JP2002244442A - Cleaning device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent toner scattering and soiling of recording material due to sticking of toner to a sheet member in a cleaning device cleaning residue toner on a transfer belt, etc. SOLUTION: In the device, it is characterized in that a cleaning blade 81 which abuts on the transfer belt 6 to clean the toner on the belt 6, a sheet 5 which is provided on the upstream side from the cleaning blade 81 with respect to the rotating direction of the belt 6 and abuts on the belt 6 to prevent scattering of the toner and an adjusting means to adjust the position or the sheet 5 are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for a transfer belt for carrying and transporting a recording material and an intermediate transfer belt for carrying and transporting a toner image, and an image forming apparatus provided with this cleaning device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plurality of image forming units using an electrophotographic method are provided, and toner images of different colors are formed on a photosensitive member of each image forming unit, and the toner images are formed on the same recording material. Various image forming apparatuses that form a color image by sequentially superimposing and transferring images have been proposed. Further, there has been proposed an image forming apparatus such as a color copying machine in which an endless belt-shaped transfer belt is provided for performing color high-speed recording, and a plurality of image forming units are linearly arranged along the belt.

In such an image forming apparatus, after the transfer is completed, a cleaning blade made of an elastic material such as rubber is brought into contact with the surface of the transfer belt in order to remove the residual toner on the transfer belt, and the residual toner is scraped. And collected in a cleaner container.

Further, as a technique for preventing the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade from being scattered outside the cleaner container, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 4-245285 and 4-5 are known.
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 0890, in a cleaning device for cleaning residual toner on a photoconductor, a sheet member that comes into contact with the photoconductor is provided upstream of a cleaning blade that is in contact with the photoconductor, and the sheet is moved out of the container. And the scattering toner is collected at the same time.
All of these sheet members are fixedly attached to the cleaner container.

[0005]

However, in the apparatus in which the above-mentioned sheet member is attached to the transfer belt cleaning apparatus, the following problems have occurred.

In the case of performing one-sided printing in which a toner image is formed on only one side of a recording material, the floating toner that has been scraped off by the cleaning blade is blocked by a sheet member attached to the transfer belt on the upstream side of the blade. And
The scattering of the toner outside the cleaner container could be suppressed.
However, when performing double-sided printing in which a toner image is formed on both sides of the recording material, the residual toner on the transfer belt adheres to the sheet member without passing through the sheet member, and the residual toner that has once adhered to The toner subsequently adheres, and the amount of toner adhered to the sheet member increases as the printing operation is continued, causing a problem that the toner overflows out of the cleaner container. In particular, in the case where the outer surface of the container wall to which the sheet member is attached also serves as a recording material conveyance path, the toner overflowing outside the container adheres to the back surface of the recording material and causes back contamination.

According to the study of the present inventors, it has been found that the reason why the toner adheres to the sheet member is as follows.
When a toner image on a recording material is fixed, fixing is performed by a fixing roller coated with a release oil such as dimethyl silicone oil in order to prevent the toner from adhering to the fixing roller.
In the case of double-sided printing, when the recording material on which the toner image on one side is fixed is again carried on the transfer belt at the time of image formation on the back surface, the oil adhering to the recording material transfers onto the transfer belt and is transferred to the sheet member together with the residual toner. Carried. It has been found that when these oils and toners are mixed, the adhesive force increases and the oil and the toner easily adhere to the sheet member. Also, in the case of single-sided printing, the toner transferred from the photoconductor onto the belt is electrostatically attracted to the belt and can pass through the sheet member while being held on the belt, whereas in the case of double-sided printing, It was found that since the oil adhered to the transfer belt, the electrostatic attraction to the belt was weak, and the transfer member was easily dammed by the sheet member. Of course, if the sheet member is attached far enough away from the belt, the oil-mixed toner will not adhere to the sheet member, but on the other hand, during single-sided printing, scattered toner blows out from the separated gap, and the outer surface of the container also serves as a transport path. And the recording material was stained.

In order to suppress the scattering, it is necessary that the sheet member is in contact with the belt surface and there is no gap, and in order to suppress the toner from adhering to the sheet member, pressing against the oil-mixed toner on the belt, that is, It has been found that it is desirable that the penetration amount of the sheet member is as small as possible. However, in order to satisfy both conditions, it is necessary to guarantee the mounting position of the sheet member with high accuracy, and the conventional method of fixing the sheet member to the cleaner container is not sufficient because the molding accuracy of the container is insufficient. Accuracy could not be obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device that prevents toner scattering and prevents recording material contamination due to toner adhesion to a sheet member.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a typical configuration of the present invention is a cleaning blade that contacts a rotating endless belt and cleans toner on the belt, and a cleaning blade that cleans the belt in the rotation direction. A seal member is provided upstream of the blade to contact the belt to prevent the toner from scattering, and an adjusting means for adjusting the position of the seal member is provided.

With the above-described structure, the amount of the seal member entering the belt can be accurately set to an optimum value, the prevention of toner scattering and the prevention of toner adhesion to the seal member can be achieved, and the recording material stain can be eliminated. It is.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However,
The dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the components described in the following embodiments are to be appropriately changed according to the configuration of the apparatus to which the present invention is applied and various conditions. It is not intended to limit the scope to only them.

[First Embodiment] A first embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus including a cleaning device to which the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 4 is an overall view of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

(Overall Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus) The photosensitive drums 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d are rotatable, and the chargers 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d, the potential sensors 113a, 113b, 113c, 113d, developing units 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, transfer chargers 24a, 24b,
24c, 24d and cleaners 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d
Are provided, and a light source device and a polygon mirror 117 (not shown) are further provided above the device.

After the photosensitive drums 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d are charged to a predetermined potential by the chargers 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d, the polygon mirror 117 rotates and scans the laser light emitted from the light source device. Then, the light beam of the scanning light is deflected by a reflection mirror, and is condensed on the generatrix of the photosensitive drums 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d by an fθ lens (not shown) and exposed to thereby expose the photosensitive drums 3a, 3b, 3d. 3c, 3
A latent image corresponding to the image signal is formed on d.

The developing devices 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d are filled with a predetermined amount of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black toner, respectively, as a developer by a supply device (not shown). The developing units 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d develop the latent images on the photosensitive drums 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, respectively, and visualize the latent images as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black toner images.

The recording material P is accommodated in a recording material cassette 10, from which it is supplied to a transfer belt 6 via a registration path 12 through a conveyance path 71 by a plurality of conveyance rollers.
The photosensitive drums 3a, 3
The sheets are sequentially sent to transfer sections facing b, 3c, and 3d.

The transfer belt 6 is made of a dielectric resin sheet such as polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinylidene fluoride, polyurethane, etc., and its both ends are overlapped and joined to form an endless shape, or a seamless pattern having no joints. A belt is used. In this embodiment, a seamless belt having a surface resistance of 10 ¹² to 10 ¹⁵ Ω · cm obtained by adding carbon to polyimide is used.

Now, the driving roller 13 and the stretching roller 15
The transfer belt 6 supported by is rotated by the driving of the drive roller 13, the recording material P is sent out from the registration roller 12 to the transfer belt 6, and the recording material P is transported toward the transfer unit of the first image forming unit Pa. Is done. At the same time, the image writing signal is turned on, and an image is formed on the photosensitive drum 3a of the first image forming unit Pa at a certain timing based on the signal. Then, the transfer charger 24a applies an electric field or electric charge at the lower transfer portion of the photosensitive drum 3a,
The first color toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 3a is transferred onto the recording material P. By this transfer, the recording material P is held on the transfer belt 6 by electrostatic attraction, and is conveyed to the second image forming portion Pb and thereafter.

The transfer charger 24 includes blades, rollers,
A contact charger using a transfer charging member such as a brush was used. The contact charger has advantages such as ozonelessness, resistance to temperature and humidity environmental changes, and high image quality. In addition, static elimination needles 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d may be provided in order to stabilize transferability. The static elimination needles 7a to 7d are not in contact with the transfer belt 6, but play a role of discharging a part of the transfer current to escape. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the toner image from being disturbed due to the peeling discharge when the photosensitive material and the recording material are peeled off.

Image formation and transfer in the second to fourth image forming units Pb to Pd are performed in the same manner as in the first image forming unit Pa. Next, the recording material P to which the four color toner images have been transferred is separated from the end of the transfer belt 6 by removing the charge by the separation charger 32 at the downstream portion of the transfer belt 6 in the transport direction and attenuating the electrostatic attraction force. . In particular, in a low humidity environment, the recording material also dries and the electric resistance increases, so that the electrostatic attraction force with the transfer belt increases, and a separate charger is required. Usually, the separation charger charges the recording material P in a state where the toner image is not fixed, and thus a non-contact charger such as a corona charger is used.

The detached recording material P is supported by a guide member 61 and further sent to the fixing device 9 by a conveyor belt 70.

The fixing device 9 includes a fixing roller 51, a pressure roller 52, heat-resistant cleaning members 54 and 55 for cleaning them, roller heaters 56 and 57 installed in the rollers 51 and 52, and a fixing roller. An application roller 50 for applying a release agent oil such as dimethyl silicone oil to 51, an oil storage tray 53 for storing the oil, and a thermistor 58 for detecting the temperature of the surface of the pressure roller 52 and controlling the fixing temperature. It is composed of

The recording material P to which the four color toner images have been transferred is
By the fixing, the color mixture of the toner image and the fixing to the recording material P are performed, and a full-color copy image is formed.
It is discharged to 2.

The transfer of the photosensitive drums 3a, 3b,
3c and 3d are respective cleaners 4a, 4b, 4c,
4d cleans and removes the untransferred toner and subsequently prepares for the formation of the next latent image. Transfer belt 6
The toner remaining on the top is removed and collected by the cleaning device 8. Further, the transfer belt 6 after cleaning is completed.
The remaining charge on the surface is removed by the charge eliminating rollers 21 and 22, and is prepared for the next transfer step.

In the single-sided printing, the toner image is transferred and fixed to the recording material P conveyed from the recording material cassette 10, and is immediately discharged to the paper discharge tray 72.

On the other hand, in the case of double-sided printing, the recording material P, which has been fixed in single-sided printing, is sent to a conveying path 73 without being discharged, is switched back, and is sent to a double-sided conveying path 74. 6 on. At this time,
The surface of the recording material P on which the toner image is fixed is placed so as to be in contact with the transfer belt 6, and thereafter, the toner image is transferred and fixed to the back surface of the recording material P and discharged in the same manner as in one-sided printing.

Since the recording material P comes into contact with the fixing roller 51 to which the fixing oil has been applied at the time of fixing on one side, the fixing oil adheres to the surface of the recording material P. Therefore, the recording material P placed on the transfer belt 6 at the time of transfer to
The fixing oil is transferred to the transfer belt 6, and the fixing oil adheres to the transfer belt 6. When paper is used as the recording material, the fixing oil adhering to the white background where there is no toner image on the paper is almost absorbed into the paper, and the amount of oil remaining on the paper surface is small. However, in a portion where the toner image is present, a part of the adhered oil is absorbed by the toner image, but most of the oil remains on the surface of the toner image. Therefore, the larger the area occupied by the toner image and the higher the density of the image, the larger the amount of oil attached to the transfer belt 6.

(Configuration of Cleaning Device) Next, FIGS.
The configuration of the cleaning device 8 to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a cleaning device, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a contact state of a sheet, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method of adjusting a sheet position.

The cleaning blade 81 is in contact with the transfer belt 6 around the drive roller 13, the contact position is at approximately 9 o'clock on the periphery of the drive roller, the contact pressure is 1000 g, the tangential line at the contact point and the cleaning blade 81. Is 10 °. The cleaning blade 81 is provided with the supporting sheet metal 8.
2, and the supporting metal plate 82 is fixed to the container 84. With this configuration, the residual toner T on the transfer belt 6 is scraped by the cleaning blade 81 and collected in the container 84. Here, the residual toner means that the toner adhered to the non-image area on the photosensitive drum is transferred to the transfer belt 6 when the photosensitive drum and the transfer belt 6 are in direct contact with each other without the recording material. It occurs in. The collected toner moves along the supporting metal plate 82 and is sent to a collection box (not shown) by the transport screw 86. The toner receiving member 83 receives toner accumulated at the blade tip when the cleaning device 8 is removed from the transfer belt 6 for maintenance, and prevents the inside of the apparatus from falling toner.

The guide member 61 forms a conveyance path for guiding the recording material separated from the transfer belt 6 to the conveyance belt 70, and also serves as an upper wall of the container 84. This guide member 6
A sheet 5 as a sealing member is provided at the front end of the belt 1. The sheet 5 is bonded to a sheet metal 62 with a double-sided adhesive tape, and the sheet metal 62 is fixed to a guide member 61. The sheet 5 is bent at the leading end position of the sheet metal 62, the leading end of the sheet 5 is abutted along the rotation direction of the transfer belt 6, and the sheet 5 cuts off between the guide member 61 and the transfer belt 6, thereby cleaning the cleaning blade 81. To prevent the scraped toner from scattering upward.

In order to prevent the oil-mixed toner from adhering to the sheet during double-sided printing, it is necessary to set the contact pressure of the sheet 5 to a very low pressure. Table 1 below shows that the sheet position is set so that the leading end of the sheet abuts on the transfer belt 6 while changing the thickness and free length of the sheet 5, and the toner adhesion to the sheet 5 when continuous double-sided printing is performed. This is the result of the pass / fail judgment. However, the material of the sheet 5 is P
Using ET, the contact angle θ between the sheet 5 and the driving roller 13 is set to 3
0 °, the penetration amount S of the sheet 5 into the transfer belt 6 is 1 m
m. Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the free length L is the length from the bending point to the leading end of the sheet 5, and the contact angle θ intersects with the drive roller 13 when the sheet 5 is extended from the bending point into a straight line m. Assuming that the point is Q, the angle formed by the tangent line n and the straight line m at the point Q and the penetration amount S are the distance between the leading end of the sheet and the surface of the drive roller when the sheet is extended in a straight line m.

[0033]

[Table 1]

As is well known, when a fixed amount of displacement is applied to the free end of the sheet 5 having one end fixed, the repulsive force of the sheet 5 decreases as the free length L of the sheet 5 increases. Therefore,
When the amount of penetration S into the transfer belt 6 is fixed, the longer the free length L, the lower the contact pressure and the less likely toner adhesion. From the results in Table 1 above, when the sheet 5 having a thickness of 25 μm is used, the free length L is 7 mm or more, and the toner adhesion is improved. However, in the configuration of the present embodiment shown in FIG. Of the cleaning blade 81, the thickness was set to 25 μm, and the free length was set to 7 mm.
In addition, as a material of the sheet 5, urethane,
A sheet such as nylon may be used.

The container 84 is fixed by placing the bottom surface of the container 84 on the upper surface of the pedestal portion 87 in the apparatus, and pressing the circular arc portion 85 of the side wall of the container 84 into engagement with the shaft 13 a of the drive roller 13. Then, the container 84 is fixed by fixing means (not shown). As a result, the cleaning blade 81 comes into contact with the transfer belt 6.

Next, adjustment means for adjusting the position of the seat 5 as a sealing member will be described. Specifically, a method of adjusting the amount of intrusion S of the sheet 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1, the guide member 61 to which the sheet 5 is fixed is attached to the container 84 so as to be position-adjustable by screws 61a. FIG. 3 is a view of the guide member 61 viewed from vertically above. The guide member 61 has a container 84 at both ends.
Is fixed with screws 61a. The screw hole 61b is an elongated hole.
The guide member 61 is inserted in the gap g between the guide member 61 and the transfer belt 6, and is fixed in a state where the guide member 61 abuts against the belt side. The width of the spacer G is selected so that the penetration amount S can be set to the target value of 1 mm. In the present embodiment, a spacer having a width of 4 mm is used. The tolerance of the amount of intrusion S required to ensure that the leading end of the sheet is in contact with the transfer belt and the contact pressure is not excessive is ± 0.5 mm. The accuracy of fixing the sheet 5 to the guide member 61 can be ± 0.3 mm, and the accuracy of adjusting the gap g by the spacer G can be ± 0.1 mm.
The target tolerance of ± 0.5 mm was achieved.

Conventionally, in the method in which the sheet is directly fixed to the container and the means for adjusting the amount of intrusion is not provided, since the molding accuracy of the container itself is approximately ± 0.5 mm, the fixing accuracy of the sheet to the container is ± 0.3 mm. Combined, tolerance of penetration amount is ± 0.8m
m, the target tolerance could not be achieved, the sheet was separated from the belt and toner was scattered, or the contact pressure was too high to cause toner adhesion.

As described above, by providing the adjusting means for adjusting the intrusion amount S of the sheet 5 into the transfer belt 6, the intrusion amount can be set to an optimum value, toner scattering can be suppressed, and at the same time, the recording material during double-sided printing can be suppressed. It was possible to prevent the toner from adhering to the recording material and prevent the recording material from being stained.

The adjusting means can be applied not only to the cleaning device 8 for the transfer belt 6 but also to the cleaning device for the intermediate transfer belt of the image forming apparatus using the intermediate transfer system.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment,
The method of adjusting the penetration amount S using the spacer G has been described as an example. However, when the guide member 61 is removed from the container 84 to clean the toner in the container for maintenance or the like, it is necessary to readjust the guide member 61 at the time of attachment. At this time, it is necessary to prepare the spacer G, which is inconvenient. 5 and 6 show configurations that can avoid this trouble.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, a roller 64 is provided at the end of the guide member 61, the roller 64 being in contact with the drive roller 13 and being driven to rotate. FIG. 6 is a view of the same configuration as viewed from above. A shaft 63 is provided at both ends of the guide member 61, and a resin roller 64 that rotates freely around the shaft 63.
Is provided. The roller 64 first comes into contact with the drive roller 13 of the transfer belt 6 when the guide member 61 abuts against the belt side, and the position of the guide member 61, that is, the position of the sheet 5, is automatically determined. The outer diameter of the roller 64 is the sheet 5
Is selected such that the penetration amount S of the target has a target value of 1 mm. Thus, the penetration amount S can be adjusted without the spacer G.

[Third Embodiment] A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 7, instead of the sheet 5 as a seal member, a roller 65 that abuts on the belt 6 and rotates following the belt 6 is provided as a seal member. The length of the roller 65 in the axial direction is the same as the length of the sheet 5, and freely rotates around a shaft 66 provided on the guide member 61. The roller 65 is similar to the roller 64,
When the guide member 61 is brought into contact with the belt side, the guide member 61 comes into contact with the transfer belt 6 first, and
Is automatically determined. Further, since the roller 65 is in contact with the transfer belt 6, it is possible to prevent the scattered toner from blowing out, and since the roller 65 is driven and rotated by the transfer belt 6, the toner mixed with the oil is not dammed and does not adhere to the toner. When a Teflon (registered trademark) coat is applied to the surface of the roller 65, the toner hardly adheres, which is effective. In addition, a scraper or a cleaning brush (not shown) may be brought into contact with the roller 65 to remove a small amount of adhered toner.

[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiment,
Although the image forming apparatus including a plurality of image forming units has been described as an example, the number of image forming units to be used is not limited, and may be appropriately set as needed.

As the image forming apparatus, for example, another image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction machine having a plurality of these functions, or a device for temporarily carrying a toner image formed on a photosensitive drum. An image forming apparatus using an intermediate transfer belt for transferring to a recording material may be used, and similar effects can be obtained by applying the present invention to the image forming apparatus.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The position of the seal member can be accurately and optimally set, preventing toner scattering and preventing recording material contamination due to toner adhesion to the sheet member.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a cleaning device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a contact state of a sheet of a cleaning device with a transfer belt.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a seat position adjusting method according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an overall configuration of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a seat position adjusting method according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a seat position adjusting method according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a seal member according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

G: Spacer L: Free length P: Recording material Pa, Pb, Pc, Pd: Image forming portion S: Penetration amount T: Residual toner g: Gap θ: Contact angle 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d: Developing device 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d: Charger 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d: Photoconductor drum 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d: Cleaner 5: Sheet 6: Transfer belt 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d: Static elimination needle 8: Cleaning device 9 ... Fixing device 10 ... Recording material cassette 12 ... Registration roller 13 ... Driving roller 13a ... Shaft 15 ... Tension roller 21,22 ... Electrification removing roller 24a, 24b, 24c, 24d ... Transfer charger 32 ... Separation charger 50 ... Coating roller 51 fixing roller 52 pressure roller 53 oil storage tray 54, 55 heat-resistant cleaning member 56, 57 roller heater 58 Mister 61 ... Guide member 61a ... Screw 61b ... Screw hole 62 ... Sheet metal 63 ... Shaft 64 ... Roller 65 ... Roller 66 ... Shaft 70 ... Transport belt 71 ... Transport path 72 ... Discharge tray 73 ... Transport path 74 ... Double-sided transport path 81 ... Cleaning blade 82 ... Support metal plate 83 ... Toner receiving member 84 ... Container 85 ... Arc part 86 ... Conveying screw 87 ... Pedestal part 113a, 113b, 113c, 113d ... Electric potential sensor 117 ... Polygon mirror

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shinya Suzuki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Canon Inc. (reference) 2H032 AA15 BA09 BA18 BA23 BA30 2H134 GA05 GA06 GB01 HD01 HD06 JA02 JB02 KF03 KF07 KG04 KH07

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning blade that contacts a rotating endless belt to clean toner on the belt, and a seal member that is upstream of the cleaning blade in the rotation direction of the belt and abuts on the belt to prevent toner from scattering. A cleaning device, comprising: an adjustment unit configured to adjust a position of the seal member. 2. The seal member is a sheet member,
2. The cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising an adjusting unit configured to adjust an amount of the sheet member entering the belt. 3. A roller member rotatably supported at both ends of the sheet member, the roller member being in contact with a belt or a driving roller of the belt and defining the amount of penetration of the sheet member. Cleaning equipment. 4. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the seal member is a roller member that abuts on a belt and rotates following the belt. 5. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a guide member that constitutes a recording material conveyance path upstream of the cleaning blade, wherein the seal member is fixed to the guide member. . 6. An image forming apparatus having an endless belt that carries and conveys a recording material or an endless belt that carries and conveys a toner image, wherein the cleaning device according to claim 1 is provided. Characteristic image forming apparatus.