JP2619424B2 - Cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cleaning device provided with a cleaning unit for cleaning the surface of a photoreceptor after transfer.

2. Description of the Related Art Cleaning devices of the above type are well known and are provided in equipment using electrophotographic processes. This type of cleaning device is not limited to toner remaining on the photoreceptor after transfer, as well as paper dust of transfer paper adhering to the photoreceptor surface,
Trace additives in transfer paper, such as rosin, talc, Mg, Al,
It is necessary to remove K and Na. In particular, OPC (Organic photo
It is important for a photoconductor using a photoconductor to remove paper and trace additives in order to maintain good image quality. However, the additive sticks to the photoreceptor and is not easily removed.

For this reason, conventionally, it has been proposed to polish the surface of the photoreceptor with an abrasive to remove the deposit on the photoreceptor.

However, in this method, the image quality is deteriorated by mixing the abrasive into the developer, and the photosensitive deterioration is caused by a change in the thickness of the photosensitive layer due to polishing, and further, the surface of the photosensitive member is damaged by a change in the particle size of the abrasive. There were problems such as occurrence.

Further, there has been proposed a cleaning device in which a rotating elastic rubber roller is slidably brought into contact with the surface of a photoreceptor to remove foreign substances attached thereto.

However, in this type of apparatus, the roller and the photoreceptor are in contact with a certain contact width, and there is a possibility that the toner may adhere to this portion when left at high temperature and high humidity. Further, when the cleaning unit is released, when the roller contact portion separates from the photoreceptor, there is a problem that a large amount of toner falls from this portion. In order to prevent this problem, it is necessary to form a unit in which the dropped toner receiving member or the cleaning member and the photosensitive member are integrated, but the running cost was inevitable.

Object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a low-cost cleaning device which can remove residual toner, paper dust and trace additives attached to the surface of a photoreceptor, and has a simple structure.

To achieve this object, the present invention provides a cleaning device in which the cleaning means has a brush which is in contact with the photoreceptor having a tip formed in a loop, and the tip of the brush is directed to the upstream side in the brush rotation direction from the root. This was achieved by:

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a copying apparatus based on an electrophotographic process, wherein reference numeral 1 denotes an OP formed in a drum shape.
C photoconductor. When the photoreceptor 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, the photoreceptor 1 is charged by the charger 2, and the charged portion is exposed to a light image at a position indicated by reference numeral 3 to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor surface. Then, after the charged portion outside the image area is removed by the eraser 4, the image is visualized by the developing device 5, and a toner image is formed on the photoconductor 1. The developing device 5 of the present example includes two developing devices 5a and 5b containing color toner and black toner, and one of them is operated.

Thus, when the toner image is formed, transfer paper (not shown) is fed from a paper supply unit (not shown) from the arrow in synchronization with the toner image, and the transfer paper 6 The image is transferred. Then, the transfer paper is separated from the photoconductor 1 by the separator 7 and / or the separation claw 8 and is conveyed to a fixing unit (not shown).

It is inevitable that the toner remains on the photoreceptor 1 after the transfer, and that the paper powder of the transfer paper and a small amount of additives adhere thereto.
In this case, particularly, a small amount of transfer paper sticks to the surface of the photoreceptor, so that it is not easy to remove it. However, these deposits are cleaned by the cleaning device 10 according to the present invention.

The cleaning device 10 has a brush 12 and a cleaning blade 13 as cleaning means. Also,
The cleaning device 10 is configured in a unit shape having an opening formed on a side facing the photoreceptor 1, and has an opening seal 11, a brush 12, and urethane as a main cleaning member along the moving direction of the photoreceptor 1. Cleaning blades 13 made of rubber are sequentially arranged. Brush 12,
The main purpose is to remove paper dust generated from the transfer paper and to remove trace additives from the transfer paper adhering to the photoreceptor surface.
It is driven to rotate in the direction. As an additional effect, it also plays a role of toner cleaning and transport of toner scraped off the photoreceptor surface by a cleaning blade downstream thereof. Therefore, the brush 12 may be disposed downstream of the cleaning blade as long as the main purpose is to remove only a small amount of additives from the transfer paper.

By the way, as described above, the trace additive in the transfer paper sticks to the surface of the photoreceptor. Therefore, in order to clean such deposits, it is necessary to use a thicker and thicker yarn than a conventionally known fur brush for cleaning toner. However, as shown in FIG. 6, when a cut pile brush 12 'similar to the conventional fur brush is used, since the original yarn is thick and strong, its broken edge 12a' comes into point contact with the photoreceptor, and the surface thereof is exposed. Hurt,
It may cause abnormal wear.

Therefore, in the present invention, the tip of the brush 12 is formed in a loop shape as shown in FIGS. in this case,
In this example, the brush 12 is formed by winding a loop pile brush made by weaving fibers to be brush bristles into a base cloth 14 in a loop shape around a metal core 15 and bonding the same.

Since the tip of the brush 12 thus configured is formed in a loop shape, the brush bristle tip comes into a so-called line contact state. In other words, as shown in FIG. Therefore, the risk of damaging the photoreceptor surface is greatly reduced even if the brush bristles are thick and strong. When the brush 12 is rotated in the direction of arrow B in FIG. Pointed and woven. That is, the brush 12 has a fifth end on the loop end side.
As shown in the figure, it is woven so as to be directed in advance to the upstream side in the direction of rotation B from the root of the brush bristles.

With this configuration, it is possible to make the contact of the brush 12 with the photoconductor softer, to reduce the rotational torque, and to save the power required for the rotation of the brush 12.

Incidentally, was carried out various experiments using brush 12 according to the present invention, the brush is yarn thickness; 250d / 25F~300d / 15F loop length; 2-4 mm loop density; 50-100 Loop A / cm ² Preferably, the rotation speed is substantially equal to the linear speed of the photoreceptor, and a good cleaning effect is obtained.

Effect The cleaning device according to the present invention is configured as described above, can surely remove the adhered substance sticking to the photoreceptor, and can significantly reduce damage to the surface of the photoreceptor.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a copying apparatus to which the cleaning device of the present invention can be applied, FIGS. 2 and 3 are front and side views of a brush, and FIGS. 4 (a) and (b) are enlarged brush bristles. Figure, fifth
The figure is an explanatory view showing the direction of the brush bristles, FIG.
(B) is an enlarged view of a conventional brush bristle. 1 photoreceptor 10 cleaning device 12 brush 13 cleaning blade

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cleaning device comprising a cleaning means for cleaning a surface of a photoreceptor after transfer, wherein the cleaning means has a brush which is in contact with the photoreceptor having a tip formed in a loop. A cleaning device characterized in that a loop tip side is directed upstream from a root portion in a brush rotation direction.