JP3777248B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, and a printer.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as this type of image forming apparatus, an image forming unit that forms an image by attaching an image forming substance on a recording material, and a wetting unit that wets the recording material on which an image made of the image forming material is formed. An image forming apparatus having an image erasing unit that heats the surface of the recording material after wetting and peels off the image forming substance attached to the surface of the recording material, and that reproduces the recording material. It is known (see, for example, JP-A-7-245668).
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the image forming apparatus having the above configuration, in the image erasing unit, the wetting unit applies a release liquid for wetting the recording material to the recording material, and then heats the recording material. For this reason, steam generated during the heating flows into the image forming unit, and the humidity of the image forming unit increases, which may deteriorate the quality of the image formed by the image forming unit. Specifically, when the humidity of the image forming portion is increased by the vapor, the amount of charge due to corona discharge decreases, and an image portion to which toner is attached and an image portion to which toner is not attached in an image formed on a recording material. The density difference will be reduced. In addition, lightning strikes are likely to occur at the transfer portion for transferring the toner image, and the toner is likely to be scattered.
[0005]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, it is an purpose of that is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing the image which the image quality by the image forming unit is degraded is formed It is.
[0014]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the first object, the invention according to claim 1 is directed to an image forming portion for forming an image by attaching an image forming substance on a recording material, and a target on which an image made of the image forming substance is formed. An image erasing unit that has a wetting means for wetting the recording material and a peeling means for heating the surface of the recording material after wetting to peel off the image forming substance adhering to the surface of the recording material and reproducing the recording material In the image forming apparatus, the air pressure of the image erasing unit is lower than the air pressure of the image forming unit.
[0015]
In this image forming apparatus, since the air pressure in the image erasing unit is lower than the air pressure in the image forming unit, airflow from the image erasing unit to the image forming unit is less likely to occur. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the vapor generated in the image erasing unit from entering the image forming unit.
[0016]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, an image forming unit for forming an image by attaching an image forming substance on a recording material and an image forming unit are provided in communication with the image forming unit, and the recording material is supplied to the image forming unit. A sheet feeding unit, a wetting unit for wetting a recording material on which an image formed of an image forming substance is formed, and a peeling process for heating the wet recording material surface to peel off the image forming substance attached to the recording material surface And an image erasing unit for reproducing the recording material, wherein the air pressure of the image erasing unit is lower than the air pressure of the paper feeding unit It is.
[0017]
In this image forming apparatus, since the air pressure of the image erasing unit is lower than the air pressure of the paper feeding unit, an air flow from the image erasing unit to the paper feeding unit is less likely to occur. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent vapor generated in the image erasing unit from entering the image forming unit via the paper feeding unit.
[0018]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming portion for forming an image by attaching an image forming substance on a recording material, a wetting means for wetting the recording material on which an image made of the image forming substance is formed, heating the surface of the recording material, and a peeling means for peeling the image forming substance adhering to said surface of the recording material, the image forming apparatus and an image erasing unit for reproducing該被recording material, the upper Symbol The image erasing unit is provided with a dehumidifying means for removing moisture in the erasing unit .
[0019]
In the image forming apparatus, the dehumidifying means provided in the upper Symbol image erasing unit, dehumidifying upper Symbol image erasing unit. This suppresses that the humidity of the images erased portion is increased, humid air is less likely to flow into the image forming unit. It slaves, it is possible to prevent the humidity in the image forming portion is increased.
[0028]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an electrophotographic copying machine (hereinafter referred to as a copying machine) as an image forming apparatus will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine according to the present embodiment. The copying machine includes a sheet feeding unit 1 serving as a sheet feeding unit positioned below, an image erasing unit 5 serving as an image erasing unit, and an image forming unit serving as an image forming unit disposed in communication with the sheet feeding unit 1. It has a unit 2 and an image reading unit 3 as image reading means. The image erasing unit 5 will be described later. In addition, an automatic document feeder (ADF) 4 serving as a document feeder is disposed at the upper part. The copier also has a manual paper feed tray 11 on the side.
[0029]
The paper feeding unit 1 has paper feeding cassettes 12a and 12b, and accommodates a transfer paper 10 as a recording material. Of these paper feed cassettes 12a and 12b, the paper feed cassette 12a disposed on the upper side is a cassette dedicated to recycled paper, and the transfer paper 10 regenerated by the image erasing unit 5 is automatically stocked. . Selection of which cassette or manual feed tray 11 to use is performed by, for example, key operation from an operation panel (not shown).
[0030]
The image forming unit 2 includes a photoconductor 21, a charger 22, a laser writing device 23, a developing device 24 that performs development using toner as an image forming material, a transfer roller 25, a fixing device 26, a photoconductor cleaning device 27, and the like. It is composed of
[0031]
The ADF 4 has a document table 41 on which a document is set, and feeds documents 42 set on the document table 41 one by one to a document reading area 4b where an image is read by the image reading unit 3.
[0032]
When a copying operation is performed in this copying machine, first, the transfer sheet 10 is fed from the selected cassette or tray by the sheet feeding roller 13, and the communication section 14 between the sheet feeding unit 1 and the image forming unit 2 is opened. Passes and is transported on the transport path A. Then, it is conveyed to a position facing the photoconductor 21 by the registration roller 28 on the conveyance path A.
On the other hand, the documents 42 stored on the document table 41 of the ADF 4 are conveyed one by one along the conveyance path B and placed in the document reading area 4b. In this state, the image reading unit 3 reads the document image. . As a result, a laser beam is emitted from the laser writing unit 23 of the image forming unit 2 and irradiated onto the surface of the photoreceptor 21 whose surface is uniformly charged by the charger 22 via the mirror 23a, and an electrostatic latent image is formed. It is formed. Thereafter, the latent image is developed by the developing device 24 to become a toner image, and the toner image is transferred to the transfer paper 10 side by the transfer roller 25. The transfer paper 10 onto which the toner image has been transferred has the toner image on the surface fixed by the fixing device 26 and is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 29. The toner remaining on the photoconductor 21 after the transfer is removed by the photoconductor cleaning device 27.
The apparatus shown in the figure is configured not only to perform laser writing from the laser writing unit 23 based on the reading signal from the image reading unit 3, but also to perform laser writing based on an external input signal. It has become.
[0033]
Further, the copying machine of FIG. 1 has the image erasing unit 5 as described above, and removes the toner from the transfer paper 10 on which the toner is adhered and the image is formed so that it can be reused. Can do.
The image erasing unit 5 applies a peeling solution to the transfer paper 10 to be regenerated and wets the transfer paper 10 and heats the wet transfer paper 10, and the toner adhered to the surface of the transfer paper 10. And a toner peeling unit 52 for peeling the toner. Further, on the left side of the image erasing unit 5, a paper feeding unit 53 that feeds the transfer paper 10 to be reproduced that is reproduced by the image erasing unit 5 is provided.
[0034]
The transfer paper 10 mounted on the paper feeding unit 53 is fed into the image erasing unit 5 one by one by a conveyance signal issued at a predetermined timing. The transfer paper 10 fed to the image erasing unit 5 is transported along the transport path C, and the peeling liquid is applied in the wet unit 51. As the stripper, for example, a liquid composed of a surfactant and water can be used. As this surfactant, an anionic surfactant, a cationic surfactant, an amphoteric surfactant, a nonionic surfactant, and the like can be used.
[0035]
The transfer paper 10 coated with the release liquid is conveyed to the toner release unit 52. In the illustrated example, the toner peeling unit 52 includes a heating drum 521 incorporating a heater (not shown), and at least the surface has an adhesion force larger than the adhesion force between the surface of the transfer paper 10 and the toner on the transfer paper 10. An endless belt-like peeling member 522 that is stretched so as to sandwich the recording material together with the heating drum 521, and the heating drum 521 and the peeling member 522. And a pressure roller 523 for applying pressure to the transfer paper sandwiched between the two. The transfer paper 10 enters a sandwiching portion between the heating drum 521 and the peeling member 522 and is pressed by the pressure roller 523 while being heated by the heating drum, and the toner on the transfer paper 10 is peeled off by the peeling member. It will be transferred onto 522. When the amount of liquid applied to the transfer paper 10 by the wet unit 51 is small, the moisture of the release liquid applied to the transfer paper 10 is evaporated by the heat of the toner peeling unit 52 and the transfer paper 10 is dried. In this state, the toner is removed from the toner peeling unit 52. Then, the transfer paper 10 is collected along the transport path C into the paper feed cassette 12a and used again for copying. The toner attached to the peeling member 522 is removed by the cleaning device 523 and collected in the disposal box 524. A drying device for drying the transfer paper 10 may be provided on the downstream side of the toner peeling unit 5.
[0036]
The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment employs a configuration that can prevent the image forming unit 2 from forming an image whose image quality has deteriorated due to the steam generated by the image erasing unit 5. Yes. Hereinafter, this configuration will be described in detail.
In this image forming apparatus, the partition wall 101 that blocks between the image forming unit 2 and the image erasing unit 5 in order to prevent vapor generated in the image erasing unit 5 from entering the image forming unit 2. Is provided. This makes it difficult for the vapor generated in the image erasing unit 5 to enter the image forming unit 2. For this reason, as the humidity of the image forming unit 2 increases, the amount of charge due to corona discharge decreases, and the density difference between the image portion on the transfer paper 10 where the toner is deposited and the non-image portion where the toner is not deposited is reduced. Can be prevented. Further, since the humidity of the image forming unit 2 is increased, it is possible to prevent lightning from being easily generated at the transfer portion for transferring the toner image, and to prevent the toner from being easily scattered. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the image from deteriorating due to the humidity of the image forming unit 2 being increased, and thus it is possible to prevent the image having deteriorated image quality from being formed.
[0037]
Further, when the heat generated in the image erasing unit 5 is transferred to the image forming unit 2 and becomes high temperature, there is a possibility that the electronic components and the like are deteriorated. In the copying machine according to the present embodiment, by providing the partition wall 101, heat generated in the image erasing unit 5 can be prevented from being transferred to the image forming unit 2 by convection. As a result, heat is less likely to be transmitted to the image forming unit 2, so that it is difficult to reach a high temperature, and deterioration of the electronic components and the like can be prevented.
[0038]
The partition wall 101 is preferably made of a rust-proof material such as stainless steel or resin. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the partition wall 101 from being rusted by the steam generated in the image erasing unit 5.
[0039]
Further, if at least a part of the partition wall 101 is made of a heat insulating material so as to block heat between the image forming unit 2 and the image erasing unit 5, the heat generated in the image erasing unit 5 is heated. Transmission to the image forming unit 2 by conduction can be prevented. Specifically, the partition wall 101 may have a structure composed of one or more layers, and at least one of them may be made of a heat insulating material such as glass wool. With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the heat from being transferred to the image forming unit 2 by heat conduction, and to more effectively prevent the deterioration of electronic components and the like.
[0040]
Here, it may be difficult to provide the partition wall 101 that can completely block the air in the image erasing unit 5 whose humidity and temperature have been increased due to the generation of steam and heat from flowing into the image forming unit 2. is there. For example, in the illustrated copying machine, a transfer paper discharge port 54 is provided between the image erasing unit 5 and the paper feeding unit 1 in order to discharge the transfer paper 10 reproduced by the image erasing unit 5 to the paper feeding unit 1. Is provided. For this reason, it is conceivable that the air in the image erasing unit 5 flows into the image forming unit 2 from the discharge port 54 via the paper feeding unit 1. Even when the transfer paper discharge port 54 is not provided, it is difficult to configure the partition 101 so that the air can be completely blocked, and air leaks from a gap between the partition 101 and the housing of the apparatus. It is possible.
The copying machine according to the present embodiment employs a configuration in which the pressure of the image erasing unit 5 is lower than the pressure of the image forming unit 5. Specifically, a fan 102 is provided on the wall surface of the image erasing unit 5 as exhaust means for discharging the air in the image erasing unit 5 to the outside of the apparatus. As a result, an air flow is generated as indicated by a white arrow in the figure, the air in the image erasing unit 5 is discharged out of the apparatus, and the pressure of the image erasing unit 5 is lowered. Therefore, the air pressure in the image erasing unit 5 provided with the fan 102 is lower than the air pressure of the image forming unit 2 and the paper feeding unit 1 provided in communication with the image forming unit. As a result, air flows in the direction from the image forming unit 2 or the paper supply unit 1 provided in communication with the image forming unit toward the image erasing unit 5 at the discharge port or the gap. Therefore, the air of the image erasing unit 5 having high humidity and temperature is less likely to flow into the image forming unit 2 directly from the image erasing unit 5 or via the paper feeding unit 1. Therefore, it is possible to further prevent image deterioration caused by the humidity of the image forming unit 2 described above. In addition, it is possible to further prevent deterioration of electronic components and the like due to the high temperature of the image forming unit 2.
[0041]
The copying machine according to the present embodiment employs a configuration in which a dehumidifying means is provided in at least one of the image forming unit 2 and the image erasing unit 5. In the illustrated apparatus, the image forming unit 2 is provided with a dehumidifying agent 103 such as silica gel as a dehumidifying means. As a result, dehumidification is performed in the image forming unit 2 to prevent the humidity in the image forming unit 2 from becoming high, and to further prevent image deterioration due to the high humidity in the image forming unit 2. it can.
If the image erasing unit 5 is provided with dehumidifying means, the vapor generated in the image erasing unit 5 makes it difficult for the humidity of the image erasing unit 5 to increase, so that high-humidity air enters the image forming unit 2. It becomes difficult to do. As a result, it is possible to prevent the humidity in the image forming unit 2 from being increased and to prevent image deterioration due to the humidity in the image forming unit 2 being increased.
[0042]
As described above, in the image removing unit 5 of the copying machine according to the present embodiment, the wetting unit 51 for applying the peeling liquid to the transfer paper 10 to be reproduced is disposed. In the image removing unit, the peeling liquid circulates between the liquid supply device (not shown) for supplying the peeling liquid to the wet unit 51 and the wet unit 51, and the liquid leaks for some reason. May occur.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which the image forming unit 2 is disposed above the image erasing unit 5. Thereby, even if a liquid leak occurs, the inside of the image forming unit 2 can be prevented from getting wet. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the inside of the image forming unit 2 from getting wet and the transfer paper 10 from getting wet to cause a jam or the like, or the charging portion to be short-circuited to deteriorate the image quality.
Further, the copying machine according to the present embodiment employs a configuration in which at least one of one or more control devices that control the operation of the devices in the apparatus is disposed above the wet unit 51. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the at least one control device from getting wet and not operating normally when liquid leakage occurs in the wetting unit 51. In the apparatus shown in the figure, a control unit 55 equipped with all the control devices that control the operation of the devices in the apparatus is disposed above the wetting unit 51. As a result, even if a liquid leak occurs in the wetting unit 51, the control device mounted on the control unit 55 gets wet and the image forming unit 2, the image erasing unit 5 and the like do not operate normally. Can be prevented.
[0043]
In the copier according to the present embodiment, the image forming unit 2 is provided with a humidity sensor 104 as humidity detecting means for detecting humidity. Based on the detection result of the humidity sensor 104, the image forming unit 2 includes A configuration is provided in which notification means is provided to notify the user when the humidity is equal to or higher than a predetermined humidity. As the notification means, for example, a display panel (not shown) on the upper surface of the apparatus can be used. Thereby, when the humidity in the image forming unit 2 becomes high and the image may be deteriorated, it is possible to prevent the user from forming a useless copy, that is, an image with deteriorated image quality.
Further, in place of or in addition to the notification means, based on the detection result of the humidity sensor 104, the image forming operation of the image forming unit 2 is prohibited when the humidity of the image forming unit 2 is equal to or higher than a predetermined humidity. Prohibition control means may be provided. For example, an image forming control unit (not shown) that controls the operation of the image forming unit 2 may have a function as the prohibition control unit. As a result, when the humidity in the image forming unit 2 becomes high and the image may be deteriorated, the image forming operation is prohibited, and the user forms a useless copy, that is, an image with deteriorated image quality. Can be prevented.
[0044]
The above embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to an electrophotographic copying machine. However, the present invention can also be applied to a facsimile, a printer, and the like.
[0048]
【The invention's effect】
According to the invention 請 Motomeko 1, forming an image in which the image quality by humidity of the image forming unit is increased by entry into the image forming portion of the steam generated by the image erasing unit is degraded by the image forming unit There is an excellent effect that can be prevented. In addition, since heat generated in the image erasing unit can be prevented from being transmitted to the image forming unit by convection, the inside of the image forming unit can be prevented from being heated by the heat and deterioration of electronic components and the like. There is an excellent effect of being able to.
[0049]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the image quality is improved by increasing the humidity of the image forming unit due to the vapor generated in the image erasing unit entering the image forming unit through the paper feeding unit. There is an excellent effect that a deteriorated image can be prevented from being formed in the image forming portion. In addition, since heat generated in the image erasing unit can be prevented from being transmitted to the image forming unit by convection, the inside of the image forming unit can be prevented from being heated by the heat and deterioration of electronic components and the like. There is an excellent effect of being able to.
[0050]
According to the invention of claim 3 , since it is possible to prevent the humidity of the image forming unit from increasing, an image whose image quality has deteriorated due to an increase in the humidity of the image forming unit is displayed in the image forming unit. There is an excellent effect that it can be prevented from being formed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of an electrophotographic copying machine according to an embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper feed unit 2 Image forming unit 21 Photoconductor 22 Charger 23 Laser writing device 24 Developing device 25 Transfer roller 26 Fixing device 27 Photoconductor cleaning device 3 Image reading unit 4 Automatic document feeder (ADF)
5 Image erasing unit 51 Wetting unit 52 Toner peeling unit 101 Partition 102 Fan 103 Dehumidifying agent 104 Humidity sensor

Claims (3)

An image forming unit for forming an image by attaching an image forming substance on a recording material;
Wetting means for wetting a recording material on which an image made of an image forming substance is formed, and a peeling means for heating the surface of the recording material after wetting to peel off the image forming substance attached to the surface of the recording material In an image forming apparatus comprising an image erasing unit for reproducing the recording material,
An image forming apparatus, wherein the air pressure in the image erasing unit is lower than the air pressure in the image forming unit. An image forming unit for forming an image by attaching an image forming substance on a recording material;
A paper feed unit provided in communication with the image forming unit and supplying a recording material to the image forming unit;
Wetting means for wetting a recording material on which an image made of an image forming substance is formed, and a peeling means for heating the surface of the recording material after wetting to peel off the image forming substance attached to the surface of the recording material In an image forming apparatus comprising an image erasing unit for reproducing the recording material,
An image forming apparatus, wherein the air pressure of the image erasing unit is lower than the air pressure of the paper feeding unit. An image forming unit for forming an image by attaching an image forming substance on a recording material;
Wetting means for wetting a recording material on which an image made of an image forming substance is formed, and a peeling means for heating the surface of the recording material after wetting and peeling off the image forming substance attached to the surface of the recording material In an image forming apparatus comprising an image erasing unit for reproducing the recording material ,
An image forming apparatus characterized in that a dehumidifier for removing moisture in the erased portion on Symbol image erasing unit.

Images