JP2002181864A - Support tool for measurement end - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a support tool for measurement ends capable of easily rearranging the plural measurement ends according to size of a measured object when arranging the plural measurement ends on a surface of the measured object to evenly measure surface characteristics of the measured object. SOLUTION: This support tool for the measurement ends 9 has a support tool body 1 retractable in the longitudinal direction. The support tool body 1 is provided with plural measurement points 8 each installed with the measurement ends 9 at even intervals, and the intervals between the measurement points 8 can be evenly extended and retracted when extending and retracting the support tool body 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a measuring end support for measuring the surface characteristics of an object by uniformly arranging measuring ends of various sensors and the like on the surface of the object to be measured. The measuring ends can be easily and evenly arranged on the surface of the object to be measured with different lengths. In electrophotography processes such as copiers, facsimile machines, laser printers, etc. The present invention relates to a measuring end support suitably used for measuring surface electrical characteristics of various conductive rollers, conductive drums, conductive belts and the like used in the present invention.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electrophotographic process in a copier, a facsimile, a laser printer, a facsimile, etc.,
Charge, transfer, development, cleaning,
2. Description of the Related Art A conductive member such as a roller, a drum, or a belt is used in processes such as sheet feeding and fixing.

[0003] These conductive members greatly affect the image from which the surface characteristics are obtained. In particular, the surface electric characteristics need to be optimized according to each use or purpose. Is a very important inspection in evaluating each member.

Conventionally, the measurement of the surface characteristics of a conductive member used in these electrophotographic processes is performed as follows. For example, when measuring the charging characteristics of the photosensitive drum, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the photosensitive drum a was rotated at a constant speed, and the photosensitive drum a was arranged in a state of being close to the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum a. The photosensitive drum a is charged by the charger b.
A method of measuring the surface potential of the charged photosensitive drum a by sweeping the measurement end c along the longitudinal direction of the drum a in a state in which the surface is charged near the surface of the rotating photosensitive drum a. Has been adopted. In some cases, instead of sweeping the measuring end c, a method of measuring the surface potential of the photosensitive drum a by arranging a plurality of measuring ends c evenly along the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum a may be adopted. .

[0005]

However, the conductive member such as the photosensitive drum used in the electrophotographic process has various sizes depending on the application and purpose.
For this reason, the above-mentioned conventional measuring method has a disadvantage that a complicated adjustment operation is required to perform the measurement according to the size of the conductive member.

For example, in the case of the photosensitive drum a, there are various types of outer diameters according to the size of the apparatus and the like, and there are various types having different lengths according to the corresponding paper size (A4 type). Products, A3-compliant products, etc.). in this case,
When the measuring end c is swept, the moving speed and the moving range of the measuring end c must be accurately adjusted according to the size of the photosensitive drum in order to uniformly measure the front surface of the photosensitive drum having different sizes. Must. On the other hand, when a plurality of measurement ends c are used, it is not necessary to make particularly complicated adjustments for changes in the outer diameter of the photosensitive drum a. Accordingly, the measurement ends c must be evenly arranged and fixed, and all of them require complicated operations.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when a plurality of measuring ends are arranged on the surface of an object to measure the surface characteristics of the object uniformly, the size of the object is reduced. Multiple measuring ends can be easily rearranged as needed,
An object of the present invention is to provide a support for a measuring end, which is suitably used when measuring the surface electrical characteristics of various conductive rollers, conductive drums, and conductive belts used in an electrophotographic process.

[0008]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a measuring end for measuring a surface characteristic is supported, and the measuring end is brought close to or in contact with the surface of an object to be measured. A support for supporting, comprising a support body that can be extended and contracted in the longitudinal direction, a plurality of measurement points to which the measurement ends are attached are provided at regular intervals on the support body, and the support body is expanded and contracted. The support of the measuring end is provided so that the distance between these measuring points expands and contracts evenly at the time of the measurement.

[0009] In the support at the measurement point, a measurement end is attached to each measurement point of the support main body to support the measurement end at regular intervals, and the support main body is arranged along the longitudinal direction of the object to be measured. By doing so, a plurality of measuring ends are evenly arranged on the surface of the measured object.

In this case, according to the support at the measuring end,
The support body is extendable, and by extending and contracting the support body according to the length of the object to be measured,
Both ends of the support main body and both ends of the object to be measured can be easily matched. In addition, since the interval between the measurement points to which the measurement ends are attached expands and contracts evenly according to the expansion and contraction of the support body, the plurality of measurement ends attached to these measurement points can be extended to the length of the object to be measured. It can be easily evenly arranged according to the size.

Here, as the extension mechanism of the support body, for example, an X-shaped extension unit in which two rods or long plates are rotatably connected to each other at a central portion as in an embodiment described later. And a support body in which the two end portions are rotatably connected to each other and these expansion units are connected linearly.

The support body is expanded and contracted in the longitudinal direction, whereby the two rods or long plates constituting the above-mentioned expansion and contraction unit are turned around the center and expanded and contracted. The same is done for all the telescopic units that make up the support body. Therefore, by providing a plurality of measurement points uniformly on the support body, the intervals between the measurement points also expand and contract evenly according to the expansion and contraction operation of the support body, and the measurement ends attached to the measurement points are always evenly distributed. It can be arranged.
Further, by providing the measurement point at the center of the expansion and contraction unit, it is possible to expand and contract only the interval between each measurement point in the longitudinal direction of the support body without moving the measurement point in directions other than the expansion and contraction direction. By extending and contracting only the intervals between the measurement points on a straight line, the measurement ends attached to the measurement points can be reliably and easily evenly arranged on a predetermined straight line.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a support main body constituting a support of a measuring end according to the present invention. The support body 1 connects a plurality of (eight in the figure) X-shaped telescopic units 3 and V
It is provided with a letter-shaped end member 5 and is expandable and contractible in the longitudinal direction.

As shown in FIG. 1, the telescopic unit 3 is formed by connecting a pair of long plates 2 and 2 so as to be rotatable at the center, and each telescopic unit 3 has two end portions. Are rotatably connected to each other, that is, one ends of the long plate bodies 2 are connected to each other in a straight line by being axially attached.

The terminal member 5 includes two plate members 4,
4 are formed in a V-shape by axially attaching one end of each of them to the other end (the other ends of the plates 4, 4). Each part is attached to the shaft.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, each shaft 6 of the telescopic unit 3 and the shaft 7 of the terminal member 5 are
Each of these points is a measuring point 8 to which a measuring end 9 described later is attached.

The support body 1 can be expanded and contracted in its longitudinal direction. That is, FIGS. 1A and 1B
As shown in FIG. 2, by applying a force to the support body 1 to extend or shorten it, the elongated plates 2 of each telescopic unit 5 rotate in different directions from each other, and each end member The plates 4, 4 of 5 also rotate in different directions, so that the entire support body 1 expands and contracts linearly in the longitudinal direction.

Here, when the support body 1 is expanded and contracted, the intervals between the measurement points 8 are uniformly expanded and contracted, and are moved on the same straight line to expand and contract.

Next, a support for the measuring end is formed by using the support main body 1, and a plurality of measuring ends are arranged on the surface of the photosensitive drum by the support to measure the surface characteristics of the photosensitive drum. The case will be described. 2 and 3 show an example of a measuring device in which a plurality of measuring ends 9 are arranged on the surface of the photosensitive drum a using the support body 1 and the charging characteristics of the photosensitive drum a are measured by the measuring ends 9. is there.

In this measuring device, a charger b is fixed on a base 11, and a photosensitive drum a of an object to be measured is rotatably supported in a state where the surface is close to the charger b. A round bar-shaped auxiliary support 10 and the support main body 1 are arranged in parallel along the length direction of the drum a, and the auxiliary support 10 and the support main body 1 constitute a support at the measuring end. Things. Then, nine measuring ends 9 are slidably attached to the auxiliary support 10 and each measuring end 9
Is connected to each measurement point 8 of the support body 1,
Each measurement end 9 is supported.

In this case, the measuring ends 9 are supported by the measuring points 8 of the support body 1 and the auxiliary support 10, and are aligned at regular intervals along the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum a. And its tip is in proximity to the surface of the photosensitive drum a.

In FIG. 2, m denotes a motor for rotating the photosensitive drum a at a constant speed at a predetermined speed, and s denotes a shielding plate for shielding discharge from the charger b in accordance with the length of the photosensitive drum a. Out.

The measurement of the charging characteristics of the photosensitive drum a is performed as follows. First, the support body 1
Is moved to move the measuring ends 9 at both ends along the above-mentioned auxiliary support 10 so as to be arranged at predetermined positions at both ends of the photosensitive drum a. As a result, the other measuring ends 9 are supported by the measuring points 8 of the support body 1 that expands and contracts and move along the auxiliary support body 10, and all the nine measuring ends 9 are linearly aligned at equal intervals. In this state, they are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum a.

In this state, the photosensitive drum a is driven by the motor m.
Is rotated at a constant speed, and the surface is charged by the charger b. The charged surface potential of the photosensitive drum a is continuously measured at each of the measuring terminals 9 to obtain the charging characteristics of the entire surface of the photosensitive drum a. Is measured.

When measuring the charging characteristics of other photosensitive drums having different lengths, the photosensitive drum is set in the measuring device, and the support body 1 is expanded and contracted in accordance with the photosensitive drum. Thus, the measurement ends 9 are rearranged at equal intervals, and the shielding plate s is slid to adjust the discharge range of the charger b in accordance with the length of the photosensitive drum. is there.

As described above, in the support at the measuring end constituted by the support main body 1 and the auxiliary support 10, the support main body 1 is expandable and contractable, and the object to be measured (photosensitive drum) a
By expanding and contracting the support main body 1 in accordance with the length of the object, both ends of the support main body 1 and both ends of the object to be measured (photosensitive drum) a can be easily matched. In addition, since the intervals between the measurement points 8 to which the measurement ends 9 are attached expand and contract evenly in accordance with the expansion and contraction of the support body 1, the plurality of measurement ends 9 attached to the measurement points 8 are connected. Can be easily and evenly arranged according to the length of the object to be measured (photosensitive drum) a.

Therefore, according to the support of the measuring end using the support main body 1, a plurality of measuring ends 9 can be easily rearranged according to the size of the object to be measured, and the measuring end 9 is used in the electrophotographic process. When the surface electrical properties of various conductive rollers, conductive drums, and conductive belts are measured and these members are evaluated, the measurement operation can be performed very simply and easily.

Incidentally, the support of the measuring end of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the configuration thereof can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the extendable support main body is not limited to the support main body 1 of the above-described embodiment, and when the support main body is expanded and contracted, the intervals between the measurement points provided on the support main body are equally set. Any one may be used as long as it is configured to expand and contract. In the above-described embodiment, the round bar-shaped auxiliary support 10 that slidably supports the measuring end 9 is provided. The auxiliary support may be omitted in some cases.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the charging potential when the photosensitive drum is charged is measured has been described. However, the use of the support of the present invention is not limited to this. It can be suitably used for measuring the surface electric resistance of an intermediate transfer belt, a charging roller, a transfer roller, and the like, and also for measuring a charging potential of a toner carried on the surface of a developing roller. The present invention can also be suitably applied to a measured object other than a member as long as the surface characteristics are measured using a plurality of measuring ends.

[0030]

As described above, according to the measuring end support of the present invention, a case where a plurality of measuring ends are arranged on the surface of an object to be measured to measure the surface characteristics of the object to be measured uniformly. In addition, a plurality of measuring ends can be easily rearranged according to the size of the object to be measured, and the measuring operation can be performed very simply and easily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of a support body constituting a support of the present invention, wherein (A) shows an extended state and (B) shows a shortened state.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing an example of a measuring device in which a measuring end is supported by a support using the support main body.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing the measuring device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view showing a conventional measuring device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing the conventional measuring device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support body 2 Long plate 3 Expansion unit 4 Plate 5 Termination member 6, 7 Shaft 8 Measurement point 9 Measurement end 10 Auxiliary support a Photosensitive drum (measured object)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A support for supporting a measuring end for measuring a surface characteristic and supporting the measuring end close to or in contact with the surface of an object to be measured. A main body is provided, and a plurality of measurement points to which the measuring ends are attached are provided at equal intervals on the support body, and such that when the support body is expanded and contracted, the intervals between these measurement points are uniformly expanded and contracted. A support for the measuring end, wherein the support is configured. 2. A plurality of X-shaped expansion / contraction units each comprising two rods or long plates connected rotatably at a central portion thereof, and two ends thereof rotatably connected to each other. The measuring end support according to claim 1, wherein the support unit main body includes a plurality of extendable units that are linearly connected to each other, and a measurement point is provided at a central portion of the expandable unit. 3. The measuring end support according to claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary support provided in parallel with the support main body and slidably supporting each measuring end attached to the support main body. . 4. The support according to claim 1, wherein the support is a measuring end support for measuring the surface electrical characteristics of various conductive rollers, conductive drums, and conductive belts used in an electrophotographic process. Measuring end support.