JP2013064760A - Cleaning device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent image noise from being generated due to a cleaning failure when a cleaning blade is pressed against the surface of an image holding member to remove toner on the surface of the image holding member and a crack or chip occurs at an end part of the cleaning blade which is pressed against a part of the image holding member with little toner, such as a non-image region.SOLUTION: In a first cleaning device 20 configured to press an end part of a plate-shaped cleaning blade 21 extended in a width direction against the surface of a rotating photoreceptor 10 to remove toner t on the surface of the photoreceptor 10, a seal 23 for preventing the toner t on the surface of the photoreceptor 10 from being guided to the lateral end part of the cleaning blade 21 is provided to come into contact with the lateral end of the photoreceptor 10.

Description

  In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, the present invention transfers a toner image from an image holding member such as a photosensitive member or an intermediate transfer member that holds a toner image, and then images the toner on the surface of the image holding member. The present invention relates to a cleaning device used for removing from a surface of a holding member and an image forming apparatus using such a cleaning device. In particular, when the cleaning blade made of an elastic material along the direction intersecting the moving direction of the image holding member is pressed against the surface of the moving image holding member, the toner on the surface of the image holding member is removed. When the frictional resistance between the cleaning blade and the image holding member becomes high at the end in the direction intersecting the moving direction of the image holding member which is hardly present, and when the end of the cleaning blade is cracked or chipped, etc. This is also characterized in that image noise due to poor cleaning can be appropriately prevented.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, cleaning devices for removing toner on an image holding member are provided in various places. For example, after the toner image formed on the photoconductor is transferred to an intermediate transfer member such as an intermediate transfer belt or a recording sheet, the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor is removed by a cleaning device. Further, after the toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer member is transferred to a recording sheet, the toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer member is removed by a cleaning device.

  Here, when the toner remaining on the surface of the image holding member after the toner image is transferred as described above is removed by the cleaning device, conventionally, as shown in FIG. On the surface of the image holding member 1 that holds and moves the toner t to be moved, a plate-like shape made of an elastic material in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the image holding member 1, that is, in the width direction of the image holding member 1. The cleaning blade 2a is pressed, and the toner t on the surface of the image holding member 1 is removed and collected by the cleaning blade 2a.

  Further, a part of the toner t thus removed from the surface of the image holding member 1 by the cleaning blade 2a is held between the image holding member 1 and the cleaning blade 2a, and the toner t or the lubricant contained in the toner t is used. Thus, the frictional resistance between the image holding member 1 and the cleaning blade 2a is reduced.

  Here, in the image holding member 1 such as the photosensitive member or the intermediate transfer member as described above, generally, a toner image is not formed on the entire width direction of the image holding member 1 as shown in FIG. A non-image area Pb where no toner image is formed exists on both sides of the image forming area Pa where the toner image is formed.

  In the non-image area Pb where no toner image is formed, the toner t is hardly guided to the cleaning blade 2a, and the frictional resistance of the cleaning blade 2a with respect to the image holding member 1 in this portion is compared with the portion where the toner is guided. Due to this difference in frictional resistance, the cleaning blade 2a was distorted, and cracks and chips were generated at the end of the cleaning blade 2a corresponding to the non-image area Pb.

  Here, the toner t is removed from the image holding member 1 by the cleaning blade 2a in a state where cracks or chips are generated at the end of the cleaning blade 2a as described above, and the toner t is gradually removed from the end of the cleaning blade 2a. When the toner t is guided to a portion where cracks or chips are generated as described above, the toner t remains in the image holding member 1 without being properly removed in this portion, and the remaining toner t remains in the image holding member. There is a problem that image noise occurs due to poor cleaning in the non-image area Pb that adheres to the recording sheet 1 led to 1 and no toner image is formed.

  For this reason, conventionally, as shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2 and the like, the lubricant is applied to the non-image area portion of the image holding member by the lubricant application member, and the non-image area portion is applied. There has been proposed one that enhances lubricity and prevents an increase in frictional resistance between the cleaning blade and the image holding member in the non-image area portion.

  However, when the lubricant is applied to the non-image area portion of the image holding member by the lubricant application member as described above, the lubricant application member is required and the lubricity in the non-image area portion is stabilized for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to appropriately supply the lubricant to the lubricant application member, which increases the cost and causes cracks and chipping at the end of the cleaning blade corresponding to the non-image area. Is difficult to suppress over a long period of time, and it is difficult to appropriately suppress the occurrence of image noise due to poor cleaning in the non-image area portion.

JP 2007-233087 A JP 2010-256829 A

  The present invention relates to an elastic material along a direction intersecting a moving direction of an image holding member after transferring a toner image from an image holding member such as a photosensitive member or an intermediate transfer member in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer. An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems in a cleaning device in which the cleaning blade configured as described above is pressed against the surface of an image holding member to remove toner on the surface of the image holding member.

  That is, in the present invention, when the cleaning blade is pressed against the surface of the image holding member as described above to remove the toner on the surface of the image holding member, the non-image area in the image holding member where a toner image is not formed is obtained. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to appropriately prevent the occurrence of image noise due to poor cleaning even when the cleaning blade is cracked or chipped in a portion where toner is hardly guided. is there.

  In the cleaning device of the present invention, in order to solve the above-described problem, a cleaning blade made of an elastic material along the direction intersecting the moving direction of the image holding member is pressed against the surface of the moving image holding member, In a cleaning device that removes toner on the surface of the image holding member, a sealing seal that prevents the toner on the surface of the image holding member from being guided to the end of the cleaning blade intersects the moving direction of the image holding member. It provided so that the edge part of a direction might be contacted.

  In this way, the sealing seal that prevents the toner on the surface of the image holding member from being guided to the end of the cleaning blade is provided at the end in the direction intersecting the moving direction of the image holding member, that is, in the width direction of the image holding member. If it is provided in contact with the end portion, the toner is not guided to the cleaning blade in the non-image area at the end portion in the width direction of the image holding member, and even if the cleaning blade is cracked or chipped in this portion, the above-mentioned sealing is performed. The stop seal prevents the toner from being guided to the end portion in the width direction of the cleaning blade where cracks or chips have occurred.

  Here, when the sealing seal is provided, the sealing seal can be attached to the cleaning blade. In addition, when the sealing seal is attached to the cleaning blade, the sealing seal can be attached to the cleaning blade via the sheet member.

  Further, when the sealing seal is provided so as to be in contact with the end portion in the direction intersecting with the moving direction of the image holding member as described above, the contact pressure for bringing the sealing seal into contact with the surface of the image holding member is high. As a result, the contact pressure of the cleaning blade to the surface of the image holding member decreases, the cleaning effect of the cleaning blade decreases, and the load applied to the moving image holding member increases. It is preferable that the contact pressure of the stop seal is lower than the contact pressure of the cleaning blade.

  Further, in order to allow the sealing seal to properly contact the surface of the image holding member in a state where the contact pressure of the sealing seal with respect to the surface of the image holding member is lowered, the sealing seal is more than the cleaning blade. It is possible to make the seal seal project toward the image holding member rather than the cleaning blade while being made of a highly deformable elastic material.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the toner on the surface of the image holding member after the toner image is transferred is removed from the surface of the image holding member by the cleaning device as described above.

  In the cleaning device of the present invention, as described above, the sealing seal is provided so as to be in contact with the end in the direction intersecting the moving direction of the image holding member, that is, the end in the width direction of the image holding member. Since the toner at the end of the member is prevented from being guided to the end of the cleaning blade, there is a crack or chip in the portion of the cleaning blade pressed against the non-image area at the end in the width direction of the image holding member. Even if it occurs, it is possible to prevent the toner from being guided to the portion of the cleaning blade where the crack or chip has occurred.

  For this reason, even if a crack or a chip is generated in the portion of the cleaning blade that is in contact with the widthwise end of the image holding member, a cleaning failure may occur in the portion of the cleaning blade in which the crack or the chip is generated. In addition, the toner does not remain on the edge of the image holding member in the width direction and adhere to a recording sheet or the like, and image noise due to poor cleaning is appropriately prevented in a non-image area where a toner image is not formed. Become so.

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which a cleaning blade is pressed against the surface of an image holding member and toner remaining on the surface of the image holding member is removed by the cleaning device in a conventional cleaning device. FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view showing a state in which a cleaning blade along the width direction of the image holding member is pressed against the surface of the image holding member in a conventional cleaning device. FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view showing a state in which image formation is performed by an image forming apparatus using the cleaning device according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the cleaning device according to the above-described embodiment, a state where a cleaning blade having a sealing seal attached to the surface of the photoreceptor is pressed is shown, (A) is a schematic cross-sectional view, and (B) is a schematic plan view. FIG. 5 is an enlarged explanatory view showing a state where a cleaning blade having a sealing seal attached to the surface of a photoreceptor is pressed in the cleaning device according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view showing a state in which a sealing seal is attached to an end portion in the width direction of a cleaning blade via a sheet member in the cleaning device according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view showing a state in which a sealing seal is directly attached to an end portion in the width direction of a cleaning blade in the cleaning device according to the embodiment.

  Next, a cleaning device and an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The cleaning device and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention are not limited to those shown in the following embodiments, and can be implemented with appropriate modifications within a range that does not change the gist thereof.

  Here, in the image forming apparatus using the cleaning device according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the developer is applied in correspondence with the four photoconductors (image holding members) 10 on which the toner images are formed. Four accommodated developing devices 13 are provided, and in each developing device 13, the color of the toner in each developer is made different so that black, yellow, magenta, and cyan toners are used.

  Here, in this image forming apparatus, each of the above-described photoconductors 10 is rotated, and the surface of each of the photoconductors 10 is charged by the charging device 11, respectively. Each of the latent image forming devices 12 performs exposure according to the image forming information to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of each photoconductor 10.

  Then, for each photoconductor 10 on which an electrostatic latent image is formed in this manner, a toner of a predetermined color is supplied from the corresponding developing device 13 to the electrostatic latent image on each photoconductor 10 to perform development. A toner image of each color is formed on the surface of each photoconductor 10.

  Next, an intermediate transfer member (image holding member) 14 in the form of an endless belt that is rotated around the plurality of rotating rollers 14a and is rotated on the toner images of the respective colors formed on the respective photosensitive members 10 as described above. The surface of the intermediate transfer member 14 is sequentially transferred to the surface of the intermediate transfer member 15 in order by the respective primary transfer rollers 15 provided so as to face the respective photosensitive members 10, thereby forming a full-color toner image on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 14. .

  The toner remaining on the surface of each photoconductor 10 without being transferred to the intermediate transfer body 14 is removed from the surface of each photoconductor 10 by the first cleaning device 20.

  The full-color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer member 14 as described above is guided to a position facing the secondary transfer roller 16 by the intermediate transfer member 14 and is stored in the lower portion of the image forming apparatus. The recording sheet S is guided between the intermediate transfer body 14 and the secondary transfer roller 16, and the full-color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer body 14 is transferred to the recording sheet S by the secondary transfer roller 16. I try to let them.

  Thereafter, the recording sheet S on which the full-color toner image is transferred is guided to the fixing device 17, and the transferred full-color toner image is fixed on the recording sheet S, and then the recording on which the full-color toner image is fixed as described above. The sheet S is discharged.

  Further, the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer body 14 without being transferred to the recording sheet S is removed from the intermediate transfer body 14 by the second cleaning device 30.

  Here, when the toner remaining on the surface of each photoconductor 10 after the transfer is removed by the first cleaning device 20 as described above, in this embodiment, FIGS. 4A and 4B are used. As shown in FIG. 3, the end of the plate-like cleaning blade 21 made of an elastic material extending in the direction intersecting the moving direction of the photoconductor 10, that is, the width direction (axial direction) of the photoconductor 10 is used as the photoconductor 10. The toner t is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor 10 along the width direction of the toner, and the toner t remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 10 after the transfer is separated from the surface of the photoconductor 10 by the cleaning blade 21, and this first cleaning is performed. It collects in the apparatus 20.

  Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B to 6, the cleaning blade 21 that presses against the surface of the photoconductor 10 at both ends in the width direction of the cleaning blade 21. A sheet member 22 such as a PET sheet extending from the end of the photosensitive member 10 to the upstream side in the moving direction of the photosensitive member 10 is attached to the surface opposite to the photosensitive member 10, and the surface of the sheet member 21 facing the photosensitive member 10 is A sealing seal 23 is provided so as to protrude from the cleaning blade 21 toward the photoreceptor 10.

  Then, at a position upstream of the cleaning blade 21 in the moving direction of the photoconductor 10, the sealing seal 23 is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor 10 at both ends in the width direction of the photoconductor 10, and the sealing seal 23 The toner t is gradually prevented from being guided to the end portions of the cleaning blade 21 so that the toner t is not guided to the end portions on both sides of the cleaning blade 21.

  Thus, as described above, the toner t is not guided to the end portions on both sides in the width direction of the cleaning blade 21 in contact with the non-image region Pb of the photoreceptor 10 on both sides of the image forming region Pa where the toner image is formed. Even if the cleaning blade 21 is cracked or chipped at both ends in the width direction, the toner t removed from the photoconductor 10 by the cleaning blade 21 gradually spreads to the end of the cleaning blade 21 as described above. Is suppressed by the sealing seal 23, and the toner t is not guided to the ends on both sides in the width direction of the cleaning blade 21 where cracks or chips are generated, resulting in poor cleaning at both ends in the width direction of the cleaning blade 21. No image noise is generated.

  Here, when the sealing seal 23 attached to the sheet member 21 as described above is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor 10, if the contact pressure at which the seal seal 23 contacts the surface of the photoconductor 10 becomes too large, The cleaning blade 21 is urged away from the surface of the photoconductor 10 by the sealing seal 23, and the pressing force of the cleaning blade 21 against the surface of the photoconductor 10 is reduced, and the toner t on the surface of the photoconductor 10 is removed by the cleaning blade. 21 cannot be removed properly. On the other hand, if the contact pressure of the sealing seal 23 with respect to the surface of the photoconductor 10 becomes too weak, it becomes difficult to appropriately suppress the toner t at both ends in the width direction of the photoconductor 10 by the sealing seal 23. .

  In the first cleaning device 20 in this embodiment, the sealing seal 23 is made of an elastic material having a higher deformability than the cleaning blade 21, and the sealing seal 23 is more sensitive than the cleaning blade 21. It is made to project toward the body 10.

  Further, when the sheet member 22 is attached to the end of the cleaning blade 21 in the width direction, the portion of the sheet member 22 that contacts the upper side of the cleaning blade 21 can be separated from the cleaning blade 21. In this way, when the sealing seal 23 is pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor 10 and the pressing force is strong, the portion of the sheet member 22 that comes into contact with the upper side of the cleaning blade 21 as shown in FIG. The contact pressure at which the sealing seal 23 comes into contact with the surface of the photoconductor 10 away from the cleaning blade 21 is prevented from becoming too large.

  In this embodiment, the sealing seals 23 are attached via the sheet members 22 at both ends of the cleaning blade 21 in the width direction. However, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to directly attach the sealing seal 23 as described above to the end faces of the both side portions.

  In this embodiment, the first cleaning device 20 for removing the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 10 has been described. However, as described above, the first cleaning device 20 is not transferred to the recording sheet S but is transferred to the intermediate transfer body 14. The second cleaning device 30 that removes the remaining toner can be similarly configured.

10 Photoconductor (image holding member)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Charging device 12 Latent image forming device 13 Developing device 14 Intermediate transfer member (image holding member)
14a Rotating roller 15 Primary transfer roller 16 Secondary transfer roller 17 Fixing device 20 First cleaning device 21 Cleaning blade 22 Sheet member 23 Sealing seal 30 Second cleaning device Pa Image forming area Pb Non-image area S Recording sheet t Toner

Claims (7)

  Image holding in a cleaning device that removes toner on the surface of an image holding member by pressing a cleaning blade made of an elastic material along a direction intersecting the moving direction of the image holding member against the surface of the moving image holding member A sealing seal for preventing the toner on the surface of the member from being guided to the end of the cleaning blade is provided so as to come into contact with the end of the image holding member in the direction intersecting the moving direction. Cleaning device.   The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sealing seal is provided so as to come into contact with a portion outside the image forming area of the image holding member.   The cleaning device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sealing seal is attached to a cleaning blade.   The cleaning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the sealing seal is attached to a cleaning blade via a sheet member.   5. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein a contact pressure at which the sealing seal contacts the surface of the image holding member is greater than a contact pressure at which the cleaning blade contacts. A cleaning device characterized by being low.   6. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the sealing seal is made of an elastic material having a deformability higher than that of the cleaning blade, and the sealing seal is more imaged than the cleaning blade. A cleaning device characterized by projecting toward a holding member.   The toner on the surface of the image holding member after transferring the toner image is removed from the surface of the image holding member by the cleaning device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. apparatus.

Images