JP2598833B2 - Electronic image processing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic image processing apparatus, and more particularly to an electronic image processing apparatus using an electrostatic application method.

[Conventional technology]

In an electronic image processing apparatus using an electrostatic application method, a step of charging a photosensitive member to a predetermined charge, a step of transferring a toner image formed on the photosensitive member onto transfer paper, and a step of exposing the transfer paper on which the toner image has been transferred Ozone is generated in the process of separating from the body. That is, in these steps, active particles of oxygen are generated by inelastic collision between charged particles and oxygen particles generated when air is ionized by corona discharge, and ozone is generated by a reaction between the particles and oxygen molecules.

Ozone in the electronic image processing apparatus is discharged outside the apparatus by an exhaust fan or the like. For this reason, although the ozone concentration in the air increases, it is said that the high concentration of ozone in the air may adversely affect the human body.

Therefore, conventionally, various methods for treating ozone generated in the electronic image processing apparatus have been studied. For example,
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 49-84660 discloses a configuration in which an ozonolysis substance is applied to rotating blades of an exhaust fan.

In the above-described conventional technique, air in the electronic image processing apparatus including ozone is discharged outside the apparatus by an exhaust fan. At this time, the ozone in the air is decomposed by the ozonolysis substance applied to the exhaust fan. As a result, the ozone concentration in the exhaust can be reduced.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the above-described conventional technique, ozone in the air comes into contact with the exhaust fan at almost normal temperature and is discharged outside the machine. However, ozonolysis substances generally have a high ozone decomposition effect at high temperatures. Therefore, according to the conventional technique, the effect of decomposing ozone by the ozonolysis substance applied to the exhaust fan is insufficient. For this reason, the ozone concentration in the exhaust cannot be reduced efficiently.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic image processing apparatus capable of efficiently reducing the concentration of ozone in exhaust gas by increasing the effect of decomposing ozone-treated substances.

[Means for solving the problem]

The electronic image processing apparatus of the present invention is an electronic image processing apparatus using an electrostatic application method, a main body having an exhaust port formed on a wall surface, and an image forming unit including an electrostatic application apparatus disposed inside the main body, A drive motor and an exhaust fan are provided. The drive motor is arranged near the exhaust port inside the main body,
A vent is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the one end, and an ozonolysis substance is disposed on the surface. The ozone decomposing substance has a cylindrical housing, and drives the electronic image processing apparatus. The exhaust fan is disposed on the inner periphery of one end of the housing and driven by a drive motor, and takes in air inside the main body including air near the image forming unit from the vent hole and exhausts the air to the exhaust port.

[Action]

In the image forming unit used in the present invention, ozone is generated from the electrostatic application device during image formation. The ozone flows toward the drive motor according to the airflow generated by the operation of the exhaust fan of the drive motor.

The ozone flowing to the drive motor is decomposed by an ozonolysis substance disposed on the surface of the housing of the drive motor. At this time, since the temperature of the housing is increased by the heat generated by the motor, the ozone decomposing effect of the ozonolysis substance on the housing is improved, and ozone is decomposed efficiently.
Then, the air in which the ozone is decomposed is discharged out of the machine from the exhaust port.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a copying machine.

In FIG. 1, a document table 12 is fixed on an upper surface of a copying machine 11, and a document holder 13 is mounted on the document table 12 so as to be freely opened and closed. Paper feed cassettes 14 and 15 are detachably mounted on the right side of the copying machine body 11 in the figure. On the left side of the copying machine body 11 in the figure, a paper discharge tray 18 for discharging copied paper is mounted.

The inside of the copying machine main body 11 is partitioned into an upper side and a lower side by a partition plate 31. An exposure device 19 for reading a document is provided above the partition plate 31. The exposure device 19 includes a light source, a mirror, and the like.

A photosensitive drum 20 on which an electrostatic latent image is formed is disposed below the partition plate 31 in the center of the copying machine main body 11. Around the photosensitive drum 20, a charging device 21 for charging the photosensitive drum 20 to a predetermined charge, a developing device 22 for developing an electrostatic latent image, and a transfer device for transferring a toner image to paper
23, a sheet separating device 24 for separating the sheet from the photosensitive drum 20 and a cleaning device 25 for removing residual toner on the photosensitive drum 20 are provided.

Between the paper feed cassettes 14 and 15 and the image forming unit 10 constituted by the photosensitive drums 20 and the like and on the downstream side of the image forming unit 10, a paper feed transport path 27 and a paper discharge transport path for transporting paper, respectively. 28 are provided. Paper discharge path 28 and paper discharge tray
A fixing device 30 for fixing a transferred image on a conveyed sheet is arranged between the fixing device 30 and the fixing device 18.

In a space surrounded by the image forming unit 10, the exposure device 19, and the fixing device 30, a drive motor 34 for driving a copying machine is disposed. The drive motor 34 drives the photosensitive drum 20 and the like by, for example, a belt drive. The drive motor 34 has a substantially cylindrical housing 35 as shown in FIG. A lid 37 provided with a large number of ventilation holes 36 on the circumferential surface is attached to a tip portion of the housing 35. An exhaust fan 38 is built in the lid 37. The exhaust fan 38 is attached to the output shaft of the drive motor 34, and rotates when the drive motor 34 operates. The exhaust fan 38 cools the drive motor 34 and takes in the air in the copying machine 11 including the air in the vicinity of the image forming unit 10 from the ventilation port 36 and blows out the air toward the front of the drawing.

In a portion where the drive motor 34 is disposed, an exhaust port 33 is provided on a wall surface on the back side in FIG. 1 of the copying machine 11 at a position facing the cover 37 of the drive motor 34 (FIG. 3). The exhaust port 33 has a louver 33a, and is for exhausting air from the drive motor.

The surfaces of the housing 35 and the lid 37 are coated with an ozonolysis substance. Examples of the ozonolysis substance used in this embodiment include palladium-carbon catalyst, various oxides such as manganese dioxide, lead peroxide, chromium oxide, barium oxide, and cobalt oxide, and composites thereof, various metals such as nickel, and the like. An example is a powder of a binary composite oxide composed of titanium and silicon. When the binary composite oxide powder composed of titanium and silicon is used in a mixture with manganese dioxide, the ozone decomposition effect is enhanced. The ozonolysis substance is applied as a coating material dispersed in an organic binder composed of a polymer emulsion of, for example, polyacrylate, polyvinyl acetate or polyethylene. Organic binders usually have a binder solids content of 2
To 100% by weight, preferably 5 to 50% by weight. The mixing ratio of the organic binder and the ozonolysis substance is preferably 3 to 100 parts by weight, more preferably 5 to 50 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the organic binder. If the ozonolysis substance is less than 3 parts by weight, a sufficient ozonolysis effect cannot be obtained. On the other hand, when the amount exceeds 100 parts by weight, no remarkable effect according to the mixing amount is recognized, and the cost is rather increased. Further, the coating film of the ozonolysis substance may be easily peeled off.

The ozonolysis material may be applied as a foaming paint. The foaming paint is a paint obtained by further adding a foaming agent to a paint comprising the ozonolysis substance, the organic binder, and the solvent as described above. Examples of the foaming agent include sodium bicarbonate, ammonium carbonate, dinitrosopentamethylenetetramine, azobisformamide, azobisisobutyronitrile, barium azodicarboxylate, and trihydrazinotriazine. Specific examples of the foaming paint include the following.

A solution obtained by dissolving 80 parts by weight of manganese dioxide, 10 parts by weight of butyral resin, and 0.05 parts by weight of ammonium carbonate in 100 parts by weight of ethanol.

Palladium-carbon powder 95 parts by weight, butyral resin 10 parts by weight, dinitrosopentamethylenetetramine 0.
03 parts by weight dissolved in 100 parts by weight of ethanol.

100 parts by weight of a mixed powder of a binary composite oxide composed of titanium and silicon and manganese dioxide, 10 parts by weight of an acrylic resin, and 0.08 parts by weight of azobisformamide in toluene
Dissolved in 80 parts by weight.

Each of the above paints containing the ozonolysis substance is usually applied onto the housing 35 and the lid 37 by spraying, brushing, or the like. The coating amount is set so that the thickness of the coating film of the ozonolysis substance is about 1 μm. The organic binder in the applied paint is usually removed by heat treatment at 100 ° C. for about 1 minute. As a result, the ozonolysis substance is baked on the housing 35 and the lid 37, and a coating film of the ozonolysis substance is formed.

When a foaming paint is used, a porous coating film is formed by the action of the foaming agent.

 Next, the operation and effect of this embodiment will be described.

In the copying machine, a corona discharge of negative polarity is performed in the charging device 21, the transfer device 23, and the sheet separating device 24 of the image forming unit 10 during image processing. At this time, the charging device 21, the transfer device
Ozone is generated from 23 and the sheet separating device 24.

The ozone flows out of the image forming unit 10 in the direction of the drive motor 34 by the airflow generated by the exhaust fan of the drive motor 34. The ozone that has reached the drive motor 34 is decomposed by the ozone decomposing substances on the housing 35 and the lid 37. At this time, the temperature of the housing 35 and the lid 37 rises due to the heat generated by the motor, and is, for example, about 40 to 60 ° C. For this reason, the ozonolysis substance is activated and the decomposition effect is high. Thereby, the decomposition of ozone is promoted. The ozone decomposed air is introduced into the lid 37 through the vent 36 and exhausted as shown by the arrow in FIG.
Discharged to 33. At this time, the ozone in the air in the apparatus has already been efficiently decomposed as described above.
For this reason, the ozone concentration in the exhaust gas from the exhaust port 33 is reduced.

When a foaming paint is used, since the coating film is formed porous, the contact area with ozone is increased, and ozone can be removed more efficiently.

[Other embodiments]

(A) In the above-described embodiment, the ozonolysis substance is disposed on the surface of the housing 35 or the like by coating. The invention can be implemented as well.

(B) The present invention may be applied to an image forming apparatus using an electrostatic application method such as a laser printer instead of a copying machine.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, the ozonolysis substance disposed in the housing of the drive motor is activated by the heat generated by the drive motor to increase the ozonolysis effect. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently reduce the ozone concentration in the exhaust gas.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a drive motor, and FIG. 3 is a partial sectional partial view of the drive motor and an exhaust port. 10 ... Image forming unit, 33 ... Exhaust port, 34 ... Drive motor,
35 ... Housing, 38 ... Exhaust fan.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electronic image processing apparatus using an electrostatic application method, comprising: a main body having an exhaust port formed on a wall surface; an image forming unit disposed inside the main body and including an electrostatic application device; A drive motor for driving the electronic image processing apparatus, the drive motor having a cylindrical housing disposed inside the exhaust port and having an air outlet formed on an outer peripheral surface at one end thereof and an ozonolysis substance disposed on the surface thereof; And disposed at an inner periphery of one end of the housing and driven by the drive motor to take in air inside the main body, including air near the image forming unit, from the ventilation port and exhaust the air to the exhaust port. An electronic image processing apparatus comprising: an exhaust fan;