JP2867567B2 - Fur brush cleaner - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a fur brush cleaner in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art As an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, an image carrier such as a photosensitive drum itself, an intermediate transfer belt, an intermediate transfer drum, and a transfer drum around which a transfer material is wound is rotated on the image carrier during a plurality of rotations. A plurality of toner images are combined, and the combined toner images are collectively transferred. That is, in the case of a transfer material or a transfer material winding drum, the transfer material is removed from the drum, and the transferred image is transferred. There is a known type in which residual toner on a carrier is cleaned with a fur brush cleaner.

The fur brush cleaner is normally provided so as to be in contact with the image carrier during cleaning and to be separated from the image carrier during non-cleaning. The toner captured by the fur brush of the cleaner is collected on a collecting roller that contacts the fur brush, and is scraped off from the collecting roller by a blade.

In such a fur brush cleaner, it is preferable to rotate the fur brush to collect toner from the brush even when the cleaning is not performed, that is, even when the fur brush is separated from the image carrier.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, if the fur brush in the above-described fur brush cleaner is rotated at the time of non-cleaning, which is separated from the image carrier, the front surface of the cleaner is in an open state. As a result, there is a problem that the transfer material and the inside of the image forming apparatus are contaminated.

Therefore, the present invention is a fur brush cleaner for cleaning residual toner on an image carrier of an image forming apparatus, and the fur brush contacts the image carrier during cleaning,
In a fur brush cleaner provided so as to be separated from the image carrier at the time of non-cleaning, even if the fur brush is rotated at the time of non-cleaning where the fur brush is separated from the image carrier, toner scattering from the cleaner is not caused. It is another object of the present invention to provide a fur brush cleaner that is significantly suppressed as compared with the related art.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a fur brush cleaner for cleaning residual toner on an image carrier of an image forming apparatus, wherein the fur brush contacts the image carrier when cleaning, and the image carrier when non-cleaning. An object of the present invention is to provide a fur brush cleaner which is provided so as to be separated from a body and has means for preventing toner scattering from the cleaner even when the fur brush is rotated during the non-cleaning. .

As means for preventing toner scattering from the cleaner,
A shutter that substantially closes an opening of the fur brush cleaner during the non-cleaning time, and a fur brush that is disposed downstream of the cleaning portion of the fur brush, that is, a portion that contacts the image carrier during cleaning, in the rotation direction of the brush. A roller that contacts the tip and is rotated in the same peripheral speed direction at a speed equal to or higher than the peripheral speed of the tip of the fur brush, and a fur brush rotation motor that reduces the number of revolutions of the fur brush during the non-cleaning period from that during the cleaning. Can be provided.

When the roller is used, the roller may be grounded, or a voltage having the same polarity as the toner to be cleaned may be applied to the roller.

(Operation)

According to the fur brush cleaner of the present invention, when the shutter is employed, the cleaner opening is closed by the shutter at the time of non-cleaning, and when a roller in contact with the fur brush is employed, the roller is in contact with the brush. By rotating in the same peripheral speed direction at a constant speed or more, toner scattering from the cleaner is prevented. When the roller is used, if the roller is grounded or if a voltage having the same polarity as that of the toner is applied to the roller, toner adhesion to the roller is further suppressed.

Also, if the rotation speed control means of the fur brush rotation motor reduces the brush rotation speed during non-cleaning,
The reduction in the centrifugal force applied to the toner on the brush prevents the toner from scattering from the cleaner.

〔Example〕

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

First, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a color copying machine using a cleaner according to one embodiment.

The copying machine includes a photosensitive drum 1 and a main charger (not shown), an optical system, first, second, and third developing units having different developing colors around the drum 1.
Further, it includes an intermediate transfer belt 2 shown in the drawing, a cleaning device and an eraser (not shown), and the like.
The intermediate transfer belt 2 is wound around pulleys 21 to 24 arranged at fixed positions as shown in the drawing, is given an appropriate tension by a tension pulley 26, and is moved in a direction indicated by an arrow a in FIG. It is driven to rotate.

A primary transfer charger 3 and a primary neutralization charger 4 are provided on the back side of a portion of the transfer belt 2 facing the photoreceptor drum 1, and the secondary transfer chargers 5 and 2 are provided outside a lower large pulley 21. A next separation charger 6 is provided.

Further, the fur brush cleaner 7 is arranged to face the side pulley 22. The fur brush cleaner is
A roller-shaped fur brush 8 capable of contacting the intermediate transfer belt 2 passing over the pulley 22, a collecting roller 9 contacting the fur brush, a cleaning blade 10 contacting the collecting roller, and a toner conveying screw 12 for conveying the collected toner. And a position where the fur brush 8 contacts the transfer belt 2 by rotating about the lower support shaft 11 (the first position).
The position shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 3) can be reciprocated to a position separated from the position (see FIG. 4).

The cleaner 7, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,
The fur brush 8 is moved by the spring 17 to the intermediate transfer belt 2.
Is applied in the direction away from the object. On the other hand, the solenoid 16 is connected to an arm 160 fixed to the cleaner casing C. When the solenoid is turned on, the entire cleaner 7 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. Takes a position in contact with the transfer belt 2. When the solenoid 16 is turned off, the spring 17 pulls the entire cleaner clockwise in FIG. 1 to separate the fur brush 8 from the belt 2.

According to the color copying machine shown in FIG. 1, the first layer toner image visualized by the first developing device by the process of charging, exposing and developing on the photoreceptor is cleaned by the contact and driving of the fur brush cleaner 7. Intermediate transfer belt 2
The image is electrostatically transferred onto the upper surface by the primary transfer charger 3. Immediately before the leading end of the first layer toner image transferred on the belt reaches the fur brush 8, the fur brush cleaner is separated from the intermediate transfer belt 3 around the support shaft 11 by turning off the solenoid 16, whereby the belt The upper toner image reaches the primary transfer charger 3 again without being disturbed. On the other hand, on the photoreceptor drum 1, a toner image of a second layer is formed using a second developing device after the toner image of the first layer, and the second layer toner image is formed by the toner image of the first layer. The image is transferred onto the transfer belt 2 so as to overlap the image.

Similarly, the third developing device transfers the toner image of the third layer formed on the photosensitive drum 1 onto the transfer belt 2 from the toner images of the first and second layers.

The composite toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 2 thus completed by superimposing the toner image of the third layer on the intermediate transfer belt 2 is transferred to a transfer material (not shown) arriving here at the secondary transfer charger 5. The transfer material is separated from the intermediate transfer belt 2 by the secondary separation charger 6, and sent to a fixing device (not shown) where the synthetic toner image is fixed.

The intermediate transfer belt 2 which has completed the secondary transfer by the secondary transfer charger 5 is cleaned by the contact of the fur brush 8 by turning on the solenoid 16 in the cleaner 7, and is prepared for the next copying process.

Now, in the fur brush cleaner 7, the peripheral speed of the fur brush 8 is about 230 mm / se by a motor (not shown).
c, The collection roller 9 is driven to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. 1 at a peripheral speed of about 150 mm / sec. Further, the toner conveying screw 12 is also driven by a motor (not shown).

In this example, the fur brush 8 is a conductive brush and has a DC of -50.
0 V is applied, and the residual toner after the transfer of the toner image from the belt 2 is electrostatically attracted to clean the belt. The collection roller 9 is an aluminum pipe roller to which -1200 V is applied, rotates in contact with the fur brush 8, and sucks and collects the toner in the brush 8 at the contact portion. The cleaning blade 10 that is in contact with the collection roller 9 is made of urethane rubber, and scrapes off the toner attached to the collection roller 9.
Drop onto the transfer screw 12. The transport screw 12 sends the falling residual toner to a bottle (not shown).

The cleaner 7 has a shutter 13 having an arc-shaped cross section. Both ends of the shutter are supported by a pair of arms 131 rotatably connected to a cleaner casing C. It is connected to the rear of C and receives a pulling force there.

In the vicinity of a pair of arms 131 supporting the shutter 13, a fixed shaft 15 fixed to a copying machine frame is arranged.

When the fur brush 8 is in contact with the belt 2 by the solenoid 16 being turned on, the shutter support arm 131 is pulled rearward by the spring 14 and the arm comes into contact with the fixed shaft 15 and stops. In this state, the shutter 13 moves above the cleaner 7 as shown in FIG. 3 and opens the front surface of the cleaner.
On the other hand, when the spring 17 retreats and rotates the entire cleaner 7 backward by turning off the solenoid 16, as shown in FIG. 4, the fixed shaft 15 pushes the shutter support arm 131, and the arm 131 is moved counterclockwise in FIG. , Whereby the shutter 13 closes the fur brush front opening of the cleaner. Thus, even if the operation of rotating the fur brush 8 and collecting the toner on the fur brush on the collecting roller 9 while the cleaner 7 is at the retracted position is continued, toner scattering from the cleaner is effectively prevented. You.

Instead of the fur brush cleaner 7, a fur brush cleaner as shown in FIG. 5 can be employed.

The cleaner 70 shown in FIG. 5 includes a fur brush roller 8, a recovery roller 9, and a toner conveying screw 12, similarly to the cleaner described above. In this cleaner, a roller 18 is provided downstream of a cleaning portion of the fur brush 8, that is, a region 80 where the fur brush 8 comes into contact with the belt 2 in the rotation direction of the brush.

The roller 18 comes into contact with the tip of the fur brush 8 and is driven to rotate at a speed equal to or higher than the circumferential speed of the fur brush 8 in the same circumferential speed as the fur brush 8, that is, clockwise in the drawing. The rotation of the roller 18 is performed by the drive motor of the fur brush 8.

In addition, a seal member 19 made of a malt plane or the like is provided between the roller 18 and the casing wall to fill the gap. The roller 18 is grounded or a voltage having the same polarity as that of the toner is applied, so that toner adhesion to the roller 18 is suppressed as much as possible.

The reason for providing the roller 18 in this manner is that
When the fur brush 8 and the collecting roller 9 are rotated at the time of the separation of the roller 70, the powder is particularly collected in a portion A where the collected toner is transferred from the fur brush 8 to the collecting roller 9 and a portion B where the toner is scraped off from the collecting roller 9 by the blade 10. This is because smoke is generated, and the generated powder smoke flows out of the cleaner from the gap between the brush 8 and the cleaner casing wall. Although there is an idea that a seal member may be simply arranged at this portion, if the seal member is arranged here, there is a problem that the smoke between the seal member and the brush 8 is newly generated.

 Next, still another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The embodiment cleaner 700 shown in FIG. 6 has substantially the same configuration as the cleaner 7 shown in FIG. 1 except that the shutter 13 is not provided. However, a motor 20 for driving the brush 8 and the collecting roller 9 is connected to a rotation speed switching device 22 for switching the rotation speed of the motor between high speed and low speed. The switching device is a microcomputer CPU for controlling the operation of the entire copying machine. The number of rotations of the motor 20 is switched based on the instruction from. The solenoid 16 also operates according to instructions from the computer.

That is, when the fur brush 8 is in contact with the transfer belt 2 due to the solenoid 16 being turned on, the switching device 22 determines that the fur brush 8 has a circumferential speed of 230 mm / sec and the collection roller has a circumferential speed of 1 mm.
When the motor 20 is rotated so as to rotate at 50 mm / sec, and the fur brush 8 is set to the retracted position where the brush 16 is retracted from the transfer belt 2 due to the solenoid 16 being turned off, the rotation speed of the motor is reduced to about half and the brush 8 is rotated at the peripheral speed The collection roller is rotated at a peripheral speed of about 73 mm / sec at about 110 mm / sec. Thus, when the fur brush 8 is retracted, the fur brush 8 and the collecting roller 9 rotate at a low speed, and the centrifugal force applied to the toner adhered to them decreases accordingly.

Although omitted in FIG. 6, the computer CP
U is connected to various elements such as a photosensitive drum drive motor.

The embodiment described above is a cleaner for an intermediate transfer belt of a color copying machine. However, the present invention can be applied to a printer or the like. Applicable to cleaners.

Further, two or more of the above embodiments may be employed in combination.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, there is provided a fur brush cleaner for cleaning residual toner on an image carrier of an image forming apparatus, wherein the fur brush contacts the image carrier during cleaning, and separates from the image carrier during non-cleaning. In the fur brush cleaner provided so that even if the fur brush is rotated at the time of non-cleaning in which the fur brush is separated from the image carrier, toner scattering from the cleaner is significantly suppressed as compared with the related art, Therefore, even when the fur brush is separated, there is an advantage that the toner on the brush can be collected and removed without fear of contaminating the transfer material or the inside of the image forming apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a color copier employing a cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cleaner shown in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are cleaners shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the present invention. 2. Intermediate transfer belt 7, 70, 700 Fur brush cleaner 8 Fur brush 9 Recovery roller 13 Shutter 14 Spring 15 Fixed shaft 18 Roller 19 Seal member 22 ... Rotation speed switching device CPU ... Microcomputer

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] A fur brush cleaner for cleaning residual toner on an image carrier of an image forming apparatus, wherein the fur brush contacts the image carrier during cleaning and separates from the image carrier during non-cleaning. A fur brush cleaner, comprising: a shutter that substantially closes an opening of the fur brush cleaner when the cleaning is not performed. 2. A fur brush cleaner for cleaning residual toner on an image carrier of an image forming apparatus, wherein the fur brush contacts the image carrier during cleaning and separates from the image carrier during non-cleaning. In the fur brush cleaner provided, the fur brush is disposed downstream of the cleaning portion of the fur brush in the brush rotation direction, contacts the tip of the fur brush, and is at or above the peripheral speed of the tip of the fur brush at the same peripheral speed. A fur brush cleaner comprising a rotating roller. 3. The fur brush cleaner according to claim 2, wherein the roller is grounded, or a voltage having the same polarity as that of the toner to be cleaned is applied to the roller. 4. A fur brush cleaner for cleaning residual toner on an image carrier of an image forming apparatus, wherein the fur brush contacts the image carrier during cleaning, and separates from the image carrier during non-cleaning. A fur brush cleaner, comprising: means for controlling a fur brush rotation motor so that the number of revolutions of the fur brush is lower during the non-cleaning time than during the cleaning.