JP3303995B2 - Cleaning and developer supply device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile, a copying machine or a printer using a dry developer, and includes a cleaning section for removing residual developer on the surface of a photoreceptor and a developer supply section. The present invention relates to a cleaning / developer supply device provided integrally.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are two types of charging methods for a photoreceptor in an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic process, a corona charging method and a contact charging method. A corona charging method using a Pt is mainly used. This is because the corona charging method can uniformly charge the photoreceptor for a long period of time, whereas the contact charging method contacts the photoreceptor because the charger is in contact with the photoreceptor. This is because it is easily affected by the contact state of the photoconductor and the surface state of the photoconductor, and it is difficult to uniformly charge the photoconductor over a long period of time. For example, in the contact charger of the contact charging method, there is a problem that the developer, paper powder, and the like adhering to the photoreceptor are easily transferred to a contact member such as a charging roller, and the performance deteriorates due to contamination of the contact member.

[0003]

However, the contact charger has an advantage that the amount of ozone generated during driving is smaller than that of the corona charger, and the applied voltage can be further reduced. In particular, reducing the amount of ozone generated is an important issue because there has been a strong demand for improvement of the office environment in recent years. In order to improve the environment in the office, the cost of various devices used in the office must be increased. It is generally considered unavoidable.

[0004] In order to solve the problem in the contact charger, it is necessary to periodically replace the contact charger and to suppress a decrease in the performance of the contact charger during image formation.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning / developer supply device in which a cleaning section and a developer supply section are integrated by using contact charging means. The purpose is to suppress performance degradation.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a cleaning blade for removing the residual developer adhered to the surface of a photoreceptor and a housing for the removed residual developer through an opening. A cleaning unit including a storage chamber and a developer supply unit for supplying a developer to the development unit, and a cleaning / developer supply device detachable from an apparatus main body including the photoconductor and the development unit And a contact charging means for contacting the surface of the photoreceptor and uniformly charging the surface of the photoreceptor, and a cleaning means for removing adhered substances attached to the contact charging means, further comprising: The cleaning device is configured to collect the removed deposits in the cleaning unit.

Further, the contact charging means includes a charging roller for contacting the surface of the photoreceptor.

Further, the contact charging means includes a charging brush for contacting the surface of the photoreceptor.

[0009]

According to the above means, the adhering matter on the contact charging means is removed by the cleaning means, and the contact charging means and the cleaning means are replaced together with the cleaning / developer supply device, so that the charging ability is reduced. Therefore, the cleaning unit is configured to recover the attached matter removed by the cleaning unit, so that the attached matter is not collected by the cleaning unit and scattered inside the apparatus.

Furthermore, the charging roller uniformly contacts the photoreceptor surface without applying a large load to the photoreceptor when the photoreceptor is moved by the contact charging means provided with a charging roller for contacting the photoreceptor surface.

Further, the contact charging means having a charging brush for contacting the surface of the photoreceptor allows the charging brush to uniformly contact the surface of the photoreceptor without applying a large load to the photoreceptor when moving the photoreceptor.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a printer on which a CTM is mounted.

1 is a photosensitive drum, 2 is a developing device, 3 is a laser device, 4 is a transfer roller, and 10 is a C having a charging roller 20.
TM (Cleaner Toner Magazine).

The CTM 10 is configured such that a cleaning unit 11 and a toner magazine 12 are integrated with each other and can be attached to and detached from a mounting position shown in the drawing, and a charging roller 20 is attached to the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 at the mounting position. Abut The charging roller 20 rotates at a constant linear speed in synchronization with the photosensitive drum 1 by a mechanism described later, and further uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 when a charging voltage is applied.

The laser device 3 scans the charged photosensitive drum 1 with a laser beam to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 1. This electrostatic latent image is developed into a toner image by the developing device 2, and the transfer roller 4 sandwiches the recording paper P conveyed in synchronization with the image forming area together with the photosensitive drum 1 to transfer the toner image. The image is transferred to the recording paper P.

The cleaning unit 11 removes the residual toner adhered to the photosensitive drum 1 after the transfer by the cleaning blade 11a and stores it in the waste toner tank 11b. The toner magazine 12 is provided with a toner duct 2a so that the amount of toner as a developer in the developing device 2 is always constant.
To supply the toner to the developing device 2.

The printer operates when the cleaning unit 11 is full of residual toner or when the toner magazine
CTM10 for the user when 12 toner is exhausted
Is displayed, which allows the user to
Replace M10 regularly.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the cleaning unit of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a structural view showing a CTM of this embodiment mounted at a mounting position.

The rotating shaft 20a of the charging roller 20 is formed of a conductive material and is supported by a bearing 21. The transfer receiving member 21 is arranged in an elongated hole 11c formed on both sides of the cleaning unit 11 together with the spring 22, and is urged by the spring 22 toward one end of the elongated hole 11c. Further, a drive gear 23 is fixed to one end of the rotating shaft 20a.

By mounting the CTM 10 at the mounting position, as shown in FIG. 3, the brush 13 comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 20a, and the driving gear 23 is further connected to a transmission gear 14 connected to a driving motor (not shown). Meshes with The brush 13 includes a DC power supply 15 that generates a DC voltage in conjunction with a drive motor, and a DC / AC converter that converts the DC voltage into an AC charging voltage.
Connected to 16. Further, at the mounting position, the charging roller 20 causes the photosensitive drum 1
It is configured to be in contact with the body.

At the time of image formation, the charging roller 20 is
The driving force is transmitted by the driving gear 23, the photosensitive drum 1 rotates at a constant linear speed, and a charging voltage is applied through the brush 13. As a result, the photosensitive drum 1
Is uniformly charged, and an electrostatic latent image can be formed by the laser beam.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing the cleaning means in the cleaning unit of this embodiment.

The cleaning means comprises a support stay 24 fixed in the waste toner tank 11b and a cleaning member 25 fixed to the tip of the support stay 24. This cleaning member
25 is, for example, a felt in which silicone oil is applied.

On the surface of the charging roller 20, the photosensitive drum 1
In some cases, residual toner, paper powder, and the like adhering to the surface of the device may transfer and adhere, or toner scattered inside the apparatus may adhere. Even if such an adhering substance slightly adheres to the charging roller 20, the contact state of the charging roller 20 with the photosensitive drum 1 becomes unstable, so that the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is charged with a predetermined charge by the charging roller 20. It becomes impossible to charge uniformly.

The cleaning member 25 comes into sliding contact with the surface of the charging roller 20 during rotation, and peels off extraneous matter such as residual toner and paper dust from the charging roller 20. The adhering matter separated from the charging roller 20 is stored in the waste toner tank 11b. By providing the cleaning means, the deposits are removed from the charging roller 20, so that the charging ability of the charging roller 20 can be prevented from lowering.
Further, since the removed deposit is stored in the waste toner tank 11b, the deposit can be prevented from staining the inside of the apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing another example of the main part of the cleaning unit of this embodiment.

The cleaning unit 11 includes a charging brush
The charging brush 30 includes a roller portion 31 and a brush portion 32 implanted on an outer peripheral surface of the roller portion 31. In the mounting position, during image formation, a rotation shaft 31a of the roller unit 31 receives torque from a drive motor (not shown) to rotate the roller unit 31 in the same direction as the photosensitive drum 1, and further rotates the brush unit 32. , A charging voltage from the apparatus main body is applied through the roller unit 31. As a result, the vicinity of the tip of the brush portion 32 to which the charging voltage has been applied comes into sliding contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, and the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is uniformly charged.

An elastic thin cleaning plate 33 is fixed to the waste toner tank 11b.
The tip portion is configured to contact the brush portion 32. When the charging brush 30 rotates, the cleaning plate 33 elastically deforms and vibrates the brush portion 32, thereby peeling off the attached matter on the brush portion 32. Further, the adhered substance peeled from the brush unit 32 is stored in the waste toner tank 11b. As a result, it is possible to suppress a reduction in the charging ability of the charging brush 30 with respect to the photosensitive drum 1, and to prevent the attached matter from staining the inside of the apparatus.

According to the cleaning unit 11 of this embodiment, the charging roller 20 is replaced when the cleaning unit 11 is replaced.
Alternatively, the charging roller 30 or the charging brush 20 whose charging ability decreases over time due to replacement of the charging brush 30
Since the roller 30 is periodically replaced, the charging roller 20 or the charging brush 30 can always be maintained in a good state. This makes it possible to always uniformly charge the surface of the photoreceptor drum 1 with a contact charger that generates less ozone.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The adhering matter of the contact charging means is removed by the cleaning means, and the contact charging means and the cleaning means are replaced together with the cleaning / developer supply device. Therefore, the contact charging means can always be maintained in a good state, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of troubles due to the deterioration of the charging ability, and moreover, the adhered matter removed by the cleaning means is removed. Since the residual developer removed from the photoreceptor is collected in the cleaning unit that stores the residual developer, the attached material does not scatter inside the apparatus, and a special member is used by using the cleaning unit to collect the attached material. It is not necessary to install the device, and the structure can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

Furthermore, the photosensitive member surface can be uniformly charged by uniformly contacting the charging roller with the photosensitive member surface without applying a large load to the photosensitive member when the photosensitive member moves.

Furthermore, the photosensitive brush surface can be uniformly charged by uniformly contacting the charging brush with the surface of the photosensitive member without applying a large load to the photosensitive member when the photosensitive member is moved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a cleaning unit of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram schematically illustrating a printer on which a CTM is mounted.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram illustrating a cleaning unit according to the present exemplary embodiment mounted at a mounting position.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a cleaning unit in the cleaning unit of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing another example of a main part of the cleaning unit of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: photoreceptor drum, 10: cleaner toner magazine,
11 ... cleaning unit, 20 ... charging roller, 24 ...
Support stay, 25: Cleaning member, 30: Charging brush, 32
... brush part, 33 ... cleaning plate.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 15/00 550 G03G 21/16-21/18 G03G 15/02-15/02 103 G03G 21/10

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cleaning unit comprising a cleaning blade for removing residual developer adhering to a photoreceptor surface, a storage chamber for storing the removed residual developer via an opening, and supplying the developer to the developing unit. A cleaning / developer supply device which is integrated with a developer supply unit for cleaning and is detachable from an apparatus main body including the photoconductor and the development unit, wherein the photoconductor is brought into contact with a surface of the photoconductor. comprising a contact charging means for uniformly charging the surface, and a cleaning means for removing deposits adhering to the contact charging means, the more the cleaning means
Therefore, the attached matter removed is returned to the cleaning unit.
Cleaning, characterized by being configured such that collection and
Developer supply device. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said contact charging means includes a charging roller which comes into contact with said photoreceptor surface.
The cleaning / developer supply device according to the above. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein said contact charging means includes a charging brush for contacting the surface of said photosensitive member.
The cleaning / developer supply device according to the above.