JP2007003959A - Blade member for electrophotographic apparatus, and toner cartridge using same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To hardly separate a blade and a blade support member and to prolong the life of a blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus by improving the bonding strength between the blade and the blade support member, regardless of the fact that the blade and the blade support member are bonded with an adhesive. <P>SOLUTION: In a cleaning blade member 15, the base part of a blade 15a is bonded to a blade member 15b with an adhesive 20. At least, one through-hole 21 is formed in the region R of the blade support member 15b overlapped with the blade 15a. The adhesive 20 is arranged not only between the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b but also in the through-hole 21. The opening of the through-hole 21 on the side opposite to the blade 15a is larger than that on the side of the blade 15a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus and a toner cartridge using the same.

  For example, FIG. 6 of Patent Document 1 below includes a cleaning blade made of an elastic material as a blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus, and a blade support member made of a rigid material such as a metal that supports the cleaning blade, A cleaning blade having a base portion bonded to the blade support member with an adhesive is disclosed.

  In the conventional blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus, a hole or the like is not formed in a base portion of the blade in a region overlapping with the cleaning blade in the blade support member, and this region simply forms a flat surface.

The above point is the same not only in the case of the cleaning blade that scrapes off the residual toner on the electrophotographic photosensitive member but also in the case of the doctor blade that regulates the toner layer thickness of the developing roller.
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-42117

  In the conventional electrophotographic apparatus blade member, since the blade and the blade support member are bonded to each other, it is not necessary to mold with a mold or the like. Therefore, the blade is held by the mold or the like so that the blade is sandwiched between the blade support member and the blade. Compared to the case of molding (for example, FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1), the cost can be reduced, which is preferable.

  However, in the conventional blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus, it is difficult to obtain a sufficient bonding strength between the blade and the blade support member, the two are easily peeled off, and the life thereof is short.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and enhances the bonding strength between the blade and the blade support member even though the blade and the blade support member are bonded with an adhesive. An object of the present invention is to provide a blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus capable of extending the service life, and a toner cartridge using the same.

  In order to solve the above problems, a blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a blade and a blade support member that supports the blade, and the base of the blade is an adhesive to the blade support member. In the blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus bonded in the step, at least one through hole is formed in a region of the blade support member that overlaps the blade, and the adhesive is not only between the blade and the blade support member. It is also arranged in the at least one through hole, and the opening of the at least one through hole on the side opposite to the blade is larger than the size of the opening on the blade side of the through hole or the middle part of the through hole. is there.

  According to the first aspect, since the blade and the blade support member are bonded with the adhesive, it is not necessary to perform molding with a mold or the like, so that the cost can be reduced. And in this 1st aspect, since the adhesive agent in a through-hole bears an effect | action like the retaining protrusion which tries to prevent peeling between a braid | blade and a braid | blade support member, between a braid | blade and a braid | blade support member. The bonding strength between them increases. Therefore, it becomes difficult for the blade and the blade support member to be separated from each other, and the life thereof is extended.

  The blade is made of an elastic material such as polyurethane or silicon rubber. The blade support member is made of a rigid material such as a metal plate such as a steel plate.

  The blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the adhesive member according to the first aspect, wherein the adhesive in the at least one through hole is sandwiched between the blade and the blade support member. It is continuous with the agent.

  According to the second aspect, since the adhesive in the through hole is continuous with the adhesive sandwiched between the blade and the blade support member, both are integrated, so the blade and the blade support This is preferable because the bonding strength between the members is further increased. However, in the first aspect, the adhesive in the through hole and the adhesive sandwiched between the blade and the blade support member may be separated.

  In the blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the blade is a cleaning blade that scrapes off residual toner on the electrophotographic photosensitive member.

  The third aspect is an example in which the first or second aspect is applied to a cleaning blade.

  In the blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the blade is a doctor blade that regulates the toner layer thickness of the developing roller.

  This 4th aspect gives the example which applied the said 1st or 2nd aspect to the doctor blade.

  A blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is a toner cartridge that can be attached to an electrophotographic apparatus main body, and includes the blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects. It is a thing.

  According to this fifth aspect, the life of the toner cartridge is extended by extending the life of the electrophotographic blade member.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to increase the bonding strength between the blade and the blade support member even though the blade and the blade support member are bonded with an adhesive, and it is difficult for the two to peel off. Further, it is possible to provide a blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus that can extend its life, and a toner cartridge using the same.

  Hereinafter, an electrophotographic apparatus blade member and a toner cartridge using the same according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram schematically showing main parts of a toner cartridge 1 and an electrophotographic apparatus (an electrophotographic copying machine, the same printer, etc.) equipped with the toner cartridge 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the electrophotographic apparatus includes an apparatus main body 2 and a toner cartridge 1 attached to the apparatus main body 2.

  The toner cartridge 1 mainly includes an electrophotographic photosensitive member 11, a charging roller 12 that charges the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11, a toner storage unit (not shown) that stores toner T, and toner in the toner storage unit. A developing roller (developing sleeve / developing cylinder) 13 that transports T and develops an electrostatic latent image, a doctor blade member 14, a cleaning blade member 15, and the like are provided.

  The doctor blade member 14 includes a doctor blade 14a that regulates the toner layer thickness of the developing roller 13, and a blade support member 14b that supports the doctor blade 14a. The cleaning blade member 15 includes a cleaning blade 15a that writes off residual toner on the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11, and a blade support member 15b that supports the cleaning blade 15a. The cleaning blade member 15 will be described in detail later.

  The apparatus main body 2 mainly includes a paper feed mechanism (not shown) for feeding the recording paper 16, a transfer roller 17 for transferring the toner image on the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11 to the recording paper 16, and the recording paper 16. An electrophotographic photosensitive member is provided with a fixing roller 18 for applying heat, a pressure roller 19 for pressing the recording paper 16 against the fixing roller 18, and an exposure light L such as a laser beam corresponding to graphic data to be printed. 11 is provided with an exposure unit (not shown) for irradiating 11.

  According to this electrophotographic apparatus, the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11 is first charged by the charging roller 12 while the toner cartridge 1 is mounted on the apparatus main body 2. Next, the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11 is exposed with the exposure light L, and an electrostatic latent image corresponding to graphic data to be printed is formed on the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11. The toner in the toner container is conveyed by the developing roller 13. At this time, the thickness of the toner layer of the developing roller 13 is regulated by the doctor blade member 14. The toner T conveyed by the developing roller 13 is given to the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11, and a toner image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image is formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11. This toner image is transferred onto the recording paper 16 by the transfer roller 17. Thereafter, the recording sheet 16 is conveyed by the fixing roller 18 and the pressure roller 19 while applying heat and pressure to the recording sheet 16, whereby the transferred toner image is fixed on the recording sheet 16. On the other hand, after the toner image is transferred from the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11 onto the recording paper 16, the toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member 11 is scraped off by the cleaning blade member 15 to prepare for the next charging by the charging roller 12.

  Next, the cleaning blade member 15 in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the cleaning blade member 15. FIG. 3 is a schematic view taken along arrow A in FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B ′ in FIG. 3. In addition, the C-C 'arrow view and D-D' arrow view in FIG. 3 become the same as FIG.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the cleaning blade member 15 includes the cleaning blade 15a and the blade support member 15b that supports the cleaning blade 15a. The blade 15a is made of an elastic material such as polyurethane or silicon rubber, for example. The blade support member 15b is made of a rigid material such as a metal plate such as a steel plate. In the present embodiment, the blade 15a is configured in a flat plate shape, and the blade support member 15b is configured in an L-shaped cross section using a plate member.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the base end portion of the blade 15 a is overlapped in the region R over the entire length direction, and the blade 15 a is formed in the entire region R (may be partial if necessary). And the blade support member 15b are bonded with an adhesive 20. As the adhesive 20, for example, an adhesive using ethyl cyanoacrylate, an adhesive using polymethyl methacrylate, or the like can be used. In general, the adhesive force of an adhesive is greater in the adhesive force to an elastic material such as polyurethane or silicon rubber than the adhesive force to a rigid material such as a metal plate such as a steel plate. Therefore, in general, the adhesive force of the adhesive 20 is greater in the adhesive force with respect to the blade 15a than in the adhesive force with respect to the blade support member 15b.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, three through holes 21 are formed in the blade support member 15 b in the region R overlapping with the blade 15 a. In the present embodiment, the three through holes 21 are respectively arranged at three locations on one end side, the center, and the other end side in the longitudinal direction. But in this invention, the number of the through-holes 21 may be one or more arbitrary numbers, and the position is not specifically limited.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the opening on the side opposite to the blade 15a of the through hole 21 (the opening on the left side in FIG. 4) is the opening on the blade 15a side of the blade 1 of the through hole 21 (see FIG. 4). 4 is larger than the opening on the right side. In the present embodiment, specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the through hole 21 is formed as a so-called countersink, and the dish side is the left side in FIG. 4.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the adhesive 20 is disposed not only between the blade 15 a and the blade support member 15 b but also in each through hole 21. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the adhesive 20 in the through hole 21 is continuously integrated with the adhesive 20 sandwiched between the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b.

  In FIG. 3, reference numerals 30 and 31 denote attachment holes for attaching the blade member 15b to the attachment base.

  According to the present embodiment, since the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b are bonded together with the adhesive 20, molding with a mold or the like is not necessary, so that the cost can be reduced. As can be understood from FIG. 4, in the present embodiment, the adhesive 20 in the through hole 21 acts as a retaining protrusion for preventing separation between the blade 15 a and the blade support member 15 b. Therefore, the bonding strength between the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b is increased. Therefore, the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b are not easily separated from each other, the life of the cleaning blade member 15 is extended, and the life of the toner cartridge 1 is extended.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, since the adhesive 20 in the through-hole 21 is continuous with the adhesive 20 sandwiched between the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b, both are integrated. Therefore, the bonding strength between the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b is further increased, which is preferable. However, in the present invention, the adhesive 20 in the through-hole 21 is not disposed between the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b in the vicinity of the periphery of the through-hole 21, so that the adhesive 20 in the through-hole 21 becomes the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b. It may be separated from the adhesive 20 sandwiched between the two. Even in this case, the bonding strength between the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b is increased as compared with the case where the through hole 21 is not provided.

  The shape of the through hole 21 may be, for example, a two-stage shape including a portion with a large left diameter in FIG. 5 and a portion with a small right diameter in FIG. 5 as shown in FIG. Also in this case, the opening on the side opposite to the blade 15a of the through hole 21 (the opening on the left side in FIG. 5) is more than the opening on the blade 15a side of the blade 1 in the through hole 21 (the opening on the right side in FIG. 5). The adhesive 20 in the through-hole 21 becomes larger and acts as a retaining protrusion that tries to prevent peeling between the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b.

  Moreover, the shape of the through-hole 21 is good also as a shape which made the right-and-left both sides a dish shape, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, and made the magnitude | size of the intermediate part small compared with the opening of both sides. Also in this case, the adhesive 20 in the through-hole 21 acts as a retaining protrusion for preventing separation between the blade 15a and the blade support member 15b.

  5 and 6 are schematic enlarged sectional views showing modifications of the cleaning blade member 15, and correspond to FIG.

  Although not shown in the drawing, in the present embodiment, the doctor blade member 14 is configured in the same manner as the cleaning blade member 15. That is, the doctor blade member 14 includes the doctor blade 14a and the blade support member 14b as described above, and the base portion of the blade 14a is bonded to the blade support member 14b with an adhesive and overlaps the blade 14a in the blade support member 14b. At least one through hole is formed, and the adhesive is disposed not only between the blade 14a and the blade support member 14b but also in the through hole, and the opening on the opposite side of the through hole to the blade 14a It is larger than the size of the opening of the through hole on the blade 14a side or the middle part of the through hole.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, similarly to the cleaning blade member 15, the doctor blade member 14 also increases the bonding strength between the blade 14a and the blade support member 14b, and thus the blade 14a and the blade support member 14b. It becomes difficult for the gaps to be separated, and the life of the doctor blade member 14 is extended.

  In the present invention, for example, only one of the doctor blade member 14 and the cleaning blade member 15 may employ an adhesive structure using the through hole as described above.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention and its modification were demonstrated, this invention is not limited to these.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram schematically illustrating a main part of a toner cartridge and an electrophotographic apparatus equipped with the toner cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a cleaning blade member in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic view taken along arrow A in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a schematic enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line B-B ′ in FIG. 3. It is a general | schematic expanded sectional view which shows the modification of a cleaning blade member. It is a general | schematic expanded sectional view which shows the other modification of a cleaning blade member.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toner cartridge 14 Doctor blade member 14a Doctor blade 14b Blade support member 15 Cleaning blade member 15a Cleaning blade 15b Blade support member 20 Adhesive 21 Through-hole

Claims (5)

In a blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus comprising a blade and a blade support member that supports the blade, wherein a base portion of the blade is bonded to the blade support member with an adhesive,
At least one through hole is formed in a region of the blade support member that overlaps the blade,
The adhesive is disposed not only between the blade and the blade support member but also in the at least one through hole;
The blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus, wherein an opening of the at least one through hole opposite to the blade is larger than an opening of the through hole on the blade side or an intermediate portion of the through hole.   2. The blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive in the at least one through hole is continuous with the adhesive sandwiched between the blade and the blade support member.   3. The blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the blade is a cleaning blade that scrapes off residual toner on the electrophotographic photosensitive member.   3. The blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the blade is a doctor blade that regulates a toner layer thickness of the developing roller.   A toner cartridge that can be attached to an electrophotographic apparatus main body, comprising the blade member for an electrophotographic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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