JP2006243023A - Cleaning unit and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing the occurrence of toner leakage due to a variation in a positional relation between a cleaning blade and a seal and of improving the efficiency of recycle work and exchange work. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is equipped with the cleaning blade 1 which is fixed to a frame of a development unit and removes the residual toner on a photoreceptor, the seal 2 which prevents the toner from leaking from the end of the cleaning blade 1, and a seal bracket 3 which is fixed to the frame of the development unit in the state of holding the seal 2, The seal bracket 3 is made attachable to and detachable from the end of the cleaning blade 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and a printer, and in particular, cleaning that prevents toner leakage due to variations in the positional relationship between a cleaning blade and a seal and improves the efficiency of recycling and replacement work. The present invention relates to a unit and an image forming apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus that forms an image using an image carrier by an electrophotographic method is known. In this image forming apparatus, in the cleaning operation for removing the toner on the image carrier, the toner is removed and collected using a cleaning blade. The size and attachment position of the cleaning blade are set so as to come into contact with the image forming surface of the image carrier. On the other hand, a seal using a sponge material is brought into contact with the end portion in the longitudinal direction of the image carrier, thereby suppressing a problem that the toner removed by the cleaning blade leaks outward from the end portion of the image carrier. This seal is affixed to a frame member such as a developing unit with double-sided tape (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-101677

However, in the conventional technology in which a seal for preventing toner leakage is attached to the end of the image carrier, there is a gap between the cleaning blade and the seal due to variations in the material length of the cleaning blade and the accuracy of attaching the seal. Toner leakage may occur. For this reason, the seal is pressed against the cleaning blade, but if it is pressed too much, the movement of the cleaning blade is limited, and there is a possibility that defective cleaning of the image carrier may occur. Since the seal is pasted, it is difficult to perform the pasting again.
Further, in recent years, the life of developing units has been increased (example of developable number of sheets: 600K sheets). The cleaning blade is a part that is regularly replaced (eg, 60K sheets), but the fact is that the seal cannot be replaced because it is affixed with double-sided tape. Since the seal is not replaced, aging may occur, which may cause toner leakage. Further, even when the developing unit is recycled and regenerated, the work of removing the sticker attached with the double-sided tape causes a reduction in recyclability.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and can prevent toner leakage due to variations in the positional relationship between the cleaning blade and the seal and improve the efficiency of recycling and replacement operations. It is an object to provide a cleaning unit and an image forming apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, a cleaning unit according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a cleaning blade that removes residual toner on an image carrier by sliding contact with a rotating image carrier surface, and the cleaning blade. And a seal bracket that holds the seal, the seal bracket holding the seal against the end of the cleaning blade. And is supported by a fixing portion so as to be detachable.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a long hole is formed in the seal bracket so that a screwing position with respect to the fixing portion can be adjusted, and the mounting position of the seal bracket is set in the longitudinal direction of the cleaning blade. It is characterized by being able to be adjusted to.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a round hole larger than an outer diameter of a screw for fixing the seal bracket to the fixing portion is formed in the seal bracket, and an attachment position of the seal bracket is set in the cleaning section. It is characterized in that it can be adjusted in the longitudinal direction of the blade.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, the portion of the seal that comes into contact with the image carrier has a shape inclined with respect to the central axis direction of the image carrier. And
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, the seal bracket is marked with a mark indicating a mounting position of the seal.
An image forming apparatus according to a sixth aspect of the present invention includes the cleaning unit according to any one of the first to fifth aspects.

According to the present invention, since the seal bracket having the seal can be attached to and detached from the end portion of the cleaning blade, the efficiency of the seal replacement operation and the recycling operation is improved. Since the installation place of the seal is very narrow and replacement work is difficult, it has been deteriorated because it was not replaced at the time of regular maintenance, but in the present invention, it is possible to replace the seal with all the seal brackets. Therefore, replacement work is facilitated and toner leakage due to seal deterioration can be prevented. In addition, when recycling the development unit, there was a problem that the sticker removal work had to be peeled off because the double-sided tape had to be peeled off, and there was the problem that the tape residue remained. Man-hours can be reduced.
In addition, since the seal bracket having a seal can be adjusted with respect to the end of the cleaning blade by loosening a screw for fixing to the frame member (fixing portion of the unit main body, etc.), for example, when replacing the cleaning blade Even if there is a gap between the end of the cleaning blade and the seal due to the variation in accuracy, toner leakage can be prevented by shifting the position of the seal and screwing it with the gap removed.
Further, by inclining the portion of the seal that contacts the image carrier, it is possible to suppress the surface peeling of the image carrier due to contact wear and to prevent the occurrence of toner leakage while partially improving the toner recoverability. .
In addition, by attaching a mark indicating the position where the seal is attached to the seal bracket, the work of attaching the seal to the bracket is simplified.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part of a cleaning unit which is the best mode for carrying out the present invention. The image forming apparatus provided with this cleaning unit is an apparatus that forms an image using a photoconductor (image carrier) by an electrophotographic method. In order to remove residual toner on the photoconductor, a part of the developing unit is used. Cleaning means (cleaning unit) is provided. FIG. 1 shows a part of the configuration of the cleaning means.
As shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning unit has a cleaning blade 1 for removing residual toner on the photosensitive member by sliding contact with the surface of the photosensitive member rotating at the leading edge, and a longitudinal end of the cleaning blade 1. A seal 2 for preventing toner from leaking, and a seal bracket 3 fixed to a process unit, a developing unit, a cleaning unit, an apparatus main body, and other frame members (fixed portions) while holding the seal 2 are provided. is doing. The cleaning blade 1 is attached to and fixed to the blade bracket 4 in the form of a long and narrow rectangular plate corresponding to the length of the photoreceptor. The cleaning blade 1 is fixed to the frame member by screwing the blade bracket 4 to the frame member.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the seal 2 and the seal bracket 3. In this example, the seal 2 is a sponge material using foamed PUR, and is formed in an L shape so that it can be set in a state of close contact with the corner of the blade as shown in the figure. In this example, the seal bracket 3 is a thin metal plate and is formed in a rectangular shape as shown in the figure. The seal 2 and the seal bracket 3 are attached with a double-sided tape as shown in FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the seal 2 may be attached in accordance with the marking line (mark) 6 attached to the seal bracket 3, so that the attaching operation is simple.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the seal bracket 3 is provided with a long hole 3a in which a screw for fixing the seal bracket 3 to the frame member is disposed. The direction of the long hole 3a is configured such that the longitudinal direction thereof is the same as the longitudinal direction of the cleaning blade 1 (FIG. 1). As a result, the integral member composed of the seal 2 and the seal bracket 3 can be attached to and detached from the end of the cleaning blade 1, so that the efficiency of replacement work and recycling work is improved.
Since the installation place of the seal is very small and replacement work is difficult, it has been deteriorated because it has not been replaced at the time of regular maintenance. In this example, the seal is replaced with the seal bracket. Therefore, replacement work can be facilitated and toner leakage due to seal deterioration can be prevented. In addition, when recycling the development unit, the double-sided tape had to be peeled off because the sticker had to be peeled off, and there was a problem of tape residue remaining. In this example, the bracket integrated with the seal was removed. Therefore, the work man-hour can be reduced.
Further, by adjusting the positional relationship with respect to the frame member using the long hole 3a and the screw, the attachment position of the seal 2 with respect to the end of the cleaning blade 1 can be adjusted. Even if a gap is generated between the end of the cleaning blade 1 and the seal 2 as shown in FIG. 5 due to variations in the cleaning blade material length and variations in the sticking accuracy of the seal, in this embodiment, as described above, It is possible to set so as to prevent toner leakage by shifting the position of the seal 2 along the hole 3a and screwing it without a gap.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view when the members of FIG. 1 are attached to the photoreceptor. In this figure, a blade bracket 4 for holding the cleaning blade 1 is attached at a predetermined position facing the peripheral surface of the photoreceptor 5, and a seal bracket 3 for holding the seal 2 is adjacent to the end of the cleaning blade 1. It is attached. In this state, the portion of the seal 2 that contacts the photoconductor 5 is crushed as shown in FIG. 7, and the seal 2 is in contact with the photoconductor 5 in this way to prevent toner leakage.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view when a part of the seal 2 is inclined. A portion 2 a of the seal 2 that contacts the photoconductor 5 (FIG. 6) has a shape inclined with respect to the central axis direction of the photoconductor 5. The pressure at the contact portion between the axially inner portion of the surface of the photoconductor 5 and the seal 2 is reduced, and the pressure at the contact portion is increased toward the axial end portion of the photoconductor to improve toner recovery. The seal 2 is not originally in contact with the image forming position of the photoconductor 5, but has an aim of preventing toner leakage due to strong contact pressure and scraping of the surface.
In addition, although the case where the seal bracket 3 is provided with the long hole 3a has been described, as another configuration in which the seal bracket 3 can be adjusted to be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the cleaning blade 1, it is larger than the outer diameter of the screw. These round holes may be formed in the seal bracket 3.

1 is a perspective view of a main part of an image forming apparatus that is the best mode for carrying out the present invention. 2 is a perspective view of a seal 2 and a seal bracket 3. FIG. It is a perspective view at the time of sticking the seal | sticker 2 on the seal bracket 3. FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the marking line (mark) 6 on the seal bracket 3. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a gap between an end of the cleaning blade 1 and a seal 2. FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view when each member of FIG. 1 is attached to a photoreceptor 5. 3 is a side view of the cleaning blade 1, the seal 2, and the photoreceptor 5. FIG. It is a perspective view of the seal | sticker 2 when giving the inclination to the part which contacts the photoreceptor 5. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cleaning blade 2 Seal 3 Seal bracket 3a Long hole 4 Blade bracket 5 Photoconductor 6 Marking line

Claims (6)

A cleaning blade that removes residual toner on the image carrier by sliding contact with the rotating image carrier surface;
A seal that abuts the longitudinal end of the cleaning blade to prevent toner from leaking from the longitudinal end;
A seal bracket holding the seal, and
The cleaning unit, wherein the seal bracket is supported by a fixing portion so as to be detachable from an end portion of the cleaning blade.   A long hole is formed in the seal bracket so that a screwing position with respect to the fixed portion can be adjusted, and an attachment position of the seal bracket can be adjusted in a longitudinal direction of the cleaning blade. Item 4. The cleaning unit according to Item 1.   A round hole larger than the outer diameter of a screw for fixing the seal bracket to the fixing portion is drilled in the seal bracket so that the mounting position of the seal bracket can be adjusted in the longitudinal direction of the cleaning blade. The cleaning unit according to claim 1.   4. The cleaning unit according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the seal that comes into contact with the image carrier has a shape inclined with respect to a central axis direction of the image carrier.   The cleaning unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the seal bracket is marked with a position indicating an attachment position of the seal.   An image forming apparatus comprising the cleaning unit according to claim 1.

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