JP2021120735A - Recording material cooling device, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a recording material cooling device of a belt cooling system that allows efficient use of a storage space in a recovery box that recovers an attachment including abrasion powder of a belt.SOLUTION: A recovery box 71 is shaken together with an upper frame body to be in an inclined state with respect to a horizontal plane in a separated state where a first belt and a second belt are separated from each other. The recovery box 71 has a wall surface part 71c on the outside of a contact area Z of the first belt with which a scraper 70 is in contact with respect to a width direction. The recovery box 71 is formed on the inside with a plurality of partition wall ribs 71a as partition wall parts that divide an internal space for storing an attachment into plurality in a longitudinal direction. With this, when the recovery box 71 is inclined with a shaking operation of the upper frame body, the attachment can be easily dispersed and spread in the recovery box 71, which allows efficient use of a storage space in the recovery box 71.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

The present invention relates to a recording material cooling device that cools a recording material via a belt, which is suitable for use in an image forming device such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, or a multifunction device, and an image forming measure including the recording material cooling device.

In the image forming apparatus, the toner image formed on the recording material is fixed on the recording material by heating and pressurizing the toner image on the recording material. The toner image is fixed to the recording material by sandwiching and transporting the recording material by a fixing roller heated by a halogen heater or the like and a pressure roller that press-contacts the fixing roller. Since the recording material is heated when the toner image is fixed, the temperature of the recording material conveyed from the fixing device is higher than that before fixing. If the recording material after fixing the toner image is loaded on the loading portion while the temperature is high, the loaded recording materials may stick to each other due to the toner. In order to suppress such sticking of the recording material, a recording material cooling device for lowering the temperature of the recording material after fixing the toner image is provided (Patent Document 1). The recording material cooling device described in Patent Document 1 is a belt cooling type device, in which a belt that sandwiches and conveys the recording material conveyed from the fixing device is cooled by a heat sink, and the temperature of the recording material is lowered via the belt. Be done.

When the belt is cooled by the heat sink as described above, the belt is in contact with the heat sink in a state where a predetermined pressure is applied in order to cool the belt efficiently. Therefore, the rotating belt can be scraped by the heat sink to produce belt wear debris (also called shavings). This wear debris adhered to the belt and was carried as adhering matter together with paper dust and the like, and easily accumulated at the upstream end of the heat sink. Then, when the amount of accumulated deposits increases and a part of the accumulated deposits enters between the heat sink and the belt, the thermal resistance increases and the cooling performance of the recording material may deteriorate. Therefore, we propose a cooling device equipped with a cleaning member such as a blade or fur brush that removes deposits containing abrasion powder of the belt generated by being scraped by the heat sink from the belt, and a case that receives the deposits removed by the cleaning member. (Patent Document 2).

JP-A-2009-181055 JP-A-2015-94847

By the way, as a recording material cooling device, there is a device provided with a mechanism for swinging an upper unit having a belt in order to separate the belt from a conveying member that abuts on the belt and holds and conveys the recording material together with the belt. This makes it easier to remove the recording material that stays in the transport nip where the belt and the transport member sandwich and transport the recording material, for example, when a transport abnormality of the recording material occurs by separating the belt and the transport member. Because. It is conceivable to apply the device described in Patent Document 2 to the recording material cooling device having a mechanism for swinging the upper unit. However, in such a case, there is a risk that deposits may overflow from the case when the upper unit is rotated.

In view of the above problems, the present invention is a belt cooling type recording material cooling device having a mechanism in which the belt swings with respect to a transport member that sandwiches and conveys the recording material together with the belt. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording material cooling device capable of suppressing overflow.

The recording material cooling device according to the present invention is a recording material cooling device that cools a recording material that has passed through a fixing device that fixes a toner image to the recording material by heating, and is a belt and a plurality of rollers on which the belt is stretched. A cooling member that abuts on the inner peripheral surface of the belt to cool the belt, a removing member that removes deposits adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the belt, and an opening that receives the deposits removed by the removing member. Holds the receiving container having the The holder can be swung to a first position where the body, the belt and the transport member are in contact with each other, and a second position where the belt and the transport member are separated from the first position. The receiving container is provided with a support portion that supports the holding body with one end side of the holding body as a swing center in the direction of the rotation axis of the roller, and the receiving container is opened when the holding body is located at the second position. It is characterized by having a wall surface portion that prevents the deposits received from the surface from overflowing.

According to the present invention, in a belt cooling type recording material cooling device having a mechanism in which the belt swings with respect to a transport member that sandwiches and conveys the recording material together with the belt, deposits are removed from the receiving container when the belt swings. It can be suppressed from overflowing.

The schematic which shows the structure of the image forming apparatus. The schematic which shows the image forming part. The schematic diagram which shows the recording material cooling apparatus of this embodiment. (A) A diagram showing a belt contact state, and (b) a diagram showing a belt separation state. The perspective view which shows the collection box of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the accumulation state of the deposit in the recovery box, (a) is the case of the experiment under the condition 1 and (b) is the case of the experiment under the condition 2. (A) A perspective view showing the recovery box of the second embodiment, and (b) a view showing a state of accumulation of deposits in the recovery box after rocking. The schematic diagram which shows the example which provided the recording material cooling device outside the image forming apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating the wall surface part of a collection box, (a) the cross-sectional view cut in the thickness direction of the 1st belt at the position of the ridge line part, (b) from the upper side in the vertical direction which shows another Example of the wall surface part. Viewed view, (c) A view seen from above in the vertical direction showing still another embodiment of the wall surface portion.

<First Embodiment>
[Image forming device]
Hereinafter, the recording material cooling device of this embodiment will be described. First, a schematic configuration of a suitable image forming apparatus using the recording material cooling device of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The image forming apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 is an electrophotographic tandem full-color printer. The image forming apparatus 100 has image forming units PY, PM, PC, and PK that form images of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, respectively. The image forming apparatus 100 records a toner image in response to an image signal from an external device such as a document reading device (not shown) connected to the apparatus main body 100A or a personal computer communicably connected to the apparatus main body 100A. Form in S. In the case of the present embodiment, the toner image is formed on the recording material S by the image forming portions PY to PK, the primary transfer roller 5, the intermediate transfer belt 8, the plurality of rollers (9, 9a, 9b), and the secondary transfer roller 10. The image forming unit 500 to be formed is configured. Further, examples of the recording material S include various types of sheet materials such as plain paper, thick paper, rough paper, uneven paper, coated paper and the like, plastic film, cloth and the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming portions PY, PM, PC, and PK are arranged side by side in the apparatus main body 100A along the moving direction of the intermediate transfer belt 8. The intermediate transfer belt 8 is stretched on a plurality of rollers (9, 9a, 9b) and is configured to move (rotate) in the direction of arrow R2 in the drawing. The intermediate transfer belt 8 carries and carries the primary transferred toner image. Then, the secondary transfer roller 10 is arranged at a position opposite to the roller 9 on which the intermediate transfer belt 8 is stretched with the intermediate transfer belt 8 interposed therebetween, and the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 8 is transferred to the recording material S. The secondary transfer portion T2 is formed. A fixing device 11 is arranged downstream of the secondary transfer unit T2 in the recording material transport direction. Further, on the downstream side of the fixing device 11 in the recording material transport direction, the transport device 90 and the recording material cooling device 20 are arranged in order from the upstream side.

A cassette 12 containing the recording material S is arranged below the image forming apparatus 100. The recording material S is conveyed from the cassette 12 to the registration roller 14 by the conveying roller 13 along the conveying path 600 forming the path of the recording material S in the apparatus main body 100A. After that, the registration roller 14 starts rotating in synchronization with the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 8 as described later, so that the recording material S is conveyed along the transfer path 600 to the secondary transfer unit T2. NS.

Although only one cassette 12 is shown here, a plurality of cassettes 12 may be arranged so as to accommodate recording materials S having different sizes and thicknesses. In that case, from any of the plurality of cassettes 12. The recording material S may be selectively transported to the transport path 600. Further, not only the recording material S housed in the cassette 12 but also the recording material S placed on the manual feed feeding unit (not shown) may be transported to the transport path 600.

[Image forming part]
The four image forming units PY, PM, PC, and PK included in the image forming apparatus 100 have substantially the same configuration except that the developed colors are different. Therefore, here, the black image forming unit PK will be described as a representative, and the other image forming units PY, PM, and PC will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, a cylindrical photosensitive drum 1 is arranged as a photoconductor in the image forming portion PK. The photosensitive drum 1 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow R1 in the drawing. A charging device 2, an exposure device 3, a developing device 4, a primary transfer roller 5, and a drum cleaning device 6 are arranged around the photosensitive drum 1.

The process of forming, for example, a full-color image by the image forming apparatus 100 will be described. First, when the image forming operation is started, the surface of the rotating photosensitive drum 1 is uniformly charged by the charging device 2. The charging device 2 is, for example, a corona charger that irradiates charged particles associated with corona discharge to charge the photosensitive drum 1 to a uniform negative electrode dark potential. Next, the photosensitive drum 1 is scanned and exposed by the laser beam L corresponding to the image signal emitted from the exposure apparatus 3. As a result, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image signal is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 is visualized by the toner (developer) contained in the developing device 4 and becomes a visible image.

The toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 8 by the primary transfer unit T1 formed between the toner image and the primary transfer roller 5 arranged with the intermediate transfer belt 8 interposed therebetween. At this time, a primary transfer bias is applied to the primary transfer roller 5. The toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 after the primary transfer is removed by the drum cleaning device 6.

Returning to FIG. 1, the above operations are sequentially performed by the yellow, magenta, cyan, and black image forming portions PY to PK, and the toner images of four colors are superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 8. After that, the recording material S housed in the cassette 12 is conveyed to the secondary transfer unit T2 at the timing of forming the toner image. Then, by applying the secondary transfer bias to the secondary transfer roller 10, the full-color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 8 is collectively secondarily transferred to the recording material S.

Next, the recording material S is conveyed to the fixing device 11. The fixing device 11 has a fixing roller 11a rotatably arranged and a pressure roller 11b that rotates while being in pressure contact with the fixing roller 11a. The fixing roller 11a is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed (for example, 400 mm / s) by a drive motor (not shown) in a state of being in pressure contact with the pressure roller 11b (for example, the pressure contact force is about 784 N (about 80 kgf)). A halogen heater 11c is arranged in the fixing roller 11a, and the surface temperature of the fixing roller 11a is raised by the halogen heater 11c (for example, 180 ° C.), so that the fixing device 11 can heat the recording material S.

The fixing device 11 heats and pressurizes the recorded material S to be conveyed by sandwiching and conveying the recording material S on which the toner image is formed in the fixing nip T3 formed by the fixing roller 11a and the pressure roller 11b. The toner image is fixed on the recording material S. That is, the toner of the toner image formed on the recording material S by heating and pressurizing is melted and mixed, and fixed on the recording material S as a full-color image. In this way, the series of image formation processes is completed. Then, the recording material S on which the toner image is fixed is conveyed to the recording material cooling device 20 by the conveying device 90. The transport device 90 transfers the recording material S from the fixing device 11 to the recording material cooling device 20 by rotating the belt supporting the recording material S at a predetermined rotation speed (for example, 400 mm / s) by, for example, air adsorption. Transport. The recording material cooling device 20 cools the recording material S transported by the transport device 90. The temperature of the recording material S is, for example, about 90 ° C. before cooling of the recording material cooling device 20, but is lowered to about 60 ° C. by the recording material cooling device 20. The recording material cooling device 20 will be described later (see FIGS. 3 to 4 (b)).

In the case of the present embodiment, the transport path 600 is re-transported to the image forming unit PY, PM, PC, and PK by inverting the front and back of the recording material S cooled by the recording material cooling device 20 for double-sided printing. It has a reversing transport unit 600a. That is, in the case of single-sided printing, the recording material S having the toner image fixed on the first surface (front surface) is cooled by the recording material cooling device 20 and then discharged to the outside of the machine and loaded on the loading unit 60. On the other hand, in the case of double-sided printing, the recording material S in which the toner image is fixed on the first surface (front surface) is cooled by the recording material cooling device 20, then turned upside down by the reversing transport unit 600a and transported to the transport path 600, and then transported to the transport path 600. The toner image is fixed to the front surface (back surface). The recording material S having the toner image fixed on the second surface is cooled by the recording material cooling device 20 and then discharged to the outside of the machine and loaded on the loading unit 60.

[Recording material cooling device]
Next, the recording material cooling device 20 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 4 (b). The recording material cooling device 20 of the present embodiment is a belt cooling type cooling device. As shown in FIG. 3, the recording material cooling device 20 has an endless first belt 21 and an endless second belt 25 that sandwiches and conveys the first belt 21 and the recording material S. Both the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are endless belts formed by using, for example, a high-strength polyimide resin or the like to have a thickness of 100 μm and a belt circumference of 942 mm.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first belt 21 is bridged over a plurality of first belt tension rollers (22a to 22d), and at least one of the first belt tension rollers (22a to 22d) has one roller. It is rotated by a drive motor (not shown). In the case of the present embodiment, for example, the roller 22d is rotated by a drive motor (not shown), so that the first belt 21 moves in the direction of arrow Q in the drawing. The roller 22d as a drive roller has, for example, a rubber layer having a thickness of 1 mm on the surface layer and is formed to have an outer diameter of φ40 mm.

The roller 22b as the second roller is provided in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the first belt 21 so that the first belt 21 can be stretched together with the roller 22c, and is provided in the width direction of the first belt 21 (rotation axis of the roller 22c). It is a steering roller that controls the deviation of the direction). The roller 22b has a rubber layer having a thickness of 1 mm on the surface layer, and the meandering of the first belt 21 can be controlled by performing a steering operation of turning the steering angle with respect to the roller 22c as the first roller. The roller 22b is steered by the steering mechanism 81. The steering mechanism portion 81 urges the roller holder 81a, which holds the roller 22b and can swing around the central portion in the width direction as the swing center, and the roller 22b held by the roller holder 81a toward the first belt 21. It holds a spring 81b as an urging means. For example, the roller holder 81a has a bearing (not shown) that pivotally supports the rotation axis of the roller 22b, and this bearing is urged by a spring 81b. The spring 81b is fixed with a spring pressure capable of urging the roller 22b with an urging force such that the tension of the first belt 21 is about 39.2 N (about 4 kgf). The roller holder 81a is held so as to be swingable around a swing center axis that intersects the rotation axis of the roller 22b.

On the inner peripheral side of the first belt 21, in addition to the plurality of first belt tension rollers (22a to 22d) and the steering mechanism 81, a heat sink 30, a scraper 70, and a collection box 71 are provided. The heat sink 30, the scraper 70, and the recovery box 71 will be described later.

On the other hand, the second belt 25 as a transport member (belt-shaped member) is bridged by a plurality of second belt tension rollers (26a to 26d) and abuts on the outer peripheral surface of the first belt 21. In the case of the present embodiment, the second belt 25 is in contact with the first belt 21 from below in the direction of gravity. The second belt 25 comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the first belt 21 and forms a cooling nip portion T4 for cooling while conveying the recording material S on which the toner image is formed. In the case of the present embodiment, the roller 26d is pressurized by the roller 22d with, for example, about 49 N (about 5 kgf). Although the roller 26d is not shown, the roller 26d is connected to a drive motor that drives the roller 22d via a drive gear, and the second belt 25 is rotated in the direction of arrow R in the drawing by being rotated by the drive motor. Moving. That is, the second belt 25 moves (rotates) together with the first belt 21. The roller 26b is a steering roller that controls the deviation of the second belt 25 in the width direction (the direction of the rotation axis of the roller 26c), and performs a steering operation that turns the steering angle with respect to the roller 26c with the central portion in the width direction as the swing center. Go and control the meandering of the second belt 25. That is, the roller 26b is steered by the same steering mechanism 82 as the steering mechanism 81 described above.

On the inner peripheral side of the second belt 25, a plurality of pressure rollers are provided to press the second belt 25 toward the heat sink 30 described later, which is arranged on the inner peripheral side of the first belt 21. ing. In the present embodiment, as an example, the pressure roller 26e is provided on the downstream end side of the cooling nip portion T4 and the pressure roller 26f is provided on the upstream end side of the cooling nip portion T4 in the recording material transport direction (arrow R direction in the drawing). Has been done. These pressure rollers 26e and 26f pressurize the second belt 25 with a pressing force of, for example, 9.8 N (1 kgf), and the first belt 21 is surely brought into contact with the heat sink 30 via the second belt 25. There is.

Although an example of driving both the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 is shown here, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, only the first belt 21 may be driven to make the second belt 25 follow the first belt 21, or only the second belt 25 may be driven to make the first belt 21 into the second belt 25. It may be made to act.

[heat sink]
A heat sink 30 for cooling the first belt 21 is provided on the inner peripheral side of the first belt 21. In the case of the present embodiment, the heat sink 30 is brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the first belt 21 that comes into contact with the recording material S on the surface side on which the toner image is formed by the fixing device 11. That is, the recording material S on which the toner image is fixed is sandwiched between the first belt 21 and the second belt 25, and is conveyed in the recording material conveying direction (arrow R direction in the drawing) according to the rotation of these. At that time, the recording material S passes through the cooling nip portion T4 as the nip portion formed by the contact between the first belt 21 and the second belt 25. In the case of the present embodiment, the first belt 21 forming the cooling nip portion T4 is cooled by the heat sink 30. The heat sink 30 is first located at a position where a plurality of first belt tensioning rollers (22a to 22d) form a cooling nip portion T4 by tensioning the first belt 21 in order to efficiently cool the recording material S. It is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the belt 21. When the recording material S passes through the cooling nip portion T4, the temperature is lowered via the first belt 21 cooled by the heat sink 30.

The heat sink 30 as a cooling member is a heat radiating plate made of a metal such as aluminum. The heat sink 30 conducts heat from the heat receiving portion 30a to the heat receiving portion 30a for contacting the first belt 21 and removing heat from the first belt 21, the heat radiating portion 30b for radiating heat, and the heat radiating portion 30b. It has a fin base 30c for the purpose. The heat radiating portion 30b is formed of a large number of heat radiating fins in order to increase the contact area with air and promote efficient heat radiating. For example, the heat radiation fin has a thickness of 1 mm, a height of 100 mm, and a pitch of 5 mm, and the fin base 30c has a thickness of 10 mm. Further, in order to forcibly cool the heat sink 30 itself, a cooling fan 40 that blows air toward the heat sink 30 (specifically, the heat radiating portion 30b) is provided. The air volume of the cooling fan 40 is ^{set to, for example, 2 m 3} / min.

[scraper]
Further, on the inner peripheral side of the first belt 21, a scraper 70 as a removing member is arranged on the downstream side of the heat sink 30 with respect to the moving direction of the first belt 21 (direction of arrow Q in the drawing). In the case of the present embodiment, the scraper 70 is provided so as to be located between the downstream side of the roller 22c and the upstream side of the roller 22b with respect to the moving direction of the first belt 21. The scraper 70 is made of, for example, a PET sheet having a thickness of 0.1 mm and has a length of contact with the first belt 21 in the width direction of the first belt 21 orthogonal to the thickness direction and the rotation direction of the first belt 21 at least over a range through which the recording material S passes. It is a film-like sheet member formed in. The scraper 70 is provided so as to come into contact with the moving direction of the first belt 21 from the counter direction. Since such a scraper 70 has flexibility, it can maintain a state of being in contact with the first belt 21 by following the movement of the moving (rotating) first belt 21.

The scraper 70 is provided so that the first belt 21 can be cleaned by removing the deposits including abrasion powder and paper dust adhering to the first belt 21 from the first belt 21. That is, as described above, since the heat sink 30 is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the first belt 21, the inner peripheral surface of the first belt 21 is rubbed against the heat sink 30 as it rotates. Then, since the first belt 21 is scraped by the heat sink 30, wear powder (also referred to as scrap powder) of the belt may be generated. This wear debris adheres to the first belt 21 and is carried as adhering matter together with paper dust and the like, and tends to accumulate at the upstream end of the heat sink 30. Then, when the amount of accumulated deposits increases, a part of the accumulated deposits enters between the heat sink 30 and the first belt 21, thereby increasing the thermal resistance and lowering the cooling performance of the recording material S. It can end up.

In order to suppress the generation of the abrasion powder described above, as the first belt 21, for example, a belt formed of a polyimide resin containing a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filler is used. The PTFE filler content is, for example, about 5% by weight. When the polyimide resin of the base material contains the PTFE filler, the frictional resistance with the heat sink 30 decreases. Therefore, the first belt 21 containing the PTFE filler is made of the heat sink 30 as compared with the case where the PTFE filler is not contained. It becomes difficult to be scraped. However, even if a belt containing a PTFE filler is used, wear debris on the belt can inevitably be generated. Since this wear powder contains PTFE filler, it is difficult to adhere to the first belt 21, but even such wear powder adheres to the first belt 21 when it passes through the sliding surface between the heat sink 30 and the first belt 21. obtain. Therefore, as the usage time of the first belt 21 becomes longer, the amount of deposits containing abrasion powder accumulated at the upstream end of the heat sink 30 increases. Therefore, in order to remove the deposits adhering to the first belt 21 from the first belt 21, the scraper 70 is arranged on the downstream side of the heat sink 30 in the rotation direction of the first belt as described above.

Below the scraper 70 in the direction of gravity, a recovery box 71 for collecting the deposits scraped off from the first belt 21 by the scraper 70 is arranged. The collection box 71 has an opening in the upper direction in the direction of gravity, and the collection box so that deposits can be received from the opening on the upstream side in the moving direction of the first belt 21 from the contact point between the scraper 70 and the first belt 21. 71 is arranged. The details of the collection box 71 will be described later (FIGS. 5 to 6 (b)). The scraper 70 is fixed to the collection box 71 with, for example, double-sided tape.

The first belt 21 described above may be scraped and worn by the heat sink 30 as described above, and may deteriorate over time. Further, the second belt 25 on which the heat sink 30 is not provided wears more slowly than the first belt 21, but it wears with use and may deteriorate over time. Therefore, the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are the upper frame body 62 and the lower frame body of the recording material cooling device 20, respectively, so that the operator can replace the worn or deteriorated first belt 21 and the second belt 25. 63 (see FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) described later) is provided so as to be freely inserted and removed. However, when the operator replaces the first belt 21 or the second belt 25, it is difficult to insert or remove the belt if the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are in contact with each other. Therefore, the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 can be changed to a contact state in which the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are in contact with each other and a separated state in which the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are separated (opened). The second belt 25 is provided so as to be relatively movable.

[Contact / detachment mechanism]
A mechanism for relatively moving the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 (referred to as a contact / detachment mechanism) will be described. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are views of the recording material cooling device 20 as viewed from the downstream side in the recording material transport direction. In FIGS. 4A and 4B, the right side is the "front side" of the image forming apparatus 100 (recording material cooling device 20), and the left side is the "back surface" of the image forming apparatus 100 (recording material cooling device 20). "Side". In the case of the present embodiment, the contact / detachment mechanism 610 is provided so that the upper frame body 62 on which the scraper 70 and the recovery box 71 are arranged can swing upward in the direction of gravity. The upper frame body 62 is oscillated so as to move the other end side (front side) with one end side (back side) in the width direction as the oscillating center. In the present embodiment, the contact / detachment mechanism 610, which is a support portion, is mainly composed of a swing shaft 62a, a hook member 64, a pin 65, and a compression spring 66.

As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the recording material cooling device 20 of the present embodiment is roughly divided into an upper frame body 62 and a lower frame body 63. The upper frame body 62 as a holding body rotatably holds the first belt tension rollers (22a to 22d) described above, and also holds the heat sink 30 and the recovery box 71. The scraper 70 is held in the collection box 71. On the other hand, the lower frame body 63 rotatably holds the above-mentioned second belt tension rollers (26a to 26d), pressure rollers 26e, and 26f. The upper frame body 62 and the lower frame body 63 are oscillatingly connected with a swing shaft 62a provided on one end side (rear side) in the width direction as a swing center. The first belt 21 is provided so as to be freely inserted and removed from the other end side (front side) in the width direction with respect to the upper frame body 62, and the second belt 25 is provided from the other end side (front side) in the width direction with respect to the lower frame body 63. It is provided so that it can be inserted and removed freely.

A hook member 64 is provided on the other end side (front side) of the upper frame body 62 in the width direction, and a pin 65 is provided on the other end side (front side) of the lower frame body 63 in the width direction. A compression spring 66 that urges the upper frame body 62 upward in the gravity direction is arranged on one end side of the lower frame body 63 in the width direction. A grip portion 67 is provided on the hook member 64, and the operator holds the grip portion 67 from the front side of the recording material cooling device 20 to rotate the hook member 64 to pin the hook member 64 to the pin 65. The hook member 64 and the pin 65 may be disengaged from each other. As shown in FIG. 4A, when the hook member 64 is engaged with the pin 65, the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are in contact with each other. The operator engages the hook member 64 with the pin 65 by pushing down the upper frame body 62 toward the lower frame body 63 against the force of the compression spring 66. The spring force of the compression spring 66 may be set to a value corresponding to the weight of the upper frame body 62, and in the case of this embodiment, the operator engages the hook member 64 with the pin 65 with a force of about 10 N. It is set to a possible value.

When replacing the first belt 21 or the second belt 25, the operator disengages the hook member 64 from the pin 65. When the hook member 64 and the pin 65 are disengaged, as shown in FIG. 4B, the upper frame body 62 swings so as to be lifted upward by the compression spring 66. At this time, the first belt tension roller (22a to 22d), the first belt 21, the heat sink 30, the scraper 70, and the collection box 71 are integrally moved with the upper frame body 62. Then, the upper frame body 62 is positioned at a predetermined position by stopping the swing by a stopper (not shown). In this way, the upper frame body 62 swings with respect to the lower frame body 63, so that the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are separated from each other. In the case of the present embodiment, the collection box 71 is swung together with the upper frame body 62 so that the belt is not tilted with respect to the horizontal plane when the belt is in contact with the belt, and is not tilted with respect to the horizontal plane when the belt is in the separated state. It is provided so that it can move so that it is tilted toward.

Here, the configuration in which the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are brought close to each other by the above-mentioned contact / detachment mechanism 610 is used when the first belt 21 or the second belt 25 is replaced, but other than that. In the case of, the contact / detachment mechanism 610 may be used. For example, when a so-called jam occurs in which the recording material S stays between the cooling nip portion T4 between the first belt 21 and the second belt 25, the first belt 21 and the second belt 21 and the second belt 21 are used by using the contact / detachment mechanism 610. The belt 25 may be separated from the belt 25. In this case, since the grip portion 67 is on the front side as described above, the user can remove the accumulated recording material S from the front side of the recording material cooling device 20, and the workability is good. Even in this case as well, the upper frame body 62 may swing with respect to the lower frame body 63 so that the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are separated from each other. Therefore, even when the recording material S accumulated between the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 is removed, the recovery box 71 is swung together with the upper frame body 62 so that the recovery box 71 can move with respect to the horizontal plane. It will be in a tilted state. In the present embodiment, the state in which the cooling nip portion T4 is formed by the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 is defined as the first position of the upper frame body 62. Further, when removing the recording material S accumulated in the cooling nip portion T4, the state in which the second belt 25 is swung with respect to the first belt 21 (the state in which the first belt 21 is tilted) is set as the upper frame body. It is the second position of 62. Here, the state in which the cooling nip portion T4 is formed is a state in which the recording material S can be conveyed by the recording material cooling device 20.

[Collection box]
Next, the collection box 71 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 6 (b) with reference to FIG. In the following description, the other end side of the upper frame body 62 in the width direction (the right front side of FIGS. 5 to 6B) is referred to as the “front side (or front side)” of the image forming apparatus 100 (recording material cooling device 20). ) ”. Further, one end side in the width direction of the upper frame body 62 is also referred to as a “back” (left back side of FIGS. 5 to 6 (b)) of the image forming apparatus 100 (recording material cooling device 20).

As shown in FIG. 5, the collection box 71 as a receiving container is provided along the longitudinal direction of the scraper 70 (the width direction of the first belt 21 and the direction of the rotation axis), and the scraper 70 provides the inner circumference of the first belt 21. Collect the deposits removed from the surface. The recovery box 71 of the present embodiment has a wall surface portion 71c outside the contact region Z where the scraper 70 abuts on the first belt 21 in the width direction (longitudinal direction of the scraper-70). The wall surface portion 71c is located on the downstream side of the ridgeline portion 70a of the scraper 70 that abuts on the first belt 21 at least in the moving direction of the first belt 21 (in the direction of arrow Q in the drawing) from the contact region of the ridgeline portion 70a in the width direction. Is also located on one end side of the first belt 21. Further, the wall surface portion 71c is provided so that the upstream side of the ridge line portion 70a in the moving direction is located on one end side of the first belt 21 with respect to the contact region of the ridge line portion 70a in the width direction. The wall surface portion 71c assumes that the recovery box 71 is tilted due to the swing of the upper frame body 62 in order to block the contained deposits when the recovery box 71 is tilted due to the swing of the upper frame body 62. Also, it is possible to prevent the deposits from overflowing from the collection box 71.

In the present embodiment, the recovery box 71 is replaced when the recovery box 71 contains a predetermined amount of deposits. The predetermined amount here is the amount of deposits collected in the collection box 71 when the first belt 21 makes a predetermined rotation (for example, 1500,000 rotations). Further, the replacement timing of the collection box 71 is the same as the replacement timing of the first belt 21.

In the case of the present embodiment, the amount of deposits recovered when the first belt 21 rotates 1500,000 times is set as the allowable amount that can be recovered by the recovery box 71 when the recording material cooling device 20 is normally used. Therefore, the wall surface portion 71c can prevent the leakage of the deposits when the amount of the deposits collected in the collection box 71 is less than the permissible amount even when the upper frame body 62 is shaken. It is provided in. In the present embodiment, when the recovery box 71 collects deposits of a predetermined amount (allowable amount that can be recovered by the recovery box 71) or less, and the upper frame 62 swings within the range of normal use. However, the purpose is to prevent the deposits from overflowing from the collection box 71. Therefore, outside the range of normal use, deposits may overflow from the recovery box 71. Here, the term "outside the range of normal use" means, for example, that the upper frame body 62 is shaken more violently than in the case where an amount of deposits exceeding the allowable amount is collected in the collection box or in the case of normal use. For example.

In the case of the present embodiment, the ridge line portion 70a, which is the contact portion where the scraper 70 abuts on the first belt 21 in the moving direction of the first belt 21, is collected in the moving direction of the first belt 21 (arrow Q direction in the drawing). It is provided so as to be located inside the box 71. That is, the scraper 70 is attached to the collection box 71 so that the ridge line portion 70a is located between the wall 70b on the upstream side and the wall 70c on the downstream side of the collection box 71 in the direction of arrow Q. In the present embodiment, the distance between the upstream wall 70b and the downstream wall 70c in the direction of arrow Q is 20 to 30 mm.

Further, the depth from the upper end portion 71e surrounding the opening of the collection box 71 to the bottom surface portion 71d is such that the downstream side in the moving direction of the first belt 21 (in the direction of arrow Q in the figure) is deeper than the upstream side. It is formed. That is, the wall 70c on the downstream side of the collection box 71 is higher than the wall 70b on the upstream side in the direction of arrow Q of the first belt 21. In the present embodiment, the height of the wall 70c on the downstream side in the direction of arrow Q is 2 to 4.5 mm. The collection box 71 has an opening for receiving deposits containing abrasion powder scraped off by the scraper 70, and is arranged at a predetermined distance between the upper end portion 71e surrounding the opening and the inner peripheral surface of the first belt 21. Will be done. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the opening of the collection box 71 is formed by the upper end portion 71e connecting the upper ends of the wall surfaces 71b and 71c and the upper ends of the walls 70b and 70c.

Further, inside the recovery box 71, a plurality of partition wall ribs 71a are formed as partition wall portions for dividing the internal space for collecting the deposits into a plurality of parts in the longitudinal direction of the scraper 70. In the present embodiment, five partition ribs 71a are provided at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction, so that the inside of the collection box 71 is divided into six storage chambers capable of storing deposits. The height of the partition ribs 71a from the bottom surface 71d of the collection box 71 is closer to the downstream side than the upstream side in the moving direction of the first belt 21 (arrow Q direction in the figure) according to the depth of the collection box 71. Is high. In this way, in each storage chamber isolated by the partition rib 71a, a larger amount of deposits can be accumulated on the downstream side in the moving direction of the first belt 21 (in the direction of arrow Q in the figure) than on the upstream side. I have to.

As described above, the recovery box 71 having an opening for collecting the deposits scraped off by the scraper 70 has a plurality of partition wall ribs 71a. By doing so, it is possible to increase the amount of deposits collected from the recovery box 71 as compared with the case where the recovery box 71 is formed only by the wall surface portions 71b and 71c without the partition wall rib 71a. This is because the deposits that move with the rotation of the upper frame body 62 as described above are collected by blocking the wall surface portion 71c and the plurality of partition wall ribs 71a rather than blocking the deposits by the wall surface portion 71c alone. This is because it is possible to increase the amount of deposits collected until the deposits leak from the wall surface portion 71c to the back surface side when the box 71 is tilted.

In addition, the inventors of the present application conducted experiments using the above-mentioned recovery box 71 in accordance with the following conditions 1 and 2, respectively, in order to investigate the separation operation of the belt and the accumulation state of the deposits in the recovery box. went. Condition 1 is a case where the recording material cooling device 20 is continuously operated for 8 hours per day, and the above-mentioned belt separating operation is not performed even once. FIG. 6A shows the state of deposition of deposits in the recovery box 71 when the experiment was conducted under condition 1. On the other hand, under condition 2, the recording material cooling device 20 is continuously operated for 8 hours per day as in condition 1, but unlike condition 1, the belt separation operation described above is performed at a frequency of about once every 7 days. If this is the case. FIG. 6B shows the state of deposition of deposits in the recovery box 71 when the experiment was conducted under condition 2. The inventors of the present application conducted experiments under these conditions 1 and 2 to determine the number of days required for deposits to leak from the recovery box 71.

When the experiment was conducted under condition 1, it took 111 days for the deposits to leak from the collection box 71. That is, as shown in FIG. 6A, the deposit W (thick diagonal line in the figure) is deposited in a mountain shape substantially directly below the ridgeline portion 70a, which is the region where the scraper 70 abuts on the first belt 21. Become. In the case of condition 1, the deposit W is deposited only directly under the ridge line portion 70a, and the capacity of the recovery box 71 cannot be fully utilized.

On the other hand, when the experiment was conducted under the condition 2, it took 139 days for the deposits to leak from the collection box 71. For example, when the user removes the accumulated recording material S, the upper frame body 62 is lifted upward, and the wall surface portion 71b (the other end side wall) on the front side of the wall surface portion 71c on the back side is performed. The recovery box 71 is tilted so that the surface portion) is located above in the direction of gravity. Further, in the upper viewpoint in which the upper frame body 62 (see FIG. 4A) is lifted upward, the swing is stopped at a predetermined position by a stopper (not shown), but at that time, the collection box 71 is constant. Shock is given. In this way, when the collection box 71 is tilted and a constant shock is applied, the deposit W contained as a mountain as shown in FIG. 6A collapses to the back side. Then, as shown in FIG. 6B, the collapsed deposit W is blocked by the wall surface portion 71c and the partition wall rib 71a, and is from the upstream side to the downstream side in the moving direction of the first belt 21 along the partition wall rib 71a. It is moved while being leveled toward. In this way, in the present embodiment, the mountain of the deposit W deposited in a mountain form just below the ridge line portion 70a is broken, and the deposit W is stored in a deeper downstream space, that is, a space on the downstream side having a large capacity. It will be possible to accommodate while approaching. That is, by moving the deposit W to the root side (fixed side) of the scraper 70, the area directly below the scraper 70 in the recovery box 71 is effectively utilized.

When the recording material cooling device 20 is continuously operated after the state shown in FIG. 6B is reached, the deposit W begins to accumulate again in the vicinity of directly below the ridge line portion 70a of the scraper 70. Then, each time the collection box 71 is tilted, the pile of the deposit W is broken due to the swinging operation of lifting the upper frame body 62 upward when the user removes the accumulated recording material S. It is stored in each containment room. Further, the wall surface portion 71c prevents the deposit W from flowing to the back side and overflowing from the collection box 71 when the collection box 71 is tilted. Further, by partitioning the inside of the collection box 71 into a plurality of storage chambers by the partition rib 71a, it is possible to prevent the deposit W from flowing to the back side and overflowing from the collection box 71 when the collection box 71 is tilted. While being able to accommodate more deposits. In this way, by tilting the recovery box 71 and breaking the pile of the deposit W, the deposit W is deposited only on a part of the recovery box 71, and it is possible to prevent the deposit W from overflowing from the recovery box 71.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the collection box 71 is swung together with the upper frame body 62 so that the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 are tilted with respect to the horizontal plane when they are separated from each other. It will be in a state of being. The recovery box 71 has a wall surface portion 71c outside the contact region Z of the first belt 21 with which the scraper 70 is in contact in the width direction. Further, inside the recovery box 71, a plurality of partition ribs 71a are formed which divide the internal space for accumulating deposits containing abrasion powder into a plurality of parts in the longitudinal direction. As a result, when the recovery box 71 is tilted by the user due to the swinging operation of the upper frame body 62 when removing the accumulated recording material S, the recovery box 71 moves to the rotation center side of the upper frame body 62 in the recovery box 71. It is possible to prevent the deposit W from overflowing from the rotation center side of the recovery box 71. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the inside of the recording material cooling device 20 from becoming dirty due to the outflow of the deposit W inside the recording material cooling device 20. Further, since the deposits in the collection box 71 are dispersed in the collection box 71 and easily distributed, the storage space of the collection box 71 can be efficiently used. In that case, the recovery box 71 can accommodate a larger amount of deposits, so that the frequency of the work of removing the deposits from the recovery box 71 by the operator can be reduced.

The collection box 71 may be freely inserted and removed from the other end side in the width direction (left side of FIGS. 4A and 4B) with respect to the upper frame body 62. Further, it is preferable that the operator can insert and remove the collection box 71 only when the first belt 21 and the second belt 25 shown in FIG. 4A are in contact with each other. That is, in the case of the contact state, the recovery box 71 is separated from the upper frame body 62 in a non-tilted state, and it is advantageous because the deposits are unlikely to spill from the recovery box 71 at the time of separation.

<Second embodiment>
Next, the collection box of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 (a) and 7 (b). As shown in FIG. 7A, the recovery box 72 of the second embodiment is the first belt with which the scraper 70 is in contact with each other in the width direction, similarly to the recovery box 71 of the first embodiment (see FIG. 5). The wall surface portions 72b and 72c are provided outside the contact region Z of 21. A plurality of partition wall ribs 72a as partition walls are formed inside the collection box 72, and are divided into six storage chambers. The partition wall ribs 72a are formed so that the height of the collection box 72 from the bottom surface portion 72d is higher on the downstream side than on the upstream side in the moving direction.

Further, unlike the collection box 71 (see FIG. 5), the collection box 72 is different from the collection box 71 (see FIG. 5) in that the partition wall rib 72a is closer to the downstream end side in the movement direction than the upstream end side when viewed from the movement direction of the first belt 21 (arrow Q direction in the drawing). It is formed diagonally so as to be closer to the center of the swing. As the operator swings the upper frame body 62 upward, the collection box 72 also tilts accordingly. Then, as shown in FIG. 7B, the deposit W contained as a mountain collapses to the back side, and the collapsed deposit W is dammed by the partition rib 72a. The partition rib 72a is formed diagonally as described above. Therefore, the deposit W easily invades the region directly below the scraper 70. As a result, as compared with the case of the first embodiment, the region directly below the scraper 70 can be effectively utilized to deposit the deposit W.

Regarding the second embodiment described above, the number of days until the deposits leaked from the collection box 72 was examined and found to be 187 days. This is longer than the experimental result (condition 2) of the first embodiment, which is 139 days. That is, in the case of the second embodiment, the storage pace in the collection box 72 can be used more efficiently than in the case of the first embodiment, and the frequency with which the operator removes the deposit W from the collection box 72 can be further extended. can.

<Other Embodiments>
In each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the upper frame body 62 is swung upward in the direction of gravity has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the lower frame body 63 is the upper frame with the swing shaft 62a as the swing center. It may be a case of swinging downward in the direction of gravity with respect to the body 62. In that case, for example, in FIG. 7A, the direction of inclination of the partition rib 72a is reversed. With such a configuration, the recovery box 72 is tilted so that the side with the wall surface portion 72c moves downward in the direction of gravity as the lower frame body 63 swings. Correspondingly, the deposit W contained as a mountain collapses to the front side, and the collapsed deposit W is blocked by the diagonally formed partition wall rib 72a and invades the area directly below the scraper 70. Can be.

In each of the above-described embodiments, a case where the recording material cooling device 20 is provided in the apparatus main body 100A of the image forming apparatus 100 is shown as an example (see FIG. 1), but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the recording material cooling device 20 may be provided outside the device main body 100A. FIG. 8 shows an example in which the recording material cooling device 20 is provided outside the device main body 100A.

As shown in FIG. 8, an external cooling unit 101 as an external cooling device is connected to the device main body 100A. The external cooling unit 101 is configured to be connectable to the image forming apparatus 100 as one of peripheral units (called an option unit or the like) that can be retrofitted to expand the functions of the image forming apparatus 100. The external cooling unit 101 is arranged to cool the recording material S discharged from the apparatus main body 100A and lower the temperature of the recording material S, which is higher than that before fixing, to a predetermined temperature or lower. The external cooling unit 101 has the recording material cooling device 20 described above for cooling the recording material S.

The recording material S cooled by the external cooling unit 101 is discharged from the external cooling unit 101 by the discharge roller 17 and loaded on the loading unit 60. The loading unit 60 is detachably provided with respect to the external cooling unit 101 and the image forming apparatus 100. That is, the loading unit 60 is mounted on the image forming apparatus 100 when the external cooling unit 101 is not connected to the image forming apparatus 100 (see FIG. 1). Then, when the external cooling unit 101 is connected to the image forming apparatus 100, the user removes the external cooling unit 101 from the image forming apparatus 100 and replaces the external cooling unit 101 with the external cooling unit 101.

A plurality of external cooling units 101 may be connected as peripheral units. By increasing the number of external cooling units 101 to be connected, the operator can easily improve the cooling capacity of the recording material S with respect to the existing image forming apparatus 100.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the entire wall surface portion 71c is arranged outside the contact area Z with the first belt 21 of the scraper 70, but the deposit W scraped off by the scraper 70 is collected. If possible, other configurations may be used. For example, in the width direction of the first belt 21, the wall surface portion 71c may be located inside the width of the contact region Z of the scraper 70. 9 (a) to 9 (c) show an example in which the wall surface portion 71b (the other end side wall surface portion) and a part of the wall surface portion 71c are provided so as to overlap the contact region Z of the scraper 70. FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view cut in the thickness direction of the first belt 21 at the position of the ridge line portion 70a which is the contact position between the first belt 21 and the scraper 70, and is upstream of the moving direction Q of the first belt 21. It is a view seen from the side. FIG. 9B is a view seen from the upper side in the vertical direction, and is an explanatory view showing the positional relationship between the ridge line portion 70a of the scraper 70 and the wall surface portions 71b and 71c. Note that the partition rib 71a is not shown in FIGS. 9 (b) and 9 (c).

As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, at the position of the ridge line portion 70a indicating the region where the scraper 70 abuts on the first belt 21, the wall surface portions 71b and 71c are partially collected in the collection box 71. It is located on the outside in the longitudinal direction of. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9B, the wall surface portion 71c has a ridgeline portion 70a in the width direction at least on the downstream side of the ridgeline portion 70a in the moving direction of the first belt 21 (arrow Q direction in the drawing). It is located on one end side of the first belt 21 with respect to the contact region Z of the above. Further, the wall surface portion 71c is provided in an oblique shape so as to be upstream of the ridge line portion 70a in the moving direction and overlap a part of the contact region Z in the rotation axis direction. On the other hand, the wall surface portion 71b is located on the downstream side of the ridge line portion 70a in the moving direction and on the other end side of the first belt 21 with respect to the contact region Z in the rotation axis direction. Further, the wall surface portion 71b is provided in an oblique shape on the upstream side of the ridge line portion 70a in the moving direction so as to overlap a part of the contact region Z in the rotation axis direction. Here, with respect to the moving direction of the first belt 21, the distance L1 between the upstream end portion of the wall surface portion 71b and the upstream end portion of the wall surface portion 71c is shorter than the contact region Z in the width direction. Further, regarding the moving direction of the first belt 21, the distance L2 between the downstream end portion of the wall surface portion 71b and the downstream end portion of the wall surface portion 71c is longer than the contact region Z in the width direction. Even with such a configuration, at the position of the ridge line portion 70a where the scraper 70 is in contact with the first belt 21, the wall surface portions 71b and 71c are located on the outside, so that the scraped deposit W can be recovered. .. The wall surface portion 71b is inclined so that the upstream end portion of the wall surface portion 71b is located in the direction away from the ridge line portion 70a in the width direction and the upstream end portion is located in the direction approaching the ridge line portion 70a. By doing so, the area for collecting the deposit W can be expanded on the downstream side of the ridge line portion 70a.

In FIG. 9B, the wall surface portion 71b and the wall surface portion 71c are inclined in different directions, but as shown in FIG. 9C, the wall surface portion 71b and the wall surface portion 71c are inclined in the same direction. It may be configured to be used. That is, the wall surface portion 71b is located on the upstream side of the ridge line portion 70a in the moving direction on the other end side of the first belt 21 with respect to the contact region Z in the rotation axis direction, and is on the downstream side of the ridge line portion 70a in the moving direction. Therefore, it overlaps a part of the contact region Z in the direction of the rotation axis. As described above, in the case of this configuration, the upstream end portion of the wall surface portion 71c in the moving direction is located inside the ridge line portion 70a in the width direction, and the downstream end portion of the wall surface portion 71b is inside the ridge line portion 70a in the width direction. Located in. Even with such a configuration, since the wall surface portions 71b and 71c are located on the outside at the position of the ridge line portion 70a where the scraper 70 is in contact with the first belt 21, the scraped deposit W can be collected. Can be done.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the scraper 70 is shown as an example of the removing member, but other removing members may be used as long as they can remove deposits on the inner peripheral surface of the belt, such as a fur brush and a non-woven fabric. good.

11 ... Fixing device, 20 ... Recording material cooling device, 21 ... Belt (first belt), 22a to 22d ... Roller (first belt tension roller), 25 ... Conveying member (belt-shaped member, second belt), 30 ... Cooling member (radiating plate, heat sink), 62 ... Holding body (upper frame body), 70 ... Removing member (scraper), 70a ... Contact part (ridge line part), 71 (72) ... Receiving container (collection box), 71a (72a) ... partition wall portion (partition wall rib), 71b (72b) ... other end side wall surface portion, 71c (72c) ... wall surface portion, 71d ... bottom surface portion, 100 ... image forming apparatus, 500 ... image forming unit, 610 ... support Part (contact / detachment mechanism), S ... Recording material, T4 ... Nip part (cooling nip part)

Claims (16)

In a recording material cooling device that cools a recording material that has passed through a fixing device that fixes a toner image to the recording material by heating.
With a belt
With a plurality of rollers on which the belt is stretched,
A cooling member that comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the belt and cools the belt,
A removing member that removes deposits adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the belt, and
A receiving container having an opening for receiving the deposits removed by the removing member, and
A transport member that comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the belt and forms a nip portion that sandwiches and transports the recording material together with the belt.
A holding body that holds the plurality of rollers, the cooling member, and the receiving container,
Rotation of the roller so that the holding body can swing at a first position where the belt and the transport member are in contact with each other and a second position where the belt and the transport member are separated from the first position. A support portion that supports the holding body with one end side of the holding body in the axial direction as a swing center is provided.
The receiving container has a wall surface portion that prevents the deposits received from the opening from overflowing when the holding body is located at the second position.
A recording material cooling device characterized by the fact that. In the wall surface portion, at least in the moving direction of the belt, a portion downstream of the contact portion of the removal member that abuts on the belt is located on the belt in the direction of the rotation axis with respect to the contact region of the contact portion. It is provided so as to be located on one end side of the
The recording material cooling device according to claim 1. The wall surface portion is provided so that a portion upstream of the contact portion in the moving direction is located on one end side of the belt with respect to the contact region in the direction of the rotation axis.
The recording material cooling device according to claim 2. The wall surface portion is provided in an oblique shape so that a portion upstream of the contact portion in the moving direction overlaps a part of the contact region in the rotation axis direction.
The recording material cooling device according to claim 2 or 3. The receiving container has the other end side wall surface portion on the other end side of the belt in the direction of the rotation axis.
At least in the moving direction of the belt, the portion of the other end side wall surface on the downstream side of the abutting portion of the removing member that abuts on the belt is closer to the abutting region of the abutting portion in the direction of the rotation axis. It is provided so as to be located on the other end side of the belt.
The recording material cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the recording material cooling device is characterized. The other end side wall surface portion is provided in an oblique shape so as to be a portion upstream of the contact portion in the moving direction and overlap a part of the contact region in the rotation axis direction.
The recording material cooling device according to claim 5. The other end side wall surface portion is provided in an oblique shape at a portion downstream of the contact portion in the moving direction so as to overlap a part of the contact region in the rotation axis direction.
The recording material cooling device according to claim 5 or 6. The receiving container has at least one partition wall that partitions the inside of the receiving container into a plurality of storage chambers in the direction of the rotation axis.
The recording material cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 7. The receiving container is formed so that the downstream side in the moving direction of the belt is deeper than the upstream side.
The height of the partition wall from the bottom surface of the receiving container is higher on the downstream side than on the upstream side in the moving direction.
The recording material cooling device according to claim 8. The partition wall is formed obliquely so that the downstream end side in the moving direction of the belt is closer to the swing center side than the upstream end side when viewed from the moving direction of the belt.
The recording material cooling device according to claim 8 or 9. The removing member is held in the receiving container,
The recording material cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 10. The cooling member is a heat radiating plate that contacts the belt and dissipates heat.
The recording material cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 11. The transport member is a belt-shaped member.
The recording material cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the recording material cooling device is characterized. The first position is a position where a nip portion for transporting a recording material is formed by the belt and the transport member.
The second position is a position where the nip portion between the belt and the transport member is opened.
The recording material cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 13. One end side in the direction of the rotation axis is the back side of the recording material cooling device.
The recording material cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the other end side in the direction of the rotation axis is the front side of the recording material cooling device. An image forming unit that forms a toner image on the recording material,
A fixing device that fixes the toner image formed by the image forming unit by heating,
The recording material cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 15, which is provided on the downstream side of the fixing device in the transport direction of the recording material and cools the recording material that has passed through the fixing device. ,
An image forming apparatus characterized in that.

Images