JP2002072679A - Developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To continuously and surely realize the sealing of an end face and a peripheral surface with a simple component member. SOLUTION: In this developing device, a developing roller 4 and a regulating member 1 forming a toner thin layer by regulating toner amount while pressing its edge to the roller 4 are disposed in a housing 2, and an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier is made visualizable as a toner image. In the device, a seal member 9 obtained by bending and integrating an end face seal 9 and a peripheral surface sale 9 is arranged at both ends of the roller 4 so as to continuously seal both ends of the roller 4 from the peripheral surface to the side. A longitudinal notch is formed in the center of the seal member 9, and a slit is provided at the upper end and the lower end of the notch. Then, the seal member 9 is bent at the notch, and either side is set as the end face seal and the other is set as the peripheral surface seal. Thus, a joining part in the case of constituting the seal member of two parts in the conventional manner is eliminated, so that surer sealing is realized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image bearing member having a developing roller and a regulating member which presses the leading end of the developing roller to regulate the amount of toner to form a thin film of toner. The present invention relates to a developing device for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on a toner image into a toner image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is a view showing a conventional example of a developing roller both end seal, in which 41 is a developing roller, 42 is a regulating member,
Reference numeral 3 denotes a housing, 44 denotes an end face sealing member, and 45 denotes a peripheral face sealing member.

In an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method, a latent image forming apparatus forms an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier such as a photoreceptor which is driven to rotate, and a toner conveyed by a developing apparatus is applied. To develop the electrostatic latent image into a visible image as a toner image. In this case, the developing device is required to stably form a uniform thin film of the toner on the developing roller that conveys the toner.
Regulating blade) is used.

The regulating member is pressed against the developing roller with a constant load in order to stably form a thin film of toner on the developing roller. A gap is formed and toner leakage is likely to occur. If the toner leaks as described above, there is a problem that the inside of the apparatus is contaminated or a certain load that the regulating member presses the developing roller is adversely affected. Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, seal members 44 and 45 are arranged on the housing 43 at both ends of the developing roller 41 and the regulating member 42 to prevent toner leakage.

As described above, conventionally, when trying to seal both ends of the developing roller and the regulating member, the end face seal member 44 and the peripheral face seal member 45 are used in combination, or one of them is used.

[0006]

However, when either the end face seal member 44 or the peripheral face seal member 45 is used, if only the end face seal member 44 is used, the regulating member 42 is used.
If only the peripheral sealing member 45 is used in the gap between both ends of the developing roller 41 and the peripheral surface of the developing roller 41, the sealing members at both ends of the developing roller 41 become insufficient. In that regard, the end face sealing member 4
Any problem can be solved by using the combination of the peripheral seal member 45 and the peripheral seal member 45, but for that purpose, it is necessary to securely press the space between the end seal member 44 and the peripheral seal member 45.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a state in which the end face seal member and the peripheral face seal member used in combination are shifted.
When the end face seal member 44 and the peripheral face seal member 45 are independent, a gap 46 is easily formed when the regulating member 42 is displaced from the developing roller 41 as shown in the figure. In order to solve such a problem, high accuracy is required so that no deviation occurs in the assembly, or processing such as filling a space between them with a member such as silicon is required.

[0008]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to continuously and reliably seal an end face and a peripheral face with simple components.

For this purpose, the present invention provides a developing roller and a regulating member which regulates the amount of toner by pressing the tip of the developing roller to form a thin film of toner in a housing, thereby forming the developing roller on an image carrier. In the developing device for visualizing the formed electrostatic latent image into a toner image, a seal member is provided at both ends of the developing roller by folding and integrating an end face seal and a peripheral face seal.

[0010] Further, the seal member has a vertical cut in the center, slits are provided at the upper end and lower end of the cut, and the cut is bent at the cut to form one end seal and the other a peripheral seal, Is characterized by being provided at the upper end and the lower end of the cut in a direction opposite to each other, the sealing member is a laminated film of a fluorine fiber pile weave and a polon, and a double-sided tape attached to the surface of the polon It is characterized by being.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view for explaining an embodiment of a developing device according to the present invention and a perspective view of a seal member at an end portion, wherein 1 is a regulating member, 2 is a housing, 3 is a blade supporting member, and 4 is The developing roller, 7 is a blade pressing spring portion, 8 is a blade pressing spring, and 9 and 10 are seal members.

In FIG. 1, a developing roller 4 is pivotally supported by a housing 2 and a regulating member 1 is mounted on the upper surface, and a ridge at the tip thereof is pressed against the developing roller 4, and the regulating member 1 has a blade opposite to the ridge. It is supported by the support member 3. The blade supporting member 3 is disposed so as to support the regulating member 1 on its lower surface. For example, two protrusions are brought into contact with each other between the back surface of the regulating member 1 and the upper surface of the blade supporting member 3 to increase the height. Support in the vertical direction. The blade pressing spring portion 7 includes a plurality of, for example, five blade pressing springs 8 provided inside the developing roller 4 to press the ridgeline at the tip of the regulating member 1. A blade pressing spring 8 is stretched between the blade supporting member 3 and a spring mounting hook.

The sealing member 9 is for continuously sealing the end face of the developing roller 4 from the peripheral surface to the side, and as shown in FIG. It is arranged on both sides of. The seal member 10 includes the lower surface of the regulating member 1 and the blade support member 3.
To prevent the ridgeline at the tip of the regulating member 1 from being uniformly pressed by the developing roller 4 by, for example, a PET film as shown in the drawing. 1 to cover the gap at the contact portion with the blade support member 3. The sealing member 10 is bent along the surface of the blade supporting member 3 so that the restricting member 1 does not receive a reaction force from the blade supporting member 3 via the sealing member 10, and is pressed against the developing roller 4. The first load is not adversely affected.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific cross section and an example of a processed shape of the sealing member.
Is a double-sided tape, 14 is a cut, 15 and 16 are slits, 17 is a peripheral sealing portion, and 18 is a side sealing portion.

On the sealing member 9 shown in FIG. 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 2 (B), a laminated member 11 made of a fluorine fiber pile and a laminated member 12 of Polon U-32 are laminated. A 2.8 mm-thick seal member with a double-sided tape 13 applied thereto is used. In this sealing member, FIG.
As shown in (C), a vertical cut 14 is made in the center at a depth from the surface on which the double-sided tape 13 is stuck to the laminated member 12 of polon, and the upper end and the lower end of the cut 14 are formed in opposite directions. Horizontal slits 15 and 16 are provided. Then, it is bent at the notch 14 and affixed to the housing with a double-sided tape 13, and one of the bent portions is formed as a peripheral surface sealing portion 17 along the peripheral surface of the end of the developing roller as shown in FIG. A seal 18 is provided on the end face of the developing roller.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the developing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration using the developing device according to the present invention in a full-color image forming apparatus. Is a skew adjustment unit, 31 is a photoconductor, 32Y, 32C, 32
M and 32K are developing devices, 33 is a housing, 34 developing rollers, 35 is a regulating member, 36 is a blade supporting member, 37
Denotes a blade pressing spring, 38 denotes a developing cover, 39 denotes a stirring shaft, and 40 denotes a toner cartridge.

In the developing device according to the present invention, for example, as shown in a top view in FIG. 3, a developing roller 4 is pivotally supported on a housing 2 and a regulating member 1 is mounted on the upper surface. And press the other side of the ridge line to two supporting portions 5
We support in. The support portion 5 supports in the height direction, for example, by two projections abutting between the back surface of the regulating member 1 and the upper surface of the blade support member 3. The skew adjusting section 6 provides two long holes near both ends of a support line parallel to the ridgeline of the tip of the regulating member 1, for example, and a pin provided at a position of the blade supporting member 3 corresponding to the two long holes. ,
Each pin fits in the two long holes to support the regulating member 1 freely in the longitudinal direction, and adjusts the skew, that is, the skew in the left-right direction in the figure using the eccentric cam.

One of the two supporting portions 5 for supporting the regulating member 1 supports a projection provided on the blade supporting member 3 at a fixed height by contacting the projection provided on the blade supporting member 3 with the back surface of the regulating member 1. On the other hand, the mounting height (Y) of the regulating member 1 is adjusted by supporting the tip of a screw whose height is adjustable by screwing the regulating member 1 into contact with the blade supporting member 3. On the other hand, the skew (X) adjustment is performed by fitting the skew adjustment eccentric cam into one of the long holes in the skew adjustment unit 6. By these adjustments, the regulating member 1 is adjusted so that there is no left-right difference in the interference force with the regulating member 1 and that the regulating member 1 and the developing roller 4 are parallel without any twist between the ridgeline at the tip of the regulating member 1 and the developing roller 4. Can be supported. The peripheral seal 17 and the side seal 18 of the seal member 9 are arranged as shown in FIG.
Are arranged on both sides.

As a full-color image forming apparatus equipped with a developing device according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, a yellow Y for developing an electrostatic latent image around a photoreceptor 31 along a rotation direction thereof is provided. , A developing unit 32 composed of developing units for four colors of C for cyan, M for magenta and K for black
Y, 32C, 32M, and 32K are arranged. A charging roller as a charging unit; an exposure unit for forming an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 31; an intermediate transfer device for transferring a toner image formed on the photoconductor 31 onto an intermediate transfer belt; Although a photoconductor cleaning device for removing the toner remaining on the body 31 is arranged, these are already well-known configurations in the color image forming apparatus and are not directly related to the present invention. Is omitted.

The operation of the full-color image forming apparatus will be briefly described. The photoconductor 31 has a thin cylindrical conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer formed on the surface thereof, and is driven to rotate by driving means (not shown). Developing unit 32Y,
32C, 32M, and 32K are provided so as to be swingable with respect to the photoconductor 31, so that only one developing roller of one developing unit can selectively contact the photoconductor 31 for each rotation of the photoconductor 31. Have been. When an image is formed, for example, when an image forming signal is input from a computer (not shown), the photosensitive member 31, the developing rollers of the developing unit 32 and the intermediate transfer belt are driven to rotate.

First, the outer peripheral surface of the photoreceptor 31 is uniformly charged by a charging roller, and the outer peripheral surface is selectively exposed by an exposure unit according to image information of a first color (for example, yellow). Is formed. At this time, only the developing roller of the yellow developing device comes into contact with the photoconductor 31, whereby a yellow electrostatic latent image toner image is formed on the photoconductor 31. This toner image is transferred onto an intermediate transfer belt to which a primary transfer voltage having a polarity opposite to the charging polarity of the toner is applied, and the toner remaining on the photoconductor 31 is removed by a photoconductor cleaning device. The outer peripheral surface of the body 31 is discharged by the discharging means.

The above operation is repeated for the second, third, and fourth colors of the image forming signal, and the latent image formation and development by one rotation of the photosensitive member 31 and the intermediate transfer belt are repeated. Four color toner images corresponding to the content of the signal are superimposed and transferred on the intermediate transfer belt. And
This full-color image is transferred onto a recording medium.

When the developing device according to the present invention is used in a full-color image forming apparatus as described above, the blade pressing spring 3
Since the control device 7 is disposed below the regulating member 35, that is, in the developing chamber, the space of the developing device 32 can be reduced in the height direction, which is extremely effective particularly in miniaturizing a full-color device.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, horizontal slits are provided in the seal member at the upper end and the lower end of the cut in directions opposite to each other, but may be provided in the extending direction of the cut, that is, in the up-down direction or in the oblique direction, The slit width may be provided so as to open diagonally.

[0025]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the developing roller and the regulating member which presses the leading end of the developing roller into the housing to regulate the amount of toner and form a thin film of toner are provided. In a developing device that arranges and visualizes an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier into a toner image, a seal member that is formed by folding and integrating an end face seal and a peripheral seal at both ends of a developing roller is arranged. As a result, the end surface of the developing roller can be continuously sealed from the peripheral surface to the side, so that there is no need for a joint portion or the like in the case where the developing roller is formed of two parts as in the related art, and the sealing can be performed more reliably.

Further, the sealing member has a vertical cut in the center, slits are provided at the upper end and the lower end of the cut, and the slit is bent at the cut to seal one end face.
The other is a peripheral seal, characterized in that the slit is provided in the upper and lower ends of the cut in directions opposite to each other,
The seal member is a laminated film of a fluorine fiber pile weave and a polon, and by attaching a double-sided tape to the surface of the polon, only one component is required, and the cost can be reduced.
Assembly work can be facilitated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view for explaining an embodiment of a developing device according to the present invention, and a perspective view of a seal member at an end portion.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a specific cross section and an example of a processed shape of a seal member.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the developing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example using a developing device according to the present invention in a full-color image forming apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional example of a developing roller both-end seal.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a state in which a deviation has occurred between an end face sealing member and a peripheral face sealing member used in combination.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 regulating member 2 housing 3 blade supporting member 4 developing roller 5 supporting portion 6 skew adjusting portion 7 blade pressing spring portion 8 blade pressing spring
9, 10 ... seal member

Claims (5)

[Claims] An electrostatic roller formed on an image bearing member is provided in a housing with a developing roller and a regulating member that presses a tip of the developing roller to regulate a toner amount to form a thin film of toner. In a developing device that visualizes a latent image into a toner image,
A developing device comprising a seal member formed by bending and integrating an end face seal and a peripheral face seal on both sides of the developing roller. 2. The sealing member is characterized in that a vertical cut is made in the center, slits are provided at upper and lower ends of the cut, and the cut is bent at the cut to form one end seal and the other a peripheral seal. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The developing device according to claim 2, wherein said slits are provided at upper and lower ends in mutually opposite directions. 4. The sealing member according to claim 1, wherein the sealing member is a laminated film of a fluorine fiber pile weave and a polon.
The developing device as described in the above. 5. The developing device according to claim 4, wherein the seal member is formed by attaching a double-sided tape to a surface of a polon.