JP2500915B2 - Electrophotography method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic method applicable to printers, facsimiles and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional electrophotographic developing methods include a cascade developing method, a touchdown developing method, a jumping developing method and the like. Among them, a cascade developing method shown in US Pat. No. 3,105,770 is known as a developing method in which a developer is directly sprinkled with a developer. The cascade developing method is the first developing method used in an electrophotographic copying machine.

Further, an AC bias is applied to the developing roller 1
U.S. Pat. No. 38 as a method for flying and developing a component toner
There is 66574. In this invention, it is explained that the AC bias applied to the developing roller is used for the purpose of activating the movement of the toner, and that the toner reaches the image portion and flies back on the way in the non-image portion.

Further, as a modification of the technique of applying the AC bias, there is a jumping developing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-42256. This jumping developing method is a developing method in which toner is carried on a toner carrier and conveyed to a developing unit, where the toner is attached to the image part of the photoconductor by an AC bias. This Japanese special public Sho 63-42
The technical idea of the 256 publication is that the toner reciprocates in the image portion and the non-image portion in the above-mentioned US Pat.
866574.

[0005]

As is well known in the art, the cascade development method is not good at reproducing solid images. Further, there is a problem that the device becomes large and complicated. Further, US Pat.
The 6574 developing device has a drawback that the device is required to have high accuracy and is complicated and high in cost. In the jumping development method, since a photoreceptor is developed by a toner carrier carrying a toner layer, it is essential to form an extremely uniform thin layer on the toner carrier in order to obtain high image quality. Further, in this method, a so-called sleeve ghost phenomenon often occurs in which a history of the previous image remains in the thin toner layer on the toner carrier and an afterimage appears in the image. Further, there is a drawback that the device is complicated and the cost is high.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic method having a simple structure and high image quality. It also provides an excellent electrophotographic method that can be applied to high-speed processes.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a step of forming an electrostatic latent image on an electrostatic latent image holder containing a fixed magnet and then moving the same, Passing the latent image holder through a toner hopper that holds magnetic toner therein, and adhering the magnetic toner to the entire surface of the electrostatic latent image holder by the magnetic force of the fixed magnet; and the static toner carrying the magnetic toner. The electrostatic latent image holder is passed through a toner collecting electrode to which an AC voltage is applied and which is installed with a gap between the electrostatic latent image holder and the electrostatic latent image holder. A step of removing the magnetic toner adhering to the image part and leaving the magnetic toner adhering to the image part; a step of removing the magnetic toner collected in the toner collecting electrode and returning it to the toner hopper again; The magnetic toner in the image area remaining on the And transferring the receptor, an electrophotographic process comprising.

Further, according to the present invention, a step of forming an electrostatic latent image on an electrostatic latent image holding member containing a fixed magnet A and then moving the electrostatic latent image holding member, and a toner hopper holding the magnetic toner inside the electrostatic latent image holding member. And the magnetic toner is attached to the surface of the electrostatic latent image holding member by the magnetic force of the fixed magnet A, and the electrostatic latent image holding member carrying the magnetic toner is provided via a gap. , Has a fixed magnet B inside, and passes the electrostatic latent image holding member through a rotating toner recovery electrode roller to which an AC voltage is applied, and the electrostatic latent image is held under the influence of the electrostatic force and the magnetic force of the fixed magnet B. Removing the magnetic toner adhering to the non-image part of the image carrier and leaving the magnetic toner adhering to the image part; removing the magnetic toner collected by the toner collecting electrode roller and returning it to the toner hopper again; Electrostatic latent image retention And transferring the magnetic toner remaining image portion in the image receptor, an electrophotographic process comprising.

[0009]

The present invention uses an electrostatic latent image holder containing a fixed magnet that does not rotate. The developer is sprinkled magnetically on the electrostatic latent image holder on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, and the toner is collected. The toner is carried and conveyed to the electrode roller portion, an AC bias is applied to the toner collecting electrode roller, and the non-image portion toner of the electrostatic latent image holding member is removed by electrostatic force and magnetic force. That is, the present invention is a cascade development method in which a magnet that does not rotate is installed inside the electrostatic latent image holding member, and an AC voltage is applied to the electrodes. In the present invention, development is almost completed when toner is first sprinkled on the electrostatic latent image holding member. The toner collecting electrode roller section circulates the toner in the toner hopper and at the same time collects the toner in the non-image section of the electrostatic latent image.

The technical idea of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 is an electrostatic latent image holder on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, 2 is toner, 3 is a developing electrode, 4 is a magnet, and 5 is a power source. In the conventional method, as shown in (b), toner is attached to the image portion of the electrostatic latent image holding member to obtain the toner image of (c). On the other hand, in the present invention, as shown in (d), magnetic toner is once attached to the entire surface of the electrostatic latent image holding member by magnetic force, and then (e).
As shown in (1), the toner is taken from the non-image portion by the magnetic force and the electrostatic force. That is, the conventional example is a “developing method for adhering toner to the image portion”, and the present invention can be said to be a “developing method for stripping off toner in unnecessary non-image portion”.

Due to such a difference in technical idea, the toner collecting electrode roller of the present invention and a conventional method, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-
Differences from the developing roller disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 42256 are as follows. (1) It is the electrostatic latent image carrier that carries and carries the developer from the toner hopper to the developing section. (2) In the conventional developing roller, the surface carrying the toner layer is always opposed to the electrostatic latent image holding member. On the other hand, the toner collecting electrode roller of the present invention always has a bare surface facing the electrostatic latent image holding member. (3) In the conventional example, the developing roller and the electrostatic latent image carrier move in the same speed and in the same direction. However, in the present invention, the toner recovery electrode roller rotates in the opposite direction.

That is, in the present invention, the electrostatic latent image carrier carries the developer from the toner hopper to the developing section, and the toner collected by the bare toner collecting electrode roller is immediately removed from the developing section by the reverse rotation. Is.

Due to such a difference in structure, the following difference in action and effect occurs. If the electrostatic latent image holding member and the roller move at the same speed and in the same direction as in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-42256, the toner returned from the image portion of the electrostatic latent image holding member to the roller due to the reciprocating motion is again. You can return to the image section with. However, when the roller rotates in the reverse direction as in the present invention, once the toner moves to the roller side, the surface of the electrostatic latent image holding member facing next is different from the original electrostatic latent image holding member surface, and therefore the toner is the same again. You cannot go back to the place. That is, assuming that reciprocating motion occurs in the image portion in the reverse rotation as in the present invention, a visible image with toner cannot be obtained in principle. Therefore, the effect of the AC voltage applied to the toner recovery electrode roller in the present invention is not the "reciprocating motion of toner" disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-42256, but "activation of toner motion" disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,574. It is supposed to be close to.
Here, in the present invention, since the toner is collected on the bare surface of the toner collecting electrode roller, there is a new effect that the sleeve ghost phenomenon due to the unevenness of the toner layer thickness, which has been a problem in the past, does not occur.

Further, since the transfer movement of the developer can be used also as the rotation movement of the electrostatic latent image holding member, the construction of the developing device can be simplified and the entire apparatus can be downsized.

The operation of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the developing unit of FIG. 6 described later. In FIG. 2, 6 is an electrostatic latent image holder having an electrostatic latent image formed on its surface, 7 is magnetic toner in a toner hopper, 8 is a magnet contained in the electrostatic latent image holder 6, and 9 is a magnet 8. The magnetic brushes 7 and 10 of the magnetic toner 7 formed by are toner collecting electrode rollers. The electrostatic latent image holder 6 on which the electrostatic latent image is formed is
By magnetically attracting the magnetic toner 7 by the magnet 8, the developer 7 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow A, and at the same time, the developer bristles 9 are formed. The ears 9 of the developer not only form a stable developer layer between the electrostatic latent image holder 6 and the toner collecting electrode roller 10, but also between the electrostatic latent image holder 6 and the toner collecting electrode roller 10. It also prevents the developer from spilling down from the gap. The developer 7 electrostatically attracted to the toner recovery electrode roller 10 is conveyed in the direction of arrow B by the rotational force of the toner recovery electrode roller 10. in this way,
According to the constitution of the present invention, each constituent element can also serve some roles which have been conventionally divided, so that the constitution of the developing machine can be simplified.

The reason why high image quality can be obtained by the improved apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 11 denotes an electrostatic latent image holder having an electrostatic latent image formed on its surface, 12 denotes a magnet contained in the electrostatic latent image holder 11, and 13
Is a charged toner moving in the developing area, 14 is a toner collecting electrode roller, 15 is a magnet having a polarity opposite to that of the magnet 12, 1
6 is an AC high voltage power source for applying a high voltage to the toner collecting electrode roller 17, 17 is a line of electric force generated between the electrostatic latent image holder 11 and the toner collecting electrode roller 14, and 18 is between the magnet 12 and the magnet 15. These are the magnetic lines of force generated in the. The force acting on the toner during development in the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Normally, when charged toner particles are put between two electrodes and an AC voltage is applied, the charged toner particles reciprocate between the electrodes according to a change in the alternating electric field. Here, in the present invention, the electric field generated by the bias voltage and the magnetic field generated by the magnetic pole intersect in the developing gap. Therefore, the charged toner particles 1
When 3 moves along the line of electric force 17, the line 3 crosses the line of magnetic force 18 in the developing area, and the charged toner particles 13 follow the so-called "Fleming's left-hand rule" and the electrostatic latent image carrier 11 and the toner recovery electrode roller 14 are moved. Not only does it move between, but it also begins to vibrate in the front-back direction of the page. Due to such violent movement of the toner in the developing area, the electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic latent image holding member is developed extremely faithfully and high image quality is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, the moving direction of the toner collecting electrode roller is set to be opposite to the moving direction of the electrostatic latent image holding member, and the moving speed of the toner collecting electrode roller is set to the electrostatic latent image holding member speed. Since it is slower than the above, the bare toner collecting electrode roller can accurately remove the toner on the electrostatic latent image holding member. As a result, (1) unevenness in the developing direction did not occur, (2) horizontal line resolution was high, and (3) sufficient image density was obtained.

Further, in the present invention, the developer is in contact with the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the electrostatic latent image holding member for a longer time than in the conventional magnetic brush developing method, so that the developing efficiency is extremely high and the high-speed adaptability is excellent. It's easy to understand.

As the charging device used in the present invention, a commonly used corona charger and a scorotron charger having a grid electrode are used. Further, any type of charging device such as a roller charging device made of an elastic rubber material or a conductive fur brush charging device can be used as long as it is a charging device normally used in an electrophotographic apparatus.

The present invention uses an electrostatic latent image carrier containing a magnet. This magnet does not rotate but only the electrostatic latent image carrier rotates. At this time, if the magnet and the electrostatic latent image holder are supported coaxially, there is an advantage that the mechanism for driving the electrostatic latent image holder can be simplified and the magnetic pole position can be easily adjusted.
The maximum magnetic flux density of the magnet inside the electrostatic latent image carrier used in the present invention needs to be 300 gauss or more on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier, and is preferably 500 to 1200 gauss. 30
When it is 0 Gauss or less, the effect of the magnetic force is weakened, the uniformity of the image is lost, and the toner is easily clogged with the toner collecting electrode roller. Further, in order to improve the transportability of the developer and the mobility of the toner at the time of development, the magnetic pole position of the magnet inside the electrostatic latent image holding member is set to the electrostatic latent image holding member and the toner collecting electrode roller. It is preferable to set it at the position closest to or at a position upstream thereof. This angle θ is preferably in the range of 0 ° to 30 °. The range of the magnetic pole angle is based on the assumption that the diameter of the photoconductor drum is 30 mm. For example, when the diameter of the photoconductor is large,
Obviously, this value will be small.

As the electrostatic latent image carrier used in the present invention, zinc oxide, selenium, cadmium sulfide, amorphous silicon, or an organic photoconductor using phthalocyanine or an azo pigment can be used. Needless to say, ordinary electrostatic recording paper or the like may be used. The surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier may be roughened by sandblasting or the like in order to accelerate the formation of the developer layer.

In the present invention, a toner hopper having an opening on the surface of the electrostatic latent image holding member is used. The developer is configured to directly contact the electrostatic latent image holder from the toner hopper, and the developer is magnetically attracted to the electrostatic latent image holder regardless of whether or not it is charged. The width of the opening of the toner hopper facing the electrostatic latent image holder is 5 in the moving direction of the electrostatic latent image holder.
It is necessary to be at least mm, preferably 10 to 15 mm. When this width is 5 mm or less, the image density becomes extremely low.

The magnetic toner used in the present invention is preferably an insulating one-component toner. If a one-component toner is used, the device configuration can be simplified. The one-component toner used in the present invention is obtained by dispersing powder of magnetite or ferrite together with a charge control agent in a binder resin such as styrene resin or acrylic resin, pulverizing and classifying. This toner may be a powder obtained by spray drying or a powder chemically obtained by a pearl polymerization method or the like. The average particle diameter of the toner used is preferably 15 μm or less, but if it is 12 μm or less, a sharper image can be obtained.

In this electrophotographic method, the toner is once attached to the entire surface of the electrostatic latent image holding member, and then the toner in the non-image portion is removed by the toner collecting electrode roller. It was found that with this method, if the fluidity of the toner is poor, the toner in the non-image area adheres strongly to the electrostatic latent image carrier and cannot be removed, resulting in background fog and degrading the image. When silica fine particles are externally added to the surface of the toner, the fluidity of the toner is improved, the non-electrostatic adhesion force to the electrostatic latent image holding member is reduced, and the effect of eliminating fog is obtained. At this time, it was found that the silica particles not only contribute to the improvement of the fluidity but also contribute to the charging of the toner. In this electrophotographic method, in the case of a one-component toner, it is not necessary to particularly provide a charging member for charging the toner. If silica particles are added to the toner, when the toner comes in contact with the charged electrostatic latent image holding member, It was found that the charge was transferred from the side of the electrostatic latent image holder to the side of the toner to charge the toner to the same polarity as that of the electrostatic latent image holder. The silica fine particles are also called colloidal silica.

The distance between the toner collecting electrode roller and the electrostatic latent image carrier is 100 μm or less when one-component toner is used.
They are set apart by about 700 μm.

The material of the toner collecting electrode roller may be conductive. When the fluidity of the developer is poor, if the toner recovery electrode roller is made of a magnetic material, the magnetic force lines from the magnet inside the electrostatic latent image holder reach the toner recovery electrode roller.
As a result, the developer transportability is improved. Examples of such a material include soft iron, magnetic stainless steel, nickel and the like. The surface of the toner collecting electrode roller may be a polished one, or may be one having a roughened surface by sandblasting or the like or a grooved one.

The toner recovery electrode roller may be a non-magnetic roller having a magnet fixed inside. For example, there is a configuration in which a magnet is inserted into a cylinder made of non-magnetic stainless steel or aluminum.
The magnetic pole of the magnet inside the toner recovery electrode roller is preferably opposite in polarity to the magnetic pole of the magnet inside the electrostatic latent image holding member.

An AC voltage is applied to the toner collecting electrode roller. Of course, a pulse waveform or a triangular wave may be used as long as an alternating electric field is effectively applied to the electrostatic latent image holder. The frequency of this alternating voltage varies depending on the image forming process speed, and is approximately 50 Hz to 5000 Hz.
And preferably in the range of 300 to 3000 Hz. The value of AC voltage is zero to peak
The value of k is approximately 0.5 of the charging potential of the electrostatic latent image carrier.
Is preferably 3 to 3 times, more preferably 0.5 to 2 times. In the case of reversal development, if the value of the DC voltage superimposed on the AC voltage is set equal to or lower than the charging potential of the electrostatic latent image carrier by several tens of percent, a good negative-positive reversal image can be obtained. . On the other hand, in the case of regular development, it is equal to the background portion potential of the electrostatic latent image holding member or several ten
% If set to a high value, a good positive image can be obtained.

The rotation direction of this toner recovery electrode roller is
When the developing position is set in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of the electrostatic latent image holding member, high image quality is obtained and the apparatus structure is simplified.

In order to effectively remove the fog on the electrostatic latent image carrier, it is preferable to increase the moving speed of the toner recovery electrode roller. On the other hand, the slower the moving speed of the toner collecting electrode roller is, the more carefully the toner on the electrostatic latent image carrier can be removed. The speed of the toner recovery electrode roller is preferably 0.3 to 2.0 times the moving speed of the electrostatic latent image holding member.

The toner attached to the toner collecting electrode roller is scraped off by a scraper provided in the toner hopper, and the toner is returned to the toner hopper again. The scraper is preferably electrically insulated so as not to affect the toner collecting electrode roller. Therefore, for example, plastic such as polyester film is preferable for this scraper. This scraper has
It is possible to use stainless steel or phosphor bronze plate, but in this case, in order to prevent the toner recovery electrode roller from being electrically affected, insulate the parts other than the toner recovery electrode roller from electrical contact. There is a need.

[0032]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The electrophotographic method of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Concrete Example 1 FIG. 4 shows an example of the electrophotographic method of the present invention. In FIG. 4, 19 is an organic photosensitive drum in which phthalocyanine is dispersed in a polyester binder resin, 20 is a magnet composed of 7 non-rotating magnetic poles fixed coaxially with the photosensitive body 19, and 21 is a negatively charged photosensitive body. Corona charger, 22 is a grid electrode for controlling the charging potential of the photoconductor, 23 is a signal light, 24 is a toner hopper, 25 is a negatively chargeable magnetic one-component toner having an average particle size of about 10 μm, 2
6 is a toner guide. The fixed magnet 20 is formed with magnetic poles of three poles attracting each other in a portion facing the toner hopper 24, and magnetic poles of four poles mutually repulsing are formed in the repulsive magnetic field portion 27 on the opposite side that does not rotate with respect to the axis. ing. 28 is a magnetic toner recovery electrode roller made of stainless steel, 29 is an AC high voltage power source for applying a voltage to the toner recovery electrode roller, 30 is a scraper made of polyester film for scraping the toner on the toner recovery electrode roller, 3
Reference numeral 1 is a transfer corona charger that transfers the toner image on the photoconductor to paper. Reference numeral 32 denotes a recovery unit that recovers the toner splashed by the repulsive magnetic field unit 27. The magnetic flux density on the surface of the photoconductor 19 is 800 Gs. The diameter of the photoconductor 19 is 30 mm
Then, it was rotated at a peripheral speed of 30 mm / s.

The magnetic one-component toner used was composed of 70% polyester resin, 25% ferrite, 3% carbon black, and 2% oxycarboxylic acid metal complex, and 0.4% colloidal silica was added externally. (All were weight%).

The operation of the electrophotographic apparatus configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIG. Photoconductor 1
9 is a corona charger 21 (applied voltage-4 kV, grid 3
It was charged to -500V with a voltage of 0 (-500V). The photoconductor 19 was irradiated with a laser beam 23 to form an electrostatic latent image. At this time, the exposure potential of the photoconductor was -100V.
The magnetic one-component toner 25 is attached to the surface of the photoconductor 19 in the toner hopper 24 by magnetic force. At this time, the toner was charged to approximately −3 μC / g. Next, the photoconductor 19 having the toner layer attached thereto is attached to the toner collecting electrode roller 2
Passed in front of 8. The toner collecting electrode roller 28 was installed with a distance of 300 μm from the photoconductor 9. A high voltage power supply 29 is applied to the toner collecting electrode roller 28 to 400V0- with a DC voltage of -300V having a waveform shown in FIG.
An alternating voltage (frequency: 300 Hz) of p (peak-to-peak 800 V) was applied. The toner layer on the photoconductor 19 moves between the photoconductor 19 and the toner collecting electrode roller 28, and the toner in the non-image area gradually becomes the toner collecting electrode roller 2.
After moving to the No. 8 side, the negative-positive inverted toner image remained only on the image portion on the photoconductor 19. The toner adhering to the toner collecting electrode roller 28 rotating in the direction of the arrow was scraped off by the scraper 30, returned to the inside of the toner hopper 24, and used for the next image formation. The toner image thus obtained on the photoconductor 19 was transferred onto a sheet of paper (not shown) by the transfer charger 31 and then thermally fixed by a fixing device (not shown). On the other hand, the toner remaining on the photoconductor 19 after transfer is repelled from the surface of the photoconductor 19 by the repulsive magnetic field unit 27 as the photoconductor 19 moves, and is collected in the collecting unit 32. Some of the toner splashed in the repulsive magnetic field part is returned to the surface of the photoconductor, but at this time, the part that has passed through the repulsive magnetic field part is
Since the toner is attached to the surface of the photoconductor in a dispersed state, it has substantially no effect on the next charging exposure.

The photoreceptor 19 was charged again by the corona charger 21 and used in the next image forming step. As a result, a sharp image with no toner scattering was obtained.

In the embodiment, the repulsive magnetic field portion is provided with a recovery unit for recovering the splashed toner. However, since the toner repulsed once and adhered again to the surface of the photoconductor is well dispersed, the amount of the toner may be small. If it does not affect the next process. Therefore, if the magnetic field configuration is such that the dispersed toner adheres to the surface of the photoconductor again, the recovery unit 32 may be omitted.

Concrete Example 2 An example of the electrophotographic method of the present invention will be described using the apparatus shown in FIG.

An insulating magnetic one-component toner was used as the toner. The composition of the magnetic one-component toner is polyester resin 70
%, Ferrite 25%, carbon black 3%, and oxycarboxylic acid metal complex 2%, and 0.4% of colloidal silica was externally added and used (all are% by weight). 1
When component toner is used, the ears of the developer attached to the magnet become smaller, so the gap between the photoconductor 33 and the toner recovery electrode roller 40 is set to 300 μm, and the magnetic pole of the magnet 34 is located at the closest position of the toner recovery electrode roller. 20 more upstream
It was set with an angle of °. The photoconductor 33 is charged with a corona charger 35 (applied voltage-4 kV, voltage of grid 36-50).
0 V) and charged to -500V. The photoconductor 33 was irradiated with laser light 37 to form an electrostatic latent image. At this time, the exposure potential of the photoconductor was -100V. This photoconductor 33
Toner 39 was magnetically adhered to the surface in the toner hopper 38. Next, the photoconductor 33 was passed in front of the toner collecting electrode roller 40. When passing through the uncharged area of the photoconductor 33, the AC high voltage power supply 41 is applied to the toner collecting electrode roller 40.
AC voltage of 500V0-p (peak-to-peak 1kV) (frequency 500H)
z) was applied. After that, when passing through the photoconductor 33 charged to −500V and having the electrostatic latent image written therein, the toner high voltage power supply 41 applies −350V to the toner recovery electrode roller 40.
500V0-p (peak to peak
An alternating voltage (frequency: 500 Hz) having a peak of 1 kV was applied. Then, the photoconductor 33 and the toner collecting electrode roller 40
The toner moved between the two positions, and a negative-positive inverted toner image remained only on the image portion on the photoconductor 33. The toner attached to the toner collecting electrode roller 40 rotating in the direction of the arrow is scraped off by the scraper 42, and the toner hopper 38 again.
It was returned to the inside and used for the next image formation. The toner image thus obtained on the photoconductor 33 is transferred onto a paper (not shown) by the transfer charger 4
After transferring by No. 3, it was heat-fixed by a fixing device (not shown). As a result, a sharp image was obtained without any brush marks of the developer or toner scattering.

Concrete Example 3 In FIG. 7, 44 is an organic photosensitive drum in which phthalocyanine is dispersed in polyester binder resin, 45 is a non-rotating magnet fixed coaxially with the photosensitive member 44, and 46 is a negative member of the photosensitive member. , A grid electrode for controlling the charging potential of the photoconductor, a signal light,
Reference numeral 9 is a toner hopper, 50 is a magnetic one-component developer, 51 is a non-magnetic toner collecting electrode roller set with a gap with the photosensitive member 44, 52 is a non-rotating magnet fixed inside the toner collecting electrode roller 51, and 53 is AC high-voltage power supply for applying voltage to the toner collecting electrode roller 51, 54 is a scraper made of polyester film for scraping off the toner on the toner collecting electrode roller, and 55 is a transfer corona charger for transferring the toner image on the photoconductor onto paper. is there. The magnetic flux density on the surface of the photoconductor 44 is 600 Gs. Toner recovery electrode roller 5
The magnetic flux density on one surface is 800 Gs. The photosensitive member 44 has a diameter of 30 mm and is rotated at a peripheral speed of 60 mm / s.

As the magnetic one-component developer, fine particle insulating magnetic one-component toner having a particle size of 5 μm was used. The composition of the magnetic one-component toner is 70% polyester resin, 25% ferrite,
Carbon black 3%, Oxycarboxylic acid metal complex 2%
Further, 1% of colloidal silica was externally added and used (all are% by weight). When such a fine particle single-component toner is used, the ears of the developer adhering to the magnet are small and the transportability is extremely poor. Therefore, the gap between the photoconductor 44 and the toner recovery electrode roller 51 is set to 200 μm, and The magnetic force inside the toner collecting electrode roller is made stronger than the magnetic force inside the photoconductor to improve the transportability.

The photosensitive member 44 is -50 with a corona charger 46 (applied voltage -4 kV, grid 47 voltage -500 V).
It was charged to 0V. The photoconductor 44 was irradiated with laser light 48 to form an electrostatic latent image. At this time, the exposure potential of the photoconductor was -100V. The toner 50 was magnetically adhered to the surface of the photoconductor 44 in the toner hopper 49. Next, the photosensitive member 44 was passed in front of the toner collecting electrode roller 51. When the photoconductor 44 passes through the uncharged area, the toner recovery electrode roller 51 receives +100 by the AC high-voltage power supply 53.
An AC voltage (frequency: 500 Hz) of 500 V 0-p (peak-to-peak 1 kV) on which a DC voltage of V was superimposed was applied. Thereafter, when passing through the photoconductor 44 charged to −500V and having the electrostatic latent image written therein, the toner high voltage power supply 53 superimposes a DC voltage of −350V on the toner collecting electrode roller 51 to obtain 500V0-p (peak to peak). -AC voltage (frequency: 500 Hz) with a peak of 1 kV was applied. Then, the toner moved between the photoconductor 44 and the toner collecting electrode roller 51, and a negative-positive inverted toner image remained only on the image portion on the photoconductor 44. The toner adhering to the toner collecting electrode roller 51 rotating in the direction of the arrow was scraped off by the scraper 54, returned to the toner hopper 49 again, and used for the next image formation. The toner image thus obtained on the photosensitive member 44 was transferred onto paper (not shown) by the transfer charger 55, and then heat-fixed by a fixing device (not shown). As a result, an extremely high-resolution image was obtained in which brush lines of the developer and scattering of toner did not occur and an image line of 32 lines / mm was reproduced.

Concrete Example 4 In FIG. 8, 56 is an organic photosensitive drum in which phthalocyanine is dispersed in a polyester binder resin, 57 is a non-rotating magnet fixed coaxially with the photosensitive member 56, and 58 is a negative member for the photosensitive member. , 59 is a corona charger, 59 is a grid electrode for controlling the charging potential of the photoconductor, 60 is signal light, 6
Reference numeral 1 is a toner hopper, 62 is a magnetic one-component developer, 63 is a non-magnetic toner collecting electrode roller set with a gap from the photoconductor 56, 64 is a non-rotating magnet fixedly installed inside the toner collecting electrode roller 63, Reference numeral 65 is an AC high-voltage power supply for applying a voltage to the toner collecting electrode roller 63, 66 is a scraper made of a polyester film for scraping off the developer on the toner collecting electrode roller, and 67 is a transfer corona for transferring the toner image on the photoconductor onto paper. It is a charger. Reference numeral 68 is a damper for smoothing the flow of the developer in the toner hopper and for preventing the developer from being crushed by its own weight to cause clogging between the photoconductor and the toner collecting electrode roller. The magnetic flux density on the surface of the photoconductor 56 is 600 Gs. The magnetic flux density on the surface of the toner collecting electrode roller 63 is 80
It is 0 Gs. The magnetic force inside the toner collecting electrode roller is made stronger than the magnetic force inside the photoconductor to improve the transportability. The magnetic pole angle θ of the magnet 57 shown in the figure is set to 15 °.
The photosensitive member 56 had a diameter of 30 mm and was rotated at a peripheral speed of 60 mm / s in the direction of the arrow in the drawing. The toner collecting electrode roller 63 had a diameter of 16 mm and was rotated at a peripheral speed of 40 mm / s in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the photoconductor (the direction of the arrow in the figure). The gap between the photoconductor 56 and the toner recovery electrode roller 63 was set to 300 μm.

As the magnetic one-component developer, fine particle insulating magnetic one-component toner having a particle size of 5 μm was used. The composition of the magnetic one-component toner is 70% polyester resin, 25% ferrite,
Carbon black 3%, Oxycarboxylic acid metal complex 2%
Further, 1% of colloidal silica was externally added and used (all are% by weight).

The photosensitive member 56 is charged with a corona charger 58 (applied voltage −4.5 kV, grid 59 voltage −500 V).
It was charged to 500V. Laser light 60 is applied to the photoconductor 56
Was irradiated to form an electrostatic latent image. At this time, the exposure potential of the photoconductor was -90V. The toner 62 was magnetically attached to the surface of the photoconductor 56 in the toner hopper 61.
Next, the photosensitive member 56 was passed in front of the toner collecting electrode roller 63. When passing through the uncharged area of the photoconductor 56, an AC high voltage power source 65 superimposes a DC voltage of 0V on the toner recovery electrode roller 63 by an AC voltage of 750V0-p (peak-to-peak 1.5kV) (frequency 1kHz). ) Was applied. After that, when the photosensitive member 56 charged with −500V and having the electrostatic latent image written thereon is passed, the toner collecting electrode roller 63 is superposed with a DC voltage of −350V by the AC high-voltage power source 750V0-p (peak-to-peak). ·peak
An alternating voltage (frequency: 1 kHz) of 1.5 kV) was applied. Then, the toner attached to the charged portion of the photoconductor 56 is collected by the toner collecting electrode roller 63, and the negative-positive inverted toner image remains only on the image part on the photoconductor 56. The toner attached to the toner collecting electrode roller 63 rotating in the direction of the arrow was scraped off by the scraper 66, returned to the inside of the toner hopper 61 and used for the next image formation. The state of toner circulation in the toner hopper 61 is indicated by a dashed arrow. The toner image thus obtained on the photoconductor 56 was transferred onto a sheet of paper (not shown) by the transfer charger 67, and then thermally fixed by a fixing device (not shown). As a result, there was no horizontal line disturbance or toner scattering, and the solid was uniform and the density was 1.
Thus, an extremely high-resolution and high-quality image reproducing the image line of 32 lines / mm was obtained.

Specific Example 5 In FIG. 9, 69 is an organic photoconductor drum in which phthalocyanine is dispersed in a polyester binder resin, and 70 is a non-rotating magnet fixed coaxially with the photoconductor 69. The maximum magnetic flux density is 800 Gs. 71 is a corona charger that charges the photoreceptor negatively,
72 is a grid electrode for controlling the charging potential of the photoconductor, 73
Is a signal light, 74 is a toner hopper, and 75 is an average particle size of about 10
A negatively-chargeable magnetic one-component toner of μm, and 76 is a toner guide. Reference numeral 77 denotes an aluminum toner collecting electrode roller having a non-rotating magnet 78 fixed inside,
Reference numeral 79 is an AC high-voltage power supply that applies a voltage to the toner recovery electrode roller, 78 is a scraper made of polyester film that scrapes off the toner on the toner recovery electrode roller, and 79 is a transfer corona charger that transfers the toner image on the photoconductor onto paper. Is. The magnet 70 has a magnetic pole formed at a portion facing the toner hopper 74. Further, the photoconductor 6 of the toner hopper 74
The width A of the opening 80 facing 9 is set to about 15 mm. The width A mentioned here is a distance measured along the surface of the photoconductor 69 from the closest portion of the photoconductor 69 and the toner recovery electrode roller 77 to the toner hopper end 81. The photoconductor 69 has a diameter of 30 mm and a peripheral speed of 120 mm /
It was rotated by s. The toner collecting electrode roller 77 has a peripheral speed of 10
It was rotated in the direction of the arrow at 0 mm / s. Reference numeral 82 is a cleaner for cleaning the toner remaining on the photoconductor after transfer.

The magnetic one-component toner used was composed of 70% polyester resin, 25% ferrite, 3% carbon black, and 2% oxycarboxylic acid metal complex, with 0.4% colloidal silica added externally. (All were weight%).

The operation of the electrophotographic apparatus configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIG. Photoconductor 6
9 is a corona charger 71 (applied voltage-4 kV, grid 7
It was charged to -500V with a voltage of 2 -500V). The photoconductor 69 was irradiated with laser light 73 to form an electrostatic latent image. At this time, the exposure potential of the photoconductor was -100V.
Magnetic one-component toner 75 is magnetically attached to the surface of the photoconductor 69 in the toner hopper 74. At this time, the toner was charged to approximately −3 μC / g. Next, the photoconductor 69 to which the toner layer is attached is attached to the toner collecting electrode roller 7
Passed in front of 7. The toner collecting electrode roller 77 was installed with a distance of 300 μm from the photoconductor 69. A high voltage power supply 79 is applied to the toner collecting electrode roller 77 by 400V0 in which a DC voltage of -300V having a waveform shown in FIG. 5 is superimposed.
An alternating voltage (frequency 300 Hz) of −p (peak to peak 800 V) was applied. The toner layer on the photoconductor 69 moves between the photoconductor 69 and the toner collecting electrode roller 77, and the toner in the non-image area gradually moves to the toner collecting electrode roller 77 side, and the negative area of the image on the photoconductor 69 is negative. The inverted toner image remained. The toner adhering to the toner collecting electrode roller 77 rotating in the arrow direction was scraped off by the scraper 78, returned to the inside of the toner hopper 74 and used for the next image formation. The toner image thus obtained on the photoconductor 69 was transferred onto a sheet of paper (not shown) by a transfer charger 79, and then heat-fixed by a fixing device (not shown). The surface of the photoconductor after the transfer is cleaned by the cleaner 82,
It was charged again by the corona charger 71 and used in the next image forming step. As a result, a sharp image with no toner scattering was obtained.

Concrete Example 6 The constitution of FIG. 10 is an example in which the electrophotographic method of the present invention is applied to an analog copying machine, and the constitution of FIG. 9 is an optical system for exposing the photoconductor and the toner is the photoconductor. They are different in that they have a charging property of opposite polarity and the voltage applied to the toner collecting electrode roller. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. Figure 9 for similar elements
The same number is attached. The toner 75 used was composed of 68% styrene-acrylic resin, 25% ferrite, 5% carbon black, and 2% nigrosine dye, and 1% colloidal silica was externally added (all are% by weight).

The charging of the photoconductor 69 is the same as in the case of FIG. Reference numeral 83 is a manuscript table, and the manuscript placed on the manuscript table is a light source 84.
While illuminating with, constant speed mirror 85 and half speed mirrors 86, 8
When scanning is performed at 7, the reflected light of the original forms an image on the photoconductor 69 via the lens 88 and the mirror 89, and a latent image is formed as the photoconductor moves.

When the toner 75 is passed through the photoconductor 69 on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, the toner 75 is adsorbed on the surface of the photoconductor, and when it passes through the toner collecting electrode roller 77, only the toner in the image area is collected by the toner collecting electrode. After passing through the roller 77, a positive regular toner image was obtained on the photoconductor 69. At this time, the voltage applied to the toner recovery electrode roller is different from that in FIG. 9, and 400 V0-p (peak-to-peak 800 with a DC voltage of −150 V superposed as shown in FIG. 11).
V) AC voltage (frequency 300 Hz).

The obtained toner image is transferred onto a paper (not shown) by a transfer charger 79, and then a fixing device (not shown).
It was fixed by heat. On the other hand, after the transfer, the corona charger 7 is again used.
The photosensitive member 69 was charged with 1 and used in the next image forming step. As a result, a sharp image with no toner scattering was obtained.

Although the above-mentioned embodiment uses the one-component magnetic toner, the present invention can be similarly applied to the two-component magnetic toner using the carrier.

[0054]

According to the present invention, an electrophotographic method having a simple structure and high image quality can be obtained. Further, an excellent electrophotographic method capable of coping with a high speed process can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view explaining a difference in technical idea between a conventional method and the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an electrophotographic method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a waveform of an AC voltage used in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an electrophotographic method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an electrophotographic method according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an electrophotographic method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of an electrophotographic method according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an electrophotographic method according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a waveform of an AC voltage used in a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 56 photoconductor 57 magnet 58 corona charger 59 grid electrode 60 laser exposure 61 toner hopper 62 magnetic toner 63 toner recovery electrode roller 64 magnet 65 AC high voltage power supply 66 scraper

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G03G 15/09 G03G 15/09 Z 21/00 350 21/00 350

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electrostatic latent device which is substantially opposed to a toner collecting electrode roller.
A step of forming an electrostatic latent image on an electrostatic latent image holding body containing a fixed magnet disposed on the upstream side in the rotation direction of the image holding body and then moving the same, holding the magnetic toner inside the electrostatic latent image holding body; A step of passing the toner through a toner hopper and attaching the magnetic toner to the entire surface of the electrostatic latent image holding member by the magnetic force of the fixed magnet, and the electrostatic latent image holding member carrying the magnetic toner is provided via a gap, When an AC voltage is applied, the electrostatic latent image
Toner recovery electrode rotor that rotates in the opposite direction of the carrier
Through the electrostatic latent image holder to remove the magnetic toner adhering to the non-image portion of the electrostatic latent image holder and leave the magnetic toner adhering to the image portion under the influence of electrostatic force and magnetic force. The magnetic toner collected and removed by the toner collecting electrode roller is removed, and the magnetic toner is collected by the toner collecting electrode roller.
An electrophotographic method comprising a step of recirculating the toner to the toner hopper by a rotational movement , and a step of transferring the magnetic toner of the image portion remaining on the electrostatic latent image holding member to an image receiving member. 2. An electrostatic latent roller which substantially opposes the toner collecting electrode roller.
A step of forming an electrostatic latent image on an electrostatic latent image holding body containing a fixed magnet A arranged on the upstream side in the rotation direction of the image holding body, and then moving the electrostatic latent image holding body, wherein the electrostatic latent image holding body holds magnetic toner inside; Passing through the toner hopper and attaching the magnetic toner to the entire surface of the electrostatic latent image holding member by the magnetic force of the fixed magnet A. The electrostatic latent image holding member carrying the magnetic toner. And a fixed magnet B inside, and the AC voltage is
The electrostatic latent image carrier is passed through a toner recovery electrode roller that is applied and rotates in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of the electrostatic latent image carrier, and electrostatic force and magnetic force of the fixed magnet B are applied. under the influence, thereby leaving the magnetic toner adhered to the image portion was collected removing magnetic toner adhered to the non-image portion of the electrostatic latent image holding member, removing the magnetic toner collected is removed to the toner collecting electrode roller , the magnetic toner over the toner collecting electrode roller
An electrophotographic method comprising a step of recirculating the toner to the toner hopper by a rotational movement , and a step of transferring the magnetic toner of the image portion remaining on the electrostatic latent image holding member to an image receiving member.