JP2005242239A - Cleaning apparatus for liquid image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning apparatus for a liquid image forming apparatus capable of preventing recovered developer from leaking through both end parts of a cleaning blade when the recovered developer shifts to both end parts of the cleaning blade, so that the contamination of the machine can be prevented. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus is provided with a developer leakage preventing mechanism 40 which comes in press contact with the end face of the cleaning blade 30 and the surface of a photoreceptor drum 10. The developer leakage preventing mechanism 40 is constituted of a sealing member 50 coming in press contact with the surface of the photoreceptor drum 10 and the end face of the cleaning blade 30, a pressure member 60 for pressing the sealing member 50, and a coil spring 70 for energizing the pressure member 60 to the sealing member 50. The sealing member 50 is pressurized against the surface of the photoreceptor drum 10 to eliminate a gap between the sealing member 50 and the surface of the photoreceptor drum 10, and also, the sealing member 50 is pressurized against the end face of the cleaning blade 30 to eliminate a gap between the sealing member 50 and the cleaning blade 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid image forming apparatus cleaning device in a liquid image forming apparatus employed in a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, or the like.

  In a liquid image forming apparatus, a latent image carrier (hereinafter referred to as a photoconductor) is used to recover untransferred excess toner and carrier liquid (hereinafter referred to as a collected developer) on the latent image carrier such as a photosensitive drum. A cleaning blade is arranged so as to be able to come in contact with and separate from the surface. It is known that this cleaning blade causes a so-called “liquid ring” phenomenon (ring contamination phenomenon) on the photoreceptor.

  That is, the collected developer spreads to the full width of the cleaning blade due to the capillary action in the narrow gap generated between the cleaning blade and the photoconductor, and the cleaning blade is thick, so that it is on both sides (both ends) separately from the collecting direction. Flowing. As a result, the liquid flows out from both ends of the cleaning blade to the surface of the photoreceptor. Since the photoreceptor is rotating, the collected developer becomes a ring shape on the circumferential surface of the photoreceptor. Since this liquid ring occurs over the entire circumference of the surface of the photoreceptor, there is a problem of in-machine contamination such as a developing unit installed around the photoreceptor.

In order to solve this problem, in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, seal members are arranged in parallel at both ends of the cleaning blade.
JP-A-7-13390 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-5794

  However, even if the sealing members are simply arranged at both ends of the cleaning blade, a gap is generated between the sealing member and the cleaning blade, and the liquid developer leaks from the gap and the machine may still be contaminated. was there.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device in a liquid image forming apparatus that can prevent contamination of a machine without leaking from both ends of the cleaning blade even when the collected developer moves to both ends of the cleaning blade. There is.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 is directed to a cleaning device for a liquid image forming apparatus that cleans a latent image carrier of a liquid image forming apparatus with a cleaning blade. The gist of the cleaning device of the liquid image forming apparatus is provided with a developer leakage prevention mechanism that is pressed against the surface.

  A second aspect of the present invention provides the developer leakage prevention mechanism according to the first aspect, wherein the developer leakage prevention mechanism includes a seal member that is in pressure contact with the surface of the latent image carrier and the end face of the cleaning blade, and a pressure member that is pressed against the seal member. And urging means for urging the pressing member toward the seal member.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the contact portion of the seal member with the latent image carrier is a surface that matches the curvature of the peripheral surface of the latent image carrier.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the contact portion of the seal member with the latent image carrier is a rib that matches the curvature of the peripheral surface of the latent image carrier.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the second to fourth aspects, the seal member is formed of a material having high slidability at least at a portion that contacts the surface of the latent image carrier. It is characterized by that.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the second to fifth aspects, the surfaces of the seal member and the pressing member that are in contact with each other are each tapered, and the load caused by the biasing means is provided by the taper. The load is dispersed so as to include a component force in a direction toward the latent image carrier and a component force in a direction toward the end face of the cleaning blade.

  A seventh aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in any one of the second to sixth aspects, a sealing agent is applied to the contact surface of the latent image carrier, the cleaning blade, and the seal member.

  According to the first aspect of the invention, unlike the prior art, the developer leakage prevention mechanism is in pressure contact with the cleaning blade end surface and the latent image carrier surface, so that the gap between the cleaning blade end surface and the developer leakage prevention mechanism is And a gap between the latent image carrier surface and the developer leakage prevention mechanism can be eliminated. As a result, even when toner and carrier liquid (hereinafter referred to as “recovered developer”) move to both ends of the cleaning blade, between the cleaning blade end surface and the developer leakage prevention mechanism and between the latent image carrier surface and the developer leakage. No leakage occurs between the prevention mechanisms, and contamination of the machine can be prevented.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the pressing member is pressed by the urging means to press the seal member. As a result, the seal member is pressed against the surface of the latent image carrier to eliminate a gap between the seal member and the surface of the latent image carrier, and the seal member is pressed against the end face of the cleaning blade to A gap between the cleaning blade end faces can be eliminated.

  According to the invention of claim 3, the contact portion of the seal member is a surface that matches the curvature of the peripheral surface of the latent image carrier, and therefore does not match the curvature of the peripheral surface of the latent image carrier. In addition, the area of the portion for sealing the surface (peripheral surface) of the latent image carrier can be increased by the sealing member, and the sealing performance can be improved.

  According to the invention of claim 4, since the contact portion of the seal member is a rib that matches the curvature of the peripheral surface of the latent image carrier, it does not match the curvature of the peripheral surface of the latent image carrier. In addition, the area of the portion that seals the surface (peripheral surface) of the latent image carrier can be increased by the sealing member, and the sealing performance can be improved.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the friction between the surface of the latent image carrier and the surface of the latent image carrier is reduced by forming the portion in contact with the surface of the latent image carrier with the material having high slidability. Therefore, it is not necessary to increase the rotational torque of the latent image carrier.

  According to the invention of claim 6, by providing the taper on the surfaces of the seal member and the pressing member that are in contact with each other, the load applied by the urging means is directed to the component force in the direction toward the latent image carrier and toward the cleaning blade end surface. It can be distributed in the component force in the direction. As a result, it is not necessary to separately provide a biasing means for pressing the sealing member against the end face of the cleaning blade and a biasing means for pressing the surface of the latent image carrier, and the number of parts can be reduced. And cost reduction can be achieved.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the sealing property is further enhanced by the sealing agent being applied to the contact surface between the latent image carrier and the cleaning blade and the sealing member.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a cleaning device for a liquid image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the outline of the liquid image forming apparatus will be briefly described.
As shown in FIG. 4, the photosensitive drum 10 of the liquid image forming apparatus is pivotally supported by support portions 11 a and 11 b provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the support frame 11. For convenience of explanation, the left side is referred to as the left and the right side is referred to as the right in FIGS. A shaft 10a provided at one end of the photosensitive drum 10 penetrates the support portion 11b and protrudes outward from the support portion 11b. Since the shaft 10a is operatively connected to a driving source (not shown), the photosensitive drum 10 is positively rotated.

  The photosensitive drum 10 is an amorphous silicon drum and is charged by a main charging device (not shown) so that the dark potential at the developing position is about 300V. For example, an LPH (LED PRINT HEAD) (not shown) irradiates the surface of the charged photosensitive drum 10 with light corresponding to image information, whereby an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 10. The photosensitive drum 10 corresponds to a latent image carrier.

  A toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 10 by applying a developer to the electrostatic latent image of the portion irradiated with light from the photosensitive drum 10 by a developing roller (not shown). The developer is composed of toner and carrier liquid, and is adjusted by stirring and mixing the toner so that the carrier liquid has a predetermined toner concentration.

  As described above, the toner image area in which the electrostatic latent image is developed on the photosensitive drum 10 passes through a roller contact portion (not shown) simultaneously with the sheet contacting the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 and the sheet. In doing so, a large amount of toner is transferred onto the sheet by the action of the transfer voltage applied to the roller transfer portion. The transfer voltage is, for example, a voltage having a polarity opposite to the surface potential of the photosensitive drum 10 in a range of −1000 to −1300V. However, some toner and carrier liquid remain on the photosensitive drum 10 in an untransferred state and go to the cleaning device 20 shown in FIGS. The surface of the photosensitive drum 10 that has been returned to a clean surface by the cleaning device 20 is neutralized by light irradiation of a known neutralizing lamp, and thereafter, it is prepared for the next new image forming process.

Next, the cleaning device 20 will be described in detail.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the cleaning device 20 of the liquid image forming apparatus of the present embodiment includes a cleaning blade 30 and a pair of developer leakage prevention mechanisms 40.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning blade 30 is attached to the lower portion 11 c of the side surface of the support frame 11 facing the photosensitive drum 10 via a bracket 31. A side surface of the lower side surface 11c facing the photosensitive drum 10 is a flat mounting surface 11d, and the mounting surface 11d is formed to be inclined toward the photosensitive drum 10 as shown in FIG. Yes.

  The bracket 31 is formed in an L-shaped cross section as shown in FIG. 3 by a side wall 31a extending substantially in the vertical direction and a lower wall 31b orthogonal to the side wall 31a. The side wall 31 a is attached to the lower side surface 11 c of the support frame 11 with screws 32.

  The lower portion of the cleaning blade 30 is bonded and fixed to the surface of the upper portion of the side wall 31a on the photosensitive drum 10 side. The cleaning blade 30 is made of a plate material having elasticity such as a synthetic resin or urethane rubber, and the entire shape is formed in a plate shape having a flat rectangular shape. The tip of the cleaning blade 30 is in contact with the peripheral surface 10b of the photosensitive drum 10 over the entire length. Here, the contacted portion is referred to as a contact portion 35.

  The pair of developer leakage prevention mechanisms 40 is provided in the support frame 11 in proximity to both ends in the longitudinal direction of the cleaning blade 30. Each developer leakage prevention mechanism 40 includes a seal member 50, a pressing member 60, and a coil spring 70 as urging means. The biasing means is not limited to the coil spring 70, and may be constituted by a plate spring, a helical spring, or another spring. The biasing means may be replaced with the coil spring 70. Alternatively, an elastic member such as rubber may be used.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, a pair of mechanism housing chambers 15 are provided at portions corresponding to both ends of the photosensitive drum 10 in the upper part of the support frame 11. For convenience of explanation, in FIGS. 4, 5A, and 5B, 15A is attached to the left mechanism storage chamber, and 15B may be attached to the right mechanism storage chamber.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the mechanism housing chamber 15 has an end portion on the side of the photoconductor drum 10 and an end portion on the opposite side to the photoconductor drum 10, and has a rectangular cross section. As shown in FIG. 6, the seal member 50 includes a contact plate 52 and an insertion portion 54. The entire seal member 50 is formed of, for example, synthetic resin, rubber, or elastomer (soft plastic). In addition, as a material for forming the seal member 50, a highly slidable material is particularly preferable. Examples of the highly slidable material include nitrile resin rubber materials (for example, NBR), urethane resin rubber materials, epichlorohydrin resin rubber materials, and fluorosilicone resin rubber materials. Further, as the highly slidable material, a fluororesin rubber material (for example, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)) having better slidability than the above-described slidability may be used.

  The insertion portion 54 has substantially the same shape as the cross-sectional shape of the mechanism storage chamber 15, is slidable in the mechanism storage chamber 15 toward the photosensitive drum 10, and rotates about its axis. It is inserted immovably. Further, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the insertion portion 54 is spaced apart from the inner side surface of the support frame 11 in the longitudinal direction of the support frame 11 in the mechanism storage chamber 15, It is movable along the same longitudinal direction within the allowable range of the gap.

  The base end surface of the insertion portion 54 is a contact surface 55 formed with a taper. As shown in FIG. 5A, the taper of the insertion portion 54 of the seal member 50 inserted into the mechanism storage chamber 15A faces the proximal end side of the support frame 11 (the left end of the support frame 11 in FIG. 4). Is formed. The proximal end refers to an end portion closer to the distance between the left and right ends of the support frame 11 for the insertion portion 54 (hereinafter the same). Further, the taper of the insertion portion 54 of the seal member 50 inserted into the mechanism storage chamber 15B is the proximal end side of the support frame 11 as shown in FIG. 5B (the right end side of the support frame 11 in FIG. 4). It is formed to face.

  The contact plate 52 is provided at the distal end portion of the insertion portion 54 and is located outside the opening on the photosensitive drum 10 side of the mechanism storage chamber 15 as shown in FIG. The contact plate 52 is formed as a curved plate that matches the curvature of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10, that is, has the same curvature. Therefore, in the contact plate 52, the surface on the side of the photosensitive drum 10 having the same curvature as that of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 is in surface contact with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 as shown in FIG. The contact is possible. In the contact plate 52, the surface on the photosensitive drum 10 side having the same curvature as that of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 corresponds to the contact portion.

  Since the curvature of the contact plate 52 is the same as the curvature of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10, the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 can be in close contact with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10. In particular, since the entire contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 has the same curvature as that of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10, only a part of the contact plate 52 has a seal as compared with the case where the curvature is the same. Can be improved.

  Although the curved plate is used so that the curvature of the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 is the same as the curvature of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10, that is, matched, it is not limited to this. It is not necessary to match the curvature of the entire curved surface 52 to the curvature of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10. However, as shown in FIG. 2, at least, in the contact plate 52, the curvature of the region corresponding to the corner portion K provided at the upper portion of the end of the cleaning blade 30 (the region sandwiched by the alternate long and short dash line) is The curvature of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 may be the same.

  In the contact plate 52, the curvature of the region sandwiched by the alternate long and short dash line is the same as the curvature of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10, so that the contact plate 52 can secure a portion to be sealed in this region. Therefore, when a part of the collected developer scraped off by the tip of the cleaning blade 30 moves on the tip and is positioned at the corner portion K, the moved collected developer can be sealed at the portion. . In this case, in the contact plate 52, the region sandwiched by the alternate long and short dash line has the same curvature as that of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10, and therefore the region corresponds to the contact portion.

  Further, the surface 11e of the support frame 11 corresponding to the contact plate 52 facing the photosensitive drum 10 side has a curvature that matches the curvature of the back surface of the contact plate 52 (opposite to the photosensitive drum 10) as shown in FIG. have. And the surface 11e and the back surface of the contact plate 52 can contact | abut so that a surface contact is possible.

  The upper part 52a of the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 disposed in the mechanism storage chamber 15A is extended so as to be positioned above the left end of the cleaning blade 30. The right end side surface of the lower portion of the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 disposed in the mechanism storage chamber 15 </ b> A is disposed so as to be in contact with the left end surface of the cleaning blade 30. Further, grease as a sealant is provided between the surfaces (contact surfaces) in contact with each other on the right end side surface of the lower portion of the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 disposed in the mechanism storage chamber 15A and the left end surface of the cleaning blade 30. Has been granted. Since the grease seals between the two contact surfaces, the recovered developer scraped off from the photosensitive drum 10 by the cleaning blade 30 does not leak downward from both contact surfaces.

  The upper part of the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 disposed in the mechanism storage chamber 15B is extended so as to be positioned above the right end of the cleaning blade 30. The left end side surface of the lower portion of the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 disposed in the mechanism storage chamber 15B is disposed so as to be able to contact the right end surface of the cleaning blade 30. Further, grease as a sealant is provided between the surfaces (contact surfaces) in contact with each other on the left end side surface of the lower portion of the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 disposed in the mechanism storage chamber 15B and the right end surface of the cleaning blade 30. Has been granted. Since the grease seals between the two contact surfaces, the recovered developer scraped off from the photosensitive drum 10 by the cleaning blade 30 does not leak downward from both contact surfaces.

The sealing agent is not limited to grease, and other sealing agents may be used. In short, it may be one having a sealing function.
Grease as a lubricant and a sealant is applied between the contact surfaces of the contact plates 52 and the peripheral surfaces of the photosensitive drum 10 that are in contact with each other. The grease as the lubricant reduces the friction between the contact surface of the photosensitive drum 10 and the contact plate 52, so that it is not necessary to increase the rotational torque of the photosensitive drum 10 as much as the friction can be reduced. In the present embodiment, since grease is also used as a sealing agent, the collected developer remaining on the photosensitive drum 10 from between the photosensitive drum 10 and the contact plate 52 is removed from the contact plate 52 to the outside (cleaning blade 30). No leakage to the side opposite to the side where the is located.

  It should be noted that the grease as the lubricant is not necessarily applied between the photosensitive drum 10 and the contact surface of the contact plate 52. When the grease is not applied, the contact plate 52 is made of a highly slidable material, so that the friction with the photosensitive drum 10 is reduced by this high slidability. For this reason, it is not necessary to increase the rotational torque of the photosensitive drum 10 as much as the friction can be reduced.

  The lubricant and the sealant applied between the contact plates 52 and the contact surfaces of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 that are in contact with each other are not limited to the grease, and other materials may be used. Good. In short, it may have a sealing function and a lubricating function.

  A cover member 72 is fixed to the upper surface of the support frame 11. As shown in FIGS. 3, 5 (a) and 5 (b), the protruding piece 75 extending downward from the cover member 72 covers the opening located on the side of the anti-photosensitive drum in the mechanism storage chamber 15. Has been placed.

  In each mechanism storage chamber 15, a pressing member 60 and a coil spring 70 are stored (see FIG. 7). The coil spring 70 is disposed between the projecting piece 75 and the pressing member 60 and biases the pressing member 60 toward the photosensitive drum 10.

  The sliding portion 61 of the pressing member 60 has substantially the same shape and size as the cross-sectional shape of the mechanism storage chamber 15, that is, is formed so that the cross-section has a square shape. By this sliding portion 61, the pressing member 60 is slidable in the mechanism housing chamber 15 toward the photosensitive drum 10 and cannot be rotated about its axis. In addition, unlike the insertion part 54 of the sealing member 50, the sliding part 61 is an inner surface located in the longitudinal direction of the support frame 11 in the mechanism storage chamber 15, as shown in FIGS. Does not have a gap and is immovable in the longitudinal direction. A low columnar protrusion 62 is formed on the base end surface of the sliding portion 61. A pressing side end portion of the coil spring 70 is fitted on the protrusion 62. The pressing member 60 is urged toward the photosensitive drum 10 by the urging force of the coil spring 70.

  The front end surface of the sliding portion 61 is a contact surface 63 that is a surface that contacts the contact surface 55 of the seal member 50. The contact surface 63 of the pressing member 60 stored on the mechanism storage chamber 15A side is tapered so as to face the right side, that is, the center side of the photosensitive drum 10, as shown in FIG. The member 50 is in surface contact with the contact surface 55.

  The biasing force (load load) F1 of the coil spring 70 stored in the mechanism storage chamber 15A is applied to the contact surface 55 of the seal member 50 via the pressing member 60. Then, the biasing force (load load) F1 of the coil spring 70 is applied to the photosensitive drum 10 (latent image carrier) as shown in FIG. It can be broken down into a component force Aa in the direction toward and a component force along the contact surface 55. The component force Aa is orthogonal to the contact surface 55. The component force Aa can be decomposed into a component force B having a component along the longitudinal direction of the support frame 11. That is, the seal member 50 is biased in the direction toward the end face of the cleaning blade 30 by the component force B. As a result, the insertion portion 54 in the mechanism storage chamber 15 </ b> A is pressed and moved along the longitudinal direction by the component force B within an allowable range between the inner side surfaces located in the longitudinal direction of the support frame 11.

  On the other hand, the contact surface 63 of the pressing member 60 housed on the mechanism housing chamber 15B side is tapered so as to face the left side, that is, the center side of the photosensitive drum 10, as shown in FIG. The contact surface 55 of the seal member 50 is in surface contact.

  The urging force (load load) F2 of the coil spring 70 stored in the mechanism storage chamber 15B is applied to the contact surface 55 of the seal member 50 via the pressing member 60. Then, the biasing force (load load) F2 of the coil spring 70 is applied to the photosensitive drum 10 (latent image carrier) as shown in FIG. It can be decomposed into a component force Ab in the direction toward and a component force along the contact surface 55. The component force Ab is orthogonal to the contact surface 55. Further, the component force Ab can be decomposed into a component component C of a component in a direction along the longitudinal direction of the support frame 11. That is, the seal member 50 is biased in the direction toward the end face of the cleaning blade 30 by the component force C. As a result, the insertion portion 54 in the mechanism storage chamber 15B is pressed and moved along the longitudinal direction by the component force C within the allowable range between the inner side surfaces located in the longitudinal direction of the support frame 11.

  Thus, each pressing member 60 is pressed by each coil spring 70 and presses the seal member 50. Each seal member 50 is pressed against the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum 10 by component forces Aa and Ab to eliminate a gap between the sealing member 50 and the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum 10. To be precise, the seal members 50 are pressed against the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 by the component forces Aa and Ab which are decomposed in the direction orthogonal to the component forces B and C. In addition, each seal member 50 is pressed against both end surfaces of the cleaning blade 30 in the longitudinal direction by component forces B and C, respectively, so that gaps between the end surfaces of the seal member 50 and the cleaning blade 30 can be eliminated.

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, in the support frame 11, a bottomed collection chamber 100 is formed between the mechanism storage chamber 15A and the mechanism storage chamber 15B. In the collection chamber 100, an opening 110 is formed in the upper portion of the side surface of the support frame 11 facing the photosensitive drum 10 so that the collected developer scraped by the tip of the cleaning blade 30 can be stored (see FIG. 4). . A partition wall 120 is formed between the recovery chamber 100, the mechanism storage chamber 15A, and the mechanism storage chamber 15B, and the partition chamber 120 partitions the recovery chamber 100 and the mechanism storage chambers 15A, 15B. In FIG. 8, the partition 120 of the mechanism storage chamber 15B is illustrated.

  A screw 130 is housed in the collection chamber 100 so as to be rotatable along the longitudinal direction of the support frame 11. The screw 130 is rotated by a gear provided on the shaft 10 a and a gear train 140 meshing with the gear so as to convey the collected developer into a collection housing 150 provided at the left end of the support frame 11. Has been.

The cleaning device 20 configured as described above has the following characteristics.
When the photosensitive drum 10 rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 3, the collected developer remaining on the peripheral surface (surface) of the photosensitive drum 10 is scraped off by the contact portion 35 that is the tip of the cleaning blade 30. Most of the recovered developer scraped off directly enters the recovery chamber 100. A part of the collected developer moves in the arrow direction shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 on the front end surface of the cleaning blade 30 which is the contact portion 35, and moves to both ends of the cleaning blade 30. At this time, since the entire contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 is in contact with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 and is sealed, the recovered developer that has moved further from the contact plate 52 to the end of the photosensitive drum 10. There is no movement to the side.

  Further, since the grease is interposed between the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 and the contact surface of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10, the recovered developer that has been sealed and moved by this grease is also removed from the contact plate. No further movement from 52 to the end of the photosensitive drum 10 is performed. Further, since the gap between the contact surfaces of the cleaning blade 30 and the contact plate 52 is sealed with grease, the recovered developer scraped off from the photosensitive drum 10 by the cleaning blade 30 is contacted by both. It does not leak downward from the surface.

  In the present embodiment, each pressing member 60 is pressed by the coil spring 70 to press the sealing member 50, and each sealing member 50 has component forces Aa and Ab against the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10. The gap between the seal member 50 and the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 can be eliminated. As a result, no gap is generated between the seal member 50 and the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10. In addition, each seal member 50 is pressed against both end surfaces of the cleaning blade 30 in the longitudinal direction by component forces B and C, respectively, so that gaps between the end surfaces of the seal member 50 and the cleaning blade 30 can be eliminated. As a result, no gap is generated between the seal member 50 and the cleaning blade 30.

In addition, embodiment of this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, You may actualize as follows.
(1) As shown in FIG. 9, ribs 58 that match the curvature of the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 may be formed on the contact plate 52 of the seal member 50 of the above embodiment. The rib 58 is formed in a protrusion so as to coincide with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10. A side surface of the rib 58 on the cleaning blade 30 side is formed into a flat surface, and a lower portion thereof is in contact with an end surface of the cleaning blade 30.

  (2) In the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the entire sealing member 50 is formed of a highly slidable material. However, at least the surface of the contact surface of the contact plate 52 is a highly slidable material, and nitrile is used. It may be formed of a resin rubber material (for example, NBR), a urethane resin rubber material, an epichlorohydrin resin rubber material, or a fluorosilicone resin rubber material. Further, the material having high slidability may be formed of a fluororesin rubber material (for example, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)) having better slidability than these sliding characteristics.

  That is, the seal member 50 having the contact plate 52 and the insertion portion 54 is formed of metal, or formed of resin, rubber, or the like that does not exhibit high slidability. Then, as shown in FIG. 10, only the surface of the contact plate 52 is provided with a surface layer 80 made of any one of the above highly slidable materials. Even if it does in this way, there exists an effect similar to 1st Embodiment.

The schematic perspective view of the cleaning apparatus 20 of embodiment which actualized this invention. Similarly the principal part perspective view. Similarly principal part sectional drawing. FIG. (A), (b) is explanatory drawing of the component of urging | biasing force (load load). The perspective view of the sealing member 50. FIG. The disassembled perspective view of the coil spring 70 and the press member 60. FIG. The perspective view of the mechanism storage chamber 15. FIG. FIG. 2 is an equivalent view of another embodiment. The perspective view of the sealing member 50 of other embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Photosensitive drum 20 ... Cleaning apparatus 30 ... Cleaning blade 40 ... Developer leak prevention mechanism 50 ... Seal member 60 ... Pressing member 70 ... Coil spring (biasing member)

Claims (7)

In a liquid image forming apparatus cleaning apparatus for cleaning a latent image carrier of a liquid image forming apparatus with a cleaning blade,
A cleaning device for a liquid image forming apparatus, comprising a developer leakage prevention mechanism that presses and contacts an end surface of a cleaning blade and a surface of a latent image carrier. The developer leakage prevention mechanism includes a seal member that presses and contacts the surface of the latent image carrier and the end face of the cleaning blade;
A pressing member that presses against the sealing member;
The liquid image forming apparatus cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an urging unit that urges the pressing member toward the seal member.   The cleaning device for a liquid image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a contact portion of the seal member with the latent image carrier is a surface that matches a curvature of a peripheral surface of the latent image carrier.   3. The cleaning device for a liquid image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the contact portion of the seal member with the latent image carrier is a rib that matches the curvature of the peripheral surface of the latent image carrier.   The liquid according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the seal member is formed of a material having a high slidability at least at a portion in contact with the surface of the latent image carrier. A cleaning device for an image forming apparatus.   The surfaces of the seal member and the pressing member that are in contact with each other are each tapered, and by the taper, the component load in the direction toward the latent image carrier and the direction toward the cleaning blade end surface are applied by the biasing means. The liquid image forming apparatus cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the liquid image forming apparatus is dispersed so as to include a partial force of the liquid image forming apparatus.   7. The cleaning device for a liquid image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a sealant is applied to a contact surface between the latent image carrier and the cleaning blade and the seal member. .

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