JP2009271171A - Device for manufacturing conductive endless belt - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for manufacturing a conductive endless belt, by which a conductive endless belt excelling in traveling stability is surely obtained without causing unwanted wrinkles or distortion due to contraction of a guide rib on the belt by making excessive tension in a length direction applied to the guide rib as small as possible, and stably withdrawing a belt body to a hot-melt adhesion operation part without elongating the guide rib. <P>SOLUTION: The device for manufacturing the conductive endless belt includes a guide rib guiding means 23 including: a guide rib holding plate 232 disposed to exist inside the belt body 11 laid on a belt holding body 21 near an outer circumferential surface of the belt holding body 21 and supporting the guide rib 12 from below; and a guiding roller 231 arranged above the guide rib holding plate 232 to be separated at a prescribed interval and forward-rotating in an extending direction of the guide rib 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a conductive endless belt (hereinafter simply referred to as “belt”) suitably used as a transfer belt, a transfer conveyance belt, etc. in an electrophotographic apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, particularly a color laser printer, an electrostatic recording apparatus or the like. The manufacturing apparatus).

  Conventionally, in an electrophotographic apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, first, a surface of a photosensitive member (latent image holding member) is uniformly charged, and an image is projected onto the photosensitive member from an optical system. An electrostatic latent image is obtained by an electrostatic latent image process for forming a latent image by erasing the charge of the toner, and then the toner image is formed by adhesion of the toner, and the toner image is transferred to a recording medium such as paper, thereby printing. The method to be taken is taken.

  Further, when forming a color image by the above method, usually, development is performed with toners of four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, and they are superposed to form one color image. When the toner of each color is directly transferred from the photoreceptor to a recording medium such as paper and the toner of each color is superimposed on the recording medium, color misregistration is likely to occur. In order to solve this problem, a dedicated photosensitive drum is provided for each color, and development is performed on each photosensitive drum to form an image with each color toner. The image of each color is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt (1). An intermediate transfer belt system is employed in which a full-color image is formed by subsequent transfer, and then this image is secondarily transferred to a recording medium such as paper. In this method, each color image is accurately superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt to form a full-color image and then transferred to a recording medium such as paper. Compared to the case where each color is individually transferred directly to a recording medium such as paper. As a result, color misregistration is unlikely to occur and a beautiful image in which colors are accurately reproduced can be obtained.

  In such an intermediate transfer belt system, a conductive endless belt based on a resin material or rubber is used as a transfer member (intermediate transfer belt) for transferring the toner image of each color. This conductive endless belt is usually driven to circulate through a drive member such as a drive roller. Here, in order to form a color image without causing color misregistration in the intermediate transfer belt by superimposing the toner images of the respective colors, no slippage or misalignment in the width direction occurs between the intermediate transfer belt and the driving member. It is important to accurately drive the circulation.

  At this time, for the purpose of preventing the belt from meandering by preventing displacement in the width direction with respect to the drive member, a guide rib having a shape that can be fitted to the drive member on a surface that contacts the drive member on the inner peripheral side of the belt main body. It is done to provide. Conventionally, this guide rib is generally provided on the inner peripheral surface of the belt body by bonding using an industrial double-sided tape from the viewpoint of workability, etc., in order to perform this bonding work more efficiently, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-118044 (Patent Document 1) proposes an apparatus that peels the adhesive part release paper of the double-sided tape near the adhesion position on the inner peripheral surface of the belt. However, since this apparatus has a complicated structure and requires a space for incorporating the apparatus on the inner peripheral side of the belt in the endless belt manufacturing apparatus, the work space in the manufacturing apparatus is pressed. There is a problem in that, for example, deterioration of the belt property is caused, and it is difficult to manufacture a belt having a short size, and the size of the belt that can be manufactured is limited.

  In addition, the method of bonding the belt body and guide rib using the double-sided tape described above requires a double-sided tape separately, which increases the manufacturing cost of the belt, and the used release paper after bonding is discarded as waste. Since it is discharged and its disposal cost is generated, improvement in cost and environment is also desired.

  Further, the belt manufactured by bonding the belt main body and the guide rib using the double-sided tape as described above has only the adhesive force of the double-sided tape because the belt main body and the guide rib are fixed. However, the belt main body and the guide rib may be peeled off when a large force causing the belt to skew is generated during use or when the temperature in the apparatus is remarkably increased.

  An effective means for firmly bonding the belt body and the guide rib is hot melt bonding. In this method, both can be firmly bonded and fixed, and the used release paper is not generated as waste as in the case of using a double-sided tape, and moreover a complicated apparatus for peeling the release paper However, the following problems still remain.

  In order to follow the bending applied to the belt during use, the guide rib is usually made of a material that is easily stretched, such as a known rubber or various elastomers. For this reason, when the guide rib is disposed in the conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus during the bonding operation, the guide rib is very easily stretched due to the weight of the guide rib or the tension (load in the extension direction) when retracted. In the bonding method using the industrial double-sided tape described above, the elongation was suppressed because the double-sided tape was applied to the bonding surface of the guide rib (particularly, the effect of the release paper was great). In bonding, there is no guide rib that prevents elongation (such as double-sided tape), so when the guide rib is placed in the retracted position, the guide rib is pulled by its own weight or retracted, and tension is always applied, causing elongation. Many. Therefore, the guide rib will be bonded and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the belt body with the tension finally applied (in the stretched state), and when the guide rib contracts after the elongation is relaxed, There is a possibility that inconvenient distortion or wrinkle is generated in the belt, or the guide rib is peeled off early during use.

  In addition, as another method of bonding the guide ribs without using double-sided tape, a belt and a guide rib coated with an adhesive are arranged between a cylindrical member having a different expansion rate and a tubular mold member, and the expansion rate of both members A method is disclosed in which the guide rib is pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the belt due to the difference between the two, and the both are bonded with an adhesive (Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-21880). However, this method has a long expansion / shrinkage cycle, and a problem remains in mass productivity.

  Therefore, in an apparatus for manufacturing a conductive endless belt having guide ribs by adhering and fixing guide ribs along the circumferential direction to the inner peripheral surface of the endless belt-shaped belt body, the length direction applied to the guide ribs when the guide ribs are retracted A measure for reducing the extra tension as much as possible and suppressing the extension of the guide ribs and retracting the guide ribs stably is desired.

JP 2004-118044 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-212880

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when manufacturing a conductive endless belt, the guide rib can be securely and firmly bonded to the belt main body by hot melt bonding, fluctuation in running state, environmental temperature change, etc. The guide rib does not peel off due to, and the extra tension in the longitudinal direction applied to the guide rib is reduced as much as possible, and the guide rib is stably pulled into the hot melt bonding work section without causing elongation. Providing a conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus that can reliably obtain a conductive endless belt that is excellent in running stability without causing inconveniences and distortion caused by the contraction of the guide rib. The purpose is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the inventor applies an endless belt-like belt body to a belt holder having an arcuate curved surface on at least a part of the outer peripheral surface, and the belt body and the arcuate curved surface of the belt holder. A guide rib is disposed between the belt body, a heating iron is pressed from the outside of the belt body to hot-melt the guide rib to the inner peripheral surface of the belt body, and the belt body and the guide rib are formed into an arcuate curved surface of the belt body. An electroconductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus for obtaining an endless belt in which guide ribs along the circumferential direction are bonded and fixed to an inner peripheral surface by repeating the hot melt bonding operation while intermittently feeding the belt holding body, A guide rib that is disposed inside the belt body that is hung on the belt holder near the outer peripheral surface and supports the guide rib from below. The guide rib guide means includes a holding plate and a guide rib that is disposed above the guide rib holding plate and spaced apart from the guide rib holding plate by a predetermined distance and rotates forward in the feeding direction of the guide rib. On the holding plate, the guide rib immediately before being sent between the belt holder and the belt main body is supported, and the guide roller is idled in the guide rib feeding direction, and the belt main body and the guide rib are fed. And the manufacturing apparatus of the electroconductive endless belt characterized by performing said hot-melt operation is provided.

  That is, in the conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, the belt main body is put on the belt holding body in a state where the guide ribs are arranged at predetermined positions on the inner peripheral surface, and the belt main body is placed on the arcuate curved surface of the belt holding body. The curved pressing surface of the heating iron is pressed from the outside, and the guide rib is hot-melt bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body, and this operation is performed while the belt main body and the guide rib are brought into the arcuate curved surface of the belt holding body. The guide ribs are hot-melt bonded over the entire inner peripheral surface of the belt body.

  In this case, in the manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the guide rib guide means composed of the guide rib holding plate and the guide roller is provided to effectively reduce the tension applied to the guide rib, and the guide rib is hot in a state where the guide rib is stretched. It is intended to prevent melt bonding. That is, when the guide rib is retracted to the bonding position on the inner peripheral surface of the belt body, the guide rib is supported by the guide rib holding plate to prevent the guide rib from being tensioned by its own weight, and the guide roller is moved in the guide rib extending direction. By rotating forward and idling above the holding plate, the guide rib is prevented from coming into contact with the guide rib guide means when it is extended and becoming tensioned as much as possible, and more actively with an appropriate force. The guide rib is extended. And, by these actions, extra tension in the length direction applied to the guide rib is effectively reduced, and it is possible to effectively prevent the guide rib from being bonded and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the belt body in the extended state. It is possible to prevent inconvenience of wrinkles and distortion caused by contraction of the guide rib after bonding, and peeling of the guide rib from the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body due to contraction.

  Thus, in the manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the guide rib can be hot-melt bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body without applying extra tension to the guide rib, and the guide rib and the belt main body can be connected without causing unnecessary elongation on the guide rib. It can be firmly bonded in a substantially integrated state. Therefore, the conductive endless belt in which the guide rib is bonded and fixed by the manufacturing apparatus of the present invention can reliably obtain stable running, and the running state may fluctuate such that a large force is generated to skew the belt during use. Even when the usage environment changes, such as a significant increase in temperature, the guide rib does not peel off from the belt body.

  As described above, according to the conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the belt main body and the guide rib can be firmly bonded and fixed by hot melt bonding, and the guide rib can be hot melted without causing unnecessary elongation. The endless belt can be bonded, and it is possible to prevent as much as possible the inconvenience of wrinkles and distortion on the belt due to the contraction of the guide ribs. A conductive endless belt having excellent running stability can be obtained without causing the guide ribs to peel off due to fluctuations in running conditions or changes in running environment such as temperature.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, an Example is shown and this invention is demonstrated more concretely.
1 to 3 show a conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus 1 according to the present invention. The conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus 1 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of an endless belt-shaped belt body 11 along the circumferential direction. The guide ribs 12 are bonded and fixed by hot-melt bonding to produce a conductive endless belt having guide ribs 12 for preventing meandering on the inner peripheral surface.

  The belt body 11 is made of a resin material in which additives such as a conductive material are appropriately blended with the base resin. The base resin, the conductive material, and the like used are not particularly limited, and a known material for a normal conductive endless belt can be used. The width, length, thickness, surface roughness, and the like can be appropriately set according to the specifications of the electrophotographic apparatus to which the conductive endless belt is attached.

  At least one guide rib 12 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body 11 so as to be fitted with the driving member and to suppress the deviation in the width direction between the belt and the driving member to prevent meandering during driving. Is. What is necessary is just to set suitably the dimension, a shape, a number, etc. by the relationship with a drive member. The material is not particularly limited, and known rubbers and various elastomers can be used for ordinary conductive endless belts. A known hot melt adhesive layer such as urethane hot melt adhesive can be formed on the adhesive surface of the guide rib 12 with the belt body 11, and a known primer layer is formed on the hot melt adhesive layer. It is optional.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, this conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus 1 is a circle in which ring-shaped grooves 211 (two in the figure) are formed at both ends of the outer surface along the circumferential direction. A columnar grooved drum (belt holder) 21 and a small-diameter stretching roller 41 arranged in parallel with the grooved drum 21 at a predetermined interval are provided. The belt main body 11 is stretched between the rollers 41 and held, and the guide ribs 12 are disposed in the grooves 211 and 211 of the grooved drum 21, respectively, and heating irons 31 and 31 having curved pressing surfaces 311 are provided. The guide ribs 12 and 12 are pressed from the outside of the belt body 11 and hot melt bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the belt body 11.

  The grooved drum 21 is a cylindrical drum, and a shaft body 22 protrudes from the center of one side surface along the axial direction. The shaft body 22 makes the center axis horizontal and supports the wall 24. Is rotatably supported. The grooved drum 21 is connected to a drive source (not shown) via the shaft body 22 and rotates intermittently at a predetermined speed counterclockwise in FIGS. Further, as described above, a total of two ring-shaped grooves 211 along the circumferential direction are formed on the outer peripheral surfaces of both ends of the grooved drum 21 as described above. These grooves 211 are slightly wider than the width of the guide ribs 12 so that they fit smoothly when the guide ribs 12 are arranged, and do not depend on the left and right (width direction) when retracted. Further, the depth is formed slightly shallower than the thickness of the guide rib 12, and when the guide rib 12 is disposed, the adhesive surface of the guide rib 12 slightly protrudes from the outer surface of the grooved drum 21. Thereby, the belt main body 11 and the guide rib 12 can be reliably pressed at the time of hot-melt bonding. In addition, when arrange | positioning the guide rib which formed the hot-melt-adhesive agent layer in the adhesive surface, it is preferable to set it as the depth of the extent which a hot-melt-adhesive agent layer protrudes from the grooved drum 21 outer peripheral surface at least.

  The guide rib 12 is retracted into the groove 211 by the rotation of the grooved drum 21 and is automatically arranged at a predetermined position on the inner peripheral surface of the belt body 11. In this case, it exists in the vicinity of the outer peripheral surface of the grooved drum 21 inside the guide rib 12 set between the grooved drum 21 and the stretching roller 41, and corresponds to the retraction position of the guide rib 12 (location where the groove 211 is disposed). Thus, a guide rib guide unit (guide rib guide means) 23 composed of a guide rib holding plate 232 on which the guide ribs 12 are placed and a guide roller 231 arranged above the guide rib holding plate 231 at a predetermined interval is disposed.

  The guide rib holding plate 232 is a rectangular flat plate-like member, is located in the vicinity of the retraction position of the guide rib 12 (location where the groove 211 is disposed), and is disposed with an inclination that slightly tilts the grooved drum 21 side upward. ing. The size and material of the holding plate 232 can be appropriately set according to the material and size of the guide rib 12 to be bonded, the specifications of the conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus 1, and the like, and are not particularly limited. The material is small, and the guide rib 12 is preferably made of a material that can slide smoothly without great resistance. For example, a metal or resin surface treated with fluorine coating, chrome plating, nickel plating, DLC, or the like is preferable. Can be used.

  The guide roller 231 is a thick disk-like member disposed above the guide rib holding plate 232 at a predetermined interval. On the outer peripheral surface of the guide roller 231, a groove is formed over the entire circumference so as to be slightly wider than the guide rib 12 and deep enough to prevent the guide rib 12 from being removed from the groove. As a result, the guide rib 12 placed on the guide rib holding plate 232 can be stably fed out without shifting from the bonding position. The diameter of the guide roller 231 can be appropriately set depending on the installation space in the apparatus.

  The guide roller 231 is always continuously rotated in a feeding direction of the guide rib 12 (clockwise in FIG. 2) by a driving source (not shown) connected via a shaft body 233 and is idle with respect to the guide rib. It has become. Thereby, when the guide rib 12 on the guide rib holding plate 232 is pulled into the grooved drum 21, it is possible to prevent excessive tension from being applied to the guide rib 12, and to stably retract the guide rib 12 into the groove 211. It has become.

  Here, the distance between the outer peripheral surface (the bottom surface of the groove) of the guide roller 231 and the upper surface of the guide rib holding plate 232 is not particularly limited, but is usually 0.1 to 1 mm larger than the thickness of the guide rib 12. Preferably, the guide roller 231 is slightly in contact with the guide rib 12 with which the guide roller 231 moves out with low resistance, or the guide roller 231 is idled in a non-contact state.

  The rotation speed of the guide roller 231 is preferably set so as to normally idle at a speed higher than the feeding speed of the guide rib 12, and can be set to about 20 to 50 rpm, for example. As described above, the guide roller 231 is allowed to idle in the forward direction at a relatively high speed, thereby effectively reducing the tension when the guide rib 12 is extended.

  Similarly to the guide rib holding plate 232, the material of the guide roller 231 can be appropriately set according to the material and size of the guide rib 12 to be bonded, the specifications of the conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus 1 and the like, and is not particularly limited. A material capable of smoothly idling without causing an unnecessarily large sliding resistance such that the guide rib 12 is strongly drawn out even when the guide rib 12 comes into contact is suitably used. Specifically, a polyacetal resin or the like can be suitably used. Examples of commercially available products include Duracon (trade name, manufactured by Polyplastics Co., Ltd.) and Delrin (trade name, manufactured by DuPont). In this case, if the sliding resistance between the guide rib 12 and the guide roller 231 is too large, the guide rib 12 is already drawn out from the rotational speed of the grooved drum 21 (the drawing speed of the guide rib 12), resulting in more slack than necessary. As a result, the guide rib 12 comes off the groove of the guide roller 231, the guide rib 12 is stretched due to the weight of the slack portion, or the grooved drum 21 cannot be stably fed into the groove 211. There is a risk of malfunction. On the other hand, if the sliding resistance is too low, a sufficient tension reducing effect cannot be obtained, and the elongation of the guide rib 12 may not be suppressed.

  The guide rib guide unit 23 may be disposed so as not to be buffered to the belt body 11 when the belt body 11 is stretched on the belt manufacturing apparatus 1, and the arrangement method, position, angle, and the like thereof are the same. It can be appropriately set according to the specifications of the device 1.

  The heating irons 31, 31 are substantially rectangular thick plate-like members, each of which has a front end surface grooved along the groove 211 in a state of being upright in a direction perpendicular to the central axis of the grooved drum 21. It arrange | positions so that the drum 21 outer peripheral surface may be opposed. The leading end surface of the heating iron 31 facing the outer peripheral surface of the grooved drum 21 is formed in a curved surface that approximates the arcuate curved surface of the grooved drum 21, and is located near the upper end and the lower end of the base end surface. A shaft 312 is projected.

  A convex pressing surface 311 that is slightly wider than the width of the guide rib 12 is formed along the outer edge of the one end surface formed on the curved surface, and the heating iron 31 is applied to the grooved drum 21. When pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the belt main body 11, the range of influence of heat applied to the belt main body 11 is minimized, and heat and pressure can be reliably transmitted to the bonding location.

  The pressing surface 311 of the heating iron 31 is curved to approximate the arcuate curved surface (outer peripheral surface) of the grooved drum 21. The radius of curvature of the pressing surface 311 may be generally the same as that of the arcuate curved surface, but the thickness of the belt main body 11 sandwiched between the heating iron 31 and the grooved drum 21 is taken into consideration. It is preferable that the radius of curvature of the outer peripheral surface of the grooved drum 21 is about 1% (0 to 1%) larger. If the radius of curvature of the pressing surface 311 is larger than the curvature radius of the outer peripheral surface of the grooved drum 21 by more than 1%, the pressure may not be sufficiently transmitted when the outer peripheral surface of the belt body 11 is pressed.

  The pressing range of the heating iron 31 by the pressing surface 311 is preferably an angle range of 120 degrees or less of the arcuate curved surface of the grooved drum 21. Further, the lower limit is not particularly limited, but is preferably set to 60 degrees or more from the viewpoint of productivity and the like. When a range exceeding the above angle range is pressed, the shearing force applied to the belt body at the time of pressing increases in the vicinity of the upper and lower ends of the pressing surface 311, and the belt body 11 is stretched, which is inconvenient for the belt after adhesive fixing. There is a possibility that wrinkles and distortion may occur, and when the pressing angle range is too narrow, the number of times of pressing may increase, which may cause inconvenient wrinkles and distortion on the belt, and may cause a decrease in productivity.

  The heating iron 31 is heated to a temperature at which hot-melt bonding is possible (usually about 110 to 130 ° C.). As the heating means, a known heating means such as a cartridge heater or a band heater can be adopted. The heating temperature is controlled using a known temperature measuring means. The heating means and the temperature measuring means may be appropriately selected depending on the heating temperature, the shape and size of the iron, and the like.

  The shaft 312 is slidably fitted to and supported by a linear bush 314 disposed on the support block 32, and the heating iron 31 advances and retreats along the axial direction of the shaft 312. Further, a coil spring 313 is wound around the shaft 312 between the support block 32 and the base end surface of the heating iron 31, and the heating iron 31 is formed by the shaft 312, the coil spring 313 and the linear bush 314. While absorbing the impact applied to the outer peripheral surface of the belt main body 11 during pressing, the outer side of the belt main body 11 can be pressed with an appropriate pressure.

  Further, the heating iron 31 is connected to the support block 32 by a linear guide 315, and rattling of the heating iron 31 during pressing is suppressed, so that the shaft 312 and the linear bush 314 slide smoothly. ing.

  The support block 32 is fixed to an XYZ axis stage 33 having a front / rear, left / right and height position adjusting mechanism, and according to the size and shape of the grooved drum 21 and the heating iron 31, the bonding position of the guide rib, etc. The front / rear, left / right and height positions of the heating iron 31 can be finely adjusted.

  Further, the XYZ axis stage 33 is fixed on the slide table 341 of the linear slide cylinder 34, and the slide table 341 advances and retreats against the grooved drum 21 by advancing and retreating on the linear slide cylinder 34. It has become. The heating iron 31 is integrally moved with the grooved drum 21 so as to advance and retreat so as to press the pressing surface 311 against the arcuate curved surface of the grooved drum 21. The heating iron 31 is heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater (not shown).

  The tension roller 41 is a cylindrical member having a smaller diameter than the grooved drum 21, and a ring-shaped groove 411 is formed along the circumferential direction over the entire circumference. One end of the stretching roller 41 is fixed to the support wall 42 so as to be freely rotatable, and is supported in parallel with the grooved drum 21 at a predetermined interval. The belt is circulated by the rotation of the grooved drum 21. It is designed to rotate following the movement. The groove 411 is formed so that the guide rib 12 bonded and fixed to the belt body 11 passes, and is formed at a position corresponding to the position where the groove 211 of the grooved drum 21 is formed. The size of the guide rib 12 is only required to be sufficiently larger than the width and thickness of the guide rib 12, and the guide rib 12 that is bonded and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the belt body 11 may pass through with a margin.

  The support wall 42 is fixed to a slide table 431 on the linear guide 43 and can be advanced and retracted on the linear guide 43 so as to face the drum 21 with a groove by a cylinder 44 connected via a joint 441. The cylinder 44 is fixed by a member such as an L-shaped angle.

  The endless belt manufacturing apparatus 1 of this example adheres and fixes two guide ribs 12 along the circumferential direction to the inner peripheral surface of the endless belt-shaped belt body 11 in accordance with the manufacturing method of the present invention. A conductive endless belt having 12 is manufactured. The operation will be described below.

First, as a preparation, the heating iron 31 is heated to a temperature at which hot melt bonding is possible.
On the other hand, the endless belt-shaped belt body 11 is stretched between the grooved drum 21 and the stretching roller 41, the support wall 42 on the slide table 431 is moved backward by the operation of the cylinder 44, and the belt body 11 is moved to the groove. A tension is stretched between the attached drum 21 and the tension roller 41 with a predetermined tension. Further, the slide table 341 on the linear slide cylinder 34 is moved, and the heating iron 31 is moved to a standby position (a position where the pressing surface 311 and the outer peripheral surface of the grooved drum 21 are appropriately separated), and the groove is moved by the XYZ axis stage 33. The groove 211 portion of the attached drum 21 is finely adjusted to a position where it can be pressed (initial position).

  In this state, the guide rib 12 is disposed in the groove 211 of the grooved drum 21 through the guide rib guide unit 23, and the grooved drum 21 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. When the guide rib 12 moves to the location where the heating iron 31 is disposed, the rotation is temporarily stopped. At this time, the guide rib 12 is placed on the guide rib holding plate 232 of the guide rib guide unit 23 and is guided in the width direction by the guide roller 231 that idles in the feeding direction of the guide rib 12 (clockwise in FIG. 2). The extra tension applied to the shake and the guide rib 12 is reduced as much as possible, and is stably fed into the groove 211.

  Next, when the slide table 341 moves in the direction of the grooved drum 21, the heating iron 31 adjusted to a predetermined position as described above advances toward the grooved drum 21, and the pressing surface 311 of the heating iron 31 moves to the groove. It abuts on the belt body 11 on the attached drum 21 from the outside. In this way, the pressing surface 311 is pressed from the outside of the belt main body 11 for a predetermined time to be heated, and the guide rib 12 is hot-melt bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body 11, and then the heating iron 31 is moved to the standby position. Retreat and complete one glue operation. When the heating iron 31 advances and the pressing surface 311 contacts the outside of the belt body 11 (the outer peripheral surface of the grooved drum 21), the shaft 312 and the linear bush 314 slide and the coil spring 313 is moved. The impact is applied to the grooved drum 21 and the heating iron 31 by contraction and the heating iron is pressed against the repulsive force at a predetermined constant pressure.

  After the one bonding operation is completed, the grooved drum 21 is rotated for a predetermined angle, and the next bonding processing portion of the belt main body 11 is sent to the position where the heating iron 31 is disposed. While being sent to the position where the heating iron 31 is disposed, the guide rib 12 is further fed from the guide rib guide unit 23 into the groove 211 of the grooved drum 21. Then, after the belt main body 11 and the guide rib 12 are fed by a predetermined length, the rotation of the grooved drum 21 stops, the heating iron 31 advances, and the belt main body 11 and the guide rib 12 are hot-melt bonded. By repeating the bonding operation, a conductive endless belt is obtained in which the guide ribs 12 are hot-melt bonded over the entire inner peripheral surface of the belt body 11.

  As described above, according to the conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present example, the grooved drum 21 with the belt body 11 is intermittently rotated by a predetermined angle while the guide rib 12 is retracted to perform the hot melt bonding operation. By repeatedly fixing the guide rib 12 over the entire circumference of the inner peripheral surface of the belt body 11 by repeating a predetermined number of times, it is possible to easily and reliably obtain a conductive endless belt in which the guide rib 12 is bonded and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the belt body 11. Can do.

  In this case, since the guide rib 12 is hot-melt bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body 11, the guide rib 12 is firmly bonded in a substantially integrated state, and a large force is generated to skew the belt during use. The guide rib 12 is not peeled off from the belt body 11 even when the use environment changes such as fluctuations in the running state or a significant increase in temperature.

  When the guide rib 12 is hot-melt bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body 11, the belt main body 11 and the guide rib 12 are disposed on the outer peripheral surface (arc-shaped curved surface) of the grooved drum 21 (belt holder). Since the curved pressing surface 311 of the heating iron 31 is pressed from the outside of the belt main body 11 and heated, the guide ribs are surely and satisfactorily produced without causing inconvenient wrinkles and distortions in the hot melt bonding operation. 12 can be bonded and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body 11. By repeating the hot melt bonding operation while feeding the belt body 11 and the guide rib 12 to the hot melt application location of the grooved drum 21, the hot melt bonding is surely and efficiently performed over the entire circumference of the belt. The conductive endless belt having good durability and running performance can be obtained reliably and efficiently.

  Furthermore, in the manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment, a guide rib guide unit (guide rib guide means) 23 composed of the guide rib holding plate 232 and the guide roller 231 is provided, and the tension applied to the guide rib 12 is effectively reduced. The hot melt bonding is prevented from being performed in a state where the guide rib 12 is stretched. That is, when the guide rib 12 is retracted to the bonding position on the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body 11, the guide rib 12 is supported by the guide rib holding plate 232 to prevent the guide rib 12 from being tensioned by its own weight, and the guide roller 231. By rotating the guide rib 12 forward in the feeding direction of the guide rib 12 and causing it to idle above the holding plate 232, it is possible to prevent as much as possible that the guide rib 12 is brought into contact with the guide rib guide unit 23 and tension is applied when the guide rib 12 is fed out. In addition, the guide rib 12 is actively fed out with an appropriate force. By these actions, extra tension in the length direction applied to the guide rib 12 is effectively reduced, and the guide rib 12 is effectively prevented from being bonded and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the belt body 11 in an extended state. It is possible to prevent inconvenience of wrinkles and distortion of the belt caused by contraction of the guide rib 12 after bonding, and peeling of the guide rib 12 from the inner peripheral surface of the belt main body 11 due to contraction. is there.

  Thus, in the manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the guide rib 12 can be hot-melt bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the belt body 11 without applying extra tension, and the guide rib 12 does not cause unnecessary elongation. 12 and the belt body 11 can be firmly bonded in a substantially integrated state. As a result, the conductive endless belt having the guide ribs 12 bonded and fixed by the manufacturing apparatus 1 can reliably perform stable traveling and fluctuations in traveling state such as a large force that causes the belt to skew during use. The guide rib 12 does not peel from the belt main body 11 even when the usage environment changes such as the occurrence of a problem or a significant increase in temperature.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said Example, The structure of each part, a shape, arrangement | positioning, a combination, etc. can be changed suitably. For example, in the above embodiment, the grooved drum 21 is used as the belt holder, but the belt holder is not necessarily a drum-like member as long as it has an arcuate curved surface on at least a part of its outer surface. There is no need. In addition, the belt main body 11 is sent by intermittently rotating the grooved drum (belt holder) 21. However, the belt holder is fixed to a support wall or the like, and the stretching roller 41 is connected to the drive source. The belt main body 11 can be moved by rotating the belt main body 11 or by additionally providing a moving roller for the belt main body 11, and other configurations are within the scope of the present invention. It can be changed appropriately.

It is a schematic side view which shows the electroconductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus concerning this invention. It is an enlarged view which shows the principal part of FIG. It is a schematic top view which shows the principal part of the same electroconductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Endless belt manufacturing apparatus 11 Belt main body 12 Guide rib 21 Grooved drum (belt holding body)
211 Groove 22 Shaft 23 Guide rib guide unit (guide rib guide means)
231 Guide roller 232 Guide rib holding plate 233 Shaft body 24 Support wall 31 Heating iron 311 Press surface 312 Shaft 313 Coil spring 314 Linear bush 315 Linear guide 32 Support block 33 XYZ axis stage 34 Linear slide cylinder 341 Slide table 41 Stretch roller 411 Groove 42 Support Wall 43 Linear Guide 431 Slide Table 44 Cylinder 441 Joint

Claims (4)

An endless belt-like belt body is applied to a belt holder having an arcuate curved surface on at least a part of the outer peripheral surface, and a guide rib is disposed between the belt body and the arcuate curved surface of the belt holder, The hot melt bonding operation is performed by pressing the heating iron from the outside to hot melt bond the guide rib to the inner peripheral surface of the belt body and intermittently feeding the belt body and the guide rib to the arcuate curved surface of the belt body. Repetitively, a conductive endless belt manufacturing apparatus for obtaining an endless belt in which guide ribs along the circumferential direction are bonded and fixed to the inner peripheral surface,
A guide rib holding plate that is disposed inside the belt main body that is hung on the belt holding body in the vicinity of the outer peripheral surface of the belt holding body and supports the guide rib from below, and a predetermined interval above the guide rib holding plate. A guide rib guide means provided with a guide roller that is spaced apart and rotates in the forward direction of the guide rib;
On the guide rib holding plate of the guide rib guide means, the belt is supported while supporting the guide rib immediately before being sent between the belt holding body and the belt main body, and while the guide roller is idled in the guide rib feeding direction, the belt An apparatus for manufacturing a conductive endless belt, characterized by performing a feeding operation between a main body and a guide rib and the hot melt operation.   The belt holding body is a grooved drum in which a groove in which the guide rib is disposed is formed over the entire outer peripheral surface and intermittently rotates at a predetermined speed, and the belt main body and the guide rib are separated by the intermittent rotation. The apparatus for producing a conductive endless belt according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is wound up and sent to a pressing portion of the heating iron.   The apparatus for manufacturing a conductive endless belt according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the guide roller idles at a peripheral speed faster than a feeding speed of the guide rib.   The distance between the upper surface of the guide rib holding plate and the outer peripheral surface of the guide roller is set to be 0.1 to 1 mm larger than the thickness of the guide rib. The apparatus for manufacturing a conductive endless belt according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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