JP2001188448A - Recording medium regenerating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording medium regenerating device constituted so that printing material is eliminated from printed paper and even the fine printing material can be easily eliminated from the printed paper. SOLUTION: This recording medium regenerating device is constituted as follows. The printed paper 3 is immersed in liquid 1 and the printing material 12 is eliminated from the surface of the paper 3 thereafter. Besides, the paper 3 is washed by washing liquid 25 next and continuously dried. Then, this recording medium regenerating device is provided with a printing material elimination means 46 eliminating the printing material 12 left on the paper 3 together with the drying of the paper 3 or after the paper 3 is dried.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a recording medium reproducing apparatus for removing a printing material printed on a recording medium.
Specifically, a recording medium (for example, copy paper, print paper,
The present invention relates to a recording medium reproducing apparatus that removes a printing material (for example, toner and ink) fixed on the recording medium after the OHP sheet is brought into contact with a liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art From the viewpoint of resource reuse, an apparatus for reproducing a recording medium by removing a printing material from a recording material (copied or printed) on which an image is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer. Various proposals have been made.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-140554 discloses that after a recording material is immersed in a cleaning liquid stored in a container to penetrate the liquid into a recording medium, the printing material is scraped off with a brush, An apparatus is disclosed in which a cleaning liquid for finishing is sprinkled on a recording material and the recording material is finally dried until the recording material can be reused. Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-12107
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2 (1994) discloses a device in which a recording material is immersed in a cleaning liquid contained in a container, held for a predetermined time, and then a printing material is scraped from the recording material in the container with a brush.

[0004]

In such a recording medium reproducing apparatus, since the printing material scraped off by the brush remains free in the cleaning liquid, the cleaning liquid is contaminated. Therefore,
In the former device, the cleaning liquid in the tank is periodically drained, and the printing material is collected by a drain filter. In the latter device, the cleaning liquid in the container is circulated by a pump, and the printing material is collected by a filter during the circulation.

However, in the above-mentioned recording medium reproducing apparatus, since only the cleaning liquid is passed through the filter, fine printing materials cannot be collected, and the filter is clogged and the life is shortened.

Accordingly, the present applicant has filed a Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 10-28.
In the recording medium reproducing device proposed in No. 9329, a filter having a coarse filter and a filter having a fine
A method of collecting a printing material by passing a cleaning liquid through three filters is described.

[0007] It is an object of the present invention to improve this recording medium reproducing apparatus and to provide an apparatus for effectively collecting a printing material.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention is to remove a printing material from a recording medium after the liquid is brought into contact with the recording medium to which the printing material is attached. Next, a recording medium reproducing apparatus for cleaning a recording medium with a cleaning liquid and subsequently drying the recording medium is provided. This apparatus has a printing material removing unit for removing a printing material remaining on the recording medium while drying the recording medium or after drying the recording medium.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium reproducing apparatus for removing a printing material from the recording medium after the liquid is brought into contact with the recording medium to which the printing material is adhered, and drying the recording medium. Accordingly, there is provided an apparatus provided with a printing material removing means for removing a printing material remaining on a recording medium while drying the recording medium or after drying the recording medium.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the step of bringing the liquid into contact with the recording medium to which the printing material has adhered and then removing the printing material from the recording medium is preferably performed in a dry atmosphere. It is.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

I. 1. First Embodiment (1) Configuration of Recording Medium Reproducing Apparatus FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a recording medium reproducing apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as “reproducing apparatus”). This reproduction device reproduces paper in a reusable state by removing the toner from a copy or printed matter in which a toner image is formed on the surface of special paper using an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. It is.

This special paper includes a base material layer, an intermediate adhesive layer,
And a five-layer structure in which an intermediate adhesive layer and a surface layer are provided on both surfaces of the base layer or the three layers of the surface layer, respectively. As the base material layer, a plastic film, a metal film, paper or the like is used. The intermediate adhesive is for bonding the surface layer to the base material layer, and for example, a urethane resin, an acrylic resin, a styrene resin, or the like is used. If the adhesiveness is good, this intermediate adhesive layer can be omitted. The surface layer is made of a water-swellable resin obtained by crosslinking a water-soluble resin. Here, "water swelling" means that it expands by absorbing water or an aqueous solvent,
It does not dissolve in these waters or aqueous solvents. In addition,
For paper, and the composition of each layer constituting paper, etc.
This is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-218955 by the present applicant.

Next, the configuration of the reproducing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. This regenerating apparatus includes a liquid tank 2 in which a liquid 1 is stored.
have. The liquid tank 2 guides the paper 3 into the liquid 1 from the outside, and further guides the paper 3 from the liquid 1 to the outside.
a, 4b, 4c and feed rollers 5a, 5b for transporting the sheet 3 along the guides 4a, 4b, 4c. A drain port 6 and a valve 7 for opening and closing the drain port 6 are provided at the bottom of the liquid tank 2, and a circular basket-shaped filter 8 and a drain tank 9 are arranged below the valve 7. A reflux line 1 having a pump 10 is provided between the drain tank 9 and the liquid tank 2.
1 is provided. In addition, the liquid 1 usually includes water and a surfactant that enhances water penetration into the surface layer of the paper 3. However, the surfactant is not an essential material, and the liquid 1 may contain only water. Further, another material may be added to the liquid 1 as needed.

On the left side of the liquid tank 2 in the figure, a tray or cassette 13 for stacking and storing a large number of papers 3 to which toner 12 as a printing material is attached is provided. The liquid is supplied to the liquid tank 2 through the guide 4 a by the supply roller 15.

As shown in detail in FIG. 2, a discharge roller 17 for discharging the paper 3 conveyed from the liquid tank 2 and a discharge roller 17 provided downstream of the discharge roller 17 are provided on the right side of the liquid tank 2 in the drawing. A pair of brush rollers 18 for scraping off the toner 12 on the paper 3 and a cleaning pipe 19 disposed diagonally above and downstream of the brush roller 18 to wash the toner 12 on the paper 3 are provided. The brush roller 18 is rotated at a peripheral speed 10 to 40 times that of the discharge roller 17.
The sheet conveying path from the brush roller 18 to the washing pipe 19 is covered by guides 20a and 20b from above and below. A funnel-shaped drain port 21 is formed below the brush roller 18 in the lower guide 20b. The cleaning pipe 19 has a large number of ejection holes (not shown) for ejecting the cleaning liquid toward both sides of the paper 3. The cleaning liquid is
The liquid 1 may be the same or different.

A liquid reservoir 23 and a drainage tank 24 are provided below the drainage port 21. The liquid pool 23 has a rectangular dish shape, and the toner 12 and the cleaning liquid 2 flowing down from the drain port 21 are formed.
5 (hereinafter, both are collectively referred to as drainage). An opening 26 is formed at the bottom of the liquid pool 23. An opening / closing valve 27 is provided in the opening 26. As shown in FIG. 2, the valve rod 28 of the opening / closing valve 27 is connected to one end of a lever 29, and the other end of the lever 29 is connected to a rod 31 of a solenoid 30. The rod 31 of the solenoid 30 is urged by a spring 32 in a direction protruding from the solenoid 30. Thus, the opening / closing valve 27 normally closes the opening 26, and opens the opening 26 via the lever 29 when the solenoid 30 is excited (turned on).

The drainage tank 24 is a rectangular container having an open top, and is provided below the opening 26 of the liquid reservoir 23. The drainage tank 24 includes a filter 33 and a toner collection box 34. The filter 33 has a circular basket shape, and receives the liquid discharged from the opening 26 of the liquid reservoir 23 and collects the toner 12 from the liquid discharged. One end of the filter 33 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 35 provided along the opening edge of the drainage tank 24 by a motor (not shown), so that the filter 33 can be rotated around the shaft 35 and inverted. ing. The toner collection box 34 is provided adjacent to the drain tank 24, and its upper opening faces the inverted filter 33,
The toner 12 falling from the filter 33 can be collected. Above the inverted filter 33,
As shown in FIG. 2, a hot air injection nozzle 36 for blowing off the toner 12 collected by the filter 33 is provided. It is also possible to blow air or water instead of the hot air. Drain tank 24 and washing pipe 19
A reflux line 38 having a pump 37 is disposed between the two.

The filter 33 is preferably made of stainless steel or a plastic fiber such as polyester, nylon, or tetron. However, the filter 33 is not limited to this, and may be a filter that is not rusted or hydrolyzed by the cleaning liquid 25. Also,
The size of the eyes of the filter 33 is preferably 40 to 50 μm in consideration of the toner collection rate, but it is known that clogging becomes severe when the size of the eyes is 100 μm or less. The filter 33 has an eye size of about 150 μm.

As shown in FIG. 1, a squeezing roller 39 is provided above the washing pipe 19, and a drying chamber 40 is disposed downstream of the squeezing roller 39. A guide 41 for guiding the paper 3 into the drying chamber 40 is provided between the squeezing roller 39 and the drying chamber 40. On the downstream side of the drying chamber 40, a tray 42 for loading the recycled paper 3
Is installed.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the drying chamber 40 is
Guides 43a, 43b, and 43c for guiding the paper 3 supplied into the drying chamber 40 in the drying chamber 40;
The sheet feeder includes feed rollers 44a, 44b, and 44c for transporting the sheet 3 along the lines a, 43b, and 43c, and a discharge roller 45 for discharging the sheet to a tray 42 provided downstream of the drying chamber 40. In order to sweep off the toner 12 remaining on the paper 3 dried in the drying chamber 40, four brush rollers 46a and 46 are provided between the feed roller 44c and the discharge roller 45.
b, 46c, and 46d are arranged two by two above and below the sheet conveyance path along the guide 43c. These brush rollers 46 a, 46 b, 46 c, 46 d are set so that the force of contact with the paper 3 and the rotation speed are smaller than those of the brush roller 18.

In one direction of the guides 43a, 43b, 43c in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction (vertical direction in FIG. 3), blowers 47a, 47b, 47 for drying the sheet 3 conveyed into the drying chamber 40 are provided. 47c is provided. These blowers 47a, 47b, and 47c may be blowers that only blow normal-temperature air to the paper 3, or may be blowers with a built-in heater that can blow hot air. The blowers 47a, 47b, and 47c take in air from an air inlet 48 provided in a housing of the drying chamber 40 and blow the air onto the paper 3. In addition, the wind speed of the blower is 2 to 10 m /
s is preferred.

A blower 47 is provided at the other end of the guides 43a, 43b, 43c in a direction perpendicular to the sheet transport direction.
An exhaust fan 49 is provided for exhausting the air blown to the sheet 3 by a, 47b and 47c. Toner 1 contained in air exhausted by exhaust fan 49
A filter 50 (e.g., a paper filter used in a vacuum cleaner) is provided at an exhaust port of the drying chamber 40 in order to collect 2 and the like.

(2) Operation of Reproducing Apparatus Next, the operation of the reproducing apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

When the cassette 13 accommodating the paper 3 to which the toner 12 is attached is mounted, the paper 3 is separated one by one by the separation roller 14 and supplied to the liquid tank 2 by the supply roller 15. Then, the paper 3 is fed into the liquid tank 2 along the guides 4a and 4b by the feed roller 5a, where it is immersed in the liquid 1 for a predetermined time (for example, about 1 to 5 minutes). As a result, the surface of the sheet 3 swells, and the toner 12 is easily removed.

The liquid 1 in the liquid tank 2 contains the toner 1 on the paper 3
2 is stained by dropping to some extent. However, even if the liquid 1 in the liquid tank 2 is slightly contaminated, it does not affect the sheet quality. Therefore, it is usually sufficient to open the valve 7 and collect the toner 12 in the liquid 1 by the filter 8 about once a day.

Subsequently, the sheet 3 is discharged outward by guide rollers 4b through guides 4b and 4c.
7 to the brush roller 18. Here, the toner 12 on the paper 3 is scraped off. Then, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the paper 3 through the cleaning pipe 19, and the toner 12 attached to the surface of the paper 3 is washed away.

The waste liquid composed of the cleaning liquid 25 and the toner 12 used for cleaning is temporarily stored in a liquid pool 23. Here, as shown in FIG.
In 7, the solenoid 30 is excited to open the opening 26. The drainage in the liquid reservoir 23 flows down onto the filter 33 through the opening 26, where the toner 12 in the drainage is collected. The cleaning liquid that has passed through the filter 33 is temporarily stored in the drainage tank 24, supplied to the cleaning pipe 19 via the circulation line 38 by the pump 37, and used for cleaning the paper 3 again.

When the filter 33 becomes clogged, the open / close valve 27 of the liquid reservoir 23 is operated by the solenoid 3
0 is turned off to close the opening 26. Filter 33
As shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, the toner 12 collected by the filter 33 is blown downward by hot air jetted from the hot air jet nozzle 36, and falls into the toner collecting box 34. And is collected.

Next, the filter 33 from which the toner 12 has been collected and cleaned is returned to the original position, and the open / close valve 27 is opened.
Opens the opening 26. Thereby, the drainage in the liquid pool 23 flows down onto the filter 33 through the opening 26,
Here, the toner 12 in the drainage is collected. Hereinafter, the same operation is repeated.

In this embodiment, the filter 33 is 1
Only one is provided, but instead, Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 10-2893
As proposed in Japanese Patent No. 29, two filters may be provided, and while one filter is in use, the toner collected by the other filter may be dropped into the toner collection box. With this configuration, it is possible to continuously collect the toner by the filter.

The liquid 1 and the cleaning liquid 25 are squeezed out of the cleaned paper 3 by the squeezing roller 39.

As the cleaning liquid 25 supplied to the paper 3 from the cleaning pipe 19, the cleaning liquid circulated from the drainage tank 24 is used, but a part of the toner 12 is collected by a filter 33 having a relatively coarse mesh. Instead, the toner 12 flows down to the drainage tank 24, and thus contains some toner 12. Therefore, when the paper 3 is conveyed to the drying chamber 40, the toner 12 has adhered to the paper 3. However, the adhesion of the toner 12 is very small as compared with the case where the toner 12 is attached (fixed) by printing, and the toner 12 is compared with the paper 3 by drying the paper 3 and sweeping the paper 3 with a brush or the like as described later. You can easily leave the target.

The paper 3 is dried in the drying chamber 40,
The remaining toner 12 on the surface is removed by the brush rollers 46a, 46b, 46c, 46d.

Finally, the sheet 3 is discharged onto the tray 42.

(3) Effects and Others In general, in order to increase the rate at which the drainage is passed through the filter 33 and the toner 12 contained in the drainage is collected, the filter 33 may be made finer. As described above, as the size of the eyes becomes smaller, the clogging becomes more severe. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the size of the eyes to a predetermined range. In order to remove the toner 12 not collected by the filter 33, another filter (for example, a cartridge filter) finer than the filter 33 may be provided in the middle of the return line 38. However, this filter requires frequent replacement and is generally expensive.

On the other hand, in the configuration of this embodiment, the filter 3
3, the toner 12 is not sufficiently collected.
The cleaning pipe 19 supplies the toner 12 to the paper 3 together with the cleaning liquid 25. However, such a toner 12 is simply placed on the paper 3, and after being dried in the drying chamber 40,
a, 46b, 46c, and 46d can be easily swept off.

The temperature of the air blown onto the paper 3 in the drying chamber 40 is preferably 40 to 60 ° C. If the temperature is low, the paper 3 does not sufficiently dry, and if the temperature is high, the toner 12 adheres to the paper 3 again. there is a possibility.

The toner 1 collected by the filter 33
As means for detaching 2, a fluid such as hot air, air, or water may be used, or a physical shock or vibration may be applied.

The blowers 47a, 47 in the drying chamber 40
b, 47c and brush rollers 46a, 46b, 46c,
The position and number of 46d are not limited to the present embodiment.

Further, instead of the brush roller 18,
A material utilizing mechanical rubbing force, such as a cloth or a blade, may be used, or a material utilizing heat or pressure may be used, but the invention is not limited thereto.

In addition, brush rollers 46a, 46b, 4
Instead of 6c and 46d, any material may be used as long as it can remove the dry toner 12 remaining on the paper 3 (for example, depending on the configuration, the dried toner 12 can be removed from the paper 3 only by blowing air). It is also possible to remove it.).

Further, the brush rollers 46a, 46
The same effect as that of the present embodiment can be obtained by a configuration in which b, 46c, and 46d are provided on the downstream side of the drying chamber 40.

II. 2. Second Embodiment (1) Configuration of Regenerating Apparatus FIGS. 4 and 5 show a second embodiment of the regenerating apparatus and a drying chamber 40 'of the apparatus, respectively. This reproducing apparatus is different from the first embodiment in that a brush roller 18 for scraping off the toner 12 is disposed in a drying chamber 40 ′ and a cleaning unit for cleaning the paper 3 is provided. There is no difference, and other configurations are the same.

Specifically, a guide 50 is provided from the discharge roller 17 for discharging the paper 3 from the liquid tank 2 to the squeezing roller 39. In the drying chamber 40 ', a guide 43d and a feed roller 44d are provided between the feed roller 44a and the guide 43a so that the sheet 3 conveyed from the feed roller 44a is conveyed and guided to the guide 43a. It is. Further, the brush roller pairs 18 are respectively arranged vertically above and below the sheet transport path along the guide 43d.

(2) Operation of Reproducing Apparatus Next, the operation of the reproducing apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

When the cassette 13 accommodating the paper 3 to which the toner 12 adheres is mounted, the paper 3 is separated one by one by the separation roller 14 and supplied to the liquid tank 2 by the supply roller 15. Then, the paper 3 is fed into the liquid tank 2 along the guides 4a and 4b by the feed roller 5a, and is immersed in the liquid 1 for a predetermined time. As a result, the surface of the sheet 3 swells, and the toner 12 is easily removed.

Next, the paper 3 is discharged to the outside by the feed roller 5b via the guides 4b and 4c.
Is fed to the squeezing roller 39 along the guide 59. The liquid 1 is squeezed out of the paper 3 by the squeezing roller 39. Note that the toner 12 remains adhered on the paper 3 in a state where it can be easily removed. Further, the aperture roller 39 has an aperture force set to be smaller than that in the first embodiment. This is the liquid 1 that has permeated the layers other than the surface layer of the paper 3.
Only to remove them. Therefore, other conditions (for example, immersion time in the liquid tank 2 and drying time in the drying chamber 40 ')
Depending on the case, the aperture roller 39 may be omitted.

Subsequently, the paper 3 is conveyed into the drying chamber 40 '. First, the brush roller 18 is brought into contact with the sheet 3 to scrape off the toner 12. At this time, the toner 12 contains water to some extent, and at least a part of the toner 12 remains on the paper 3. However, the paper 3 dries as it is further transported in the drying chamber 40 ′, and the toner 12 remaining on the paper 3 also dries. Then, the toner 12 is removed from the surface of the paper 3 by the brush rollers 46a, 46b, 46c, 46d.

Finally, the sheet 3 is discharged onto the tray 42.

(3) Effects and Others In the configuration of the present embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the step of cleaning the paper 3 by supplying the cleaning liquid to the paper 3 by removing the toner 12 almost in a dry manner. Can be omitted.

The reason why the brush roller 18 is provided in the drying chamber 40 'is that the toner 12 scraped off the paper 3 while containing moisture by the brush roller 18 is dried, and as a result, the blowers 47a, 47b, 47c, exhaust fan 4
9. This is to facilitate collection by the filter 50.

The brush roller 1 in the drying chamber 40 '
8. The position and number of the blowers 47a, 47b, 47c and the brush rollers 46a, 46b, 46c, 46d are not limited to the present embodiment. However, regarding the brush roller,
First, a brush roller 18 having a relatively large contact force and a relatively high rotational speed with respect to the paper 3 is provided, and on the downstream side thereof, a brush having a sufficient contact force and a sufficient rotational speed so that the dry toner 12 on the paper 3 can be swept away. Rollers 46a, 46b,
It is preferable to provide 46c and 46d.

[0054]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a relatively coarse filter can be used as a filter for removing the printing material in the cleaning liquid, so that the problem of clogging can be prevented. Can be prevented.

According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the step of washing the recording medium with the washing liquid is not required, and the printing material can be removed and collected almost dry.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a first embodiment of a recording medium reproducing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the drying chamber in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a second embodiment of a recording medium reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the drying chamber of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

1: liquid, 3: paper, 12: toner, 18: brush roller, 19: cleaning tube, 25: cleaning liquid, 33: filter, 3
8: reflux line, 40: drying room, 46: brush roller,
47: Blower.

Claims (3)

[Claims] After a liquid is brought into contact with a recording medium to which a printing material is attached, the printing material is removed from the recording medium, the recording medium is washed with a cleaning liquid, and then the recording medium is dried. 1. A recording medium reproducing apparatus, comprising: a recording medium reproducing device provided with printing material removing means for removing a printing material remaining on the recording medium while drying the recording medium or after drying the recording medium. 2. A recording medium reproducing apparatus for removing a printing material from a recording medium after the liquid is brought into contact with a recording medium to which the printing material is adhered, and drying the recording medium. Alternatively, the recording medium reproducing apparatus further includes a printing material removing unit that removes a printing material remaining on the recording medium after drying the recording medium. 3. The recording medium according to claim 2, wherein the step of removing the printing material from the recording medium after bringing the liquid into contact with the recording medium to which the printing material is attached is performed in a dry atmosphere. Playback device.