JP2010204396A - Developing device and image forming apparatus equipped with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a developing device capable of stably obtaining the contact pressure of a regulating blade with no need of adjustment, with simple device configuration, and to provide an image forming apparatus equipped with the developing device. <P>SOLUTION: The developing device 14 includes: a developing roller 141 which supplies liquid developer containing toner and carrier liquid to a photoreceptor 10 on which an electrostatic latent image is formed; a supply roller 142 which supplies the liquid developer to the developing roller 141; and the regulating blade 150 provided extending in the axis direction X of the supply roller 142, configured to regulate the amount of liquid developer on the supply roller 142. The regulating blade 150 is provided with an edge portion 151a coming in contact with the peripheral surface of the supply roller 142 and a mount surface 151b facing the flat part 161a of a mount base 161, on one surface part 151 thereof. The other surface 152 of the regulating blade 150 is pressurized toward the mount surface 151b by a leaf spring 171 provided extending in the axis direction X and fixed to the mount base 161. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing device used in a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, and a composite machine using the electrophotographic method, and an image forming apparatus provided with the developing device. The present invention relates to a developing device to which a regulating blade is attached and an image forming apparatus including the developing device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a liquid developing device includes a developing roller, a supply roller such as an anilox roller that supplies a liquid developer to the developing roller, a pumping roller, and a storage tank that stores the liquid developer. The liquid developer in the storage tank is pumped up by the pumping roller and supplied to the supply roller. When the liquid developer on the supply roller is regulated to a predetermined amount, it is supplied to the development roller. The liquid developer on the developing roller is supplied to the photosensitive drum, and the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum is developed by the liquid developer.

  A regulating blade is usually used to regulate the amount of liquid developer on the supply roller. For example, in Patent Document 1, the regulating blade is formed of a rubber blade-like member as an elastic body. Further, the regulating blade is disposed on one end side so as to be in contact with the rotation direction of the supply roller in the trail direction, and on the other end side, is attached and fixed to the developing container via a bracket. The liquid developer pumped up by the pump-up roller is conveyed to the supply roller, and the liquid developer on the supply roller is supplied to the developing roller after the excess liquid developer is regulated by the regulating blade.

  However, in the above-described prior art, the other end side of the regulating blade is fixed to the bracket with an adhesive, for example. One end of the regulating blade comes into contact with the circumferential surface of the supply roller, but the contact position of the regulating blade on the circumferential surface of the supply roller becomes unstable due to variations in the thickness of the rubber regulating blade and the variation in the amount of adhesive applied. . As a result, there is a variation in the contact pressure of the regulating blade against the peripheral surface of the supply roller, and the liquid developer on the supply roller cannot be accurately regulated to a predetermined amount. In addition, in order to accurately regulate the amount of liquid developer on the supply roller, it is necessary to provide a mechanism that adjusts the position of the regulating blade and corrects the variation in contact pressure, resulting in a complicated configuration of the apparatus. There was an inconvenience.

JP 2006-178224 A (paragraphs [0014] to [0019], FIG. 1)

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has a developing device capable of stably obtaining the contact pressure of the regulating blade without adjustment with a simple device configuration. An object is to provide an image forming apparatus.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a developing roller for supplying a liquid developer containing toner and carrier liquid to a latent image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, and supplying the liquid developer to the developing roller. In a developing device including a supply roller and a restriction blade that extends in an axial direction of the supply roller and restricts the amount of liquid developer on the supply roller, one surface portion of the restriction blade has the supply roller And the other surface portion of the regulating blade extends in the axial direction by a biasing member fixed to the device body. It is characterized by being pressed to the mounting surface side.

  According to this configuration, in the state where the mounting surface faces the flat portion of the apparatus main body, the regulating blade is pressed against the mounting surface side by the urging member, and the edge portion is brought into contact with the supply roller. Yes. By this edge portion of the regulating blade, the liquid developer on the supply roller is regulated to a predetermined amount and supplied to the developing roller. Then, the liquid developer on the developing roller is supplied to the image carrier, and the electrostatic latent image on the image carrier is developed by this liquid developer.

  In the invention according to claim 2, the urging member is formed of a plate-like spring that is longer than or equal to the regulating blade in the axial direction, and one end side of the mounting surface in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction. The restriction blade is pressed toward the other end side.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the biasing member presses the other surface portion linearly in the axial direction on one end side of the mounting surface, and the biasing force on the other end side of the mounting surface. The member has a plurality of protruding piece portions protruding toward the other surface portion, and the plurality of protruding side portions press the other surface portion.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of positioning projections are provided in the axial direction on the flat surface portion of the apparatus main body, and a positioning hole for fitting the positioning projections is provided in the regulating blade. It is characterized by that.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus equipped with the developing device having the above configuration.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the state where the mounting surface faces the flat portion of the apparatus main body, the regulating blade is pressed against the mounting surface side by the urging member, and the edge portion is supplied to the supply roller. It is made to contact. By this edge portion of the regulating blade, the liquid developer on the supply roller is regulated to a predetermined amount and supplied to the developing roller. Then, the liquid developer on the developing roller is supplied to the image carrier, and the electrostatic latent image on the image carrier is developed by this liquid developer. Therefore, with a simple device configuration, the variation in assembly can be reduced without adjustment, the contact pressure of the regulating blade can be stably obtained, and the amount of liquid developer on the supply roller can be regulated accurately. become.

  According to the invention described in claim 2, the urging member is formed by a plate-like spring that is longer than or equal to the regulating blade in the axial direction, and one end side of the mounting surface in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction and the other Since the pressure is pressed toward the end side, the regulating blade is securely held in the apparatus main body, and the contact pressure of the regulating blade can be stably obtained.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the biasing member presses the other surface portion linearly in the axial direction on one end side of the attachment surface of the restriction blade, and on the other end side of the attachment surface of the restriction blade. The urging member has a plurality of projecting pieces projecting toward the other surface, and the plurality of projecting sides presses the other surface. Accordingly, the contact pressure is stabilized in the axial direction, and the amount of liquid developer on the supply roller can be made uniform in the axial direction.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the planar portion of the apparatus main body is provided with a plurality of positioning projections in the axial direction, and the regulating blade is provided with a positioning hole for fitting the positioning projection. The contact position of the edge portion with the supply roller is stabilized, and the contact pressure of the regulating blade can be stabilized.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus including a developing device that can stably obtain a predetermined contact pressure of the regulating blade without adjustment with a simple device configuration. .

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional plan view schematically showing an entire image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view schematically showing an image forming apparatus excluding a portion of a liquid developer circulating unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. These are sectional plan views of a developing device used in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. These are the rough cross-sectional top views of the control blade used for the image development apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention. These are perspective views of the regulating blade used in the developing device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. Further, the use of the invention and the terms shown here are not limited thereto.

  The image forming apparatus according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a sectional plan view of a schematic configuration of a tandem type color printer showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view of the schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus excluding the liquid developer circulating portion.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 1 includes an upper main body 1A that houses various units and components for image formation, and a liquid developer for each color that is disposed below the upper main body 1A. It is comprised from the lower part main part 1B in which the circulation parts LY, LM, LC, and LB are accommodated.

  The upper main body 1A has a paper storage unit 3 for storing paper, a tandem image forming unit 2 for forming a toner image based on image data, and a toner image formed by the image forming unit 2 on the paper. The secondary transfer unit 4 for transferring, the fixing unit 5 for fixing the transferred toner image on the paper, the paper discharge unit 6 for discharging the fixed paper, and the paper from the paper storage unit 3 to the paper discharge unit 6 Is provided.

  The image forming unit 2 includes image forming units FY, FM, FC, and FB that perform image formation of each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (Bk).

  Corresponding to the image forming units FY, FM, FC, and FB, liquid developer circulating portions LY, LM, LC, and LB are provided, respectively. The liquid developer circulation units LY, LM, LC, and LB supply liquid developers of the respective colors to the image forming units FY, FM, FC, and FB, and develop the liquids of the respective colors from the image forming units FY, FM, FC, and FB. Collect the agent. Here, the piping connecting the upper main body 1A and the lower main body 1B is not shown.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming unit 2 includes an intermediate transfer belt 21 and a belt cleaning unit 22 that cleans the intermediate transfer belt 21 in addition to the image forming units FY, FM, FC, and FB.

  Four image forming units FY, FM, FC, and FB are arranged near the intermediate transfer belt 21 and arranged between the belt cleaning unit 22 and the secondary transfer unit 4. Note that the order of arrangement of the image forming units FY, FM, FC, and FB is not limited to this, but this arrangement is preferable in consideration of the influence of the color mixture on the completed image.

  The image forming units FY, FM, FC, and FB include a photoconductor 10 that is an image carrier, a charger 11, an exposure device 12, a developing device 14, a primary transfer roller 20, a cleaning unit 26, and a static eliminator. 13 and a carrier liquid removing roller 30. Further, among the image forming units, the image forming unit FB disposed at the position closest to the secondary transfer unit 4 is not provided with the carrier liquid removing roller 30, but the other configurations are the same.

  The photosensitive member 10 is a cylindrical member, and amorphous silicon is used as a photosensitive material for forming a photosensitive layer. The photoconductor 10 may be an organic photoconductor (OPC photoconductor). A toner image containing toner charged on the surface (charged positively in this embodiment) can be carried. The photoreceptor 10 is a member that can rotate counterclockwise in FIG.

  Around the photoconductor 10, a charger 11, an exposure device 12, a developing device 14, a primary transfer roller 20, a cleaning unit 26, and a static eliminator 13 are provided in the order of rotation of the photoconductor 10.

  The charger 11 uniformly charges the surface of the photoreceptor 10. The exposure device 12 has a light source such as an LED, and irradiates light onto the uniformly charged surface of the photoconductor 10 in accordance with image data input from an external device. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 10.

  The developing device 14 is supplied with a liquid developer composed of toner particles and a liquid carrier from the liquid developer circulating portion, and further holds the liquid developer so as to face the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoreceptor 10. By applying a developing bias, toner is attached to the electrostatic latent image. Thereby, the electrostatic latent image is developed as a toner image.

  The cleaning unit 26 cleans the liquid developer remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 10, and scrapes off the liquid developer remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 10 as the photoconductor 10 rotates. The scraped liquid developer is temporarily stored in the cleaning unit 26 and then collected from the cleaning unit 26 by the liquid developer circulating unit.

  The carrier liquid removing roller 30 is disposed on the secondary transfer unit 4 side from the position where the photosensitive member 10 and the intermediate transfer belt 21 are in contact with each other, and removes the carrier liquid from the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 21. The removed carrier liquid is temporarily stored in the cleaning unit 26 and then collected from the cleaning unit 26 by the liquid developer circulating unit.

  The static eliminator 13 has a light source for static elimination, and removes the liquid developer by the cleaning unit 26 and removes the surface of the photoconductor 10 with light from the light source in preparation for the next round of image formation.

  The intermediate transfer belt 21 is an endless belt-like member that is wider than the maximum length of paper in the direction perpendicular to the usable paper conveyance direction and has conductivity. The intermediate transfer belt 21 is stretched around a driving roller 41, a driven roller, and a tension roller, and is circulated and driven clockwise by the driving roller 41 in FIG. Hereinafter, the surface facing the outside of the intermediate transfer belt 21 is referred to as a front surface, and the other surface is referred to as a back surface.

  The primary transfer roller 20 is disposed on the back surface of the intermediate transfer belt 21 so as to face the photoconductor 10 and presses the intermediate transfer belt 21. The press contact portion between the intermediate transfer belt 21 and the photoconductor 10 forms a primary transfer nip portion. In this primary transfer nip portion, when a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied to the primary transfer roller 20, toner particles on the photoreceptor 10 adhere to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 21. That is, when a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied to the primary transfer roller 20 at a predetermined timing in the primary transfer nip portion of each color, the toner image on each photoconductor 10 is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 21 as the intermediate transfer belt 21 rotates. Are sequentially transferred. As a result, four color toner images of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are superimposed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 21 to form a color toner image.

  The secondary transfer unit 4 includes a drive roller 41 that stretches the intermediate transfer belt 21 and a secondary transfer roller 42 that is disposed to face the drive roller 41 with the intermediate transfer belt 21 interposed therebetween. When a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied to the roller 42, the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 21 is secondarily transferred to the sheet.

  The belt cleaning unit 22 removes toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 21 after the toner image is transferred to the paper.

  A paper storage unit 3 is disposed below the upper main body 1A. On the left side of the paper storage unit 3, the paper fed from the paper storage unit 3 is transferred to the secondary transfer unit 4, the fixing unit 5, and the paper discharge. A sheet conveying unit 7 that conveys the components in the order of the unit 6 is arranged.

  The paper storage unit 3 has a paper feed cassette that stores paper. The sheet sent out from the paper feed cassette is conveyed to the secondary transfer unit 4 at the timing of the image forming operation in the secondary transfer unit 4 and the paper feed operation from the paper feed cassette. The sheet conveyed to the secondary transfer unit 4 is transferred with the toner image on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 21 and conveyed to the fixing unit 5.

  The fixing unit 5 is disposed above the secondary transfer unit 4 and has a fixing roller to be heated and a pressure roller disposed to face the fixing roller. By being heated and pressed by the fixing roller and the pressure roller, the toner on the paper is melted and pressure-fixed. The paper discharge unit 6 is disposed at the top of the image forming apparatus 1 and discharges the paper on which the toner image has been fixed by the fixing unit 5.

  Next, the developing device 14 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view of a developing device used in the image forming apparatus 1 described above.

  The developing device 14 includes a developing container 160, a developing roller 141, a supply roller 142, a pumping roller 143, a regulating blade 150, a developing cleaning blade 145, a developer collecting unit 146, a developing roller charger 147, and the like. .

  The developing container 160 is supplied with the liquid developer from a pipe 84 connected to the liquid developer circulating portion via a pair of rollers 311 and 312 and temporarily stores the liquid developer that has not been used for development. is there. Further, the developing container 160 includes an attachment base 161 to which the regulation blade 150 is attached, and rotatably holds the developing roller 141, the supply roller 142, and the scooping roller 143, the developing cleaning blade 145, and the developer collecting unit 146. The developing roller charger 147 is fixedly held. The developing container 160 and the mounting base 161 constitute an apparatus main body.

  The scooping roller 143 is disposed substantially at the center of the developing container 160 and faces the supply roller 142. The supply roller 142 is disposed not diagonally above the pumping roller 143 but obliquely upward in the direction away from the rollers 311 and 312, and a groove for holding the liquid developer is provided on the peripheral surface thereof. As shown by the arrows in FIG. 3, the drawing roller 143 rotates counterclockwise, and the supply roller 142 rotates clockwise.

  The liquid developer supplied from the rollers 311 and 312 is temporarily held on the scooping roller 143. As the supply roller 142 and the pumping roller 143 rotate, the liquid developer held by the pumping roller 143 is conveyed to the supply roller 142 and held in the groove of the supply roller 142.

  The regulating blade 150 is disposed on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the portion of the supply roller 142 facing the pumping roller 143. Further, the regulation blade 150 is in pressure contact with the peripheral surface of the supply roller 142 and regulates the amount of liquid developer held by the supply roller 142 to be a predetermined amount. Excess liquid developer scraped off by the regulating blade 150 is received at the bottom of the developing container 160. The liquid developer stored at the bottom of the developing container 160 is collected in a liquid developer circulating portion through a pipe (not shown).

  The developing roller 141 is disposed so as to be in contact with the supply roller 142, is exposed from the upper opening of the developing container 160, and is disposed so as to be in contact with the photoreceptor 10. The developing roller 141 rotates in the same direction as the supply roller 142, so that the liquid developer held on the peripheral surface of the supply roller 142 is delivered to the peripheral surface of the developing roller 141. Since the layer thickness of the liquid developer on the supply roller 142 is regulated to a predetermined value, the layer thickness of the liquid developer formed on the peripheral surface of the developing roller 141 is also maintained at the predetermined value.

  The developing roller charger 147 moves the toner in the liquid developer layer carried on the developing roller 141 to the surface side of the developing roller 141 by applying a charging potential having the same polarity as the charging polarity of the toner, thereby improving the developing efficiency. It serves to improve. The developing roller charger 147 faces the circumferential surface of the developing roller 141 on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the contact portion with the supply roller 142 of the developing roller 141 and on the upstream side in the rotation direction with respect to the contact portion with the photoreceptor 10. It is provided as follows.

  When the developing roller 141 rotates while being in contact with the photosensitive member 10 and a developing bias is applied to the developing roller 141, the potential difference between the potential of the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive member 10 and the developing bias applied to the developing roller 141. As a result, a toner image corresponding to the image data is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 10.

  The developing cleaning blade 145 is disposed so as to contact the downstream side in the rotation direction of the contact portion of the developing roller 141 with the photoreceptor 10, and removes the liquid developer on the developing roller 141 that has completed development on the photoreceptor 10. .

  The developer recovery unit 146 recovers the liquid developer removed by the development cleaning blade 145, and transports the liquid developer to the pipe 81 side by the sweep roller 148. A delivery roller 149 is disposed between the sweep roller 148 and the pipe 81, and the delivery roller 149 quickly delivers a liquid developer having a high viscosity to the pipe 81. The liquid developer sent to the pipe 81 is collected in the liquid developer circulation section.

  Next, attachment of the regulation blade 150 to the attachment base 161 will be described. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional plan view of a regulating blade 150 used in the developing device 14 described above, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the regulating blade. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view seen from the back side of FIG. 3, and is reversed in the left-right direction with respect to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the configuration in which the restriction blade 150 is attached includes a leaf spring 171 and a screw 175 as an urging member in addition to the restriction blade 150 and the attachment base 161.

  The regulating blade 150 is formed in a plate shape with urethane rubber as an elastic body, and has one surface portion 151 and the other surface portion 152 on the opposite side, and the axial direction X of the supply roller 142 (FIG. 5). See). The length of the regulating blade 150 in the axial direction X is substantially the same as the axial length of the supply roller 142 for transporting the liquid developer.

  One surface portion 151 has an edge portion 151a and a mounting surface 151b. The edge portion 151a is formed at the corner of one surface portion 151 and abuts on the peripheral surface of the supply roller 142, thereby restricting the liquid developer on the supply roller 142 to a predetermined layer thickness. A mounting surface 151b is formed on the other side of the edge portion 151a in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction X of the one surface portion 151. The attachment surface 151b is a smooth surface that extends from the one end side 151b1 to the other end side 151b2 and further extends in the axial direction X. A positioning hole 153 is provided substantially at the center of the attachment surface 151b. A plurality of positioning holes 153 are arranged in parallel in the axial direction X.

  The attachment base 161 is for attaching the regulation blade 150 and the leaf spring 171. The supply roller 142 is fixed and held to the developing container 160 by bonding, screws, or the like at the lower right position in FIG. The mounting base 161 includes a flat surface portion 161 a that faces the mounting surface 151 b of the regulating blade 150, a blade boss 161 b that is a positioning convex portion of the regulating blade 150, and a spring boss 161 c and a screw 175 screw. And screw holes (not shown).

  The flat portion 161a is formed as a smooth surface that inclines toward the supply roller 142 side. A plurality of blade bosses 161b are juxtaposed in the axial direction X so as to protrude from the flat portion 161a. The blade boss 161 b is fitted into the plurality of positioning holes 153.

  When the restriction blade 150 is attached to the attachment base 161, the plurality of positioning holes 153 and the blade boss 161b are fitted together, the restriction blade 150 is positioned, and then the attachment surface 151b is brought into contact with the entire flat surface portion 161a. The edge portion 151a of the regulating blade 150 comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the supply roller 142.

  The leaf spring 171 has a linear pressing portion 171a, a projecting piece portion 171b, a bent portion 171c, and a positioning hole 171d, and is a stainless steel plate that extends in the axial direction X as long as or more than the restriction blade 150 (see FIG. 5).

  As shown in FIG. 4, the bent portion 171 c is bent in an inverted “<” shape. A linear pressing portion 171a is formed on one end side of the bent portion 171c, and a protruding piece portion 171b is formed on the other end side of the bent portion 171c. Further, a flat surface is formed on the opposite portion of the protruding piece 171b on the bent portion 171c side, and a positioning hole 171d and a screw 175 hole (not shown) are formed on the flat surface. A plurality of positioning holes 171d for fitting the spring bosses 161c and holes for the screws 175 are alternately arranged in the axial direction X (see FIG. 5).

  When the spring boss 161c is fitted into the positioning hole 171d, the position of the leaf spring 171 is determined with respect to the mounting base 161. In this positioned state, the leaf spring 171 is attached and fixed to the attachment base 161 with a screw 175.

The linear pressing portion 171a of the leaf spring 171 extends linearly in the axial direction X at the end of the leaf spring 171 (see FIG. 5). When the leaf spring 171 is attached to the attachment base 161, the linear pressing portion 171a applies a biasing force from the bent portion 171c by abutting linearly in the axial direction X on the other surface portion 152 of the regulating blade 150. Then, the regulating blade 150 is uniformly pressed in the axial direction X toward the one end side 151b1 side.

  The projecting piece 171b of the leaf spring 171 is formed by punching out a part of the bent portion 171c in a tongue shape, and a plurality of protruding pieces 171b are arranged in parallel in the axial direction X (see FIG. 5). When the leaf spring 171 is attached to the attachment base 161, the plurality of protruding piece portions 171b abut against the other surface portion 152 of the regulating blade 150, thereby generating an urging force on the protruding piece portion 171b. The restriction blade 150 is pressed toward the other end side 151b2.

  When the regulating blade 150 is pressed by the plate spring 171, the edge portion 151 a is uniformly pressed in the axial direction X on the peripheral surface of the supply roller 142.

  According to the above-described embodiment, the developing device 14 includes the developing roller 141 that supplies a liquid developer containing toner and carrier liquid to the photoconductor 10 on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, and the developing roller 141 is supplied with the liquid developer. A supply roller 142 to be supplied and a regulating blade 150 that extends in the axial direction X of the supply roller 142 and regulates the amount of the liquid developer on the supply roller 142 are provided. One surface portion 151 of the restriction blade 150 includes an edge portion 151 a that contacts the circumferential surface of the supply roller 142 and an attachment surface 151 b that faces the flat surface portion 161 a of the attachment base 161 (device main body). The other surface portion 152 is pressed toward the attachment surface 151 b by a leaf spring 171 (biasing member) that extends in the axial direction X and is fixed to the attachment base 161.

  According to this configuration, in the state where the attachment surface 151b faces the flat surface portion 161a of the attachment base 161, the regulation blade 150 is pressed against the attachment surface 151b side by the leaf spring 171 to supply the edge portion 151a. The roller 142 is in contact with the circumferential surface. The edge portion 151 a of the regulating blade 150 regulates the liquid developer on the supply roller 142 to a predetermined amount and supplies it to the developing roller 141. Then, the liquid developer on the developing roller 141 is supplied to the photoconductor 10, and the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 10 is developed by this liquid developer. Therefore, the variation in assembly can be reduced without adjustment, with a simple apparatus configuration, the contact pressure of the regulating blade 150 can be stably obtained, and the amount of liquid developer on the supply roller 142 is accurately regulated. Will do.

  Further, according to the embodiment, the plate spring 171 is formed in a plate shape that is longer than or equal to the restriction blade 150 in the axial direction X, and one end side 151b1 and the other end of the mounting surface 151b in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction X The regulating blade 150 is pressed toward the side 151b2. As a result, the regulating blade 150 is securely held on the mounting base 161, and the contact pressure of the regulating blade 150 can be obtained stably.

  According to the above embodiment, the leaf spring 171 presses the other surface portion 152 linearly in the axial direction X on one end side 151b1 of the attachment surface 151b, and the leaf spring 171 on the other end side 151b2 of the attachment surface 151b. A plurality of projecting piece portions 171 b projecting toward the other surface portion 152 are provided, and the plurality of projecting side portions 171 b press the other surface portion 152. As a result, the contact pressure is stabilized in the axial direction X, and the amount of liquid developer on the supply roller 142 can be made uniform in the axial direction.

  Further, according to the above embodiment, a plurality of blade bosses 161 b (positioning convex portions) are arranged in the axial direction X on the flat surface portion 161 a of the mounting base 161, and the blade boss 161 b is fitted to the restriction blade 150. By providing the positioning hole 153 to be driven, the contact position of the edge portion 151a with the peripheral surface of the supply roller 142 is stabilized, and the contact pressure of the regulating blade 150 can be stabilized.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a developing device used in a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, a composite machine thereof, and the like using an electrophotographic system and an image forming apparatus including the developing device. It can be used for a developing device to which a regulating blade for regulating the amount of the toner is attached and an image forming apparatus provided with the developing device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Image forming part 10 Photoconductor (image carrier)
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 14 Developing device 141 Developing roller 142 Supply roller 143 Pumping roller 150 Restricting blade 151 One surface portion 151a Edge portion 151b Mounting surface 151b1 One end side 151b2 The other end side 152 The other surface portion 153 Positioning hole 160 Developer container (apparatus body)
161 Mounting base (device main body)
161a Plane part 161b Boss for blade (positioning convex part)
161c Boss for spring 171 Leaf spring (biasing member)
171a Linear pressing portion 171b Protruding piece portion 171c Bending portion 171d Positioning hole 175 Screw FY, FM, FC, FB Image forming unit LY, LM, LC, LB Liquid developer circulating portion X Axial direction

Claims (5)

A developing roller that supplies a liquid developer containing toner and carrier liquid to the latent image carrier on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, a supply roller that supplies the developer to the liquid developer, and an axial direction of the supply roller A developing device that includes a regulating blade that extends and regulates the amount of liquid developer on the supply roller;
One surface portion of the regulating blade has an edge portion that comes into contact with the supply roller, and an attachment surface that faces a flat portion of the apparatus main body,
2. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the other surface portion of the regulating blade is pressed toward the mounting surface by an urging member extending in the axial direction and fixed to the apparatus main body.   The biasing member is formed by a plate-like spring that is longer than or equal to the restriction blade in the axial direction, and the restriction blade is directed toward one end side and the other end side in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the mounting surface. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the developing device is pressed.   On one end side of the mounting surface, the biasing member presses the other surface portion linearly in the axial direction, and on the other end side of the mounting surface, the biasing member protrudes toward the other surface portion side. The developing device according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of protruding side portions press the other surface portion.   A plurality of positioning projections are disposed in the planar portion of the apparatus main body in the axial direction, and a positioning hole for fitting the positioning projection is provided in the restriction blade. The developing device according to claim 3.   An image forming apparatus on which the developing device according to claim 1 is mounted.

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