JP2004004311A - Resin-coated roller, fixing roller, and apparatus for manufacturing the resin-coated roller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a resin-coated roller such that the surface of a resin coating layer on the surface of a core bar made thin has superior smoothness. <P>SOLUTION: This resin-coated roller 11 has at least one or more resin coating layer on the hollow cylindrical core bar. While a heater 13 inserted into the core uniformly heats the surface of the core, a smoothing roller 20 which has less surface roughness than the surface of the coating layer is made to abut against the surface of the coating layer, thereby making the surface of the resin coating layer smooth. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a fixing roller having a smooth surface used for fixing an unfixed image on a transfer sheet in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine, a laser printer, and a facsimile. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a resin-coated roller coated with a suitable thermoplastic resin and an apparatus for manufacturing the same.
[0002]
[Prior art]
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a heat fixing roller used in a conventional electrophotographic image forming apparatus and a partially enlarged view thereof.
FIG. 5 shows a heat fixing roller as an example of a resin-coated roller. As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional heat fixing roller 4 has a primer layer 2 and a resin coating layer 1 on a cored bar 3 sequentially. The resin coating layer 1 is preferably formed by previously coating the cored metal 3 on which the primer layer 2 has been formed with a thermoplastic resin. As such a thermoplastic resin, a releasable resin such as a fluororesin is used because releasability from the toner and continuous durability at a toner fixing temperature (usually 180 to 200 ° C.) are required. . Polytetrafluoroethylene copolymer (PTFE) is used as the fluororesin, but recently, tetrafluoroethylene-polyethylene fluorovinyl ether copolymer (PFA) has better processability. It is used as a material for a release layer for a fixing roll.
[0003]
Since the surface of the resin coating layer 1 made of a release resin such as a fluororesin must have a release property with respect to the toner, the ten-point average roughness (Rz): 1 to 3 μm, And undulation: smoothness of about 2 to 4 μm is required.
[0004]
Therefore, conventionally, a pressing roller (not shown) configured to be rotatable while being movable in the axial direction of the heat fixing roller 4 is pressed against the resin coating layer 1 of the heat fixing roller 4 to rotate. A method of improving the smoothness of the surface of the resin coating layer 1 by moving in the axial direction while rotating and crushing the resin coating layer 1 (vanish method) has been employed.
[0005]
Conventionally, in order to manufacture a smooth heat-fixing roller by applying such a burnishing method, it is necessary to set the pressure applied to the pressing roller to 20 to 60 kgf. If the thickness of the metal core 3 in the heat fixing roller 4 is 1 to 2 mm or more, the deformation amount of the heat fixing roller 4 due to the pressurization even if the pressure of 20 to 60 kgf is applied to the heat fixing roller 4 There was no problem because the core metal 3 could be kept within the elastic deformation range.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when the thickness of the cored bar 3 is reduced to less than 1 mm for the purpose of reducing the power consumption of the heat fixing roller 4, there is a problem that the heat fixing roller 4 is plastically deformed by the pressing force of the pressing roller. Was. In such a case, the deformation of the heat fixing roller 4 can be suppressed by reducing the pressing force of the pressing roller. However, when the pressing force of the pressing roller is reduced, the smoothness of the resin coating layer 1 is reduced. There was a problem that it decreased in proportion to the pressing force.
[0007]
The present invention aims to solve such a problem.
That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a resin-coated roller in which the surface of the resin coating layer on the surface of the thinned metal core has excellent smoothness, and an apparatus for manufacturing the same.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fixing roller having excellent surface smoothness and reducing power consumption by reducing the thickness of a metal core.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 is a resin-coated roller having at least one or more resin-coated layers on a hollow cylindrical core,
While uniformly heating the surface of the core metal by a heat source inserted into the core metal, a pressing member having a smaller surface roughness than the surface is brought into contact with the surface of the resin coating layer to form the resin coating layer. Is a resin-coated roller characterized by having a smooth surface.
[0009]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fixing roller wherein the surface layer of the resin-coated roller according to the first aspect is a release layer.
[0010]
The invention according to claim 3 provides a resin-coated roller surface which presses against a resin-coated roller having at least one or more resin coating layers on a hollow cylindrical core, and smoothes the surface of the resin-coated roller. A pressing member with a smaller surface roughness,
A heating element arranged in the longitudinal direction of the resin-coated roller and heating a surface of a resin coating layer provided on the resin-coated roller to a temperature higher than a softening temperature or a melting temperature of the resin. It is.
[0011]
The invention according to claim 4 is the apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to claim 3, wherein the heating element is an infrared heater having light distribution in a roller axis direction.
[0012]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the resin-coated roller according to the fourth aspect, the infrared heater is composed of two or more heaters, and each of the heaters has means for independently controlling the temperature. Production equipment.
[0013]
The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the pressing member is formed in a columnar shape and is configured to rotate around the resin-coated roller. An apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to any one of the first to third aspects.
[0014]
Further, in the invention according to claim 7, the cylindrical pressing member is narrower than the entire length of the roller and has a shape having a curvature in the axial direction, and the pressing member is associated with the resin-coated roller. The resin-coated roller manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the resin-coated roller is fed laterally in the axial direction of the resin-coated roller while being rotated.
[0015]
The invention according to claim 8 is provided with a heating member that heats the cylindrical pressing member to a temperature higher than a surface temperature of the resin-coated roller. This is a manufacturing apparatus for a coated roller.
[0016]
The invention according to claim 9 is the apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to claim 8, wherein the heating member heats the cylindrical pressing member to 300 ° C to 400 ° C.
[0017]
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the ninth aspect, the heating member is a cylindrical heat source provided with a rotating shaft of the pressing member having a hollow shape and provided in a hollow portion of the rotating shaft. An apparatus for manufacturing the resin-coated roller described in the above.
[0018]
Further, the invention of claim 11 comprises both the cylindrical pressing member and the narrow pressing member having a curvature in the axial direction, and the narrow pressing member while heating the pressing member. The apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to claim 3, wherein the resin-coated roller is fed laterally in a roller axis direction.
[0019]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a view illustrating an example of an arrangement of temperature sensors provided in the manufacturing apparatus.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller smoothes the surface of the resin-coated roller 11 while pressing the resin-coated roller 11 having at least one or more resin coating layers on a hollow cylindrical cored bar. The smoothing roller 20, which is a pressing member having a smaller surface roughness than the surface of the resin-coated roller, and the surface of the resin-coated layer provided on the resin-coated roller 11 arranged in the longitudinal direction of the resin-coated roller 11 A heater 13 which is a heating element for heating to a temperature higher than the softening temperature or the melting temperature.
[0021]
The cross-sectional structure of the resin-coated roller 11 is the same as, for example, the heat-fixing roller shown in FIG. Further, there may be a plurality of resin coating layers, and in this case, the surface layer may be a release layer.
[0022]
The resin-coated roller 11 is rotatably supported at both ends of its core by hollow chucks 12a and 12b, and transmits a rotational driving force.
[0023]
The heater 13 is provided inside the core of the resin-coated roller 11, and in the present embodiment, is constituted by two infrared heaters. Both ends of the two infrared heaters are supported by heater supports 14 and 15, and are supplied with electricity through electrodes 16.
[0024]
As shown in FIG. 4A, one of the two infrared heaters is distributed such that the light emission power at both ends in the axial direction of the resin-coated roller 11 is increased, and the other one is As shown in FIG. 4B, the light is distributed such that the light emission power at the central portion in the axial direction of the resin-coated roller 11 is increased. Since the infrared heater distributed in this manner is used, the efficiency of heat radiation is good, and the time for raising the temperature of the roller can be reduced.
[0025]
A power supply 18 for supplying power to the heater 13 is connected to the electrode 16 via a control device 17 for controlling the power supplied to the heater 13 to an appropriate value. The control device 17 can independently control each of the heaters 13, that is, each of the infrared heaters in the present embodiment.
[0026]
Further, near the outer peripheral surface of the resin-coated roller 11, temperature sensors 19 for measuring the roller surface temperature in a non-contact manner at both axial ends and a central portion thereof are arranged.
[0027]
A smooth roller 20 wider than the resin-coated roller 11 is disposed in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the resin-coated roller 11, and the smooth roller 20 is rotatably supported by a smooth roller support 22. Further, a pressure actuator 24 for applying a pressing force to the smooth roller 20 via the smooth roller support 22 is provided.
[0028]
Further, a heater 23, for example, an infrared heater, is preferably disposed along the central axis of the smoothing roller 20 so as not to contact the inner surface of the smoothing roller 20 in the hollow portion of the smoothing roller 20. The heater 23 is supported by the heater support 21 and supplies electric power to the heater 23 via a control device 26 that controls the power supplied to the heater 23 to an appropriate value, that is, the surface temperature of the smoothing roller 20 to a predetermined value. A power supply 27 for supplying is provided.
[0029]
A temperature sensor 25 is provided near the outer peripheral surface of the smoothing roller 20, as shown in FIG. A plurality of the temperature sensors 25 may be provided in the axial direction corresponding to the temperature sensors 19.
[0030]
According to the resin-coated roller manufacturing apparatus described above, the surface of the resin-coated roller 11 is smoothened while being pressed against the resin-coated roller 11 having at least one or more resin-coated layers on a hollow cylindrical cored bar. The smoothing roller 20 which is a pressing member having a smaller surface roughness than the surface of the coating roller, and the surface of the resin coating layer provided on the resin coating roller 11 which is disposed in the length direction of the resin coating roller 11 so that the softening temperature or melting of the resin Since the heater 13 is provided as a heating element for heating to a temperature higher than the temperature, the resin coating on the surface of the resin-coated roller is pressed against the smooth roller 20 having a high surface smoothness in a softened or molten state. In addition, the smooth surface shape of the smooth roller 20 is transferred to the resin film, so that the power consumption can be reduced by using the thinned metal core. Surface of the resin-coated roller 11 is smoothed.
[0031]
According to the resin-coated roller manufacturing apparatus, in a resin-coated roller having at least one resin coating layer on a hollow cylindrical core, the surface of the core is heated by a heat source inserted into the core. Since the surface of the resin coating layer is smoothed by uniformly contacting the surface of the resin coating layer with the smooth roller 20 having a smaller surface roughness than the surface of the resin coating layer, the surface of the cored metal is reduced in thickness. A resin-coated roller having excellent resin coating layer smoothness can be obtained. Further, by using the surface layer of the resin coating layer as a release layer, it is possible to obtain a heat-fixing roller which is excellent in the smoothness of the release layer on the surface of the cored bar which is reduced in thickness in order to reduce power consumption.
[0032]
In addition, since the smooth roller 20 is wider than the resin-coated roller 11, the surface of the elastic fixing roller having an elastic layer between the cored bar and the release layer on the roller surface can be smoothed.
[0033]
In addition, since an infrared heater having a light distribution in the roller axis direction is used as a heat source, the efficiency of heat radiation is high, and the time for raising the temperature of the resin-coated roller can be reduced.
[0034]
Further, a plurality of infrared heaters, two in the present embodiment, are provided, each of the infrared heaters is provided with a means for independently controlling the temperature, and each heater is arranged as shown in FIGS. 4 (A) and 4 (B). In addition to having a light distribution, the supply power can be adjusted using an independent temperature control device, so that the temperature distribution unevenness in the axial direction of the resin-coated roller Lower than the above) can be suppressed.
[0035]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a resin-coated roller manufacturing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. Note that, in the present embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to portions common to the embodiment of FIG. 1 and the description thereof is omitted.
[0036]
As shown in FIG. 2, the smooth roller 32, which is a substantially cylindrical pressing member, is narrower than the entire length of the roller and has a shape having a curvature in the axial direction. While rotating around, the resin-coated roller 11 is fed laterally in the axial direction.
[0037]
Further, the rotating shaft of the smoothing roller 32 has a hollow structure, and one side of the rotating shaft can be rotatably supported by using a bearing of the rotating support 31. A cylindrical heater 33 is hollowed from the opposite side. Are supported in a cantilever manner through a heater support 34 in the rotating shaft of.
[0038]
The smoothing roller 32 is configured to apply a pressing force to the resin-coated roller 11 by a pressure actuator 35. According to this configuration, since it is possible to perform the lateral feed processing in a state where the contact area between the smooth roller 32 and the resin-coated roller 11 is small, an applicable range for various resin-coated roller shapes, for example, an inverted crown shape or the like is possible. This has the effect of making it possible to increase.
[0039]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a resin-coated roller manufacturing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the temperature sensor and the control system are omitted because they use the temperature sensor and the control system of the embodiment of FIG. 1 and the temperature sensor and the control system of the embodiment of FIG.
[0040]
As shown in FIG. 3, the apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to the present embodiment includes a cylindrical smooth roller 20 shown in FIG. 1 and a narrow smooth roller 32 having a narrow axial curvature shown in FIG. Are provided. In the case of the present embodiment, in consideration of installation efficiency, they are arranged so as to face each other. Then, the processing is performed by laterally feeding the narrow smooth roller 32 in the axial direction, and the wide area can be processed at once without feeding the wide smooth roller 20. Therefore, there is an effect of improving the performance by balancing the smoothing force of the roller and the processing speed. In addition, high precision smoothness, versatility and production efficiency can be achieved at the same time.
[0041]
In the above, the smoothness of the surface of the resin-coated roller 11 is provided by providing the heaters 23 and 33 as the heating members for heating the smoothing rollers 20 and 32 as the pressing members to a temperature higher than the surface temperature of the resin-coated roller 11. Can be further increased. In particular, when the temperature of the smoothing rollers 20 and 32 is 300 to 400 ° C., the effect is the highest.
[0042]
In addition, since the rotating shafts of the smoothing rollers 20 and 32 as the pressing members are hollow, and the hollow shafts of the rotating shafts are heated by providing a cylindrical heat source, the smoothing rollers 20 and 32 are heated. In addition to being rotatable, there is an effect that the heating efficiency of the roller can be increased.
Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. That is, various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.
[0043]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the configuration of the invention described in claims 1 to 3, the resin film on the surface of the resin-coated roller is in close contact with the smooth roller having a high surface smoothness in a softened or molten state. Since the pressing is performed, the surface shape of the smooth roller is transferred to the resin film, so that the surface of the resin-coated roller is smoothed.
[0044]
Further, according to the configuration of the invention described in claim 4, since the infrared heater has high heat radiation efficiency, it is possible to shorten the time required for raising the temperature of the resin-coated roller.
[0045]
Further, according to the configuration of the invention described in claim 5, it is possible to suppress unevenness in the temperature distribution in the axial direction of the resin-coated roller.
[0046]
Further, according to the configuration of the invention as set forth in claim 7, since it is possible to perform the lateral feed processing in a state where the contact area between the smooth roller and the resin-coated roller is small, it is possible to adapt to various shapes of the resin-coated roller. The range can be increased.
[0047]
Further, according to the configuration of the invention described in claims 8 and 9, it is possible to further enhance the smoothness of the surface of the resin-coated roller.
[0048]
Further, according to the tenth aspect, there is an effect that the heating efficiency of the resin-coated roller can be increased. Further, the temperature distribution in the circumferential direction of the resin-coated roller can be made uniform.
[0049]
According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is an effect that the smoothness and the processing speed of the resin-coated roller are compatible with each other to enhance the performance.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a view illustrating an example of an arrangement of a temperature sensor provided in the manufacturing apparatus.
FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a manufacturing apparatus of a resin-coated roller according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a view showing a manufacturing apparatus of a resin-coated roller according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the emission power of a heater used in the apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to the present invention and the axial position of the roller.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a heat fixing roller and a partially enlarged view thereof.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Resin coating layer (release layer)
3 Core 11 Resin-coated roller (heat-fixing roller)
12a, 12b Hollow chuck 13 Heater 17 Controller 18 Power supply 20 Smooth roller 23 Heater 24 Pressurizing actuator 26 Controller 27 Power supply 32 Smooth roller 33 Heater 35 Pressurizing actuator

Claims (11)

In a resin-coated roller having at least one or more resin coating layers on a hollow cylindrical core,
While uniformly heating the surface of the core metal by a heat source inserted into the core metal, a pressing member having a smaller surface roughness than the surface is brought into contact with the surface of the resin coating layer to form the resin coating layer. A resin-coated roller characterized in that the surface of the roller is smoothed. The fixing roller according to claim 1, wherein the surface layer of the resin-coated roller is a release layer. A pressing member having a surface roughness smaller than the surface of the resin-coated roller, while smoothing the surface of the resin-coated roller while pressing the resin-coated roller having at least one resin coating layer on a hollow cylindrical cored bar. When,
A heating element arranged in the longitudinal direction of the resin-coated roller and heating a surface of a resin coating layer provided on the resin-coated roller to a temperature higher than a softening temperature or a melting temperature of the resin. . The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the heating element is an infrared heater having a light distribution in a roller axis direction. The apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to claim 4, wherein the infrared heater includes two or more infrared heaters, and each of the heaters has means for independently controlling the temperature. 6. The resin-coated roller according to claim 3, wherein the pressing member is formed in a cylindrical shape, and is configured to rotate together with the resin-coated roller. 7. apparatus. The cylindrical pressing member is narrower than the entire length of the roller, and has a shape having a curvature in the axial direction, and while rotating the pressing member together with the resin-coated roller, the resin-coated roller The apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to claim 6, wherein the resin-coated roller is fed laterally in the axial direction. The apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to claim 6 or 7, further comprising a heating member configured to heat the cylindrical pressing member to a temperature higher than a surface temperature of the resin-coated roller. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the heating member heats the cylindrical pressing member to 300 ° C. to 400 ° C. 10. The apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to claim 9, wherein the heating member has a hollow shaft of the pressing member and is a cylindrical heat source provided in a hollow portion of the rotary shaft. 11. With both the cylindrical pressing member and the pressing member having a curvature in the narrow axial direction, while heating the pressing member, the narrow pressing member is laterally fed in the roller axial direction. An apparatus for manufacturing a resin-coated roller according to any one of claims 3 to 10.

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