JP3225383B2 - Separation and recovery method after drying of continuous application photoreceptor drum - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention applies a photosensitive film coating solution to a substrate drum of an electrophotographic photosensitive member which is continuously conveyed vertically in a vertical direction, and dries the applied photosensitive drum. On how to do it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A photosensitive drum is coated in a continuous state.
In the case of drying, in a state where the base drums are individually stacked with their end faces facing each other, when the coating is performed on the surface and drying is performed, the stacked base drums are connected by a dry coating film. State and cannot be easily separated.

[0003] That is, there is a means for separating the substrate drum immediately after coating. However, using such a means stops the flow of the coating film quickly when the coating liquid is immediately dry (hereinafter referred to as a set). Therefore, it is not suitable when it is desired to pass through a dryer.

[0004] Further, a technique of performing coating and separation by a method in which a substrate drum is stacked and stacked via a spacer is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-1.
As shown in 20662, 120663, and 120664, when vibration is generated by the separating means, the vibration is transmitted through the lower base drum performing continuous coating, and the deviation of the coating film during coating increases.

[0005]

As described above, since the coating solution flows down on the substrate drum immediately after the application of the photosensitive agent coating solution, it is more likely that the uniformly applied coating film is immediately put into the drying step to set the coating film. But overwhelmingly good.

However, in the case where the base drums are connected by the coating film, if means for separating the base drums at a higher speed than other base drums adjacent in the direction of movement of the base drum is used, the base drums are lifted up to the lower base drum adjacent thereto. There was a disadvantage.

In the method of applying vibration to the substrate drum to be separated or changing the axial direction by gripping the substrate drum with a chuck, a deviation is caused in the thickness of the coating film being coated below, or the vibration of the substrate drum is caused by vibration. It is difficult for stable production to occur due to slippage or falling.

The present invention solves such a problem, and even when using a continuous coating method, the coated and dried substrate drums are stacked in a state where the axis of the substrate drums is vertical, and the substrate drums and the coated portions thereof are coated on the substrate drums. It is an object of the present invention to perform a stable separating operation of a coated and dried photoconductor drum without generating vibration, displacement and the like.

[0009]

This object is achieved by any one of the following technical means a, b, c, d, e and f.

(A) A method for producing an electrophotographic photosensitive member in which a photosensitive layer film is continuously applied to a substrate drum which is continuously stacked and arranged, dried and separated and recovered, wherein The lower end of the coated and separated substrate drum held by the upper chuck and the upper end of the same coated and dried substrate drum adjacent thereto are joined by a coated and dried film.
From the portion of that state, while holding the substrate drum under chuck as holding means of the base drum, upper Chat
Disconnecting the object to be separated base drum held in click, the method of separation and recovery after drying the continuous coating photosensitive drum, characterized in that the separated and recovered.

(B) In addition to the above item (a), the holding means for holding the substrate drum adjacent to the coated and dried substrate drum to be separated is an air support. Separation and recovery method.

(C) A method for separating and recovering a continuously coated photosensitive drum after drying, wherein an air support is provided below the lower chuck as a centering function of the base drum in addition to the item a).

(D) In addition to item a), the upper chuck moving upward at the same speed as the substrate drum to be separated has a rotation center axis perpendicular to the moving direction, and the upper chuck connects the drum to the substrate drum to be separated. A continuity wherein the substrate drum to be separated is rotated around the rotation center axis by moving in a direction perpendicular to the center to separate from the adjacent substrate drum held by the lower chuck. Separation and recovery method after drying of the coated photosensitive drum.

(E) In addition to the term d, the relation between the distance d from the axis of the substrate drum to be separated to the rotation center axis and the radius r of the drum satisfies r ≦ d. Separation and recovery method after drying.

(F) A method for separating and recovering the continuously coated photosensitive drum after drying, comprising a control member for adjusting the rotation speed of the rotation center shaft in addition to the item (d).

[0016]

Examples of the present invention will be described below.

The coating method is shown in a partially cutaway perspective view of FIG. 2 and FIG.
A ring-shaped coater 1 shown in the sectional view of FIG.
In particular, FIG. 3 shows a state in which the base drum 2 and the coater 1 are applied. That is, the liquid slide surface 12 is formed from the coating liquid distribution chamber 10 through the coating liquid distribution slit 11.

The coated substrate drum 2 is dried in a drier 24 shown in the sectional view of FIG. Dryer 24 has suction slit 1
7. A cylindrical member as a rectifying outer cylinder 14 is concentrically coupled to upper and lower portions of a suction slit member 15 having a suction chamber 16 and a suction nozzle 20, respectively.

Suction is performed from a plurality of suction nozzles 20 provided, and suction air whose circumferential direction is uniformized by a circumferential uniform suction chamber 16 and a circumferential uniform suction slit 17 flows. The turbulence of the air between the inner diameter surfaces of the upper and lower cylindrical members (rectifying outer cylinder) 14 and the outer peripheral surface of the coated base drum 2 is further slightly suppressed by the buffer space 19, The air flow of the uniform suction air for drying shown in (1) is created.

The coated and dried substrate drum 2 in which the coating film is set in this way and which can be touched with a finger, that is, a touch finger level, is separated by a separator 23A shown in a side view of FIG. . The operation of the separator 23A will be described with reference to the side view of FIG. 1 and a schematic flow diagram showing the state of separation of FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numerals 2A and 2B denote substrate drums on which coating and drying have been completed, and 2A and 2B are continuously moving at an equal speed from below to above. Reference numeral 6 denotes a vertical (single-axis) robot for moving the unit at the same speed as 2A and 2B, and includes a lower chuck 3, an upper chuck 4, a separation cylinder 7,
The shock absorber 8 and the positioning cylinder 9 are all separated by the single-axis robot 6 for vertical movement via the separation unit 5.
Has been suspended.

When the drum to be separated reaches a predetermined position as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the robot 6 starts to ascend, and as shown in FIG. 4 (b), the lower chuck 3 is coated and dried. The workpiece as the drum 2B is gripped, and as shown in FIG. 4C, the upper chuck 4 grips the coated and dried substrate drum 2A to be separated.

When the gripping of the upper chuck 4 is completed, FIG.
As shown in (d), the upper arm starts moving to the left by the air cylinder of the separation cylinder 7. At this time, the lower end of the substrate drum 2A to be separated and the adjacent substrate drum 2
The upper end of B is joined by a dry coating film, and the connected coating film is cut by the force of the separating cylinder 7.

Due to the horizontal shearing force applied when the base drums 2A and 2B are separated, the base drum 2A and the upper chuck 4 receive a slight leftward rotation about the rotation center P, and the base drum 2B On the other hand, the separated substrate drums 2A, 2B move leftward while the drums 2A, 2B are slightly lifted. During this movement, the two drums 2A, 2B do not come into contact with each other, so that the vibrations due to the mutual contact are provided. Does not occur.

After separation, the drum 2A is transferred to the next step by another transport means, and the upper chuck 4, the lower chuck 3,
The separation cylinder 7 and the single-axis robot 6 for vertical movement are returned to the initial state in this order, and wait until the base drum 2B so far becomes the work of the next base drum 2A. Reference numeral 9 denotes a cylinder for positioning the upper chuck 4, which is pushed down when the separated base drum 2B is passed to the next step and when returning to the initial state, and does not always act at other times. It is.

The base drum 2A held on the upper chuck 4
FIG. 9 shows the influence of the amount of eccentricity d, which is the distance between the rotation center P and the center axis of the drum.

FIG. 9A shows the locus of the base drum around the rotation center P when d = 0. In this case, it is understood that the drum end has a phase in which the lower base drum is pushed down.

Assuming that the radius r of the base drum 2A is d = d
At the time of r, the trajectory is as shown in FIG. 9B, and the drum can rotate without pushing down the lower base drum 2B.

When d> r, the trajectory is as shown in FIG. 9C, and similarly, the lower base drum can be rotated without being pushed down.

However, when d≫r, the substrate drum 2 to be separated
A is a condition under which the base drum 2B immediately below is easily pulled up, and a strong holding force of the lower chuck 3 is required. Although it depends on the strength of the coating film, the strength of the lower chuck 3 and the holding power, the range of r ≦ d <1.5r is more empirically determined.

Due to the rotational moment generated at the time of separation, the lower drum 2B immediately below the lower end of the drum 2A to be separated
Is required to be maintained until the separation is completed, and this can be achieved by adding a function of braking the right rotation about the P axis.

The magnitude of the rotational moment generated at the time of separation is determined by the rotational moment about the P axis and the speed of the separation cylinder 7 shown in FIG. in order to absorb, by adding the function of braking, it is possible to absorb the vibration.

Numeral 8 shown in FIG. 1 is a shock absorber having a restoring function, which absorbs vibration and absorbs the above-mentioned problem .
A further solution is possible.

The air support 21 shown in FIGS. 1 and 8
Is a non-contact centering means. Since the drum positioned below is continuously stacked, a random misalignment of the drum tolerance occurs before reaching the vicinity of the separator. If the separation operation is performed while leaving the misalignment, vibration is generated when the lower chuck 3 holds and releases.
This vibration can be solved by using the air support 21.

The reference numeral 22 shown in FIG. 6 is used to achieve both non-contact centering and holding the lower substrate drum 2B at the time of separation, and requires a longer length than the air support 21.

An experimental example in which continuous coating and drying and separation are performed by the method using the apparatus of the above embodiment will be described.

(Experimental Example 1) Experimental conditions: As a coating solution, 140 g of polycarbonate was dissolved in 1,000 ml of 1,2-dichloroethane to prepare a coating solution having a viscosity of 90 cp.
This was continuously applied using the coater 1 shown in FIG. 2 in a state as shown in FIG. 3, and the conditions were such that the dry film thickness was 20 μm.

For drying, rapid drying immediately after coating was performed using a dryer 24 shown in FIG. Here is the cylindrical body of the dryer
14 inner diameter 100 mm, base drum 2A, 2 as a work
B, 2 had an outer diameter of 80 mm, an air flow velocity of 2 m / S in the pipe, and a drying time of 60 S.

Under these conditions, continuous operation of coating, drying and separation was performed by using the separator 23A shown in FIG. 1, and good continuous coating and separation could be performed.

(Experimental Example 2) The separator 23B shown in FIG. 6 is obtained by replacing the chuck 3 of the separator 23A shown in FIG. 1 with the air support 22 shown in FIG. When continuous operation was performed using the machine 23B under the same experimental conditions as in Example 1, good continuous coating and separation could be performed as in Experimental Example 1.

[0041]

According to the present invention, the photosensitive drum for electrophotography, which is continuously coated and dried while moving in a line in the vertical direction, generates vibrations and displacements in the coating portion of the photosensitive agent and the coating solution, and the occurrence of a trouble in the coating surface due to the vibration and displacement. without Rukoto allowed to became a coating film can be recovered smoothly disconnect adjacent boundary.

Further , a spacer is interposed between the base drums.
Therefore, a high-quality photosensitive drum having a high yield can be stably and efficiently produced without performing useless coating .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a separator used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a coater.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a coating state of a coater on a photosensitive drum.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart showing a state of separation.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a dryer.

FIG. 6 is a side view of another separator used in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of an air support.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of another air support.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a posture during horizontal movement of the drum according to a distance between a rotation center axis of the base drum and the drum axis.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 coater 2 substrate drum 2A substrate drum to be separated 2B substrate drum adjacent to substrate drum to be separated 3 lower chuck 4 upper chuck 5 separation unit 6 single axis robot for vertical movement 7 separation cylinder 8 shock absorber 9 positioning cylinder P upper chuck rotation Center 10 Coating liquid distribution chamber 11 Coating liquid distribution slit 12 Liquid slide surface 13 Coating film 14 Tubular body of dryer (rectifying outer cylinder) 15 Suction slit member 16 Suction chamber 17 Suction slit 18 Uniform air air flow 19 Buffer space 21,22 Air support 23A, 23B Separator 24 Dryer

Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Kon Makoto 2970, Ishikawa-cho, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo Konica Co., Ltd. Examiner Yoshino Sugano (56) References JP-A-61-120664 (JP, A) JP-A-61-120663 (JP, A) JP-A-61-120662 (JP, A) JP-A-3-98053 (JP, A) JP-A-3-118865 (JP, A) JP-A-4-96756 (JP, U) ( 58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 5/00

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for producing an electrophotographic photosensitive member, wherein a photosensitive layer film is continuously coated and dried and separated and collected on a substrate drum which is continuously stacked and arranged. The lower end of the coated and dried substrate drum held by the chuck and the upper end of the same coated and dried substrate drum adjacent thereto are connected by a coated and dried film.
From the state where the base drum is held by the lower chuck as holding means for the base drum ,
A method for separating and recovering the continuously coated photoconductor drum after drying, wherein the held substrate drum to be separated is separated and separated and recovered. 2. The drying method according to claim 1, wherein the holding means for holding the substrate drum adjacent to the substrate drum to be coated and dried is an air support. Separation and recovery method. 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising an air support below the lower chuck as a centering function of the substrate drum. 4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the upper chuck moving upward at the same speed as the separated substrate drum has a rotation center axis perpendicular to the moving direction, and the upper chuck connects the separated substrate drum to the drum shaft. A continuity wherein the substrate drum to be separated is rotated around the rotation center axis by moving in a direction perpendicular to the center to separate from the adjacent substrate drum held by the lower chuck. Separation and recovery method after drying of the coated photosensitive drum. 5. The continuous coating photosensitive drum according to claim 4, wherein a relationship between a distance d from an axis of the substrate drum to be separated to a rotation center axis and a radius r of the drum satisfies r ≦ d. Separation and recovery method after drying. 6. A method according to claim 4, further comprising a control member for adjusting a rotation speed of the rotation center shaft, after the drying of the continuous coating photosensitive drum.