JP2005326459A - Cleaning member, cleaning device, process cartridge and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning member which has a support plate and an elastic blade joined to each other, cleans the surface of a photoreceptor, by pressing the elastic blade to the photoreceptor surface and which can be uniformly pressure welded with the photoreceptor surface under high pressure per unit area. <P>SOLUTION: The surface of the support plate 2 opposing the surface of a photoreceptor 4 is defined as a support plate surface 5, and the surface of the elastic blade 3 in the side opposite to the side facing the surface of the photoreceptor 4 is defined as a blade back face 6. The elastic blade 3 is jointed to the support plate surface 5, only at a portion 7 in the base end side of the blade back face 6. A reinforcing elastic body 41 is jointed to a portion 8 in the top end of the blade back face 6 which is not jointed to the support plate surface 5 and to the top end face 9 of the support plate 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention includes a support plate and an elastic blade bonded to each other, a cleaning member that presses the elastic blade against a member to be cleaned to clean the member to be cleaned, a cleaning device having the cleaning member, The present invention relates to a process cartridge including a cleaning device and an image forming apparatus including the cleaning device or the process cartridge.

  The above-mentioned type of cleaning member has been well known, and has been widely adopted in an image forming apparatus configured as an electronic copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, or a complex machine thereof.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing an example of a conventional cleaning member 1A. The cleaning member 1A shown here has a support plate 2A and an elastic blade 3A joined to each other, and the elastic blade 3A is in pressure contact with the surface of the photoconductor 4A, which is an example of a member to be cleaned, in the direction of arrow A. The transfer residual toner T adhering to the moving photoconductor surface is scraped off and removed. The elastic blade 3A is made of, for example, a polyurethane elastomer, and the support plate 2A is made of, for example, a metal plate. Here, the surface of the support plate 2A facing the surface of the photoreceptor 4A is referred to as a support plate surface 5A, and the surface of the elastic blade 3A opposite to the surface facing the photoreceptor surface is referred to as a blade back surface 6A. In the elastic blade 3A, the base end side portion 7A of the blade back surface 6A is joined to the support plate surface 5A, and the tip end portion 8A of the blade back surface 6A is not joined to the support plate 2A. It protrudes from the front end surface 9A toward the photoreceptor 4A.

  Since the elastic blade 3A is pressurized against the surface of the photoconductor 4A, the elastic blade 3A receives a reaction force N from the surface of the photoconductor, whereby the elastic blade 3A is bent and deformed. At this time, as exaggeratedly shown in FIG. 11, the elastic blade 3A is bent and deformed into a state where it is bent sharply at the boundary portion 10A between the proximal end portion 7A and the distal end portion 8A. For this reason, the blade surface 11A opposite to the blade back surface 6A of the elastic blade 3A is in contact with the photoconductor 4A with a large area AR. The elastic blade 3A comes into contact with the surface of the photosensitive member in a belly state. In this case, the pressure per unit area of the elastic blade 3A with respect to the photoconductor 4A becomes small, and the ability to clean the photoconductor 4A, that is, the cleaning performance decreases. In particular, when the toner is a spherical toner having a high degree of circularity, the toner rotates when it comes into contact with the elastic blade 3A, and the toner enters between the elastic blade 3A and the surface of the photoreceptor while rotating, and then rubs the toner. There is a risk that it will come off, and the cleaning performance for the photoreceptor 4A will be significantly reduced.

  Therefore, a cleaning member 1B shown in FIG. 12 has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The cleaning member 1B also has an elastic blade 3B and a support plate 2B joined to each other. A groove 12B is formed in the elastic blade 3B, and the support plate 2B is fitted into the groove 12B. Is entirely joined to the support plate 2B. Since the elastic blade 3B of the cleaning member 1B also receives the reaction force N from the surface of the photoreceptor 4B, the elastic blade 3B tends to bend and deform in the arrow M direction. However, since the bottom surface of the groove 12B of the elastic blade 3B is abutted against and joined to the front end surface 9B of the support plate 2B, when the elastic blade 3B tries to bend and deform in the direction of arrow M, the bottom surface of the groove 12B is elastic. It is received by the front end surface 9B of the blade 2B. For this reason, the elastic blade 3B is not bent and deformed so as to be locally bent as in the elastic blade 3A shown in FIG. 11, and the blade surface 11B does not contact the surface of the photoreceptor in a particularly large area.

  However, since the back surface 13B of the support plate 2B fitted in the groove 12B is also joined to the surface 14B of the groove 12B of the elastic blade 3B, when the elastic blade 3B attempts to bend and deform in the arrow M direction, the surface of the groove 12B. 14B cannot slide in the arrow B direction with respect to the support plate back surface 13B. For this reason, the elastic blade 3B is prevented from being bent and deformed, and the amount of bending deformation of the elastic blade 3B is suppressed to a very small amount. Since the back surface 13B of the support plate is integrally joined to the surface 14B of the groove 12B of the elastic blade 3B, the bending deformation of the elastic blade 3B is strongly suppressed. As described above, when the amount of bending deformation of the elastic blade 3B is reduced, the contact area of the elastic blade 3B with the surface of the photosensitive member is excessively reduced, which is opposite to the case of the example shown in FIG. It becomes impossible to contact the surface with uniform pressure. The contact pressure of the elastic blade 3B against the surface of the photosensitive member is not constant over the longitudinal direction (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 12) and varies greatly. As a result, the removal efficiency of the transfer residual toner by the elastic blade 3B is lowered, and particularly when the toner is made of spherical toner, the cleaning performance of the cleaning member 1B is significantly reduced.

  As described above, in order to improve the cleaning performance of the photosensitive member surface, the elastic blade is appropriately bent and deformed, the contact area between the photosensitive member surface and the elastic blade is set to an appropriate size, and the elastic blade with respect to the photosensitive member surface is set. 10 and the elastic blade must be brought into pressure contact with the surface of the photosensitive member with a uniform pressure. However, according to the cleaning member shown in FIG. 10, the contact area with the surface of the photosensitive member becomes excessively large and the unit area thereof is increased. The contact pressure becomes too small, and the cleaning performance for the photoreceptor is lowered. On the other hand, in the case of the cleaning member shown in FIG. 12, the elastic blade cannot be sufficiently bent and deformed, and the elastic blade cannot uniformly contact the surface of the photoreceptor, and the cleaning performance with respect to the surface of the photoreceptor is also lowered. This is also true when the object to be cleaned is something other than the photoreceptor.

JP 2000-147970 A

  An object of the present invention is to increase the contact pressure of the elastic blade against the object to be cleaned, and to press the elastic blade against the object to be cleaned with a uniform pressure, a cleaning device having the cleaning member, It is an object of the present invention to provide a process cartridge having a cleaning device and an image forming apparatus having the cleaning device or process cartridge.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cleaning member that includes a support plate and an elastic blade that are joined together, and that cleans the object to be cleaned by pressing the elastic blade against the object to be cleaned. When the surface of the support plate facing the body is the surface of the support plate and the surface of the elastic blade opposite to the side facing the body to be cleaned is the blade back surface, the elastic blade is the base end side of the blade back surface. And a reinforcing elastic body is bonded to the tip side of the back surface of the blade that is not bonded to the surface of the support plate and the tip surface of the support plate. A member is proposed (claim 1).

  Further, in the cleaning member according to claim 1, when the surface of the support plate opposite to the surface of the support plate is the back surface of the support plate, the region facing the back surface of the support plate has an elastic blade and a reinforcing elastic body. It is advantageous if neither part is arranged (claim 2).

  Further, in the cleaning member according to claim 1 or 2, it is advantageous that the reinforcing elastic body is formed of a plate-like elastic body (claim 3).

  In the cleaning member according to claim 1 or 2, it is advantageous that the reinforcing elastic body is made of an elastic adhesive (claim 4).

  Furthermore, in the cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 4, it is advantageous that the width of the reinforcing elastic body is substantially constant over the longitudinal direction of the cleaning member (claim 5).

  In the cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 5, it is advantageous that the width of the reinforcing elastic body is set to be smaller than the width of the tip side portion of the back surface of the blade. 6).

Furthermore, in the cleaning member according to claim 6, the thickness of the elastic blade is t ₁ , the total thickness of the elastic blade and the thickness of the reinforcing elastic body is t ₂ , When the thickness is t ₃ , it is advantageous to set each thickness so as to satisfy t ₃ + t ₁ ≧ t ₂ > t ₁ (Claim 7).

Further, the cleaning member according to the claim 6, the thickness of the elastic blade t _1, t ₂ the total thickness of the combined thickness of the thickness and the reinforcing elastic member of the elastic _blade, the support plate It is advantageous that each thickness is set so as to satisfy t ₃ + t ₁ ≦ t ₂ when the thickness is t ₃ (claim 8).

The cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the surface of the elastic blade facing the object to be cleaned is a blade surface, and the blade surface and the elastic blade are in contact with the surface of the object to be cleaned. An angle formed by a tangent drawn to the position, θ ₁ , a line connecting the upper end of the rear end surface of the reinforcing elastic body facing the front end surface of the support plate and the pressure contact portion of the elastic blade against the object to be cleaned, and the blade surface when the angle was theta ₂ formed by the, it is advantageous to configure each angle so as to satisfy θ ₁ ≦ θ ₂ (claim 9).

  In the cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 9, it is advantageous that the JIS A hardness of the reinforced elastic body is set to be greater than or equal to the JIS A hardness of the elastic blade. Item 10).

  Further, in the cleaning member according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 5 to 9, it is advantageous that the reinforcing elastic body is made of a metal foil (claim 11).

  Furthermore, in the cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 11, it is advantageous that the elastic blade has a JIS A hardness of 65 ° to 80 ° (claim 12).

  In the cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 12, the rebound resilience coefficient of the elastic blade at room temperature (24 ° C ± 3 ° C) is 30% or less, and the temperature changes from 10 ° C to 40 ° C. The rate of change of the rebound resilience coefficient of the accompanying elastic blade is advantageously 350% or less (claim 13).

  The cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the reinforcing member is bonded to the surface of the reinforcing elastic body opposite to the surface bonded to the back surface of the blade and to the tip surface of the support plate. It is advantageous to have a member (claim 14).

  The cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising a reinforcing member joined to the rear end surface of the reinforcing elastic body facing the front end surface of the support plate and the back surface of the support plate. (Claim 15).

  Furthermore, in the cleaning member according to claim 14 or 15, it is advantageous that the Young's modulus of the reinforcing member is set larger than the Young's modulus of the reinforcing elastic body (Claim 16).

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposes a cleaning device comprising the cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 16 (claim 17).

  In order to achieve the above object, at least the cleaning device according to claim 17 and an image carrier to be cleaned by the cleaning device are integrally assembled and attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus main body. A process cartridge that can be mounted is proposed (claim 18).

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposes an image forming apparatus comprising the cleaning device according to claim 17 (claim 19).

  Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposes an image forming apparatus comprising the process cartridge according to claim 18 (claim 20).

  According to the present invention, the contact pressure of the elastic blade with the object to be cleaned can be increased, and the elastic blade can be brought into pressure contact with the object to be cleaned with a uniform pressure, so that the cleaning performance for the object to be cleaned can be improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of an image forming apparatus, and an image carrier made up of a drum-shaped photoconductor 4 is disposed in the main body 15. The photosensitive member 4 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow A, and at this time, the surface of the photosensitive member is charged to a predetermined polarity by the charging device 16. The charged surface is irradiated with light-modulated laser light L emitted from the exposure device 17, whereby an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoreceptor 4. This electrostatic latent image is visualized as a toner image by the developing device 18.

  On the other hand, a paper feeding device 21 having a paper feeding cassette 19 and a paper feeding roller 20 is disposed in a lower area in the image forming apparatus main body 15, and the recording paper P stored in the paper feeding cassette 19 is fed. It is sent out in the direction of arrow C by the rotation of the roller 20. The recording paper P is wound around a pair of support rollers 22 and 24 and is fed between a transfer belt 23 that is rotationally driven in the direction of an arrow D and the photosensitive member 4. At this time, the recording paper P is applied to the support roller 22 that also serves as a transfer roller. The toner image on the photoconductor 4 is transferred onto the recording paper P by applying the transfer voltage. The recording paper P to which the toner image has been transferred is further carried on the transfer belt 23 and conveyed, and passes through the fixing device 25. At this time, the toner image on the recording paper P is fixed on the recording paper. The recording paper P that has passed through the fixing device 25 is discharged onto a paper discharge tray 26 outside the image forming apparatus main body. Toner and paper dust adhering to the transfer belt 23 are removed by a belt cleaning device 27.

  Untransferred toner remaining on the photosensitive member 4 without being transferred to the recording paper P is scraped and removed from the surface of the photosensitive member 4 by the cleaning member 1 of the cleaning device 28. The toner removed from the photoreceptor 4 is transported outside the casing by a toner transport member 30 disposed in the casing 29 of the cleaning device 28. The surface of the photosensitive member whose surface has been cleaned by the cleaning device 28 is subjected to a charge removing action by the charge removing lamp 31, and its surface potential is initialized.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cleaning member 1 of the above-described cleaning device 28 includes a support plate 2 and an elastic blade 3 bonded to each other. As shown in FIG. 3, the support plate 2 is formed in a thin plate shape elongated in the longitudinal direction LL, and is made of a highly rigid material such as metal or hard resin. The elastic blade 3 is made of an elastic material such as polyurethane elastomer. As shown in FIG. 1, the base end portion 32 of the support plate 2 is fixed to the casing 29 of the cleaning device 28, and as shown in FIG. 2, the tip edge portion of the elastic blade 3 constitutes an example of a member to be cleaned. 4, the transfer residual toner T adhering to the surface of the photoconductor moving in the direction of arrow A is removed, and the photoconductor is cleaned. The elastic blade 3 is in pressure contact with the surface of the photosensitive member 4 in a counter-oriented posture with respect to the moving direction of the photosensitive member 4, that is, the arrow A direction.

  In the cleaning member 1 of this example, the base end portion 32 of the support plate 3 is fixed to the casing 29 of the cleaning device 28 so that the cleaning member 1 can swing in the direction indicated by the arrow E in FIG. The cleaning member 1 can be supported on the casing 29, and the cleaning member 1 can be supported on the casing 29 so that the cleaning member 1 swings in the axial direction of the photoreceptor 4.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the surface of the support plate 2 facing the surface of the photoreceptor 4 constituting the member to be cleaned is defined as a support plate surface 5, and the support plate 2 on the opposite side of the support plate surface 5. This surface is the support plate back surface 13. Furthermore, the end surface on the free end side opposite to the base end portion 32 of the support plate 2 is referred to as the front end surface 9 of the support plate 2. Further, the surface of the elastic blade 3 on the side facing the photosensitive member 4, which is an example of the member to be cleaned, is a blade surface 11, and the surface of the elastic blade 3 on the side opposite to the side facing the member to be cleaned is a blade back surface 6. . Further, when the portion of the blade back surface 6 away from the photoreceptor surface is a base end portion 7 of the blade back surface 6 and the portion close to the photoreceptor surface is a tip side portion of the blade back surface 6, The elastic blade 3 has only the base end side portion 7 of the blade back surface 6 joined to the support plate surface 5 and the tip side portion 8 of the blade back surface 6 not joined to the support plate surface 5 and the support plate 2. A reinforced elastic body 41 is joined to the front end surface 9 of the rim. In the cleaning member 1 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the reinforcing elastic body 41 is formed of a plate-like elastic body. Such a plate-like elastic body can be composed of the same material as that of the elastic blade 3, but rubber materials such as inexpensive natural rubber, styrene rubber, and butadiene rubber can also be used.

  In order to join the support plate 2, the elastic blade 3, and the reinforcing elastic body 41, an adhesive can be used, or it can be joined by integral molding. In the case of using an adhesive, for example, a plate-like molded product made of polyurethane elastomer is cut into a predetermined size to obtain a strip-like elastic blade 3, and a steel support plate is attached to the elastic blade 3 via the adhesive. 2 is bonded and integrated, and a reinforcing elastic body 41 made of a plate-like elastic body is integrally bonded to the support plate 2 and the elastic blade 3 by an adhesive. In order to integrally mold the elastic blade 3 to the support plate 2, for example, an adhesive is applied to the support plate 2, the adhesive is dried, the support plate 2 is set in a mold, A polyurethane elastomer-forming liquid is put into the mold and is cured by crosslinking, and the reinforcing elastic body 41 is integrally bonded to the support plate 2 and the elastic blade 3 by an adhesive.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning member 1 has its elastic blade 3 at its tip edge pressed against the surface of the photosensitive member, so that the elastic blade 3 receives a reaction force N from the surface of the photosensitive member and bends in the direction of arrow M. Deform. At this time, since the reinforcing elastic body 41 is integrally joined to the blade back surface 6 of the elastic blade 3 and the tip surface 9 of the support plate 2, when the elastic blade is bent and deformed, the reinforcing elastic body is also bent and deformed. . Therefore, the rear end surface 35 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 joined to the front end surface 9 of the support plate 2 exerts a force F on the front end surface 9 of the support plate 2, and this force F is received by the front end surface 9. Therefore, unlike the elastic blade 3A shown in FIG. 11, it does not bend and deform so as to be bent locally, and the contact area of the elastic blade 3 with the surface of the photoconductor becomes excessively large, and the elasticity with respect to the photoconductor 4 is increased. The pressure per unit area of the blade 3 does not become excessively small. The reinforced elastic body 41 functions as a heel and prevents the elastic blade 3 from being bent locally. In this way, the pressure per unit area of the elastic blade 3 against the photosensitive member 4 can be kept large, and high cleaning performance can be ensured. Moreover, since the elastic blade 3 is not joined to the back surface 13 of the support plate, there is nothing that prevents the elastic blade 3 from being bent and deformed unlike the elastic blade 3B shown in FIG. For this reason, the elastic blade 3 can be appropriately bent and deformed, and the contact area of the elastic blade 3 with the surface of the photoreceptor can be prevented from becoming too small. Further, since the reinforcing elastic body 41 is made of an elastic material such as rubber, proper bending deformation of the elastic blade 3 is not hindered. In this way, the elastic blade 3 can be brought into pressure contact with the surface of the photoreceptor with a uniform pressure over the entire longitudinal direction LL. The amount of bending deformation of the elastic blade 3 is prevented from being too large or too small, and even when the toner used in the image forming apparatus is a spherical toner, the transfer residual toner T adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor is efficiently removed. It can be done.

  In the cleaning member 1 shown in FIG. 4, the reinforcing elastic body 41 is made of an elastic adhesive. As the elastic adhesive, for example, one-component or two-component materials such as silicone-modified polymer, urethane, and epoxy can be used. A liquid adhesive that can be easily applied by a dispenser is used for the corner portion between the front end surface 9 of the support plate 2 and the blade back surface 6 of the elastic blade 3 that are integrally joined to each other, and the adhesive is cured after the application. By doing so, the reinforced elastic body 41 can be easily configured with an elastic adhesive. By using an elastic adhesive as the reinforcing elastic body 41, an appropriate bending deformation of the elastic blade 3 can be assured, and when the elastic blade 3 is cured and contracted after the adhesive is applied, the elastic blade 3 has a small contraction rate. The flatness and straightness can be maintained without being deformed into a wavy state. The other structure and basic operation of the cleaning member 1 shown in FIG. 4 are the same as those of the cleaning member shown in FIGS. Therefore, each part in FIG. 4 corresponding to each part given in FIG. 2 is given the same reference numeral as that given in FIG. 2, and the description of the same part is omitted.

  Further, in the cleaning member 1 of this example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, neither the elastic blade 3 nor the reinforcing elastic body 41 is arranged in the region S facing the support plate back surface 13. . The elastic blade 3 and the reinforcing elastic body 41 are not joined to the support plate back surface 13, and the elastic blade 3 and the reinforcing elastic body 41 do not exist in the region S facing the support plate back surface 13. Therefore, the elastic blade 3 can be configured with a smaller amount of material than the elastic blade 3B shown in FIG. 12, and the manufacturing cost of the elastic blade 3 can be reduced.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the width W <b> 1 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 is substantially constant over the longitudinal direction LL of the cleaning member 1. This configuration can also be adopted when the reinforcing elastic body 41 is made of an elastic adhesive as in the cleaning member 1 shown in FIG. 4 or a metal foil as will be described later. With this configuration, the elastic blade 3 can be more uniformly pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor over the entire longitudinal direction LL, and uniform cleaning performance can be obtained.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the width W <b> 1 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 is set to be smaller than the width W <b> 2 of the tip-side portion 8 of the blade back surface 6. For this reason, when the whole of the elastic blade 3 and the reinforcing elastic body 41 is considered as one elastic body, the thickness of the elastic body on the tip side becomes thin. Thus, when the cleaning member 1 removes the transfer residual toner T on the photoconductor 4 moving in the direction of arrow A, the elastic blade 3 can be prevented from causing stick-slip, and a stable cleaning performance is maintained. be able to.

  Further, in the cleaning member 1 shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the distal end surface 42 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 is formed in a tapered shape, and the thickness of the reinforcing elastic body 41 gradually increases toward the blade back surface 6 of the elastic blade 3. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the elastic blade 3 from being bent and deformed so as to be locally bent.

  5 and 6 show other examples of the cleaning member. The basic structure of the cleaning member 1 shown here is the same as that of the cleaning member shown in FIGS. Therefore, each part in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 corresponding to each part shown in FIG. 2 is denoted by the same reference numeral as that in FIG. 2, and description of the same part is omitted.

Here, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the thickness of the elastic blade 3 is t ₁ , the total thickness of the thickness of the elastic blade 3 and the thickness of the reinforcing elastic body 41 is t ₂ , and the support plate 2. when the thickness of the t _3, the cleaning member 1 shown in FIG. 5, so as to satisfy the _{t 3 + t 1 ≧ t 2} > t 1, the thickness thereof is set. With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the total thickness t ₂ of the combined thickness of the reinforcing thickness of the elastic body 41 of the elastic blade 3.

On the other hand, in the cleaning member 1 shown in FIG. 6, each thickness is set so as to satisfy t ₃ + t ₁ ≦ t ₂ . Thus, it is possible to increase the total thickness t _2, the area of the rear end face 35 of the reinforcing elastic member 41 facing the front end surface 9 of the support plate 2 can be increased, whereby the tip of the support plate 2 The surface 9 can receive the rear end surface 35 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 more reliably and stably. It is possible to more reliably prevent the elastic blade 3 from being bent and deformed in a locally bent state.

As shown in FIG. 6, the blade surface 11 which is the surface of the elastic blade 3 on the side facing the surface of the photoconductor 4 which is an example of the member to be cleaned, and the elastic blade 3 are pulled to a position in contact with the surface of the photoconductor. The angle between the tangent line and the blade surface 11 is θ ₁ , the line connecting the upper end of the rear end surface 35 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 facing the front end surface 9 of the support plate 2 and the pressure contact portion of the elastic blade 3 with respect to the photoreceptor surface. When the formed angle is θ ₂ , each angle is set so that θ ₁ ≦ θ ₂ is satisfied in the cleaning member 1 shown in FIG. Thus, as the angle θ ₂ increases, the area of the rear end surface 35 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 increases, and the elastic blade 3 is bent and deformed in a locally bent state for the same reason as described above. It can prevent more reliably. It is possible to prevent the elastic blade 3 from hitting the belly surface with respect to the surface of the photosensitive member, and also to prevent the elastic blade 3 from being caught, whereby a stable cleaning performance can be obtained. The angle θ ₂ is preferably 20 ° to 30 °.

On the other hand, the angle θ ₁ is preferably 15 ° to 25 °. If the angle theta ₁ is less than 15 °, the elastic blade 3 slides the tip edge portion at the anti-node per surface of the photosensitive member, there is a risk that the force damming the transfer residual toner T is eliminated. Conversely, if the angle θ ₁ is greater than 25 °, the elastic blade 3 may be caught by the frictional force between the surface of the photoreceptor and the elastic blade 3. When the elastic blade 3 is caught, not only cleaning failure occurs but also an electrophotographic system is not established and an abnormal state occurs.

Furthermore, it is preferable that the JIS A hardness of the reinforced elastic body 41 is set to be equal to or higher than the JIS A hardness of the elastic blade 3. As a result, it is possible to more reliably prevent the elastic blade from being bent and deformed in a locally bent state and the elastic blade from hitting the surface of the photoreceptor. The JIS A hardness can be converted into Young's modulus. When E is Young's modulus and Hs is JIS A hardness, the relationship between them is expressed by the following equation.
E = (7.32 + Hs) / (0.454 × (100−Hs)) [Mpa]

  Moreover, the reinforcement elastic body 41 can also be comprised with metal foil whose thickness is 0.05-0.5 mm, for example.

  An example of the relationship between the JIS A hardness of the elastic blade 3 shown in FIGS. 2 to 6 and the linear pressure of the elastic blade 3 against the surface of the photoreceptor is shown in FIG. The solid line a is an elastic blade having a JIS A hardness of 90 °, and the alternate long and short dash line b is an elastic blade having a JIS A hardness of 80 °. A broken line c indicates an elastic blade having a JIS A hardness of 70 °, and a two-dot chain line d indicates an elastic blade having a JIS A hardness of 60 °. From this figure, it can be seen that the linear pressure increases as the hardness of the elastic blade 3 increases. That is, when the hardness of the elastic blade 3 is high, a large linear pressure can be obtained even if the amount of biting of the elastic blade 3 into the photosensitive member 4 is slight. However, if the elastic blade 3 has a high hardness due to variations in the straightness of the elastic blade 3 and the photoconductor itself, uneven contact between the elastic blade 3 and the surface of the photoconductor occurs, and the linear pressure is high but the cleaning unevenness is high. Result. When the hardness of the elastic blade 3 is 80 ° or more, the elastic blade itself creeps and a high linear pressure is initially obtained, but the linear pressure decreases with time, and the elastic force of the elastic blade decreases. To do.

  On the other hand, when the hardness of the elastic blade 3 is low, the change in the linear pressure with respect to the amount of biting is reduced and the variation in the linear pressure is reduced. However, in order to increase the linear pressure, the elastic blade must be greatly bitten. If the hardness of the elastic blade 3 is low and the amount of biting is increased, the contact area of the elastic blade with the photoreceptor increases, and the pressure distribution becomes flat. For these reasons, the JIS A hardness of the elastic blade 3 is appropriately 65 ° to 80 °, and the linear pressure is preferably 40 to 120 gf / cm, and thereby high cleaning performance can be obtained.

  By the way, the rebound resilience of the elastic blade 3 has an effect of repelling the toner in contact with the elastic blade when the elastic blade 3 cleans the transfer residual toner. When removing the non-spherical pulverized toner from the surface of the photoreceptor, the larger the rebound resilience of the elastic blade, the more the toner can be rebounded, so that the cleaning ability can be enhanced. However, since the spherical toner sinks between the elastic blade and the photosensitive body before being rebounded by the elastic blade, even if the resilience of the elastic blade is large, the toner removal efficiency cannot be increased. Rather, the smaller the elastic resilience of the elastic blade, the more difficult it is for the spherical toner to pass through the lower surface of the elastic blade in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor, and the cleaning performance is improved. As described above, when a spherical toner is used as the toner, it is preferable to use the elastic blade 3 having low rebound resilience. In order to reduce the resilience of the elastic blade 3, for example, the hard segment of the polyurethane component constituting the elastic blade 3 may be increased.

  At that time, since the rebound resilience coefficient of the elastic blade 3 tends to increase as the temperature rises, it is necessary to take into account the rate of change of the rebound resilience coefficient accompanying the temperature change. According to the experiment, when the room temperature is 24 ° C. ± 3 ° C., the rebound resilience coefficient of the elastic blade at that room temperature is 30% or less, and the change in the rebound resilience coefficient of the elastic blade with the temperature change from 10 ° C. to 40 ° C. When the rate was 350% or less, high cleaning performance was obtained regardless of environmental changes.

  FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a change in the rebound resilience coefficient with respect to a temperature change. Among the elastic blades indicated by the curves e, f, g, and h in FIG. 8, the elastic blade indicated by the curve e has a rebound resilience coefficient of 30% or less at normal temperature and from 10 ° C. to 40 ° C. Since the rate of change of the rebound resilience coefficient accompanying temperature change is 350% or less, it is preferable to use such an elastic blade.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, when a reinforcing member 37 bonded to the surface 43 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 opposite to the surface bonded to the blade back surface 6 and the tip surface 9 of the support plate 2 is provided, The front end surface 9 of the support plate 2 receives not only the force F from the rear end surface 35 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 but also the force from the reinforcing member 37 fixed to the elastic blade 3, so that the support plate 2 has the reinforcing elastic body 41. The elastic blade 3 can be more reliably prevented from being bent and deformed so as to be locally bent.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, when a reinforcing member 38 joined to the rear end surface 35 of the reinforcing elastic body 41 facing the front end surface 9 of the support plate 2 and the back surface 13 of the supporting plate is provided, Since the force F from the rear end face 35 is also received by the reinforcing member 38, the elastic blade 3 can be more reliably prevented from being bent and deformed so as to be locally bent.

An adhesive may be used as the reinforcing members 37 and 38 described above. Moreover, if the rigidity of these reinforcing members 37 and 38 is low, the above-described action cannot be obtained reliably. Therefore, it is preferable to set the Young's modulus of the reinforcing members 37 and 38 to be larger than the Young's modulus of the reinforcing elastic body 41. More specifically illustrated, if the Young's modulus of the reinforcing elastic member 41 is 60 to 150 kgf / cm ^2, using an epoxy resin having a Young's modulus of 10000 to 30000 kgf / cm ² as a reinforcing member 37, 38. The reinforcing members 37 and 38 can be configured by applying such resin.

  Incidentally, in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the process in which the photosensitive member 4, the charging device 16, the developing device 18, the cleaning device 28, and the charge removal lamp 31 are integrally assembled in the unit case 39. The cartridge 40 is configured, and the process cartridge 40 is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus main body 15. The elements constituting the process cartridge 40 are not limited to the example shown in FIG. The point is that the process cartridge is integrally assembled with at least the cleaning device 28 having the cleaning member 1 configured as described above and the image carrier to be cleaned by the cleaning device 28. It is detachably mounted.

  The image carrier may be a photosensitive member as in the above-described example, or may be an intermediate transfer member to which a toner image is transferred from the photosensitive member. In the image forming apparatus having the latter intermediate transfer member, after the toner image on the intermediate transfer member is transferred to the recording paper, the transfer residual toner adhering to the intermediate transfer member is removed by the cleaning member 1 described above. . In addition to the photosensitive member and the intermediate transfer member, the transfer belt 23 shown in FIG. 1 can be used as the member to be cleaned by the cleaning member according to the present invention. The transfer belt 23 is cleaned by a cleaning device 27 having a cleaning member 101 configured similarly to the cleaning member 1 described above.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9, a plurality of process cartridges 40Y, 40C, 40M, and 40BK are juxtaposed, and a yellow toner image, a cyan toner image, a magenta toner image, and a black toner are arranged on the respective photoreceptors 4Y, 4C, 4M, and 4BK. The present invention can also be applied to an image forming apparatus that forms toner images and transfers these toner images onto a recording sheet carried and conveyed by a transfer belt 123 to obtain a color image. That is, the cleaning members 1Y, 1C, 1M, and 1BK of the cleaning devices 28Y, 28C, 28M, and 28BK of each process cartridge and the cleaning member 201 of the cleaning device 127 for the transfer belt 123 are configured in the same manner as the cleaning member 1 described above. It is.

It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows an example of an image forming apparatus. It is an enlarged view of the cleaning member shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the cleaning member shown in FIG. 2. It is a figure similar to FIG. 2 which shows the other example of a cleaning member. It is a figure similar to FIG. 2 which shows the other example of the cleaning member. It is a figure similar to FIG. 2 which shows another example of the cleaning member. It is a figure which shows an example of the relationship between the hardness of an elastic blade, and a linear pressure. It is a figure which shows an example of the relationship between the temperature of an elastic blade, and a resilience elastic coefficient. 1 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus having a plurality of process cartridges. It is a figure which shows an example of the conventional cleaning member. It is explanatory drawing which exaggerated and showed the bending deformation state of the elastic blade of the cleaning member shown in FIG. It is the schematic which shows the other example of the conventional cleaning member.

Explanation of symbols

1, 1Y, 1C, 1M, 1BK, 101, 201 Cleaning member 2 Support plate 3 Elastic blade 5 Support plate surface 6 Blade back surface 7 Base end side portion 8 Tip end portion 9 Tip surface 11 Blade surface 13 Support plate back surface 27 , 28, 28Y, 28C, 28M, 28BK, 127 Cleaning device 35 Rear end surface 37, 38 Reinforcing member 40, 40Y, 40C, 40M, 40BK Process cartridge 41 Reinforcing elastic body 43 Surface LL Longitudinal direction S region W1, W2 Width

Claims (20)

In a cleaning member that includes a support plate and an elastic blade that are joined to each other, and that cleans the object to be cleaned by pressing the elastic blade against the object to be cleaned, the surface of the support plate that faces the object to be cleaned is provided. When the surface of the elastic plate on the side opposite to the side to be cleaned is the back surface of the blade, the elastic blade is bonded to the surface of the support plate only on the base end side of the back surface of the blade, A cleaning member, wherein a reinforcing elastic body is bonded to a tip side of a blade back surface that is not bonded to a support plate surface and a tip surface of the support plate. 2. The elastic blade and the reinforcing elastic body are not disposed in a region facing the back surface of the support plate when the surface of the support plate opposite to the surface of the support plate is the back surface of the support plate. Cleaning member. The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing elastic body is a plate-like elastic body. The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing elastic body is made of an elastic adhesive. The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein a width of the reinforcing elastic body is substantially constant over a longitudinal direction of the cleaning member. The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein a width of the reinforcing elastic body is set to be smaller than a width of a portion on a tip side of the back surface of the blade. When the thickness of the elastic blade is t ₁ , the total thickness of the elastic blade and the thickness of the reinforcing elastic body is t ₂ , and the thickness of the support plate is t ₃ , t ₃ + t ₁ The cleaning member according to claim 6, wherein each thickness is set so as to satisfy ≧ t ₂ > t ₁ . The thickness t ₁ of the elastic _blade, t ₂ the total thickness of the combined thickness of the thickness and the reinforcing elastic member of the elastic _blade, when the thickness of the support plate and the t _3, t 3 ₊ t ₁ The cleaning member according to claim 6, wherein each thickness is set so as to satisfy ≦ t ₂ . The surface of the elastic blade facing the object to be cleaned is defined as a blade surface, and an angle formed between the blade surface and a tangent drawn at a position where the elastic blade is in contact with the surface of the object to be cleaned is θ ₁ , When the angle formed by the line connecting the upper end of the rear end surface of the reinforced elastic body facing the front end surface and the pressure contact portion of the elastic blade against the object to be cleaned and the blade surface is θ ₂ , θ ₁ ≦ θ ₂ is satisfied. The cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein each angle is set to each other. The cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein a JIS A hardness of the reinforcing elastic body is set to a magnitude equal to or greater than a JIS A hardness of the elastic blade. The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing elastic body is made of a metal foil. The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein the elastic blade has a JIS A hardness of 65 ° to 80 °. The rebound resilience coefficient of the elastic blade at room temperature (24 ° C ± 3 ° C) is 30% or less, and the rate of change of the rebound resilience coefficient of the elastic blade with a temperature change from 10 ° C to 40 ° C is 350% or less. The cleaning member according to any one of 1 to 12. The cleaning member according to claim 1, further comprising a reinforcing member bonded to a surface of the reinforcing elastic body opposite to a surface bonded to the back surface of the blade and a front end surface of the support plate. The cleaning member according to claim 1, further comprising a reinforcing member joined to a rear end surface of the reinforcing elastic body facing the front end surface of the support plate and a back surface of the support plate. The cleaning member according to claim 14 or 15, wherein a Young's modulus of the reinforcing member is set to be larger than a Young's modulus of the reinforcing elastic body. A cleaning device comprising the cleaning member according to claim 1. 18. A process cartridge in which at least the cleaning device according to claim 17 and an image carrier to be cleaned by the cleaning device are integrally assembled and detachably attached to the image forming apparatus main body. An image forming apparatus comprising the cleaning device according to claim 17. An image forming apparatus comprising the process cartridge according to claim 18.

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