JP3452101B2 - Wet image forming device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wet image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile and a printer, which uses a wet developing device, and more specifically, a carrier liquid is discharged from a recording material such as a transfer paper on which a toner image is formed. The present invention relates to a wet image forming apparatus including a carrier liquid vapor recovery device that recovers carrier liquid vapor from a fixing device that evaporates.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various proposals have been made for this type of carrier liquid vapor recovery apparatus. For example, JP-A-48
In the '82835 publication, the liquid developer carrier liquid vapor generated in the copying machine is sucked and collected and introduced into a vapor cooling atomization chamber in which a large box-shaped surface is attached to an exterior plate of the copying machine. However, there has been proposed a developer carrier liquid vapor recovery apparatus that is atomized into droplets and then introduced into a liquefaction chamber for liquefaction. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 48-83838 proposes that the liquid developer carrier liquid liquefied and recovered in the liquefaction chamber is introduced to a developer liquid tank, a carrier liquid replenishment tank, a cleaning liquid supply device, and the like for reuse. There is.
Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 51-66836, hot air from a drying and fixing chamber containing carrier liquid vapor is allowed to pass through one passage of a cross flow type heat exchange means, while carrier liquid is recovered in the other passage of the orthogonal direction. Condensing means for passing low temperature air afterwards to exchange heat between both passages, and mist liquefying means for adsorbing and liquefying the mistified carrier liquid passing through the condensing means through the carrier liquid capturing member. There has been proposed a developer carrier liquid recovery apparatus having the dry fixing chamber, the aggregating means, the mist liquefying means, the aggregating means, and a blower means for sequentially transferring air in the cycle of the dry fixing chamber. Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 49-22145, a storage chamber (tray) for a copy paper (photosensitive paper or transfer paper) after fixing and drying is airtight so that the air flowing in along the sent copy paper is A liquid developing type electrophotographic copying apparatus has been proposed which is configured to process a carrier liquid vapor and a carrier liquid vapor that evaporates continuously in an apparatus. Further, in US Pat. No. 4,733,272 and the drawings, carrier liquid vapor is collected, passed through a cooling means to be liquefied and recovered, water is removed from the recovered liquid, and only the solvent is returned to the developing unit again to be re-used. Proposed to be used.

[0003]

The above-mentioned US Pat. No. 473.
Since the wet image forming apparatus according to the proposal of No. 3272 can remove the water mixed in the recovered solvent from the liquefied liquid and recover only the carrier liquid, when it is reused in the developing unit while containing this water. Unlike the above, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of an abnormal image in which the image leaks partially due to the leakage of latent image charges by water.

However, some of the water separated from the liquefied liquid is contained in the air, and the amount of water recovered is determined by the humidity of the air and the cooling temperature during liquefaction recovery. Unlike the carrier liquid, this moisture cannot be reused in the wet-type image forming apparatus.Therefore, if a drainage facility is attached, or if such a drainage facility is not attached, it is stored in a storage tank and periodically stored. It is necessary to dispose of it or to evaporate it by heating. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the amount of water recovered as much as possible in order to improve the handleability of the device. It is desirable to use it in a low humidity environment, but this limits the installation location of the device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wet image forming apparatus capable of reducing the amount of water recovered together with the carrier liquid vapor by the carrier liquid vapor recovery device. Is to provide.

[0006]

To achieve the above Symbol purpose SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention of Claim 1, comprising a carrier liquid and toner
A developing device that uses a developing solution, and a carrier liquid vapor recovery device
In a wet image forming apparatus having
Liquefaction means for liquefying the recovered carrier liquid vapor
And the liquid generated by the liquefying means as carrier liquid and water.
And a separating means for separating into
Air from which carrier liquid components have been removed by liquefaction by the liquefaction means
Of the wet type image forming apparatus,
Allows locations where carrier liquid vapor is likely to be generated, such as the fixing section of
Cover the vapor collection chamber with a covering member so that it is as airtight as possible.
Formed and discharged into the vapor collection chamber to the liquefaction means side
Liquefaction by the mouth and the above liquefaction means
Form an airflow inlet to receive the removed air, and
The air flow receiving side and the air flow discharging side of the liquefying means, respectively.
Connect the airflow outlet and the airflow inlet to
The above-mentioned air flow is provided at the positions facing each other with the fixing section interposed therebetween.
The discharge port, the fixing unit, and the airflow receiving port are the fixing unit.
Lined up in the recording medium transport direction at
Configure the mouth to be the most downstream of these
It is characterized by that. The invention of claim 2 is a contract
In the wet image forming apparatus according to claim 1, the liquefying means is
Image forming apparatus configured to liquefy steam by cooling
An air flow path from the main body toward the liquefaction means, and the liquefaction hand
The air flow path from the step to the inside of the image forming apparatus main body.
Proximity to allow heat exchange between air streams flowing in each path
A wet image forming apparatus characterized in that the image forming apparatus is formed. Claim
The invention of claim 3 is the wet image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.
The liquefying means to liquefy the vapor by cooling.
And a heater utilizing the waste heat from the liquefying means,
Air flow path from the liquefying means to the inside of the image forming apparatus main body
It is also characterized in that it is provided so that the airflow inside can be heated.
Of. The invention of claim 4 is the wetness of claim 1, 2 or 3.
In Formula image forming apparatus, the image forming instrumentation from said fluid means
Adjusts the temperature of the airflow in the airflow path toward the inside of the main body
It is characterized in that a temperature adjusting means is provided.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a wet color electrophotographic copying machine (hereinafter referred to as a copying machine) which is a wet image forming apparatus will be described below. Figure 1
1A is a front view showing a schematic internal structure of a copying machine according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 1B shows an internal structure of a carrier liquid vapor recovery apparatus main body portion arranged on the right side of the copying machine. It is a right side view. This copying machine has a plurality of photoconductors 10 corresponding to a plurality of colors, forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of each photoconductor by an electrophotographic method, and develops the electrostatic latent image by a wet developing device 11. Then, the image is transferred to a transfer sheet, fixed by a fixing section having a heat roller pair 12, and then discharged to a sheet discharge section having a sheet discharge tray 13 to make a color copy. Here, the developing section uses a developing solution in which toner is dispersed in a solvent as a carrier solution. As this solvent, an organic solvent such as an isoparaffin-based solvent having a high volume resistivity, for example, Isopar (trade name) manufactured by Exxon Corporation is generally used. The copying machine shown in the figure uses a conveyor belt 14 to convey the transfer paper so as to sequentially face the plurality of photoconductors.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part thereof. The uppermost photosensitive member 10 and the developing device 11 shown as an example are shown. The other photoconductor 10 and the developing device 11 have the same configuration. In FIG. 2, the developing device 11 is provided with a developing roller 93 so as to maintain a minute distance from the photoconductor 10. The developing roller 93 is rotationally driven in the opposite direction to the photoconductor 10 at a peripheral speed higher than that of the photoconductor 10. Developing roller 9
A supply nozzle 95 for supplying the liquid from the developing tank 90 between the scraper 94 which is in contact with the roller 3 and the roller 93.
Is provided. The developing solution from the nozzle 95 collaborates with the developing roller 93 and the scraper 94, and
Then, the latent image on the photoconductor 10 formed by the charging device 103 and an optical writing device (not shown) is transferred to the surface of the developing device and is developed. The excess developer passed between the photoconductor 10 and the developing roller 93 and the developer used for the development are collected in the liquid receiving portion 96 of the developing tank 90. Also, the photoconductor 1
The developer remaining on the surface of No. 0 is scraped off by a squeeze roller 97 arranged at a minute interval from the photoconductor 10 which is rotationally driven in the same direction as the photoconductor 10. The toner forming the toner image on the photoconductor 10 to which an opposed portion to the squeeze roller 97 is added is arranged at a minute interval so as not to contact the toner image, and a voltage having the same polarity as the toner. When passing through the facing portion of the electric field roller 98 to which is applied, the toner cohesive force increases. Then, the toner image is electrophoretically transferred onto the transfer paper by an electric field generated by the transfer bias roller 99. The surface of the photoconductor 10 after the transfer is cleaned by a cleaning roller 10 provided so as to come into pressure contact with the surface.
It is cleaned by 0 and the cleaning blade 101, and the charge is removed by the charge removing device 102.

Returning to FIG. 1, in the carrier liquid vapor recovery apparatus of this copying machine, the collection chamber 2 is formed by covering the fixing section and the sheet discharge section with a cover member 20 so as to make the sealed state as close as possible.
In 1, the carrier liquid vapor generated by the fixing operation is trapped, and the air containing the carrier liquid vapor in the collecting chamber 21 is connected to the suction port 22 and is inclined so that it becomes lower toward the downstream side of the air flow, and The high temperature air from 21 is sucked by a suction fan 25 as an air flow generator through a first duct portion 23 as an air cooling mechanism for air cooling and a liquefying portion 24 provided at the end of the duct portion. As will be described later in detail, the liquefying unit 24 liquefies the carrier liquid vapor contained in the passing air, the vapor from the transfer paper, and the moisture originally contained in the air. The air blown out from the suction fan 25 in response to this liquefaction process is the first
The second duct portion 26 that guides air along the outer wall of the duct 23 is passed through and is returned to the inside of the machine. The point of returning the air after the liquefaction process to the inside of the machine will be described in detail later.

The carrier liquid and water liquefied in the liquefying section are provided under the dead weight of the liquefying section 24 by means of their own weight.
Via 8 into the liquid receiver 30 of the separating part 29 for separating the carrier liquid and water installed below. As will be described later in detail, the separation unit 29 separates the carrier liquid and water into the storage tanks 31 and 32 for storage. The carrier liquid stored in the carrier liquid storage tank 31 can be reused in the developing device 11 and the cleaning section of the copying machine body.

The liquefaction unit 24 performs a liquefaction process by cooling. For this cooling, a fin ever having a plurality of fins 33 is provided above the flow-down port 28 in the liquefaction unit, and the compressor 34 is connected with a refrigerant pipe 35. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the connection relationship.

In the liquefying unit 24, the air containing the carrier liquid vapor that has been air-cooled to some extent in the liquefying unit 24 is cooled to a temperature at which the carrier liquid can be sufficiently liquefied by using a refrigerant. As a result, the carrier liquid or the like is attached as droplets to the fins 33 and the inner wall surface of the liquefying portion, and is collected in the downflow port 28 by its own weight.

The separation unit 29 separates the water and the carrier liquid by utilizing the difference in specific gravity (for example, the specific gravity of the isoparaffin organic solvent is 0.7 to 0.8 with respect to water).
For this separation, as shown in FIG. 4, the liquid receiver 30 having an upper opening and an overflow port 30a on the side wall is provided.
And an overflow liquid guide member 40 that covers the overflow port 30a from the outside and receives the overflowed liquid inside and guides it to the carrier liquid storage tank 31.
And the liquid discharge port 30b and the water storage tank 32 of the liquid container 30 formed at a position lower than the overflow port 30a.
And a drainage pipe 41 for connecting with.

In the drainage pipe 41, the uppermost position 41a of the inner bottom wall at the end portion on the water storage tank side is made to coincide with the overflow liquid level H formed at the lower end position of the overflow port 30a. The pipe portion between the liquid receiver drain port 30b and the liquid receiver drain port 30b is lower than the overflow liquid level H. The opening of the water storage tank 32 is provided with an on-off valve 42, which is a set of the tank 32 and is operated by the collar portion 32a of the liquid receiving port of the tank. Further, a sensor 43 for detecting the set state of the tank 32 is provided. In addition, a water injection port 50 is formed at the end portion on the water storage tank 32 side so that the opening is higher than the uppermost position. A holder 52 holding a filter 51 for preventing dust passage from the water injection opening 50 is inserted into the pipe. Such a dust passage preventing filter 51 may be provided at another portion of the pipe, for example, at an end opening on the water storage tank 32 side.

The overflow port 30a has a hole diameter of 2
A mesh 44 that fits within the range of 0 μm to 200 μm is fitted. The mesh 44 has a property of allowing a carrier liquid to pass therethrough and not allowing water to pass therethrough. It is considered that such a mesh 44 can be used for separating the carrier liquid of the developer and the water due to the difference in wettability of the carrier liquid and the water with respect to the mesh 44. Suitable materials for this mesh include stainless steel, nylon, polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, tetron, glass, and fluororesin.

In the present example, the flow-out port 2 of the liquefaction section 24
A chain whose upper end is attached to the structure of the liquefying section 24 so that the liquid can smoothly flow down from 8 to the liquid surface in the liquid receiver 30 and whose freely movable lower end reaches below the overflow liquid H 51 is provided.

In the above separating unit 29, when the apparatus is installed, water is injected from the water inlet 50 into the intermediate portion of the drainage pipe 41 which is located lower than the overflow liquid level H, and the water is received in advance in the liquid receiver 30. This water is introduced and the water level is set to a level slightly lower than the overflow liquid level H.
In this state, the liquid receiver 30 receives the mixed liquid of the carrier liquid and water from the downflow port 28 of the liquefying unit 24. The mixed liquid received in the container is separated in the container 30 by the specific gravity so that the liquid layer of the carrier liquid may face upward. And
The carrier liquid in the carrier liquid layer above the overflow liquid level H overflows from the overflow port and is stored in the carrier liquid storage tank 31 through the overflow liquid guide member 40. While receiving the liquid from the liquefying unit 24, separating the carrier liquid and water due to the difference in specific gravity, and overflowing the separated carrier liquid, the middle portion of the drain pipe 41 is sandwiched and the liquid receiver is held. Three
The liquid level tries to balance between the 0 side and the uppermost position 41a side of the end portion of the drainage pipe. That is, when the amount of liquid in the liquid receiver 30 increases, the drain pipe 41
The liquid level at the end of the water storage tank on the side also tries to rise. However, the uppermost position 41a at this end is an overflow position to the water storage tank side, and water that exceeds the overflow position is overflowed and stored in the water storage tank. Moreover, the highest value 41a coincides with the overflow liquid level in the liquid receiver 30. As a result, the liquid level in the liquid receiver 30 is maintained substantially at the overflow liquid level, and only the liquid layer of the carrier liquid formed in the liquid receiver 30 by the separation due to the difference in specific gravity is overflow port 30.
The relationship facing a is maintained.

A sensor 60 (see FIG. 4) for detecting the water level in the water storage tank 32 is provided to generate a signal when the tank is full, and the signal is used to drive the display device or the image forming apparatus. Alternatively, it is desirable to stop the operation of the carrier liquid vapor recovery device.

In the copying machine of this embodiment,
The recovered gas after the carrier liquid vapor is collected is returned to the inside of the machine. Specifically, as shown in FIG.
2nd duct part 26 through which the air whose vapor has been liquefied and removed in 4 passes
The air flow receiving port 70 formed in the collecting chamber 21
The collection chamber 21, the first duct portion 23, the liquefaction portion 24, and the second duct portion 26 form a closed annular space, and air is circulated in the annular space. Of course, the collection chamber 21 is formed with openings for the entrance and exit of the transfer paper, and strictly speaking, these openings communicate with the outside.

In this copying machine, the air entering the second duct section 26 from the liquefying section 24 is in a state where the carrier liquid and water are liquefied and removed by cooling in the liquefying section 24 and dehumidified. Even if cooled at 24, almost no water is recovered. By returning the dehumidified collected gas to the inside of the device again, the humidity of the air inside the device can be efficiently reduced, and the water vapor contained in the collected gas for collecting the carrier liquid vapor can be removed. Can be reduced.

Particularly, by returning the gas after the recovery processing to the collection chamber 21 which is kept in a closed state as much as possible for collecting the carrier liquid vapor, unlike the structure for taking in the outside air, the increase of water vapor accompanying the introduction of outside air is also increased. Does not happen. Therefore, the moisture taken in during the continuous printing can be almost eliminated except for the amount evaporated from the transfer paper by the fixing operation, and the amount of moisture in the liquefied and recovered liquid can be minimized. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the treatment of water after separation, such as reducing the number of times the water storage tank 32 is taken out and discharging waste water, or enabling treatment by natural evaporation, and improve the maintainability of the device. You can

The air flow in the collection chamber 21 flows from the air inlet 70 after the liquefaction process toward the suction port 22 for the liquefaction process. Therefore, when the inflow port 70 and the suction port 22 are adjacent to each other as shown in FIG. 5A, the flow occurs only between them and the carrier liquid vapor generated by the fixing operation can be efficiently collected. Can not. In order to collect the carrier liquid vapor efficiently, for example, as shown in FIG.
It is desirable to install them at positions 0, 22 facing each other with the fixing unit interposed therebetween. Further, since the amount of carrier liquid vapor generated in the fixing unit is the largest, it is desirable that the suction port 22 be arranged as close to the fixing device as possible.

The evaporation of the carrier liquid from the transfer paper is
It is the most immediately after passing through the fixing unit composed of the heat roller 12, but after that, it continues to evaporate from the transfer paper surface. At this time, if the air flow in the collection chamber 21 is in the transport direction of the transfer paper and is in the transport direction of the transfer paper, the air containing a large amount of the carrier liquid vapor evaporated near the fixing device is fixed. It will flow over the transfer paper, hinder evaporation of carrier liquid vapor from the transfer paper after fixing, and discharge the transfer paper containing a large amount of carrier liquid, resulting in deterioration of image quality and transportability. It causes a decrease. In order to prevent such a problem, it is desirable to provide the inflow port 70 at a position downstream of the suction port 22 on the transfer paper conveyance path, as shown in FIG. 5B, for example. According to this, since the air flows from the downstream side to the upstream side in the transport direction of the transfer paper, the carrier liquid vapor evaporated from the surface of the transfer paper after passing through the fixing portion can be efficiently collected, and the carrier remaining on the transfer paper can be collected. The liquid volume can be reduced. Further, as shown in FIG. 5C, for example, the inflow port 70 and the suction port 22 are located at the center in the width direction perpendicular to the transfer paper conveyance direction, and the respective shapes are expanded in the width direction. Further, it is desirable to provide a current plate 71 as necessary to create a uniform air flow in the width direction of the transfer paper.

In addition, the suction port 2 is provided near the fixing portion of the collection chamber 21.
The provision of 2 is necessary for collecting the carrier liquid vapor, but the humidity of the sucked air is high and the efficiency is poor in the subsequent cooling and liquefaction. Therefore, the cooling fin 3
It is desirable to reduce the load on the cooling device by cooling the path to the cooling unit by 3 during transportation. On the other hand, the gas after the cooling liquefaction process has a low humidity due to the cooling for the liquefaction. If the temperature is returned to the collection chamber 21 at a low temperature, the temperature inside the room is lowered, which causes condensation of the carrier liquid vapor in the room and lowers the thermal efficiency of the fixing device. In order to prevent such a problem, in the copying machine of FIG. 1, the first duct portion 23 for passing the gas sucked from the collection chamber 21 and the second duct 26 for returning the gas after the cooling liquefaction process are provided in two. It is a heavy pipe, and heat exchange between them is possible. It is preferable that the wall material that divides the inside of the first duct portion and the inside of the second duct portion be formed using a material having high thermal conductivity. According to this structure, the collection chamber 21
The high temperature air sucked from the cooler air is cooled by the cooled low temperature air flowing through the second duct portion 26 on the outer side thereof and then goes to the cooling section. After being warmed by the hot air flowing through the duct portion 23, it is returned to the collection chamber 21. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the burden on the cooling unit and solve the problem due to the temperature decrease in the collection chamber 21 at the same time. Here, an example of heat exchange by the configuration of the double pipe is shown, but the form is not limited to this.

Further, as a cooling device for liquefying and cooling the carrier liquid vapor, the compressor 31 is used as described above.
When a heat radiating portion 63 as a condenser for radiating heat is adopted, the temperature of the low temperature gas after the cooling liquefaction process can be raised by directly or indirectly utilizing this heat. Specifically, the heat radiating portion 63 may be directly installed in the second duct portion 26 to exchange heat, or heat may be exchanged with the air in the second duct portion 26 using a heat transporting means such as a heat pipe. May be. By utilizing the waste heat in this way, the condenser of the cooling device can be downsized and the efficiency can be improved.

The above first duct portion 23 and second duct portion 2
Either the heat exchange by the double pipe structure with 6 or the heating of the air in the second duct portion 26 using the heat from the heat radiating portion 63 may be either one or both.

According to such a method for heating the air in the second duct portion 26, it is not necessary to additionally provide a new heat source, but the temperature of the air in the second duct portion 26 depends on the efficiency of heat exchange and the like. May change. In order to prevent such a temperature change, it is desirable to control the temperature of the gas returned to the collection chamber 21 by providing a temperature adjusting mechanism. As a configuration of the temperature adjusting mechanism, a combination of a heating wire heater and a temperature detecting means such as a thermistor can be considered. For example,
ON / OFF of the heater or applied power is controlled by the detection signal of the temperature detecting means. By controlling in this manner, the temperature of the air flowing into the collecting chamber 21 can be controlled, so that the condensation of the carrier liquid vapor due to the temperature decrease in the collecting chamber 21 can be prevented and the thermal efficiency of the fixing device can be improved. The decrease can be prevented.

[0028]

According to the carrier liquid vapor recovery apparatus in the wet image forming apparatus of the first to fourth aspects, since the recovered and liquefied liquid is separated into carrier liquid and water, the carrier liquid does not contain water. Only can be extracted. Therefore, the recovered carrier liquid can be favorably reused. Also,
The air, which has been reduced in humidity by removing moisture together with the carrier liquid component by the liquefaction means, is returned to the inside of the main body of the wet image forming apparatus, so that the humidity in the main body of the apparatus can be lowered and it is recovered together with the vapor of the carrier liquid. The water content can be reduced. Therefore, by reducing the amount of water collected together with the carrier liquid vapor, it is possible to reduce the size of the mechanism for handling such water and reduce the maintenance load.

Further, a portion such as a fixing portion in the apparatus where carrier liquid vapor is likely to be generated is covered with a cover member so as to be as airtight as possible to form a vapor collection chamber, and the vapor collection chamber and the liquefying means are formed. Since the air flow is circulated between the two, it is possible to efficiently collect the carrier liquid vapor and maintain the humidity in a concentrated manner.

Furthermore, since the air flow between the air flow outlet and the air flow inlet that face each other across the water vapor easily occurs the fixing unit from the most carrier liquid vapor and the transfer paper is generated, the carrier liquid It is possible to more efficiently collect the vapor liquid and maintain the humidity.

Furthermore, the air humidity from above SL liquefied means is lowered, received from the air flow inlet, the fixing unit here, so that further the air flow outlet, the direction of conveyance of the recording medium in the fixing unit Since it flows in the opposite direction,
Unlike the case where an air flow is passed in the direction of recording medium conveyance, air containing a large amount of vapor generated in the fixing section flows over the recording medium after passing through the fixing section, and prevents evaporation of carrier liquid from the recording medium that continues even after passing through the fixing section. However, it is possible to prevent insufficient drying and fixing, and to prevent defective conveyance of the recording medium due to wetting.

Particularly , according to the wet image forming apparatus of the second aspect , the air passing through the air flow path from the inside of the image forming apparatus main body to the liquefying means for liquefying the vapor by cooling, and the image forming apparatus main body from the liquefying means. Heat is exchanged with the air passing through the inward airflow path. As a result, the relatively high temperature air heading for the liquefying means reaches the liquefying means in a state of being cooled to some extent, and the burden on the cooling means for liquefying by cooling can be reduced. On the contrary, the relatively low temperature air that flows into the main body of the image forming apparatus reaches a predetermined portion in the main body of the image forming apparatus while being warmed to some extent, and when it reaches here while keeping the low temperature, Condensation of carrier liquid vapor at undesired locations due to excessive temperature drop in the main body of the image forming apparatus can be prevented. Further, it is possible to prevent a decrease in thermal efficiency when performing heat fixing.

Further, according to the wet-type image forming apparatus according to claim 3, airflow path by a heater using waste heat from the liquefaction unit for liquefying the vapor by cooling, toward the liquid means into the image forming apparatus main body Since the airflow inside can be heated, it will reach a predetermined part inside the image forming apparatus main body while it is warmed to some extent, and it will reach here while keeping the temperature low. It is possible to prevent condensation of the carrier liquid vapor due to a decrease in undesired locations. Further, it is possible to prevent a decrease in thermal efficiency when performing heat fixing.

Further, according to the wet-type image forming apparatus according to claim 4, the temperature adjusting means, by adjusting the temperature of the airflow in the airflow path towards the said liquefying means to the image forming apparatus main body, said liquefier The airflow in the airflow path from the means to the inside of the image forming apparatus main body can reach a predetermined portion in the image forming apparatus main body after the temperature reaches a predetermined range. As a result, the temperature may reach an excessively low temperature, and it is possible to prevent condensation of carrier liquid vapor at an undesired location due to an excessive temperature drop in the image forming apparatus main body. Further, it is possible to prevent a decrease in thermal efficiency when performing heat fixing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a front view schematically showing the inside of a copying machine according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 3B is a right side view schematically showing the inside of the carrier liquid recovery device main body of the copying machine.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of the copying machine.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a cooling fin of a carrier liquid recovery device.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory view of a main part of the carrier liquid recovery apparatus.

5A to 5C are explanatory views of a partial configuration example of the copying machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 photoconductor 11 Developing device 12 Fixing roller 20 cover 21 Collection Room 22 Outlet 23 1st duct part 24 Liquefaction Department 25 suction fan 26 Second duct part 28 Outlet 29 Separation part 30 liquid receptor 30a overflow port 30b outlet 31 Carrier liquid storage tank 32 Water storage tank 33 cooling fins 34 Compressor 35 Refrigerant pipe 40 Overflow liquid receiving member 41 drainage pipe 44 mesh 50 water inlet 51 Garbage removal mesh 70 Air flow receiving port

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A wet image forming apparatus having a developing device using a developing solution composed of carrier liquid and toner, and a carrier liquid vapor recovery device, wherein the carrier liquid recovery device liquefies the recovered carrier liquid vapor. Means and a separating means for separating the liquid generated by the liquefying means into a carrier liquid and water, and the air from which the carrier liquid component is removed by the liquefying by the liquefying means is used for the main body of the wet image forming apparatus. It is configured so that it is returned to the inside, and the carrier liquid vapor is likely to be generated in the fixing part in the device.
Cover the area with a cover member so that it is as airtight as possible and collect the vapor.
An air flow to the liquefaction means side is formed in the vapor collection chamber to form a collection chamber.
The carrier liquid is formed by the discharge port and the liquefaction by the above liquefaction means.
Forming an air flow receiving port that receives the depleted air
However, the air flow receiving side and the air flow exhaust of the liquefying means are respectively
Connect to the outlet side, and connect the airflow outlet and the airflow inlet to the fixing unit.
The airflow outlet, the fixing unit and the airflow receiving port are provided at positions facing each other with the airflow therebetween.
The air flow is aligned in the recording medium conveyance direction in the fixing unit
The receiving port should be located at the most downstream side of these
A wet image forming apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration . 2. The wet image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The liquefying means is configured to liquefy the vapor by cooling
However, the air flow from the inside of the image forming apparatus body toward the liquefying means
And a path from the liquefying means to the inside of the image forming apparatus main body.
The airflow path and the heat between the airflow flowing in each path
A wet-type image forming apparatus, which is formed so as to be replaceable and adjacent to each other . 3. The wet image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.
The liquefaction means to liquefy the vapor by cooling.
And a heater utilizing the exhaust heat from the liquefying means,
In the air flow path from the liquefaction means to the inside of the image forming apparatus main body
Wet image forming apparatus, wherein the wet image forming apparatus is provided so as to heat the air flow . 4. The wet image forming apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3.
From the liquefying means into the main body of the image forming apparatus.
Temperature control means to control the temperature of the air flow in the
Wet image forming apparatus characterized by digit.