JP2784975B2 - Reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum using reproduction cylinder and unit thereof - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum using a reproduction cylinder whose diameter is increased during reproduction processing, and a unit therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine, a laser beam printer, a facsimile, and a printing machine has a cylinder 1 as shown in FIG.
02, a cleaning blade 104, a charging roller 105, a developing roller 106, and a transfer roller 107 are sequentially arranged along a circumferential direction of an electrophotographic photosensitive drum 101 (hereinafter, referred to as a "photosensitive drum") having a photosensitive film 103 coated on a peripheral surface thereof. Are positioned with high precision. For example, regarding the arrangement accuracy of the photosensitive drum 101 and the developing roller 106, the developing roller 106 is assembled with a uniform gap of 0.2 to 0.4 mm with respect to the photosensitive drum 101. Is required to be as high as 1/10 of the size (distance) of the gap. For this reason, the cylinder 102 used for the photosensitive drum 101 is required to have high mechanical accuracy.

In addition, in order to form a good photosensitive film 103, it is necessary to severely suppress impurities contained in a material constituting the cylinder 102, and the cylinder 102 becomes very expensive, and the reproduction of the cylinder 102 becomes extremely expensive. Use is desired.

Therefore, the following reproducing method has been proposed.

(A) After the photosensitive film of the used cylinder is removed by etching or the like, a photosensitive film is formed again, and a reproduced photosensitive drum having the same outer diameter as that before reproduction is manufactured (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei.
-178671).

(B) A cylinder having a double structure of a separable outer cylinder and an inner cylinder, and replacing only the outer cylinder coated with a photosensitive film with a new one (see Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 63-49548). .

[0007]

Among the above-mentioned prior arts, (a) heat treatment is carried out in a vacuum in an etching step for removing a photosensitive film, so that processing time is long, productivity is low, and chemical There is a problem that a drainage treatment is required because of the use of a liquid.

In (b), since it is necessary to maintain the mechanical accuracy such as the roundness of the outer cylinder, there is a limit in reducing the thickness of the outer cylinder. There is a problem.

In order to solve the problems of the conventional techniques such as (a) and (b), the present applicant has expanded the diameter of an electrophotographic photosensitive drum in which the function of the photosensitive film has become abnormal,
A part of the surface including the photosensitive film is cut or removed, or a part of the surface including the photosensitive film of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum is cut and removed, and then the diameter thereof is increased to obtain a reproduction cylinder. Later, a method for forming a photosensitive film on the surface of the reproducing cylinder was developed. That is, a regenerated electrophotographic photosensitive drum was developed in which a photosensitive film was applied to a regenerated cylinder whose diameter was increased during the reprocessing.

The diameter of a reproduced electrophotographic photosensitive drum using a reproduction cylinder whose diameter has been increased during the above-described reproduction processing is increased and the axial length is shortened and shortened. Therefore, there is an unsolved problem that the peripheral components that are assembled to the electrophotographic photosensitive drum to be reproduced and constitute the electrophotographic photosensitive drum unit cannot be used as they are.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned unresolved problem, and it is possible to reuse a recycled cylinder whose diameter is increased at the time of recycling processing, which has good productivity and has a small amount of waste. It is an object of the present invention to realize a reproduced electrophotographic photosensitive drum using a reproducing cylinder and a unit thereof.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, in a reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum using a reproduction cylinder of the present invention, a photosensitive film is formed on a peripheral surface of a reproduction cylinder whose diameter is enlarged during reproduction processing. A regenerated electrophotographic photosensitive drum, wherein at least one end of the regenerated electrophotographic photosensitive drum is additionally processed to form a new assembly portion having a shape and dimensions of an assembly portion of another type of electrophotographic photosensitive drum. It is characterized by having been formed.

Further, it is effective to provide a reproduced electrophotographic photosensitive drum unit having a reproduced electrophotographic photosensitive drum using the reproducing cylinder according to the first aspect, and a peripheral part of another type being assembled to a new assembly part. is there.

[0014]

The reproducing cylinder constituting the reproducing electrophotographic photosensitive drum has an inner diameter which is increased by expanding the diameter and an axial length thereof is contracted. The electrophotographic photosensitive drum can be reused by being formed in the shape and dimensions of the assembly portion.

[0015]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum unit using the reproduction cylinder of this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, a reproduced electrophotographic photosensitive drum (hereinafter, referred to as a "reproduced photosensitive drum") 1 using a reproducing cylinder is exposed to light due to a life of the used drum or a scratch generated during the manufacture of a new article. The film whose function of the film has become abnormal (hereinafter referred to as a "photosensitive drum to be reproduced") is reproduced.

As described above, in order to satisfy the functions required for the photosensitive film of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum, the outer diameter accuracy and the surface accuracy of the cylinder surface must be high. For this reason, after the diameter of the photosensitive drum to be reproduced to be reproduced is increased to a predetermined diameter by bulging, the surface on which the photosensitive film is applied is cut off or the photosensitive film of the photosensitive drum to be reproduced is removed. After the surface subjected to the cutting was removed, the diameter was increased to a predetermined diameter by bulge processing to obtain a reproduction cylinder 2 having a desired outer diameter accuracy and surface accuracy, and a photosensitive film 3 having a normal function was formed on the surface. .

Therefore, the reproducing cylinder 2 has a larger inner diameter than the cylinder of the photosensitive drum to be reproduced, and its axial length shrinks and becomes shorter.
The electrophotographic photosensitive drum 1 using the reproducing cylinder 2 cannot assemble the peripheral components that have been assembled on the photosensitive drum to be reproduced as it is.

Therefore, additional processing such as cutting is performed on both ends of the regenerated electrophotographic photosensitive drum 1 to form a new mounting portion having a shape and dimensions of another model. Are assembled with a flange 5 with a bearing and a flange 6 with a gear, which are peripheral parts.

Example 1 A cylinder made of a drawn material of an aluminum alloy and having a film thickness of 20 to 3 on a surface finished to predetermined outer diameter accuracy and surface accuracy.
A photosensitive drum for reproduction on which an amorphous silicon photosensitive film having a thickness of 0 μm was vacuum-deposited and having an outer diameter of 107 mm and an axial length of 350 mm was used.

When the diameter of the above-mentioned photosensitive drum to be reproduced was expanded by bulging so that the diameter of the outer diameter portion became 107.4 mm, the axial length became 349.76 mm.

The outer peripheral surface of the enlarged photosensitive drum to be reproduced is cut by approximately 0.4 mm of the above-mentioned enlarged diameter to a predetermined surface accuracy, and an amorphous silicon photosensitive film having a normal function is formed on the surface. Thus, a reproduced electrophotographic photosensitive drum having an outer diameter of 107 mm was obtained. Then, the flange attachment portions at the inner diameter portions at both end portions were cut so that the shape and dimensions were changed so that flanges of other models could be mounted.

The present invention is not limited to the first embodiment, but
The present invention can also be applied to a photosensitive drum to be reproduced having another photosensitive film such as a PC. Further, the outer diameter of the reproduced electrophotographic photosensitive drum can be arbitrarily set as long as the diameter can be increased.

[0025]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

By performing a simple additional process on a regenerated electrophotographic photosensitive drum using a regenerated cylinder enlarged in the reprocessing process, the reusable electrophotographic photosensitive drum can be reused for another model having a different shape and size of an assembling portion, thereby saving resources. Can greatly contribute to
Further, since simple additional processing is required, the processing cost is reduced and the cost is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional electrophotographic image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum 2 Reproduction cylinder 3 Photosensitive film 4a, 4b Assembly part 5 Flange with bearing 6 Flange with gear

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum in which a photosensitive film is formed on a peripheral surface of a reproduction cylinder whose diameter is enlarged during reproduction processing, wherein at least one end of the reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum is additionally processed, A reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum using a reproduction cylinder, wherein a new assembly portion having a shape and dimensions of an assembly portion of another type of electrophotographic photosensitive drum is formed. 2. A reproduction cylinder, comprising: a reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum using the reproduction cylinder according to claim 1; and a peripheral part of another model being mounted on a new mounting part thereof. Reproduction electrophotographic photosensitive drum unit.