JP2012047864A - Decoloration device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a decoloration device using a reflection type LED lamp, which is capable of achieving uniform decoloration by eliminating uneven irradiation due to shadow of electrode terminals of the reflection type LED lamp.SOLUTION: Plural high luminance reflection type LED lamps 27 are arranged in a longitudinal direction of a light source base 26 each being fixed with a screw 39 on a lamp holder portion 36. The LED lamps are arranged in parallel to each other with an orientation 50 at 45° with respect to a conveyance direction of a recording medium indicated by an arrow b. Measuring the illumination light distribution by a decoloring LED head 24 over the recording medium, a low illumination area, which is caused from interception of illuminating radiation by the electrode terminals (31 and 32) corresponding to the orientation 50 of the LED lamp, is eliminated; the light quantity corresponding to a gap g between the LED lamps 27 is smaller; and the light quantity corresponding to irradiation width h is larger. However, in any case, light quantity larger than that necessary for decoloration is obtained and no stripe of insufficient decoloring is formed on the decolored recording medium. Thus complete and uniform decoloring is achieved.

Description

  The present invention relates to a erasing apparatus that uses a reflective LED (light emitting diode) lamp to eliminate unevenness of irradiation caused by shadows on both electrode terminals of the reflective LED lamp and to obtain uniform erasing.

  In recent years, there has been a call for saving paper resources as part of global environmental protection. In the saving and reuse of paper resources such as image forming apparatuses, effective use of the back side of paper that has been printed on one side is already common in society. In general, the used paper is collected and used as a raw material of the paper and reused as recycled paper.

  However, when reusing paper for single-sided printing, the number of reuse is usually limited to one. In addition, when the material is reused as a raw material, energy and cost are required for the recovery itself, and energy is also applied when processing the raw material.

  Therefore, various efforts have been made to make it possible to use paper multiple times in the office. In order to reuse paper once formed with toner images as paper resources, the image on the paper formed with toner may be physically removed or decolored with light to make the paper reusable. It is considered.

  In order to physically remove the image and reuse the paper, a processing solution for removing the toner is applied to the image forming surface of the paper and heated to dissolve the toner to remove the image. There are methods such as polishing the image forming surface and scraping off the toner image. However, these methods are troublesome because they are troublesome and the paper to be reused is easily damaged.

  There is also a method of using a heat-sensitive decoloring agent and decoloring with a heating oven type decoloring apparatus. There is also known a method of erasing the decolored toner using a part of light energy. However, when these erasing devices are installed in an office, an erasing device is required in addition to a printing device such as a printer, so that power is also required, and an installation space for the erasing device is also required. It is an economy.

  Therefore, it is desirable to incorporate a decoloring device into a device such as a printer so that printing with a decolorable toner and decoloring can be performed in addition to normal printing. As such an example, a function of performing development, transfer, and fixing using a decolorable toner to perform printing on a recording paper, and decoloring of characters and images of the decolorable toner printed on the recording paper. An image forming apparatus having a function of erasing by irradiating light for use has been proposed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.)

  Many examples are also shown regarding the erasable toner and the erasing apparatus. Among them, after heating a decolorable toner print image containing a sensitizing dye that can be decolored by infrared rays and a boron-based compound, the decoloring speed is dramatically improved by decoloring by infrared rays. A device has been proposed. (For example, see Patent Document 2.)

  In the apparatus of Patent Document 2, many light sources such as a halogen lamp, a xenon flash lamp, and an LED lamp are effective as a light source for erasing. In particular, many examples of halogen lamps are shown.

  It is well known that a halogen lamp is also used as a heat source because it emits energy in a long wavelength region centered on far-infrared rays. In Patent Document 2, the halogen lamp is also effective as a heat source for decoloring.

  There has also been proposed a decoloring apparatus that uses a xenon flash lamp as a decoloring light source and shows detailed chemical formulas for each method of producing a sensitizing dye and a boron-based compound that can be decolored. (For example, refer to Patent Document 3.)

JP 05-289576 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-204278 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-175537

  By the way, in the prior arts disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, a halogen lamp is used as a light source for decolorization. However, a halogen lamp can also be used as a heat source because it emits energy in a long wavelength region centering on far infrared rays. . Therefore, Patent Document 2 shows the effectiveness of a halogen lamp as a heat source for the purpose of assisting the decoloring reaction.

  However, the halogen lamp is light including not only the near infrared rays but also the ultraviolet region, the visible light region, and the near infrared region to the far infrared region. Therefore, not only the absorption wavelength of the sensitizing dye but also many extra wavelengths of energy that do not contribute to other decoloring reactions are radiated, which is an uneconomic energy source.

  Further, when a xenon flash lamp or a halogen lamp is used for decoloring, both lamps generate a large amount of heat, and there is a possibility that the apparatus main body may be adversely affected when used for a long time. In addition, there is a problem that when the paper JAM or the like is generated, the paper comes into contact with the heat generating part, or when the paper is heated for a long time due to some staying, the fire is ignited.

  By the way, with respect to a light source having a small calorific value other than a xenon flash lamp or a halogen lamp, Patent Document 2 describes an LED lamp as an example, but does not describe setting of the light source under specific decoloring conditions.

  Therefore, if an LED lamp is arranged on the line and used as a decoloring head, it is clear that the amount of light is insufficient compared to a xenon flash lamp or a halogen lamp. Since the processing speed has to be slowed down, there is a problem that processing takes time.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and uses a high-intensity reflective LED lamp capable of obtaining a high light emission output for the construction of the decoloring head, and can achieve uniform decoloration without uneven irradiation. An object is to provide an apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problems, a decoloring apparatus according to the present invention is a decoloring apparatus for decoloring the decolorizable toner image on a recording medium on which a decolorable toner image is formed using a photosensitive toner. A light source base disposed in a line extending in a 90 ° direction with respect to the recording medium conveyance direction, and a plurality of reflective LEDs (light The reflective LED lamp has a linear direction in which the drive electrode terminal for driving the LED element to emit light and the ground electrode terminal are linearly arranged. When the conveyance direction of the recording medium is 0 °, the recording medium is arranged side by side in a direction in the range of more than 0 ° and less than 180 ° with respect to the conveyance direction.

  The reflective LED lamp is, for example, 90 ° to the transport direction when the transport direction of the recording medium is 0 ° in the linear direction in which the electrode terminals for driving the LED elements are linearly arranged. It is comprised so that it may be arranged in parallel toward the direction of.

  In addition, the reflective LED lamp has, for example, a linear direction in which the electrode terminals for driving the LED elements are arranged in a straight line, and the conveyance direction of the recording medium is 0 ° with respect to the conveyance direction. It is configured to be arranged side by side in the direction of 45 ° or 135 °. The reflective LED lamp is a high-intensity reflective LED lamp.

  The present invention has an effect that it is possible to provide a decoloring apparatus that uses a high-intensity reflective LED lamp capable of obtaining a high light emission output in the configuration of the decoloring head and can obtain uniform decoloring without uneven irradiation. Play.

It is sectional drawing which shows typically the internal structure of the image forming apparatus provided with the erasing apparatus which concerns on Example 2 of this invention. It is an enlarged view which shows the structure of the vicinity including the decoloring apparatus which concerns on Example 3 of this invention in more detail. (a) is a perspective view of a reflective LED lamp used in the light decoloring part according to Example 4 of the present invention, (b) is a plan view thereof, (c) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA, ( d) is a diagram showing a conventional bullet-type LED lamp for comparison. It is FIG. (1) which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of the reflection type LED lamp attached to a light source base in the light erasing part of the erasing apparatus which concerns on Example 5 of this invention. (a), (b) is a figure which shows the decoloring effect of the decoloring image at the time of light emission driving of a reflective LED lamp with strong drive power in arrangement | positioning of the reflective LED lamp in Example 5. FIG. (a), (b) is a figure which shows the decoloring effect of the decoloring image at the time of driving | running light emission drive of a high-intensity reflection type LED lamp by power-saving drive in arrangement | positioning of the high-intensity reflection type LED lamp shown in FIG. . FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a light amount distribution of a decoloring LED head when the high-intensity reflective LED lamp is driven to emit light with power saving in the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp shown in FIG. 4. (2) which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of the high-intensity reflection type LED lamp attached to a light source base in the light erasing part of the erasing apparatus based on Example 6. FIG. The figure which shows the light quantity distribution of the irradiation light irradiated with respect to a recording medium from the LED head for erasing | erasing when driving a high-intensity reflection type LED lamp by power saving drive in arrangement | positioning of the high-intensity reflection type LED lamp shown in FIG. It is. FIG. 13 is a diagram (No. 3) illustrating an arrangement example of high-intensity reflective LED lamps attached to a light source base in a light decoloring section of a decoloring apparatus according to Embodiment 7. The figure which shows light quantity distribution of the irradiated light irradiated with respect to a recording medium from the LED head for erasing | erasing when driving a high-intensity reflective LED lamp by power saving drive in arrangement | positioning of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp shown in FIG. It is.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

<Method for producing decolorizable toner>
First, a method for producing a decolorizable toner used in the present invention will be described as Example 1. First, 1.5 parts by mass of infrared photosensitive dye “IRT” (manufactured by Showa Denko) having sensitivity at 817 nm, 7.5 parts by mass of organoboron compound decolorizer “P3B” (manufactured by Showa Denko), polyester for toner 87 parts by weight of binder resin (made by Kao), 1.5 parts by weight of negative charge regulator “LR-147” (manufactured by Nippon Carlit), 2.5 parts by weight of Carnauba WAX1 powder (imported by Kato Yoko Co., Ltd.) Into a Henschel mixer (Mitsui Mine) and mix.

  Subsequently, the above mixture is melt-kneaded with a twin-screw kneader. The kneaded material thus obtained is roughly crushed with a Rotoplex (manufactured by Hosokawa Micron) to obtain a coarsely crushed material. The resulting coarsely crushed material is pulverized by an impact pulverizer so that the average particle size becomes 9 μm.

  One part by mass of silica “R972” (manufactured by Nippon Aerosil Co., Ltd.) as an external additive is added to 100 parts by mass of the pulverized product obtained by this pulverization, and mixed with a Henschel mixer to obtain a decolorizable toner.

<Configuration and Operation of Image Forming Apparatus Equipped with Decoloring Device>
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus including a decoloring apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 includes an endless transfer belt 3 that extends in the horizontal direction in the center of the inside of the main body housing 2.

  The transfer belt 3 is stretched around a drive roller 4 and a driven roller 5 while being stretched by a tension mechanism (not shown), and is driven by the drive roller 4 to circulate in a counterclockwise direction indicated by an arrow a in the figure. To do.

  A photosensitive drum 7 of one image forming unit 6 is disposed in contact with the upper circulation moving surface of the transfer belt 3. The photoreceptor drum 7 is provided with a cleaner, an initialization charger, an optical writing head, a developing roller, etc. (not shown) in contact with or in proximity to surround the peripheral surface.

  The developing roller is disposed in the side opening of the toner container 8. The toner container 8 contains a decolorizable toner R. The decolorizable toner R is the decolorizable toner described in the first embodiment.

  The developing roller carries a thin layer of the decolorizable toner R accommodated in the toner container 8 on the surface, and the electrostatic latent image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 7 by the optical writing head. The image of the decolorizable toner R is developed on the image.

  A primary transfer roller 9 is pressed against the lower part of the photosensitive drum 7 via the transfer belt 3 to form a primary transfer portion. A bias voltage is supplied to the primary transfer roller 9 from a bias power source (not shown).

  The primary transfer roller 9 applies a bias voltage supplied from a bias power source to the transfer belt 3 at the primary transfer portion, and transfers an image of the decolorable toner R developed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 7 to the transfer belt. Transfer to 3.

  The secondary transfer roller 11 is in pressure contact with the driven roller 5 over which the right end portion of the transfer belt 3 shown in the drawing is stretched to form a secondary transfer portion. A bias voltage is supplied to the secondary transfer roller 11 from a bias power source (not shown).

  The secondary transfer roller 11 applies a bias voltage supplied from a bias power source to the transfer belt 3 at the secondary transfer portion, and the image of the decolorable toner R that is primarily transferred to the transfer belt 3 is transferred to the image forming conveyance path. 12 is transferred to the recording medium 13 conveyed from below in FIG.

  The recording medium 13 is stacked and stored in a recording medium storage unit 14 including a paper feed cassette and the like. The recording medium 13 is picked up one by one by a paper feed roller (not shown) and sent to the paper feed path 15. Then, the image is further conveyed through the image forming conveyance path 12, and the image of the decolorable toner R is transferred while passing through the secondary transfer portion.

  The recording medium 13 that has passed the secondary transfer portion while transferring the image of the decolorizable toner R is conveyed along the fixing conveyance path 16 to the fixing unit 17. The heating roller 18 and the pressing roller 19 of the fixing unit 17 sandwich the recording medium 13 and convey it while applying heat and pressure.

  As a result, the image of the decolorable toner R that has been secondarily transferred is fixed on the paper surface, and the recording medium 13 is further conveyed by the heating roller 18 and the pressing roller 19 to be formed on the upper surface of the main body housing 2. The paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 21.

<Configuration and operation of erasing device>
By the way, a recording medium 13 on which an image of the decolorable toner R is formed is formed between the recording medium storage unit 14 and the secondary transfer unit, that is, between the paper feeding conveyance path 15 and the image forming conveyance path 12. An erasing device 22 as Example 3 for erasing the image is arranged.

  The erasing device 22 efficiently erases the image of the erasable toner R to be erased and the erasing heater roller 23 for heating the image of the erasable toner R from the back surface of the image forming surface. It comprises a decoloring LED head 24 as a light decoloring part for coloring.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing the configuration in the vicinity including the decoloring device 22 according to the third embodiment in more detail. In FIG. 2, the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the recording medium 13 is guided by the conveyance guide 25 and conveyed from the paper feeding conveyance path 15 to the image forming conveyance path 12 in the upward direction indicated by the arrow b.

  The conveyance guide 25 is formed of a mesh or a plurality of filaments, and allows the heat radiated from the decoloring heater roller 23 to pass therethrough, whereby the recording medium 13 is heated from the back surface. Simultaneously with this heating, light of a wavelength suitable for erasing is irradiated from the erasing LED head 24 to erase the image of the erasable toner R formed on the surface.

  The decoloring LED head 24 includes a light source base 26 arranged extending in a 90 ° direction (the depth direction in the drawing) with respect to the conveyance direction of the recording medium 13, and a light source base 26 as a decoloring light source. And a plurality of high-intensity reflective LED lamps 27 arranged in the longitudinal direction, and an F3.0 Fresnel lens 28 disposed in the vicinity of the irradiation surface of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27.

  The decolorable toner image forming surface of the recording medium 13 is heated to 140 ° C. by the heat radiation from the decoloring heater roller 23. The high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 is installed at a distance of 7 mm from the paper surface of the recording medium 13.

<Configuration and function of the reflective LED lamp used in the light extinction part>
FIG. 3 (a) is a perspective view of a high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 used in the light extinction part according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention, and FIG. 3 (b) is a plan view thereof, FIG. ) Is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A, and FIG. 4D is a view showing a conventional bullet-type LED lamp for comparison.

  As shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C, the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 includes a drive electrode terminal 31 that extends narrowly from the opposite two side edges of the opening of the box 29 to the center. The ground electrode terminal 32, the LED element 33 fixed to the tip of the ground electrode terminal 32, the Au thin wire 34 connecting the LED element 33 and the drive electrode terminal 31, and the reflecting mirror disposed on the bottom surface of the box 29 35.

  The high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 includes a lamp holding portion 36 that is integral with the end of the ground electrode terminal 32 opposite to the end to which the LED element 33 is fixed. The lamp holding portion 36 is formed with a screw hole 37 for fixing the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 to the light source base 26 with a screw 39 which will be described later.

  When the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 is driven to emit light by both electrodes of the drive electrode terminal 31 and the ground electrode terminal 32, the light reflected from the LED element 33 in the direction toward the bottom surface of the box 29 is reflected by the reflecting mirror. 36 is irradiated as parallel light 38 toward the opening of the box 29.

  A bullet-type LED lamp 40 shown in FIG. 3C has a ground electrode 42 connected to one lead wire 41a of two lead wires 41 (41a, 41b) and a conductive adhesive 43 to the ground electrode 42. LED element 44 with one electrode fixed, Au (gold) wire 45 with one end connected to the other electrode of LED element 44, and the other lead wire with the other end connected to Au wire 45 A drive electrode 46 connected to 41b is embedded in an epoxy resin 47.

  In general, the bullet-type LED lamp 40 is an LED lamp having a wide irradiation angle, and the irradiation light generated by the light emission of the LED element 44 forms an obtuse angle with a spread width 49 (49a, 49b) from the radiation surface 48 of the epoxy resin 47. Irradiation is performed within a range of irradiation angles. The light use efficiency of such a bullet-type LED lamp 40 is 30 to 40%.

  On the other hand, the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 reflects almost all the light radiated from the LED element 33 by the reflecting mirror 36 on the bottom surface of the box 29, and is controlled as a parallel axis. Irradiate outside. Thereby, the light utilization efficiency of 90% or more can be obtained. This is the reason why the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 is used as the decoloring light source in this example.

  Next, in various arrangement examples arranged with respect to the light source base 26 of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 used in the light decoloring section (the decoloring LED head 24) of the decoloring device 22 of this example. The erasing function will be described including the power used for the complete erasing.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement example of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 attached to the light source base 26 in the light decoloring section (decoloring LED head 24) of the decoloring apparatus 22 according to the fifth embodiment (No. 1). ).

  As shown in FIG. 4, on the light source base 26, a plurality of high-brightness reflection type LED lamps 27 are screwed in the longitudinal direction thereof by screws 39 having a slotted head for a minus driver. Fixed and juxtaposed.

  These high-intensity reflective LED lamps 27 have a linear direction 50 in which the drive electrode terminals 31 and the ground electrode terminals 32 for driving the LED elements to emit light are arranged in a straight line in the recording medium 13 (FIG. 2). (See arrow b in FIG. 2).

  Hereinafter, the linear direction 50 in which both the drive electrode terminal 31 and the ground electrode terminal 32 for driving the LED element of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 are linearly arranged is simply referred to as “LED lamp direction 50. I will say.

  Here, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the recording medium 13 on which the decoloring image by the decoloring toner R is formed is conveyed to the decoloring device 22, and the bullet-type LED lamp 40 is used for decoloring. A test for driving the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 to emit light with the same strong driving power as when driving to emit light was performed.

  5 (a) and 5 (b) show the same strong driving power as in the case where the bullet-type LED lamp 40 is driven to emit light in the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the decoloring effect of the decoloring image when the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 is driven to emit light.

  FIG. 5A schematically shows a erasable toner image 51 before erasing formed on the recording medium 13 and a white plain area 52 where no image is formed. FIG. 5B shows a state 53 in which the erasable toner image 51 before erasing is completely erased.

  In FIG. 5B, the part of the completely decolored state 53 of the decolorable toner image is shown in gray for the purpose of comparison. However, it does not indicate that the color erasability is bad and the color remains.

  Here, the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 is essentially one that can obtain a light utilization efficiency that is twice or more that of the bullet-type LED lamp 40. Therefore, the high-intensity reflective LED lamp A power-saving light emission drive in which the drive power of 27 was reduced to about 1/2 of the previous time was performed, and the same decoloring test as the previous time was performed.

  6 (a) and 6 (b) show about ½ of the driving power when the bullet-type LED lamp 40 is driven to emit light for discoloration in the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the decoloring effect of the decoloring image at the time of light emission driving of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 by power saving driving.

  Also in this case, FIG. 6A schematically shows a decolorable toner image 51 before decoloring formed on the recording medium 13 and a white plain region 52 where no image is formed. However, in this case, in FIG. 6B, the erasable toner image 51 before erasing is not completely erased 53, but the incompletely erasable portions 54 are indicated by the arrows d at regular intervals. It appears as a streak line parallel to the conveyance direction of the recording medium 13 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 shows a high luminance by power saving driving in which the incompletely decolored portion 54 shown in FIG. 6B appears as parallel streaks in the arrangement of the high luminance reflective LED lamp 27 shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the light quantity distribution of the LED head 24 for decoloring at the time of light-emitting drive of the reflection type LED lamp 27. FIG.

  In FIG. 7, the horizontal axis indicates the direction in which the high-intensity reflective LED lamps 27 are arranged in the decoloring LED head 24, and the vertical axis indicates the amount of light. The broken line 55 in the figure indicates the amount of light necessary for decoloring. The recording medium 13 is conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow b in the light amount distribution shown on the vertical axis.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the light amount distribution is necessary for decoloring although the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 and the gap corresponding portion 57 of the arrangement are significantly lower than the parallel light irradiation corresponding portion 56. The line of light quantity 55 is exceeded.

  However, in the linear arrangement corresponding part 58 corresponding to the direction 50 of the LED lamp, the low irradiation part obstructed by both electrode terminals of the parallel light irradiation part is along the conveyance direction of the recording medium 13 and is necessary for decoloring. The amount of light is significantly lower than 55.

  As described above, in the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 shown in FIG. 4, the low irradiation portion of the linear arrangement corresponding portion 58 is continuous along the conveyance direction of the recording medium 13. There is no doubt that the incompletely erased portion 54 shown will occur.

  Accordingly, the present inventor has found that the linear direction 50 in which both electrode terminals (31, 32) are linearly arranged in the arrangement direction of the recording medium 13 in the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 with respect to the light source base 26. When it was set not to be parallel, it was considered that the incompletely decolored portion 54 would not occur.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement example of the high-intensity reflective LED lamps 27 attached to the light source base 26 in the light erasing unit (the erasing LED head 24) of the erasing apparatus 22 according to the sixth embodiment (part 2). ).

  As shown in FIG. 8, in this case as well, a plurality of high-intensity reflective LED lamps 27 are fixed to the light source base 26 by screws 39 in the longitudinal direction thereof. The LED lamps are arranged in parallel so that the direction 50 of the LED lamps is perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording medium 13 indicated by the arrow b, that is, in the direction of 90 °.

  In the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27, power-saving light emission driving is performed which is reduced to about half that when the bullet-type LED lamp 40 is driven to emit light. As shown in the drawing, the recording medium 13 on which the color erasable image was formed by the color erasable toner R was conveyed to the color erasing device 22 and the color erasing test was performed.

  In this test result, the entire erasable recording medium 13 on which the erasable toner image is formed has no streak like the incompletely erasable portion, and is exactly the same as shown in FIG. 5B. A completely decolored state was obtained.

  FIG. 9 shows the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 shown in FIG. 8 when the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 is driven by the power-saving driving in which the completely decolored state shown in FIG. 5B is obtained. It is a figure which shows the light quantity distribution of the irradiation light irradiated with respect to the recording medium 13 from the LED head 24 for erasing.

  In the case of FIG. 9 as well, the horizontal axis indicates the direction in which the high-intensity reflective LED lamps 27 are arranged in the decoloring LED head 24, and the vertical axis indicates the amount of light. A broken line 55 indicates the amount of light necessary for decoloring, and the recording medium 13 is conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow b in the light amount distribution indicated on the vertical axis.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the distribution of the light intensity is lower in the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 and the gap corresponding portion 57 (the portion corresponding to the gap e in FIG. 8) than the parallel light irradiation corresponding portion 56. However, the amount of light is sufficiently larger than the line of the amount of light 55 necessary for decoloring.

  And here, the low irradiation part of the linear arrangement | positioning corresponding part 58 corresponding to the direction 50 of the LED lamp as shown in FIG. 7 has disappeared. Instead, the light amount distribution width of the parallel light irradiation corresponding portion 56 (portion corresponding to the irradiation width f in FIG. 8) greatly spreads in the direction in which the high-intensity reflective LED lamps 27 are juxtaposed.

  When the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 shown in FIG. 8 is arranged, the light quantity distribution as shown in FIG. 9 results in uniform disappearance without streaking as in the incompletely decolored portion shown in FIG. 5 (b). As a result, it is clear that this is an example of a constituent factor for obtaining a colored completely decolored state.

  In Example 6 described above, the LED lamp direction 50 is arranged to be 90 ° with respect to the conveyance direction of the recording medium 13. If they are not parallel to each other, the low irradiation portion of the linear arrangement corresponding portion 58 of the light quantity is not continuously irradiated to the same portion of the recording medium 13, so that the development of the incompletely decolored portion is eliminated. I thought.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement example of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 attached to the light source base 26 in the light decoloring section (decoloring LED head 24) of the decoloring apparatus 22 according to the seventh embodiment (part 3). ).

  As shown in FIG. 10, in this case as well, a plurality of high-intensity reflective LED lamps 27 are fixed to the light source base 26 by screws 39 in the longitudinal direction. The direction of the LED lamp 50 is arranged side by side in the direction of 45 ° in the conveyance direction of the recording medium 13 indicated by the arrow b.

  In the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27, power-saving light emission driving is performed which is reduced to about half that when the bullet-type LED lamp 40 is driven to emit light. As shown in the drawing, the recording medium 13 on which the color erasable image was formed by the color erasable toner R was conveyed to the color erasing device 22 and the color erasing test was performed.

  Even in this test result, the entire color of the recording medium 13 on which the color erasable toner image is formed is uniformly decolored as shown in FIG. A completely decolored state was obtained.

  FIG. 11 shows the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 shown in FIG. 10 when the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 is driven by the power-saving driving in which the completely decolored state shown in FIG. 5B is obtained. It is a figure which shows the light quantity distribution of the irradiation light irradiated with respect to the recording medium 13 from the LED head 24 for erasing.

  Also in the case of FIG. 11, the horizontal axis indicates the direction in which the high-intensity reflective LED lamps 27 are arranged in the decoloring LED head 24, and the vertical axis indicates the amount of light. A broken line 55 indicates the amount of light necessary for decoloring, and the recording medium 13 is conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow b in the light amount distribution indicated on the vertical axis.

  As shown in FIG. 11, in the light amount distribution, the low irradiation portion of the linear arrangement corresponding portion 58 corresponding to the LED lamp direction 50 as shown in FIG.

  Further, the arrangement of the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 and the gap-corresponding portion 57 (the portion corresponding to the gap g in FIG. 10) are more discolored than in the case of FIG. 9 where the LED lamp orientation 50 is 90 °. The amount of light increases above the line of light amount 55 required for the light.

  Instead, the light intensity distribution width of the parallel light irradiation corresponding portion 56 (portion corresponding to the irradiation width h in FIG. 10) is slightly narrower than in the case of FIG. It has become. In any case, the entire light amount distribution is above the line of the light amount 55 necessary for erasing, and it can be seen that the amount of light is sufficient for erasing.

  As described above, when the high-intensity reflective LED lamp 27 shown in FIG. 10 is arranged, the light quantity distribution as shown in FIG. 11 becomes a streak line like the incompletely decolored portion shown in FIG. As a result, it is clear that this is another example of a constituent factor for obtaining a completely erased state that is not uniformly erased.

  According to the above-described embodiment 6 or 7, the high-brightness reflective LED is disposed in an inclined manner that is not parallel to the conveyance direction of the recording medium, so that the electrode terminal of the LED element has a shadow that blocks the parallel irradiation light. Irradiation unevenness can be prevented, and uniform decoloring can be obtained.

  Similarly, by arranging the high-intensity reflective LEDs so as to be not parallel to the recording medium conveyance direction, uniform decoloration without irradiation unevenness can be obtained even with less driving power, thereby contributing to power saving. There is.

  Further, for example, as in the seventh embodiment, when the high-brightness reflective LED is inclined at 45 ° with respect to the conveyance direction of the recording medium, the high-brightness reflective LED that emits irradiation light capable of obtaining uniform decoloring is provided. Since they can be arranged at a higher density, there is a margin in the amount of light, and the decoloring processing speed is improved.

  In Examples 6 and 7, the conveyance direction of the recording medium 13 is set to 0 °, and the LED lamp direction 50 is set to 90 ° or 45 ° with respect to the conveyance direction of the recording medium 13, but may be 180 ° or 135 °. good.

  The angle is not limited to 90 °, 45 °, 180 °, or 135 °, and may be any number as long as the shadow of the parallel irradiation light blocked by both electrode terminals does not occur on the irradiation surface of the recording medium. For example, the effect can be obtained even between 1 ° and 45 ° (or 181 ° to 136 °), but preferably 45 ° to 90 ° (or 180 ° to 135 °).

  In Examples 6 and 7, the high-intensity reflective LED lamp is used. However, the present invention is not limited to decolorization, and it is necessary to obtain uniform irradiation light even in the case of a non-high-intensity reflective LED lamp. In such a case, the same effect can be obtained by arranging the reflective LED lamp so as to be inclined non-parallel to the relative movement direction of the irradiated surface.

  In addition, there are reflection type LED lamps having different electrode structures, but the present invention is not limited to the shape shown in the fourth embodiment, and both electrodes are formed by inclining the direction of the LED lamp with respect to the conveyance direction of the recording medium. Any shape may be used as long as it is a reflective LED lamp that does not cause a shadow of parallel irradiation light blocked by the terminals on the irradiation surface of the recording medium.

  In the third embodiment, the F3.0 Fresnel lens is used for the configuration of the light erasing unit 24, but a configuration without the Fresnel lens may be used. Moreover, the structure which installed the other lens may be sufficient.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a decoloring apparatus that uses a reflective LED lamp in the configuration of a decoloring head to obtain uniform decoloring without uneven irradiation.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Main body apparatus housing | casing 3 Transfer belt 4 Drive roller 5 Driven roller 6 Image forming unit 7 Photosensitive drum 8 Toner container 9 Primary transfer roller R Decolorizable toner 11 Secondary transfer roller 12 Image forming conveyance path 13 Recording Medium 14 Recording medium container 15 Paper feed conveyance path 16 Fixing conveyance path 17 Fixing section 18 Heating roller 19 Pressing roller 21 Paper discharge tray 22 Decoloring device 23 Decoloring heater roller 24 Decoloring LED head (light decoloring section)
26 Light source base 27 High-brightness reflective LED lamp 28 Fresnel lens 31 Drive electrode terminal 32 Ground electrode terminal 33 LED element 34 Au fine wire 35 Reflector 36 Lamp holder 37 Screw hole 38 Parallel light 39 Screw 40 Cannonball type LED lamp 41 ( 41a, 41b) Lead wire 42 Ground electrode 43 Conductive adhesive 44 LED element 45 Au (gold) wire 46 Driving electrode 47 Epoxy resin 48 Radiation surface 49 (49a, 49b) Radiation spread 50 Linear direction (LED lamp direction)
51 Decolorizable toner image before decoloring 52 Solid white area where no image is formed 53 Completely decolored state of decolorable toner image 54 Incompletely decolored part 55 Light quantity necessary for decoloring 56 Part corresponding to parallel light irradiation 57 Arrangement and corresponding part of arrangement gap 58 Corresponding part of linear arrangement of both electrode terminals

Claims (4)

In a decoloring apparatus for decoloring the decolorizable toner image of a recording medium on which a decolorable toner image is formed using a photosensitive toner,
A light source base arranged extending in a line at 90 ° with respect to the conveyance direction of the recording medium;
A plurality of reflective LED (light emitting diode) lamps arranged in parallel on the light source base as decoloring light sources;
A light decoloring part having at least
The reflective LED lamp has a linear direction in which both electrode terminals of a drive electrode terminal and a ground electrode terminal for driving light emission of the LED element are arranged in a straight line. On the other hand, they are arranged side by side in the direction of more than 0 ° and less than 180 °.
A decoloring device characterized by that.   The reflective LED lamp has a direction of 90 ° with respect to the conveyance direction when the linear direction in which the electrode terminals for driving the LED elements are linearly arranged is defined as 0 ° in the conveyance direction of the recording medium. The erasing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the erasing apparatus is arranged in parallel.   The reflective LED lamp is 45 ° or 135 ° with respect to the conveyance direction when the conveyance direction of the recording medium is 0 ° in the linear direction in which the electrode terminals for driving the LED elements to emit light are linearly arranged. The erasing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the erasing apparatus is arranged in parallel in the direction of °.   4. The decoloring device according to claim 1, wherein the reflective LED lamp is a high-intensity reflective LED lamp.