JP2015227914A - Cleaning member and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent plastic deformation of a contact section in a plate-like member in contact with an image holding body, and to prevent overall elastic deformation of the plate-like member.SOLUTION: A plate-like member 361 includes a contact section 3611 and a reinforcement section 3612. The contact section 3611 is formed of a first material, and comes into contact with a moving image holding body 31 to clean the image holding body 31. The reinforcement section 3612 is formed of a second material having hardness higher than the first material, and is arranged in a position located upstream of the contact section in a moving direction of the image holding body 31 and facing the image holding body 31, to reinforce the plate-like member 361. The plate-like member 361 is supported by a support member 362 at the downstream of the contact section 3611 in the moving direction of the image holding body 31.

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning member and an image forming apparatus.

Patent Document 1 describes a cleaning blade that covers a tip ridge line portion of a strip-shaped elastic blade, is harder than the elastic blade, and has a surface layer that presses against a peripheral surface of an image carrier.
Patent Document 2 describes a two-layer blade member in which the hardness of the first layer blade member that contacts the image carrier is lower than the hardness of the second layer blade member that joins the support member.

JP 2009-223072 A JP 2006-195251 A

  In the present invention, the contact portion in contact with the image carrier in the plate-like member is compared with the case where the contact portion is formed of the same material as the material forming the other portion or a material whose hardness is higher than that material. An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning member that suppresses plastic deformation of the portion and suppresses elastic deformation of the entire plate member.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a cleaning member according to claim 1 of the present invention is made of a first material, contacts a moving image carrier and cleans the image carrier, and the first member. A reinforcing part that is made of a second material having a hardness higher than that of the material and is provided at a position facing the image holding body on the upstream side in the moving direction of the image holding body with respect to the contact portion and reinforces the surface of the position. And is supported by a support member on the downstream side of the contact portion in the moving direction of the image carrier.

  The cleaning member according to a second aspect of the present invention is the cleaning device according to the first aspect, wherein the reinforcing portion is located on the upstream side of the contact portion on the surface of the plate having the contact portion. It is characterized in that it is formed by covering the surface at a position facing the surface with the second material.

  Moreover, the cleaning member which concerns on Claim 3 of this invention is the aspect in Claim 2. WHEREIN: The said reinforcement part is the said image in the said upstream from the said contact part among the surfaces of the board which has the said contact part. It extends to the surface of the position which does not face a holding body.

  Moreover, the cleaning member which concerns on Claim 4 of this invention has arrange | positioned the said 1st material in the position of the said contact part, and the said 2nd material in the position of the said reinforcement part in the aspect of Claim 1, respectively. It is characterized by being molded.

  An image forming apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is in contact with the above-described cleaning member and a support member that supports the cleaning member on the downstream side in the direction in which the image carrier moves relative to the contact portion. And an image carrier that cleans the substance attached to the site by the cleaning member.

According to the first and fifth aspects of the invention, it is possible to suppress the plastic deformation of the contact portion of the plate-like member that contacts the image carrier, and to suppress the elastic deformation of the entire plate-like member.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, it can form by coat | covering a reinforcement part.
According to the invention of claim 3, even when the contact angle of the plate member is increased, it is possible to suppress plastic deformation of the contact portion and to suppress elastic deformation of the entire plate member.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 4, while suppressing the plastic deformation of a contact part, the plate-shaped member which suppressed the elastic deformation of the whole plate-shaped member can be integrally molded.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the structure of a drum cleaner. The figure for demonstrating the structure of a plate-shaped member. The figure for demonstrating the structure of the conventional drum cleaner. The figure for demonstrating the turning of a plate-shaped member. The figure which shows an example of the plate-shaped member shape | molded integrally with the reinforcement part and the contact part.

1. Embodiment 1-1. Hereinafter, the structure of the image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the figure, a space in which each component of the image forming apparatus 1 is arranged is represented as an xyz right-handed coordinate space. Of the coordinate symbols shown in the figure, a symbol in which a point is drawn in a circle represents an arrow heading from the back side to the near side. A direction along the x-axis in space is referred to as an x-axis direction. Of the x-axis directions, the direction in which the x component increases is referred to as + x direction, and the direction in which the x component decreases is referred to as -x direction. For the y and z components, the y-axis direction, + y direction, -y direction, z-axis direction, + z direction, and -z direction are defined according to the above definition.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a developing unit 13, a transfer unit 14, a fixing unit 15, and a conveyance unit 16.
The conveyance part 16 has a container and a conveyance roll. The container stores paper P as a medium. The paper P stored in the container is taken out one by one by a transport roll according to an instruction from a control unit (not shown), and is transported to the transfer unit 14 via a paper transport path. The medium is not limited to paper, and may be a resin sheet, for example. In short, the medium may be any medium that can record an image on the surface.

  The developing unit 13 includes an image carrier 31, a charger 32, an exposure device 33, a developing device 34, a primary transfer roll 35, and a drum cleaner 36. The image carrier 31 is a photosensitive drum having a charge generation layer and a charge transport layer, and is rotated in the direction of an arrow D13 around an axis disposed along the x-axis direction of FIG. It is done. The charger 32 charges the surface of the image carrier 31. The exposure device 33 includes a laser light source, a polygon mirror, and the like (both not shown), and after the laser light corresponding to the image data is charged by the charger 32 under the control of a control unit (not shown). Irradiation toward the image carrier 31. As a result, the latent image is held on the image holder 31.

  Note that the image data may be acquired from an external device by the image forming apparatus 1 via a communication unit (not shown). The external device is, for example, a reading device that reads an original image or a storage device that stores data indicating an image. The developing device 34 supplies the developer to the image carrier 31. As a result, an image is formed (developed) on the image carrier 31.

  The primary transfer roll 35 generates a predetermined potential difference at a position where the intermediate transfer belt 41 of the transfer unit 14 faces the image carrier 31, and the image is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 41 by this potential difference. The drum cleaner 36 removes untransferred toner remaining on the surface of the image carrier 31 after the image is transferred, and neutralizes the surface of the image carrier 31.

  The transfer unit 14 includes an intermediate transfer belt 41, a secondary transfer roll 42, a belt transport roll 43, a backup roll 44, and a belt cleaner 49, and an image formed by the developing unit 13 is transferred to a sheet P Transcript to. The belt transport roll 43 and the backup roll 44 are respectively disposed so as to be rotatable about an axis disposed along the x-axis direction in FIG. The intermediate transfer belt 41 is an endless belt member and is stretched by a belt conveyance roll 43 and a backup roll 44.

  At least one of the belt conveyance roll 43 and the backup roll 44 is provided with a drive unit (not shown), and moves the intermediate transfer belt 41 in the direction of arrow D14 in FIG. Note that the belt conveyance roll 43 or the backup roll 44 that does not have a driving unit rotates as the intermediate transfer belt 41 moves. As the intermediate transfer belt 41 moves and rotates in the direction of arrow D14 in FIG. 1, the image on the intermediate transfer belt 41 is moved to a region sandwiched between the secondary transfer roll 42 and the backup roll 44.

  The secondary transfer roll 42 transfers the image on the intermediate transfer belt 41 onto the paper P conveyed from the conveyance unit 16 by a potential difference with the intermediate transfer belt 41. The belt cleaner 49 removes untransferred toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 41. Then, the transfer unit 14 or the conveyance unit 16 conveys the paper P on which the image is transferred to the fixing unit 15. The fixing unit 15 fixes the image transferred onto the paper P by heating.

1-2. Configuration of Drum Cleaner FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the drum cleaner 36. As shown in FIG. 2, the drum cleaner 36 includes a case 360, a plate-like member 361, and a support member 362. In addition, the drum cleaner 36 may have a mechanism for discharging the surface of the image carrier 31 or a mechanism for supplying a lubricant to the surface.

  The case 360 is a housing having an opening 3600 on the side facing the image carrier 31 and has a support member 362. One end of the support member 362 is fixed inside the case 360, and one end of the plate-like member 361 is supported by its free end, and the other end of the plate-like member 361 is exposed from the opening 3600 of the case 360. The plate-like member 361 supported by the support member 362 contacts the image holding member 31 at a determined pressure and a determined angle (hereinafter referred to as a contact angle θ).

  FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the structure of the plate member 361. A point where the plate-like member 361 contacts the image carrier 31 is a contact point P0. The contact point P0 may be anywhere on the surface of the image carrier 31, but here it is the point in the + y direction most. The contact angle θ is an angle between the tangential plane F0 at the contact point P0 of the image carrier 31 and the direction in which the plate-like member 361 extends. The contact angle θ is an acute angle, that is, an angle smaller than a right angle.

  The normal line N of the tangent plane F0 extending from the contact point P0 is a line along the + y direction because the contact point P0 is the point in the + y direction most of the surface of the image carrier 31. The normal line N divides the area where the drum cleaner 36 is disposed into an upstream area R1 and an downstream area R2 of the arrow D13 which is the rotation direction of the image carrier 31. Since the arrow D13 is in the + z direction at the contact point P0, the region R1 is in the −z direction from the contact point P0, and the region R2 is in the + z direction from the contact point P0.

  The plate-like member 361 is an example of the cleaning member in the present invention. The plate-like member 361 is a plate-like cleaning blade, and includes a contact portion 3611, a reinforcing portion 3612, and a supported portion 3613. The contact portion 3611 and the supported portion 3613 constitute a single plate. This plate is formed by accommodating different materials among materials such as thermosetting resin in a mold and applying a predetermined temperature and pressure. A material constituting the contact portion 3611 is referred to as a first material.

  The contact portion 3611 contacts the image carrier 31 at the contact point P0 and removes substances such as toner attached to the surface of the image carrier 31. The substance scraped off by the contact portion 3611 of the plate-like member 361 is accommodated in the case 360 and removed from the image forming apparatus 1 during maintenance. The contact portion 3611 is an example of a contact portion that is made of a first material and that contacts the moving image carrier and cleans the image carrier.

  The supported portion 3613 is a portion excluding the contact portion 3611 in the above-described plate, and is supported by the support member 362 at the support point P2. The support point P2 is located in a region R2 that is downstream of the contact point P0 in the rotation direction of the image carrier 31. In FIG. 3, the support point P <b> 2 is on the surface of the plate-like member 361 that does not face the image carrier 31 (hereinafter referred to as the back surface F <b> 3).

If the support point P2 exists in the region R2, as indicated by a broken line in FIG. 3, the surface of the plate-like member 361 facing the image carrier 31 (hereinafter referred to as the surface F2). May be. That is, the plate-like member 361 may be supported by the support member 362 on the downstream side of the contact portion 3611 in the direction in which the image carrier 31 moves.
Further, the support member 362 may not support the plate-like member 361 over the entire x-axis direction. For example, the support member 362 may support two points that overlap with the support point P2 on the yz plane at both ends in the x-axis direction.

  Since the support point P2 is in the region R2, the vector from the support point P2 toward the contact point P0 includes a component that opposes the arrow D13 at the contact point P0 (in this case, a component in the −z direction). Since the support point P2 is supported by the support member 362, and the contact portion 3611 of the plate-like member 361 pushes the contact point P0 on the surface of the image carrier 31 along this vector, the plate-like member 361 is a so-called counter method. The surface of the image carrier 31 is cleaned.

  The reinforcing portion 3612 is obtained by coating a part of the surface of the plate described above. Specifically, the reinforcing portion 3612 is a surface on the front end side of the plate, and is provided on the upstream side of the arrow line D13 from the contact point P0. The material of the reinforcing portion 3612 is a second material having a higher hardness than the first material that is the material of the contact portion 3611. In other words, the reinforcing portion 3612 has a surface (hereinafter, referred to as a surface F1) at a position facing the image holding body 31 on the upstream side of the contact portion 3611 among the surfaces of the plate described above, which is harder than the first material. It is formed by coating with two materials. The second material is, for example, a resin.

  The reinforcing portion 3612 is formed by applying a second material that is in a liquid state at a predetermined temperature to the surface F1, raising the temperature, and drying and solidifying. Among the above-described plates, the most upstream point on the arrow D13 is referred to as an end point P1. In FIG. 3, the reinforcing portion 3612 covers the surface F1 up to the end point P1.

  Note that the third material constituting the supported portion 3613 described above may have a hardness lower than that of the second material. The reinforcing portion 3612 is formed only on the surface F1, but may extend from the surface F1 beyond the end point P1 to the back surface F3 as indicated by a broken line in FIG.

1-3. Comparison with Conventional Drum Cleaner The drum cleaner 36 included in the image forming apparatus 1 of the present invention is compared with the conventional drum cleaner. FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the structure of a conventional drum cleaner. This drum cleaner has a plate-like member 961 and a support member 962. The support member 962 has the same configuration as the support member 362 of the present invention except that the plate-like member 961 is supported. The plate-like member 961 is a single plate made of a single material.

  The plate-like member 961 is in contact with the image carrier 31 at the contact point P0, and the portion in contact with the image carrier 31 is pulled downstream of the arrow D13. The plate-like member 961 does not have the reinforcing portion 3612 on the surface F1. Therefore, the surface F1 is easy to extend as compared with the case where it is covered with the reinforcing portion 3612, and the plate-like member 961 may be deformed as shown in FIG. This deformation is called “buzz”.

  When the plate-like member 961 is warped, the portion of the image carrier 31 that is cleaned by the plate-like member 961 becomes unstable, the image carrier 31 is not completely cleaned, and the degree of cleaning is uneven. Will be. In addition, there may be a problem that abnormal noise occurs or the surface of the image carrier 31 is damaged.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the turning of the plate-like member. In FIG. 5, the broken line represents before deformation, and the solid line represents after deformation. As shown in FIG. 5A, the plate-like member 961 that does not have the reinforcing portion 3612 has a “free length” L91 which is the length of the portion of the front surface F1 that is not reinforced by other members. is there. On the other hand, the plate-like member 361 having the reinforcing portion 3612 is L1 because the “free length” is excluded from the portion reinforced by the reinforcing portion 3612. L91 is longer than L1.

  Therefore, when comparing the elastic deformation in the part where each plate-like member contacts the image carrier 31, it is estimated that the conventional plate-like member 961 is deformed more greatly than the plate-like member 361 according to the present invention. Since a force is applied in the + z direction by the image holding member 31 and the conventional plate-like member 961 has a free length L91, the deformation amount deformed along the z-axis direction is L92. On the other hand, in the case of the plate-shaped member 361 according to the present invention, since the free length is L1 shorter than L91, the deformation amount deformed along the z-axis direction is considered to be L2 shorter than L92. That is, since the plate-like member 361 according to the present invention is restrained from elastic deformation as a whole by having the reinforcing portion 3612, the plate member 361 is less likely to bend compared to the conventional case, and the possibility of the above-described problems occurring is suppressed.

  Further, since the plate-like member 361 is formed of the first material having a lower hardness than the second material, the contact portion 3611 in contact with the image carrier 31 is plastically deformed as compared with the case where the second material is used. There is little, and cleaning power is hard to decline.

2. Modification The above is the description of the embodiment, but the contents of this embodiment can be modified as follows. Further, the following modifications may be combined.

2-1. Modification 1
In the embodiment described above, the image forming apparatus 1 has only one developing unit 13, but may have a plurality of developing units 13. In this case, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a corresponding image holding member 31, a charger 32, an exposure device 33, a developing device 34, a primary transfer roll 35, and a drum cleaner 36. As long as it has. The plurality of developing units 13 may form toner images of different colors. In this case, toner images of different colors are transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 41 and a color image is formed on a medium such as paper P.

2-2. Modification 2
In the embodiment described above, the plate-like member 361 is used for the drum cleaner 36, but may be used for the belt cleaner 49. In this case, the plate-like member 361 may remove the substance attached to the intermediate transfer belt 41 instead of the image carrier 31. The image carrier 31 and the intermediate transfer belt 41 are both examples of an image carrier that holds an image formed on a medium.

2-3. Modification 3
In the embodiment described above, the contact portion 3611 and the supported portion 3613 are made of different materials, but may be made of a common material. In short, it is only necessary that the reinforcing portion 3612 is made of the second material having a hardness higher than that of the first material constituting the contact portion 3611.

2-4. Modification 4
In the embodiment described above, the x-axis direction position where the reinforcing portion 3612 is provided is not mentioned, but the reinforcing portion 3612 may not be provided on the entire surface of the plate-like member 361 in the x-axis direction. For example, it may be provided in advance on the surface F1 of the plate-like member 361 corresponding to the portion where the toner tends to remain in the x-axis direction on the surface of the image carrier 31.

2-5. Modification 5
In the above-described embodiment, the reinforcing portion 3612 and the contact portion 3611 are formed as separate bodies, but may be integrally molded. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a plate-like member (cleaning member) formed by integrally forming the reinforcing portion and the contact portion. A plate-like member 361a illustrated in FIG. 6 includes a contact portion 3611a, a reinforcing portion 3612a, and a supported portion 3613a. The support member 362 supports the plate-like member 361a at the support point P2.

  The plate-like member 361a is integrally molded by disposing the first material at the position of the contact portion 3611a shown in FIG. 6 and the second material at the position of the reinforcing portion 3612a. Even in this case, since the reinforcing portion 3612a covers the surface F1 to the end point P1, the above-mentioned “free length” is shorter than that in the case where the reinforcing portion 3612a is not provided, so that the reinforcing portion 3612a contacts the image carrier 31. It is presumed that the elastic deformation at the site is reduced.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus, 13 ... Developing part, 14 ... Transfer part, 15 ... Fixing part, 16 ... Conveying part, 31 ... Image carrier, 32 ... Charger, 33 ... Exposure device, 34 ... Developing apparatus, 35 ... Primary Transfer roller, 36 ... drum cleaner, 360 ... case, 361 (361a) ... plate member, 3611 (3611a) ... contact part, 3612 (3612a) ... reinforcing part, 3613 (3613a) ... supported part, 362 ... support member 41 ... Intermediate transfer belt, 42 ... Secondary transfer roll, 43 ... Belt transport roll, 44 ... Backup roll, 49 ... Belt cleaner, 961 ... Plate member, 962 ... Support member, D13 ... Arrow line, F0 ... Tangent plane , F1 ... front surface, F2 ... front surface, F3 ... back surface, N ... normal line, P ... paper, P0 ... contact point, P1 ... end point, P2 ... support point, R1 ... region, R2 ... region.

Claims (5)

A contact portion made of a first material and contacting the moving image carrier to clean the image carrier;
The second material is harder than the first material and is provided at a position facing the image carrier upstream of the contact portion in the direction in which the image carrier moves, and the surface of the position is reinforced. And a reinforcing part to be
A cleaning member supported by a support member on a downstream side of the contact portion in a direction in which the image carrier moves. The reinforcing portion is formed by covering the surface of the plate having the contact portion with the second material at a position facing the image holding body on the upstream side of the contact portion. The cleaning member according to claim 1. The said reinforcement part is extended to the surface of the position which does not face the said image holding body in the said upstream from the said contact part among the surfaces of the board which has the said contact part. Cleaning member. The cleaning member according to claim 1, wherein the first material is disposed at the position of the contact portion and the second material is disposed at the position of the reinforcing portion. The cleaning member according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A support member that supports the cleaning member on the downstream side in the direction in which the image carrier moves relative to the contact portion;
An image carrier that cleans the substance attached to the contacted portion by the cleaning member;
An image forming apparatus comprising:

Images