JP2852974B2 - Cleaning device for latent image carrier - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cleaning device for a latent image carrier.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a facsimile, or a printer, a form in which an electrostatic latent image is formed on a latent image carrier, the electrostatic latent image is visualized with toner, and the visible image is transferred to a transfer material. In this case, the toner remains on the latent image carrying surface after the transfer, and if this toner adheres to the next transfer material, a background stain on an image is generated. It is scraped off from the surface together with foreign matter such as fine paper powder.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the drum-shaped photoreceptor 1, and the electrostatic latent image is visualized by a developing device 21. After the transfer, toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor and not contributing to the transfer is removed and collected by the cleaning device 23 after the transfer.

In the conventional cleaning device, as shown in this example, a method using a flat cleaning blade 24 is very generally adopted, and the cleaning blade 24 bends a sheet metal, Alternatively, it is adhered or sandwiched and held by a holder 25 formed or formed of aluminum or the like,
The holder was screwed together and fixed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In such a conventional cleaning device, when exchanging the cleaning blade, it is necessary to peel off an adhesive portion or remove a screw, which is inferior in maintainability and requires a mounting portion such as a screw. However, there is a disadvantage that the cost is increased. Further, the cleaning blade 24
As shown in FIG. 3, in the example where the photoconductor is brought into contact with the surface of the photoconductor in the counter direction, there is a disadvantage that a large space is required for installing the cleaning blade due to the arrangement angle.

An object of the present invention is to provide a latent image carrier cleaning apparatus that eliminates the above-described conventional method and can improve maintainability, reduce costs, and further save space. It is in.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an elastic plate is forcibly formed in a cylindrical member having a portion facing the latent image carrier elongated in the longitudinal direction thereof and opposed to the self-elasticity. By inserting at least one side end of the elastic plate facing the latent image carrier against the surface of the latent image carrier, thereby cleaning the elastic plate for cleaning the surface of the latent image carrier. And a cleaning device for a latent image carrier used as a cleaning blade.

It is effective to use the curved inner area of the elastic plate as a toner conveying path for guiding the toner removed by cleaning the surface of the latent image carrier to the outside of the cylindrical member.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on an embodiment.

In FIG. 1, a drum-shaped photoconductor 1 as an example of a latent image carrier is driven to rotate in a direction indicated by an arrow in the drawing.
The photosensitive member 1 has a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
10 are opposite. This cleaning device is disposed in a direction substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the surface of the photoconductor 1 (axial direction of the photoconductor 1), and a portion facing the photoconductor 1 is elongated and opened along the orthogonal direction. And a cylindrical member 2 made of a rigid body. That is, the portion of the cylindrical member 2 facing the photoreceptor 1 is open along the longitudinal direction of the member 2.

A short shelf-shaped elastic plate 3 is provided inside the tubular member 2.
In a state where it is forcibly bent against this self-elasticity,
The cylindrical member 2 is inserted in the axial direction. One side end 3a of the elastic plate 3 inserted as described above, which is parallel to the orthogonal direction, protrudes outside from the cylindrical member 2, and its corner is formed as an edge 3b of the photosensitive member 1. It comes into pressure contact with the surface. Thus, one side end 3a of the elastic plate 3 facing the photoreceptor 1 is pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor.

In the figure, the edge 3b is shown to protrude inward from the surface of the photoreceptor, but in practice, the side end 3b of the elastic plate 3 is bent by the amount of the protruding, and the edge 3b is exposed to light. It is in pressure contact with the body surface. The cylindrical member 2 includes
The base end of the entrance seal for preventing the internal toner from scattering to the outside is fixed, but the front end is also bent in a similar manner and pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor.

The above-described side end portion 3a, in this example, the edge portion 3b functions to scrape and remove toner, paper powder, and the like remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 1. Thus, the elastic plate 3 is used as a cleaning blade for cleaning the surface of the photoconductor. In this embodiment, the cleaning blade 3 is in pressure contact with the surface of the photoreceptor in the counter direction, as in the conventional example. The elastic plate 3 is forcibly bent to form the cylindrical member 2.
After being inserted into the inside of the cylindrical member 2, after the insertion, it tightly adheres to the inner peripheral portion of the cylindrical member 2 due to its expanding behavior, and is held so as not to move in the axial direction of the cylindrical member 2 and its circumferential direction. Will be. As a result, the cleaning blade 3 can be fixed to the tubular member 2 without requiring any attaching means such as an adhesive or a screw.

By the way, in order to utilize the inside area of the curved cleaning blade 3 as a toner conveyance path for carrying the scraped toner out of the cylindrical member, the inside thereof is
When a transport member in the city, such as the toner transport screw member 5, is provided, the cleaning blade 3 itself can also be used as a toner transport pipe.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the cleaning device unitized into 10 units.

Both ends of the cylindrical member 2 are covered with cylindrical holding members 6 and 7, respectively. One end of the shaft 5a of the toner conveying screw member 5 is rotatably supported on one holding member 6,
A gear 8 for driving the toner conveying screw member 5 is fixedly provided on the end side.

The other holding member 7 has a protruding cylindrical portion 7A provided with a toner discharge port 9 at a lower portion, and the other end side of the shaft 5a is rotatably supported by the protruding cylindrical portion 7A.

In the cleaning device 10 thus configured, the portions of the holding members 6 and 7 are fixedly set on a support side plate (not shown). In this set state, the cleaning device 10 is moved to the position shown in FIG. Direction and the gear 8
Are engaged with a drive pinion on the main body (not shown).

The toner scraped off by the edge 3b of the cleaning blade 3 is transferred to the projecting cylindrical portion 7A of the holding member 7 by the toner conveying screw member 5 (FIG. 1) by rotating the gear 8 by the driving pinion described above. The toner is conveyed toward the toner outlet, drops from the toner outlet 9, and is collected in a toner tank (not shown) disposed below the toner outlet. Note that the toner dropped from the toner discharge port 9 may be guided to the side of the developing device and reused.

Here, when replacing the cleaning blade 3, first, the cleaning device 10 shown in FIG. 2 is pulled out from the above-mentioned supporting side plate, the gear 8 is removed, and the holding member 6 is moved to one end side of the cylindrical member 2. To escape from Further, the holding member 7 on the other end side of the tubular member 2 is removed.

In this state, the old cleaning blade 3 is pulled out from the cylindrical member 2 along the axial direction, and the new cleaning blade 3 is bent and inserted into the cylindrical member 2. Thereafter, by attaching the holding members 6, 7 and the gear 8, etc., the assembly of the cleaning device is completed.
As described above, when the cleaning blade 3 is attached or detached, it is only necessary to insert or remove the cleaning blade 3 into the tubular member 2, and it is not necessary to remove or attach the screw at this time. .

As the cleaning blade 3, for example, an elastic plate made of a thin urethane rubber having a thickness of about 1.5 mm and a width of 326 mm is used. As the inlet seal 4, an extremely thin urethane rubber having a thickness of about 0.2 mm is used as an example, and has the same width as the cleaning blade 3. And this inlet seal 4 is a cylindrical member 2
It is intended to be adhered to.

Such a cleaning device has a cross section having a diameter of, for example,
The size of the toner conveying screw member 5 and the thickness of the cleaning blade 3 can be further reduced by changing the outer diameter of the toner conveying screw member 5 and the thickness of the cleaning blade 3. In any case, since the cleaning blade is set in a curved state from the beginning, further space saving can be achieved as compared with the conventional example.

The cleaning blade 3 may be configured to perform the cleaning operation by pressing the other side of the cleaning blade 3 opposite to the photoconductor 1 against the photoconductor.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention, replacement of the cleaning blade is simplified, and maintainability of this type of cleaning device is improved. Further, since the fixing parts for the cleaning blade are not required, the cost of this type of apparatus can be further reduced. Further, since the cleaning blade is set in a curved state, further savings can be achieved. Space can be achieved.

According to the configuration of the second aspect of the present invention, a dedicated toner transport pipe for forming the toner transport path is not required, so that the apparatus configuration can be simplified and the cost can be further reduced. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a state in which a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention is opposed to a photoreceptor, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the overall structure of the cleaning device, and FIG. 3 shows a developing device and a conventional cleaning device. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram around a photoconductor provided. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Drum photosensitive body as a latent image carrier 2 ... Cylindrical member 3 ... Elastic plate 3a ... Side end

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A state in which an elastic plate is forcibly bent against a self-elasticity inside a cylindrical member having a portion facing the latent image carrier elongated in the longitudinal direction thereof. The elastic plate is used as a cleaning blade for cleaning the surface of the latent image carrier by pressing at least one side end of the elastic plate facing the latent image carrier against the surface of the latent image carrier. A cleaning device for a latent image carrier. 2. The latent image carrier according to claim 1, wherein the curved inner area of the elastic plate is used as a toner conveying path for guiding the toner removed by cleaning the surface of the latent image carrier out of the cylindrical member. Body cleaning device.