the opposing surface 30 </ b> A on the rotation direction front side of the image peeling roll 12 with respect to the storage groove 36 is the edge portion 3.
8 is set. When the attachment angle θ of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is set to the predetermined angle as described above, the image peeling roll 12 rotates, and the silicone rubber 18 and the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 move relative to each other. The thickened portion comes into contact with the edge portion 38 of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 and is scraped off, and the image peeling layer 20 is leveled to have a constant thickness. In addition, the scraped hot-melt resin is stored in the storage groove 36.
It is stored while maintaining a state of contact with the image peeling layer 20 of the image peeling roll 12.
At this time, since the surface of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is maintained at a predetermined temperature set by the ceramic heater 32, the heat-fusible resin is in a molten state or a softened state in the storage groove 36.

As shown in FIG. 4, this storage groove 36 is cut in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the image peeling roll 12 to have a substantially regular triangular cross section. The opening area is gradually increasing. Therefore, the hot-melt resin scraped off by the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 by the rotation of the image peeling roll 12 enters the storage groove 36 one after another.

The thickness maintaining blade 30 is provided with a moving slit 50 having a shape continuous along the width direction and penetrating from the bottom of the storage groove 36 to the opposite side. The width of the moving slit 50 is substantially equal to the width of the image peeling layer 20 of the image peeling roll 12,
The position of the width direction end 50A of 0 is inside the width direction end of the image peeling layer 20.

When the image peeling roll 12 rotates while the hot-melt resin is stored in the storage groove 36, the regulating area 13
Pressure (or pressure and rotational force) is generated in the heat-meltable resin constituting the image release layer 20 in the inside, and the heat-meltable resin in the storage groove 36 is pushed into the moving slit 50,
It is pushed out from the other side. The extruded hot-melt resin is applied to the layer thickness maintaining blade 3 by weight.
0 and fall into the collection box 52 provided below.

The surface of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is subjected to Teflon treatment to form a low surface energy layer. Therefore, the friction between the hot-melt resin stored in the storage groove 36 and the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is smaller than the friction with the image peeling layer 20. Therefore, when the image peeling roll 12 rotates, the stored hot-melt resin becomes the image peeling layer 2.
0 is rotated by friction with the surface of the image peeling roll 12.
And a substantially columnar shape or a shape close to it.

As shown in FIG. 1, a paper tray 40 is provided at a position on the right side of FIG.
It is detachably attached to. One or a plurality of sheets P are stored in the sheet tray 40. A color image is formed on the sheet P with a toner T as an image forming material including a heat-fusible resin, and is stored in the sheet tray 40 with the image forming surface facing down. These sheets P are fed one by one to a sheet tray 4 by a delivery roll 42 arranged above the sheet tray 40.
Sent from 0. Further, a transport device including a transport roll pair 44 and a guide member (not shown) is provided between the feed roll 42 and the image peeling roll 12 and the pressing roll 14, and the paper P is guided by the guide member. While being conveyed by the pair of conveying rolls 44, it is fed between the image peeling roll 12 and the pressing roll 14.

Further, the sheet P discharged from the space between the image peeling roll 12 and the pressing roll 14 is sandwiched between the image peeling roll 12 and the pressing roll 14 on the left side in FIG. A discharge roll pair 54 is provided.

Next, the operation of the image forming material removing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described.

The sheets P stored in the sheet tray 40 are sent out one by one at a predetermined interval by a sending-out roll 42. Further, the paper P is transported by a transport roll pair 44 while being guided by a guide member (not shown), and is sent between the image peeling roll 12 and the pressing roll 14.

Since the image peeling roll 12 is rotated at a predetermined angular speed by a driving device (not shown), the paper P is pressed while the image forming surface of the paper P is pressed against the image peeling layer 20 of the image peeling roll 12 in FIG. It is transported in the direction of arrow A at a predetermined transport speed.

The image release layer 20 of the image release roll 12
By maintaining the predetermined temperature by the heat from the halogen lamp 22, the heat-fusible resin constituting the image peeling layer 20 is in a softened state, and maintains the rubber-like elasticity while maintaining the toner T of the paper P. Has cohesive strength. For this reason, the image forming surface of the sheet P is
When pressed, the heat-meltable resin of the image peeling layer 20 is easily deformed according to the unevenness of the surface of the paper P, and adheres to the toner T on the paper P. At this time, the heat-meltable resin of the image peeling layer 20 and the toner T is not heated enough to penetrate into the paper P.

The image release layer 20 is pressed by the pressing roll 14.
(The image peeling roll 12 and the pressing roll 1)
The paper P that has passed through the portion between the image peeling roll 1 and the image peeling roll 1
By the rotation of No. 2, it is further transported in the direction of arrow A. In this transporting process, the heat of the image peeling layer 20 is transmitted to the toner T adhered on the paper P, and the temperature of the image peeling layer 20 and the toner T become substantially the same. At this temperature, the cohesive force of the heat-fusible resin itself is larger than the adhesive force of the toner T to the paper P, but the heat-fusible resin is in a state of maintaining rubber-like elasticity. ing. In such a state, when a force is applied to a part of the hot-melt resin in a direction to separate the resin from the sheet P, the resin is easily separated from the interface of the sheet P.

Further, since the pressing roll 14 is pressed by a pressing mechanism (not shown), the load between the pressing roll 14 and the image separating roll 12 causes the image release layer 20 of the image separating roll 12 and the silicone rubber 18. Is distorted. Since the paper P itself has a certain rigidity (elasticity against deformation in the paper thickness direction), the paper P bends due to the above-described distortion in the vicinity of the exit of the holding portion between the pressing roll 14 and the image peeling roll 12. Thereby, the toner T on the sheet P is peeled off from the sheet P integrally with the image peeling layer 20.

The paper P from which the toner T has been removed in this way is separated from the image peeling roll 12 by its own rigidity. At this time, the paper P is transferred to the image peeling roll 12.
A separating member such as a separating claw 48 or the like may be provided in order to more reliably separate the sheet from the sheet. The paper P from which the toner T has been removed is further transported in the direction of arrow A by the discharge roll pair 54 and discharged to the discharge tray 46.

On the other hand, the toner T adhered to the image peeling roll 12 and integrated with the image peeling layer 20 is conveyed to a position facing the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 by rotation of the image peeling roll 12. As shown in FIG. 3, when the layer thickness of the image peeling layer 20 is larger than the distance K between the facing surface 30 </ b> A and the silicone rubber 18, the thicker portion is used as the layer thickness maintaining blade 30. In contact therewith, it is blocked and accumulated on the upstream side, and the layer thickness of the image peeling layer 20 is maintained at a constant thickness on the downstream side of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 (downstream of the regulation area 13).

As described above, the toner T on the sheet P is removed from the sheet P integrally with the image peeling layer 20, so that the image peeling roll 12 is further adjusted according to the size and the number of sheets P.
Can be rotated to continuously remove the toner T from the paper P. By repeating the removal of the toner T in this manner, a portion where the thickness of the image peeling layer 20 is increased is sequentially generated. Is stopped by the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 by the rotation of the image peeling roll 12, so that the layer thickness of the image peeling layer 20 is always maintained at a constant thickness.

When the toner T is removed in this way, the image peeling layer 20 contains the toner T and the heat-fusible resin that has formed the image peeling layer 20 before the removal of the toner T. Will be mixed with the hot-melt resin that was
Since these resins are the same resin made of the same material, they have high compatibility. Therefore, the removal ability does not change at all even in the mixed state.

The heat-meltable resin scraped off by the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is sequentially stored in the storage groove 36. Then, when the amount of the stored hot-melt resin becomes a certain amount, the resin always comes into contact with the image peeling layer 20. Here, since a low surface energy layer is formed on the surface of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30, the frictional force between the stored hot-melt resin and the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is the frictional force between the image peeling layer 20. Smaller than. Therefore, in a state where the heat-fusible resin in the storage groove 36 is in contact with the image release layer 20, the image release roll 12
Is rotated, the stored hot-melt resin becomes the image peeling layer 2
4 rotates clockwise in FIG. 4 in the storage groove 36 due to the frictional force with the surface of No. 0, and becomes a substantially cylindrical rod shape having an axis parallel to the image peeling roll 12. The surface of the image peeling layer 20 is constantly refreshed by the rod-shaped hot-melt resin coming into contact with the image peeling layer 20 while rotating, thereby preventing deterioration. Then, the image peeling roll 12
, The image peeling layer 20, which is constantly refreshed and has a constant layer thickness, is sequentially pressed against the sheet P and heated, so that the ability to remove the toner T can be maintained high.

Since a certain amount of the heat-meltable resin is stored in the storage groove 36, the image release layer 2 of the image release roll 12 is stored.
Even if a so-called drop-out portion occurs at 0, when the drop-out portion passes near the storage groove 36, the hot-melt resin in the storage groove 36 moves to the drop-out portion and is replenished,
The layer thickness of the image peeling layer 20 is always kept constant. For example, immediately after the image forming material removing device 10 is stopped, that is, when the image peeling layer 20 maintains the softened state, the pressing roll 14 is moved in a state where the paper P does not exist between the image peeling roll 12 and the pressing roll 14. When the image release layer 20 of the image release roll 12 is pressed, the image release layer 2 in the pressed portion is pressed.
A dent occurs at zero. Then, as the image peeling layer 20 is gradually cooled, the image peeling layer 20 is cured while being partially depressed, so that this portion becomes a so-called dropout portion. Further, in the vicinity of the recessed portion, when the image forming material removing device 10 is driven again, the heat-fusible resin constituting the image release layer 20 adheres to the pressing roll 14, and the falling-off portion may be further increased. . However, even if such a dropout occurs, immediately after the image forming / removing apparatus 10 is driven again, that is, first, the dropout occurs in the storage groove 3.
6, the hot-melt resin in the storage groove 36 moves to the drop-out portion and is replenished, so that the layer thickness of the image peeling layer 20 is always maintained at a constant thickness in subsequent rounds. The removal ability for removing the toner T is also kept constant.

When the image peeling roll 12 rotates while the hot-melt resin is stored in the storage groove 36, the regulating area 13
Pressure (or pressure and rotational force) is generated in the heat-meltable resin constituting the image release layer 20 in the inside, and the heat-meltable resin in the storage groove 36 is pushed into the moving slit 50,
It is pushed out to the other side. The extruded hot-melt resin is applied to the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 by weight.
Is dropped and collected in a collection box 52 provided below. Since the hot-melt resin falls into the collection box 52 as a lump, it does not soar like toner when taken out. Furthermore, by setting the falling distance of the hot-melt resin extruded from the moving slit 50 to 100 mm or more, the hot-melt resin is cooled and solidified, so that the water-repellent treatment is not required in the collection box.

The surplus heat-meltable resin stored in the storage groove 36 is retracted from the opposing portion by the moving slit 50, so that the pressure of the heat-meltable resin in the regulation region 13 (regulation region pressure) is reduced. As a result, the resistance when the image peeling roll 12 rotates is reduced. For this reason, even if the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 is arranged close to the silicone rubber 16, it is not inadvertently deformed or broken, and the layer thickness of the image peeling layer 20 is reliably reduced to a thin state below a certain thickness. Since the sheet P can be maintained, the sheet P can be reliably separated from the image peeling layer 20 without being buried in the image peeling layer 20 and cannot be separated. Further, the ability to remove the toner T from the paper P can be maintained for a long period of time.

Further, it is not necessary to make the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 robust in consideration of deformation and damage. in addition,
Since the energy required for rotating the image peeling roll 12 is also small, the structure of the image forming material removing device 10 is simplified and the cost is reduced.

In particular, in the present embodiment, the excess heat-meltable resin in the storage section 36 is positively pushed into the moving slit 50 by utilizing the pressure of the restriction area, so that the excess The hot-melt resin can be retracted from the facing portion. In order to cause the hot-melt resin to flow into the moving slit 50 without using such a regulation region pressure, for example, it is necessary to give more heat energy to the hot-melt resin to reduce the viscosity of the hot-melt resin. There is,
In the present embodiment, even if the viscosity of the heat-fusible resin is in a molten state or a middle degree between the melted state and the softened state, the heat-fusible resin can be retracted from the facing portion.

In this embodiment, the moving slit 5 is used.
Since the position of the width direction end 50A of 0 is inside the width direction end of the image peeling layer 20, it is possible to prevent the heat fusible resin from spreading in the width direction in the regulation region 13. That is, of the opposing surfaces of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30, portions at both ends in the width direction (portions where the storage groove 36 and the movement slit 50 are not formed) are centered in the width direction (portions where the movement slit 50 is formed). ) Is relatively high. Therefore, in the regulation region 13, the hot-melt resin flows from the high-pressure width direction end to the low-pressure center in the width direction, and it is possible to reliably prevent the hot-melt resin from spreading in the width direction.

The image carrier capable of removing the image forming material by the image forming material removing apparatus of the present invention includes:
For example, on a general PPC paper, a silicone resin layer is formed with a thickness (for example, about 1 μm) that does not impair the unevenness of the paper, and the adhesiveness of the toner T is reduced. Not limited. For example, an OHP sheet configured to have a similar function may be used.
When a toner or the like containing a heat-fusible resin having low adhesiveness to paper or an OHP sheet is used as an image forming material, PPC paper without a silicone resin layer may be used.

[0060]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following Examples, but it should not be construed that the present invention is limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the paper P is removed by using the image forming material removing apparatus 10 (see FIG. 1) according to the first embodiment.
Was removed from the toner T.

As the paper P from which the toner T, which is an image forming material, is removed by the image forming material removing device 10, a silicone resin layer is formed on a general PPC paper so as not to impair the unevenness of the paper (about 1 μm). A special paper formed with a thickness was used. A black image and a color toner as an image forming material are transferred to the special paper by a color image forming apparatus or the like, and are further heated and fixed to form a color image. The color toner contains a polyester resin as a binder as a hot-melt resin and contains at least yellow, magenta, cyan, and black pigments, respectively. The polyester resin used constitutes the image release layer 20. It is the same as the hot-melt resin. The thermal properties of the polyester resin are such that the glass transition point is about 70 ° C. and the melting temperature is about 115 ° C. In FIG.
The relationship between the temperature and the viscosity of the polyester resin is shown. As is clear from this graph, in a temperature region exceeding the glass transition point, the resin is a sharp melt resin whose viscosity sharply decreases as the temperature rises.

The image peeling roll 12 uses a cylindrical member made of aluminum having a length of 340 mm, an outer diameter of 25 mm and a thickness of 1.5 mm as a metal substrate 16. 0.6 mm heat-resistant silicone rubber 18
And a heat-fusible resin made of a polyester resin having a thickness of 100 μm was provided as an image peeling layer 20 on the outside thereof. Further, the image peeling roll 12 was rotated at a constant angular velocity so as to have a moving speed of 60 mm / s on the surface. Further, by controlling the halogen lamp 22, the temperature was maintained at 105 ° C. close to the melting temperature of the hot-melt resin.

The pressing roll 14 has a length of 350 m.
m, an outer diameter of 30 mm, and a thickness of 1.5 mm as an elastic layer 28 on the outer periphery of an aluminum cylindrical member 26 having a thickness of 1.5 mm.
m of heat-resistant silicone rubber.

The thickness maintaining blade 30 has a width of 250 mm.
mm, 25 mm in height and 7.0 mm in thickness using an aluminum plate-like member, the storage groove 36 is 200 mm in width and 5 m in thickness
m V-groove structure, the moving slit 50 has a width of 200 mm,
The thickness was 2 mm. The distance K between the edge portion 38 of the layer thickness maintaining blade 30 and the layer of the heat-resistant silicone rubber 18 was set to 100 μm. Further, the thickness maintaining blade 30 was maintained at 110 ° C. by controlling the ceramic heater 32.

When 20,000 sheets of paper P were continuously processed under the above conditions, the toner T could be removed satisfactorily, and the paper P became almost the same as a new white paper. Further, as shown in the table of FIG. 7, the variation in the film thickness of the image peeling layer falls within a range of about 50 μm to 60 μm.

Next, an image forming material removing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the second embodiment, the thickness maintaining blade 60
In the bottom 62A of the storage groove 62 formed at the bottom, through holes 64 are formed at regular intervals in place of the moving slit 50, and the pressure of the regulation region is maintained substantially uniformly in the width direction. Are pushed out of the through hole 64 without bias in the width direction.

[0069]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The thickness maintaining blade 60 has a width of 250 m.
m, a height of 25 mm, and a thickness of 7.0 mm using an aluminum plate-like member. The storage groove 62 has a width of 200 mm and a thickness of 5 m.
m V-groove structure, through holes 64 are φ3mm and 11 holes are 20m
At m intervals. However, the through holes 64 at both ends are formed in the storage grooves 6.
2, the distance is 18.5 mm.

Under the above conditions, when 20,000 sheets of paper P were continuously processed, the toner T could be removed satisfactorily, and the paper P became almost the same as a new sheet.

[0071]

According to the present invention, the thickness of the image peeling layer can be kept substantially constant. For this reason, only the image carrier can be separated from the image peeling member, and continuous processing can be performed stably for a long period of time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an image forming material removing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an image peeling roll included in the image forming material removing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing an image peeling roll and a layer thickness maintaining blade constituting the image forming material removing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing an image peeling roll and a layer thickness maintaining blade constituting the image forming material removing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

5A and 5B show a layer thickness maintaining blade constituting the image forming material removing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 5A is a plan view, FIG. 5B is a front view, and FIG. .

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a relationship between a temperature and a viscosity of a polyester resin constituting an image forming material (toner) removed by the image forming material removing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing a change in the thickness of the hot-melt resin of the layer thickness maintaining blade included in the image forming material removing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows a layer thickness maintaining blade constituting the image forming material removing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, wherein (A) is a plan view, (B) is a front view, and (C) is a side view. .

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing a conventional eraser.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 Image peeling roll (image peeling member) 14 Pressing roll (contact means) 20 Image peeling layer 30 Layer thickness maintaining blade (layer thickness maintaining means) 36 Storage groove (storage part) 32 Ceramic heater (temperature control means) 50 Slit for movement (Evacuation means, movement path, hole for movement) 60 Storage groove (storage part) 64 Through hole (evacuation means, movement path, hole for movement)

Claims (9)

[Claims] An image release member provided with an image release layer containing a hot-melt resin, and an image on an image carrier in which an image forming material containing a hot-melt resin is melt-fixed to the softened image release layer. Contact means for bringing the image forming surface into contact with the image forming layer, wherein the cohesive force between the image forming layer and the image forming material is such that the cohesive force between the image forming layer and the image forming material is adhered to the image forming material. In the image forming material removing device that separates from the image peeling layer in a state where the force becomes larger than the force, the image forming material removing device is disposed at a predetermined interval from the image peeling member, and moves relative to the image peeling member while maintaining the predetermined interval. A layer thickness maintaining means for maintaining a layer thickness of the image peeling layer at a certain thickness or less; and an excess heat-meltable resin provided in the layer thickness maintaining means and present in a portion facing the image peeling member from the facing portion. Evacuation Image forming material removing apparatus characterized by comprising: a stage, a. 2. The retreating means is a movement path provided inside the layer thickness maintaining means and configured to move the hot-melt resin from the facing portion to a non-facing portion of the layer thickness maintaining means. The image forming material removing apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The image forming material removing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the moving path is one or more moving holes formed in the layer thickness maintaining unit. 4. The moving hole is continuous in the width direction of the image peeling layer of the image peeling member, and the width direction end of the moving hole is widthwise inner than the width direction end of the image peeling layer. The image forming material removing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image forming material removing apparatus is formed so as to be located at a position. 5. A plurality of the moving holes are formed along a width direction of the image peeling layer of the image peeling member.
4. The image forming material removing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein at least a part of the plurality of moving holes is formed inside a width direction end of the image peeling layer. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of the moving holes are formed at equal intervals along a width direction of the heat-fusible resin of the image peeling member. Image forming material removing device. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the retreating unit has a storage unit that can store the hot-melt resin at a position facing the image peeling member. Image forming material removing device. 8. The image forming material removing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein an end of the storage section is located inward in the width direction from an end in the width direction of the image peeling layer. 9. A temperature control means for controlling the temperature of a portion of the layer thickness maintaining means facing the peeling member within a predetermined range set in advance.
The image forming material removing device according to any one of the above.