JP2667159B2 - Transfer / transport equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, and more particularly, to a transfer / transport apparatus that significantly affects image quality and usability of a machine. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, transfer / transport devices have been used in image output and character output devices such as office automation, and are required to have high reliability. Demand is high. In addition, the type of paper was determined based on the response to colorization. It is desired to establish a transfer technique and a transport technique for obtaining a stable image quality regardless of physical properties. However, the current transfer / transport technology depends on the physical properties, environment, etc. of the copy paper. This is because the charging or static elimination technology using static electricity is not sufficiently used. There is a demand for a transfer / transportation device using a charge removal technique. Hereinafter, an example of the above-described conventional transfer / transport apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a front view showing the structure of a conventional electronic copying machine. In FIG. 7, 1 is a photoconductor charger, 2 is a photoconductor drum as an electrostatic latent image carrier having a photoconductive material provided on the surface, 3 is an exposure device, 4 is a development device, and 5 is a copy paper supply. Reference numeral 6 denotes a copy sheet, 7 denotes a transfer charger, 8 denotes a charge removing / separating charger, 9 denotes a belt, 10 denotes a fixing device, and 11 denotes a photoconductor cleaning device. The operation of this apparatus will be described. The surface of the photosensitive drum 2 is positively charged uniformly by the photosensitive charger 1. After the surface of the photoconductor drum 2 is uniformly charged by the photoconductor charger 1, the surface of the photoconductor drum 2 is exposed by the exposure layer 3 to form a charge pattern by light. afterwards,
The developing device 4 transfers the toner to the surface of the photosensitive drum according to the charge pattern using the negatively charged toner to visualize the toner. After the image is visualized, the copy paper 6 supplied from the copy paper supply device 5 is pressed against the photosensitive drum 2 as an electrostatic latent image carrier, and the transfer charger 8 is positively discharged from behind the copy paper 6. The toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 is transferred to the copy paper 6. After the transfer, in order to discharge the charged copy paper 6 and separate it from the photosensitive drum 2, an AC high voltage is applied to the charge removing / separating charger 8 to discharge the AC to discharge the copy paper 6 and remove the copy paper from the photosensitive drum 2. 6 is separated. The separated copy paper 6 is fixed on the copy paper 6 by the fixing device 10 transported to the fixing device 10 by the belt 9 (the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor drum 2 after the transfer is removed by the photoconductor cleaning). Cleaned by the device 11) (for example,
Recording materials and photosensitive resin, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Proceedings of the 55th Annual Meeting of the Electrographic Society of Japan, 83-87). The problem that the extinction tries to solve However, in the above configuration, due to the transfer,
Due to the transfer charger, the copy paper is charged and electrostatically attracted to the photoreceptor drum, and this must be removed from the photoreceptor drum by removing the charge of the copy paper by the charge removing / separating charger. For this reason, in addition to the power supply for the transfer charger, a power supply for the neutralization / separation charger must be prepared. Furthermore, in order to ensure the transferability and the separation of the copy paper from the photoreceptor drum, it is necessary to adjust the discharge efficiency between the transfer charger and the discharging / separating / separating charger to find out the point that works best. ,and,
This discharge efficiency is greatly affected by the environment, and needs to be readjusted in response to environmental changes, and the tolerance for reliability is extremely narrow. Also, the transferability is affected by the charge of the copy paper itself, and there are many factors that affect the charge such as the physical properties of the copy paper, storage, and the transfer environment, and it is quite difficult to control the charge of the copy paper itself. is there. This means that if it is turned over, it is also difficult to control the static elimination of the copy sheet, which affects the performance of separating the copy sheet from the drum. That is,
The current transfer / transport system is a method and design depending on the copy paper, and therefore has a problem that the paper-passing property as a machine is reduced and reliability is deteriorated. Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, a transfer / conveyance device of the present invention includes an electrostatic latent image carrier for conveying a toner image, and a toner close to the electrostatic latent image carrier. The specific resistance for transferring the image to the copy paper and transporting the copy paper is 10 ¹⁰ to 10 ¹³ Ω.
an endless belt made of a material having a size of 1 cm, a stretching means for stretching and driving the belt, and a belt positioned downstream of the vicinity of the electrostatic latent image carrier and the belt in the copying paper supply direction. A separating unit that is electrically conductive and grounded from the inside and separates the copy sheet from the belt, a corona discharger capable of discharging near the separation unit, and a position near the position where the copy sheet separates from the belt Guides the copy sheet provided on the substrate to eliminate charges on the copy sheet;
A guide member made of a material of ⁶ to 10 ⁸ Ωcm and grounded, and a charge having a polarity opposite to a charging polarity of the toner image is supplied to the belt, and the belt is disposed near the proximity area inside the belt. Charge imparting means, at the time the copy sheet is separated from the belt, to supply the same polarity of the charge imparting means to the copy sheet by the corona discharger,
When the copy sheet passes over the guide member, the guide member removes the charge held by the copy sheet. Operation In the present invention, the toner image on the photosensitive drum is transferred to a copy sheet by the above-described configuration. First, the transfer / transport principle will be described. As shown in the conventional example, the image formed on the photosensitive drum has a photoconductive layer on its surface, and the conductive layer supporting the photoconductive layer is grounded. After the surface is uniformly charged, a charge pattern is formed on the photoreceptor surface by exposure. This is visualized by a developing device. The developing device is a device that charges a powder having a diameter of about 10 μm and transfers it to the photosensitive drum. In this case, when the photosensitive drum is positively charged, the developing device negatively charges the toner. Therefore, a positive charge and a negative charge are electrostatically attracted, and the latent image is visualized. In order to transfer the toner image on the photosensitive drum to the copy paper, it is necessary to apply an electric field that overcomes the above-mentioned electrostatic attraction between the photosensitive drum and the toner. In the present invention, this electric field is created by bringing the belt close to the photosensitive drum and charging the belt. The belt has a specific resistance of 10 ¹⁰ to 10 ¹³
It is composed of a semiconductor material having Ω · cm. By making the belt semiconductive, it does not show the high charge that is seen in a substance with a weak self-discharge effect like a chamber in a dielectric body, and the charge leaks quickly like a low-resistance body and the belt itself does not charge itself. Without causing charge injection and charging,
It holds a charge for forming an electric field enough to overcome the inquiry between the photosensitive drum and the toner. When the copy sheet is inserted between the belt and the photosensitive drum, the copy sheet is polarized by the charged charge of the belt and the electric field formed between the photosensitive drums. That is, when the belt is positively charged, a negative charge is induced on the belt side of the copy sheet, and a positive charge is induced on the photosensitive drum side. The induced charge of the copy sheet transfers the negatively charged toner to the copy sheet, and at the same time, the copy sheet electrostatically attracts to the belt. Here, there are two main reasons for separating the copy sheet from the drum. First, since the copy sheet is attracted to the belt by polarization, the charge of the belt and the polarization charge of the copy sheet are attracted (in this case, the positive charge of the belt and the polarized negative charge of the copy sheet). But,
It is larger than the inquiries between the ground potential surface of the photosensitive drum (the exposed portion has substantially the same potential as the conductor supporting the photoconductive layer) and the polarization charge (in this case, positive charge) of the copy sheet. Second, when the specific resistance of the belt is 10 ⁹ Ω · cm or less, charge injection to the copy paper occurs, but the specific resistance is 10 ¹⁰ Ω to 10 ⁹ Ω · cm.
When a 10 ¹³ Ω · cm semiconductor belt is used, no charge is injected into the copy sheet, and no repulsion of the same charge between the copy sheet and the belt is caused by the injection. For this reason, an effective attraction between the polarization charge and the belt charge occurs. The conveying force of the copy sheet is generated by the attraction between the polarization charges of the copy sheet as long as the belt holds the charged sheet. However,
Since the belt is semiconducting, charge leakage is slower than that of a conductive material, and the charge leakage speed varies depending on the belt transport speed and the transport distance until the copy paper is separated from the bell. At the time when the belt is separated from the belt, the charge held by the belt is different. Therefore, at this point, the copying paper undergoes a sudden change in the electric field, causing a charging phenomenon. Although the degree of the separation charging is shown in the table, it differs depending on the transport speed and the transport distance. Also, the polarity is different from the charge of the belt, and if the belt is positively charged, the separated charge is negative, and if the belt is negatively charged, the separated charge is positive. Normally, the polarity of the charge held by the belt and the polarity of the toner are different polarities, so an attractive force is generated.However, the separation charging has a different polarity from the charge position of the belt, that is, the same polarity as the toner, so that it becomes a repulsive force, and the copying is performed. This may cause image distortion on paper. The degree of the separation charging phenomenon varies depending on the resistance of the copy paper, and the higher the resistance, the more easily the separation charging occurs. Several methods are conceivable in order to suppress this separation charging as much as possible and to prevent image disturbance. For example, there are a method of removing electricity while the copy sheet is being conveyed by the belt, and a method of removing electricity when the copy sheet is separated from the belt. However, the copy paper conveyed by the belt is completely discharged,
Alternatively, it is extremely difficult to impart a neutralizing charge equivalent to the separation discharge at the time of separation to the copy sheet unless the capacity determined by the thickness and the water content of the copy sheet is detected by some method. Further, a guide member is used from a position close to the belt in order to guide the copy sheet separated from the belt to the fixing unit in order to fix the toner image to the copy sheet. When the copy paper comes into contact with this member, the toner image is disturbed by the capacity of the guide member. In the present invention, unlike the conventional concept of charge elimination of the copy sheet, the transfer used when the toner image is transferred from the electrostatic latent image carrier to the copy sheet in an area near the separating means for separating the copy sheet from the belt. A corona discharger of the same polarity as the charger acts to generate electric discharge, and a guide member for guiding the copy paper to the fixing device is made of a material having a specific resistance of 10 ⁶ to 10 ⁸ Ωcm, and is grounded. This is to eliminate the charge of the copy sheet and prevent the toner image from being disturbed due to a change in capacity when the copy sheet comes into contact with the guide member. Hereinafter, a transfer / transport apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a transfer / transport apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 1, 20 is a belt, to use a specific resistance of ¹⁰ 10 ~10 ¹³ Ω · cm in order to obtain a semiconducting property. The belt 20 has elasticity in order to ensure running stability. For example, in addition to rubbers such as urethane rubber and chloroprene rubber, urethane resin or the like, which is slightly less elastic, is used. The thickness of the belt 20 is about 0.3 to 0.6 mm. Even if a dielectric layer having a thickness of about 1/10 or less of the thickness of the belt 20 is provided on the belt surface, the electrical characteristics are not significantly affected. Reference numeral 24 denotes a separation shaft for separating the copy paper 6, which is made of a conductive material. In order to stabilize the separation performance of the copy paper 6 from the belt 20, a diameter of 20 mm or less is used. Ground. 26 is a transfer shaft for stretching the belt 20, 28 is a stretch shaft for stretching and driving the belt, 29 is a belt charger for applying a charge to the belt, 30 is a belt driving device, and 34 is a belt 20 Is a pressing spring for pressing the photosensitive drum 2 against the photosensitive drum 2, 36 is a static eliminator, 32 is a ground plate for grounding the separation shaft, and 38 is a guide plate. The operation of the transfer / transport apparatus configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows a front view. First, the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 is uniformly charged by the photosensitive charger 1. After charging, a latent image is formed by the exposure device 3, and the developing device 4 visualizes the latent image with toner. The belt 20 includes a separation shaft 24, a transfer shaft 26, and a stretching shaft.
The belt 20 is in contact with the photosensitive drum 2 while being stretched between the photosensitive drums 2. The voltage of the high-voltage power supply applied to the belt charger 29 is adjusted such that the belt 20 is positively charged by the belt charger 29 and the surface potential of the belt 20 becomes approximately 3,000 V on the belt charger 29. When the specific resistance of the belt 20 is 10 ¹⁰ to 10 ¹³ Ωcm,
The surface potential on the belt 20 between the belt charger 29 and the separation shaft 24 is about + 2500V. When the copy paper 6 is supplied from the copy paper supply device 5 and is inserted between the photosensitive drum 2 and the belt 20, the copy paper 6 is brought into contact with the ground surface of the photosensitive drum 2 and the belt.
The copy paper 6 is polarized by the action of lines of electric force from the belt 20 formed by the charged charges of 20 to the photosensitive drum 2.
It is electrostatically attracted to the belt 20. At this time, the charged particles are transferred to the copy paper by the action of the polarization charge. The copy paper 6 is transported to the separation shaft 24 while being electrostatically attracted to the belt 20,
As described above, the belt 20 shows high charge due to the relationship between the transport speed and the transport distance, where the leakage of the charge is slow, and the transport speed is 105 mm /
s, when the distance between the transfer shaft 26 and the separation shaft 24 is about 120 mm, the surface potential of the belt 20 shows about +2,000 to +2,500 V near the separation axis. The copy paper 6 is conveyed, and the belt 20 is
In the case of further separation, separate charge development is shown. The degree of this depends on the resistance of the copy paper 6, but if the belt 20 is positively charged and the charge is at the above-mentioned level, the separated charge is -5 to -6 kV. Reach
The static eliminator 36 is provided for the purpose of preventing the toner image on the copy paper from being disturbed by the separation and electrification.
Numeral 36 is arranged in a region near the separation shaft 24 such that discharge is possible. The polarity of the discharge may be the same as that of the belt charger 29 in response to the fact that the separation charge is opposite to the charge of the belt 20. That is, the same power supply as that of the transfer charger 29 can be used. The static eliminator 36 suppresses the separation charging phenomenon of the copy paper 6 to such an extent that the charge polarity of the copy paper 6 is not the same as that of the charged particles, that is, the charge is substantially 0 V or slightly positively charged (in this case, the charged particles Should be negatively charged). Therefore, the discharge from the static eliminator 36 is sufficiently effective if it is at least 10 μA. The separation shaft 24 is made of a conductive material that functions as a counter electrode for assisting the discharge of the static eliminator 36, and needs to be grounded by a ground plate 37. It is necessary that the separation shaft 24 is made of a conductive material to leak the electric charge of the belt 20. The copy paper 6 separated from the belt 20 is carried to the fixing device 10 through the guide plate 38, and the toner image is fixed. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of the separation axis of the transfer / transport apparatus of the present invention.
Is provided. An electric charge is applied to the belt 20 by the belt charger 29, and the copy sheet 6 is electrostatically attracted to the belt 20 to convey the copy sheet 6. As described above, when the copy sheet 6 separates from the belt 20, separation charging occurs. The charge is removed when the copy sheet 6 passes over the guide plate 40 by the charge removing material provided on the grounded guide plate 40. As the charge removing material, for example, pure cotton cloth, silk, polyethylene, polyamide, carbon fiber, or the like is used. Pure cotton cloth and silk are materials that are hardly charged when they contain a certain amount of water, and have an electrical resistance of about 10 ⁶ to 10 ⁸ Ω · cm. Polyethylene and polyamide have a long carbon chain in the molecular structure, and carbon fibers connected in series show an extremely high effect on static elimination.
The copy paper 6 separated from the belt 20 holds the charge by the separation charging as described above. If the guide plate is made of a conductive material and is grounded, an electric angle may suddenly flow in order to cancel the charge on the copy sheet 6, and it may be difficult to hold the toner image. In particular, it is difficult to hold a toner image on thin paper or the like that is considered to have a large change in capacity after being separated from the belt 20. Therefore, 10 ⁶ to 10 ⁸ Ωcm
To compensate for the above-mentioned disadvantages by providing a substance having a specific resistance of
It is possible to prevent a rapid charge inflow from the ground, and to sufficiently bring out the effect of the electric field by the static eliminator 36. FIG. 4 shows a structure in which the guide plate 45 itself is made of a substance having a charge removing function. As a material, for example, phenol resin is used. Phenol resin is also an effective neutralizing material. This prevents abrupt charge transfer as described above, suppresses a change in the electric field, and stably holds the image. In addition, various conductive substances, particularly metals such as iron, copper and aluminum, greatly charge themselves and the other party by friction. This is due not only to the problem of surface slippage, but also to the contact between metal and an insulator such as copy paper 6.
Includes the problem of contact potential difference resulting from work function differences. In particular, it is considered that the physical properties of the copy paper 6 change due to the condition of water content and the like, and that the contact potential difference changes. Particularly, when the copy paper 6 is very close to a dry body, the contact potential difference becomes large, and the amount of electric charge transfer between each other increases, and the copy paper 6 becomes charged. Phenol is thought to serve to lower this contact potential difference than metals. This suppresses the contact potential difference to be lower because the contact potential difference is closer to the insulator than the metal, thereby preventing charging. In this sense, phenolic resin is a very effective material. By providing the guide plate with the charge eliminating function as described above, the effect of the electric field by the charge eliminating charger is increased, and the separation charge after the copy paper is separated from the belt can be suppressed, and a good image can be obtained. Next, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of the separation shaft of the transfer / transport device showing another means for suppressing the separation charging. Reference numeral 20 denotes a belt, and reference numeral 24 denotes a separation shaft which is grounded. Reference numeral 38 denotes a guide plate, which has the same configuration as that shown in FIG. The difference from the configuration of FIG. 1 is that a static eliminator 43 is provided on the separation shaft 24. The operation of the transfer / transport apparatus configured as described above will be described below. It has been mentioned many times that the copy paper 6 electrostatically attracted on the belt 20 is separated and charged when it is separated from the belt 20. This separation charging was caused by the belt 20 showing high charging even on the separation shaft 24. Further, the separation shaft 24 made of a conductive material does not sufficiently contribute to the neutralization of the belt 20 even though it is grounded. Further, the belt 20 made of a semiconductor material having a specific resistance of 10 ¹⁰ to 10 ¹³ Ω · cm was characterized in that it was difficult to transfer electric charges to the material in contact with the belt. Therefore,
In order to enhance the static elimination effect of the belt 20, a material having a high static elimination effect is obtained for the separation shaft. A material that is effective as the charge removing material 43 is a material that comes into contact with a charged object and causes movement of electric charge from the object. Further, as described above, the charge caused by the contact potential difference is suppressed to prevent the charge due to the contact. That is, it is to be a discharge path inserted between a charged body and a large-capacity one (for example, the earth) that discharges electric charge. 6th Annual Meeting of the Electrostatics Society of Japan, Proceedings 2P
-D6). In the description of the proceedings, if the charged insulator is placed on a grounded metal plate and then the insulator is separated from the metal plate again, almost no charge will be generated from the insulating plate. Has not disappeared. Next, a cotton cloth that has not been completely dried is placed on a metal plate, a charged insulating plate is placed thereon, and then, when the insulating plate is separated from the cotton cloth and measured, the charge has almost disappeared. . If the resistance of the used material is evaluated, the resistance increases as the cotton cloth is inserted. However, if attention is paid to the electrification actually moved, that is, the current, the insertion of the cotton cloth has a lower resistance as an electrostatic phenomenon. It is explained. Although it is not strictly true, it is considered to be about 10 ⁸ to 10 ¹⁰ Ω · cm if the correspondence with the resistance in electrical engineering is taken. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a static eliminator 43 may be provided on the belt 20 to prevent the separation and charging. The operation of the transfer / transport device configured as described above will be described below. In the present invention, it has been described that the transfer of the toner image on the copy sheet and the separation of the copy sheet 6 from the photosensitive drum 2 are achieved by the polarization of the copy sheet 6 by the belt 20 holding the electric charge. However, the surface potential of the belt 20 is +2000 to +2500 V immediately above the separation shaft 24, and is expected to be higher at a position where the toner image is transferred from the photosensitive drum 2. For this reason, when the copy paper 6 has a high insulation resistance such as OHP paper, a micro-discharge occurs in a minute gap in the gap separating the photoconductor drum 2 and the copy paper 6, and the surface charge of the photoconductor drum 2 is reduced. The copy sheet may move to the copy sheet 6, and the copy sheet may take on a true charge. In this case, the charge may be removed until the copy sheet 6 is separated from the belt 20. FIG. 6 shows a structure in which a static eliminator 43 is applied on the belt 20. The role of the charge removing material 43 is to help remove charges between the grounded conductive material and the charged material. Here, this static elimination material 43
Is used between the belt 20 and the copy sheet 6. In other words, the charge transfer between the copy sheet 6 and the belt 20 can be performed efficiently by interposing a substance for adjusting the contact potential difference between the copy sheet 6 and the belt 20, so that the charged copy sheet 6 can be neutralized. The charge removing material 43 on the belt 20 may be a material considering the difference in the charging sequence from the copy paper 6, and examples thereof include polyester fiber and acrylic fiber. These materials tend to be negatively charged on the copy paper 6 and positively charged on the copy paper. Naturally, pure cotton cloth, polyamide and the like having a high static elimination function are effective. The charge control needs to be considered in consideration of the combination of these materials, the transport speed, the transport distance, and the like. For example, transfer speed 105 mm / s, transfer charger 29
When the distance between the shaft and the separation shaft 24 is about 120 mm, when a pure cotton cloth is put on the urethane rubber belt, the charge on the separation shaft 24 becomes almost O. However, the charge of the belt 20 is lost during the conveyance, and the conveyance force is lost. There is an improvement by using a belt 20 with polyamide on pure cotton cloth. As described above, by providing the belt with the charge removing function, it is possible to suppress the separation charge after the copy paper is separated from the belt. As described above, the present invention provides an electrostatic latent image carrier that transports a toner image, and transfers the toner image to a copy paper in proximity to the electrostatic latent image carrier and transports the copy paper. a belt endless resistivity of a material ¹⁰ 10 ~10 ¹³ Ω · cm, and stretched means for stretched by driving the belt, a copy of the proximal region of the latent electrostatic image bearing member and the belt A separating unit that is located downstream of the sheet supply direction and is electrically conductive and grounds to support the belt from the inside and separates the copy sheet from the belt; a corona discharger capable of discharging near the separation unit; A guide member made of a material having a specific resistance of 10 ⁶ to 10 ⁸ Ωcm and guiding the copy sheet provided near the position where the sheet is separated from the belt, and discharging the charge of the copy sheet; and a grounded guide member. Charging polarity of the toner image on the belt And a charge applying means for supplying a charge having an opposite polarity to the inside of the belt and disposed in the vicinity of the proximity area, at the time when the copy sheet is separated from the belt,
The corona discharger supplies a charge of the same polarity as the charge applying means to the copy sheet, and the guide member removes the charge held by the copy sheet when the copy sheet passes over the guide member. Transcription characterized by
With the transport device, a good transfer / transport device without disturbance of the toner image can be obtained. When the copy sheet separated from the belt is rapidly separated from the charged belt, the copy sheet is guided and subjected to a sudden change in electric field by guide members having different capacities. Therefore,
By creating a toner image holding electric field that overcomes these electric field changes with a corona discharger, disturbance of the toner image on copy paper can be prevented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a transfer / transport apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 and FIG. Perspective view of the vicinity of the separation shaft of the transfer device, FIG.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the transfer / transport device near the separation axis, showing other means for suppressing the separation / charging. FIG. 6 is a front view showing the transfer / transport portion of the transfer / transport device. FIG. It is a front view of a conveyance apparatus. 20 ... belt, 24 ... separation axis, 26 ... transfer axis, 28 ... stretch axis, 29 ... transfer charger, 30 ... belt drive, 32 ...
… Grounding plate, 34… Pressing spring, 36… Charge eliminator, 38…
Guide plate, 43 .... Static elimination material.

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    (72) Inventor Masahiro Aizawa               1006 Kadoma Kadoma Matsushita Electric Industrial               Inside the corporation                (56) References JP-A-57-172369 (JP, A)                 JP-A-54-58034 (JP, A)                 JP-A-58-220162 (JP, A)                 JP-A-55-28074 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An electrostatic latent image carrier that transports the toner image, and a specific resistance that is close to the electrostatic latent image carrier to transfer the toner image to copy paper and transport the copy paper is 10 ¹⁰ to 10 ¹³ Ω ·
an endless belt made of a material of cm, stretching means for stretching and driving the belt, and the belt positioned downstream of the area near the electrostatic latent image carrier and the belt in the copy paper supply direction. A separating unit that is electrically conductive and grounded from the inside and separates the copy sheet from the belt, a corona discharger capable of discharging near the separation unit, and a position near the position where the copy sheet separates from the belt Guides the copy sheet provided on the substrate to eliminate charges on the copy sheet;
A guide member made of a material of ⁶ to 10 ⁸ Ωcm and grounded, and a charge having a polarity opposite to a charging polarity of the toner image is supplied to the belt, and the belt is disposed inside the belt near the proximity region. Charge providing means, and at the time when the copy sheet is separated from the belt, the corona discharger supplies the copy sheet with a charge having the same polarity as the charge providing means,
A transfer / transport apparatus, wherein the guide member removes charges held by the copy sheet when the copy sheet passes over the guide member.