JP3889559B2 - Cleaning device, cleaning toner magazine, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a cleaning device, a cleaning toner magazine, and an image forming apparatus applied to an electrophotographic apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile machine.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a conventional technique of this type, there is an electrophotographic recording apparatus described in JP-A-6-308866. In this publication, the scraper is arranged at an angle with respect to the rotation axis of the magnetic roller for toner conveyance, so that a component force is generated in a portion where the load is concentrated, such as a protrusion, and the scraper is turned over. It is described that restrains catching.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, in order to store the toner blocked by the cleaning unit in the waste toner tank, a waste toner collecting unit that adsorbs the toner by a magnetic force and a sheet material for scraping off the toner are then provided. In many cases, it has a configuration having the same. Generally, PET resin having a thickness of 0.05 mm to 0.125 mm is used as the sheet material constituting this scraper, and the thinner the thickness, the lighter the load and the rollers are locked with convex steps. There is no such thing as letting you. However, on the other hand, there is a risk that the function of scraping off the waste toner may be lost due to scratching of the waste toner collecting means or pressure of the waste toner. As a result, the waste toner adheres to the waste toner collecting means, but continues to accumulate on the surface as it is, and eventually spills into the machine, smearing the image and developing into a user complaint.
[0004]
5, 6, and 7 are explanatory views showing a mechanism for generating scraper turning, wherein 100 is a photosensitive member, 101 is a cleaning blade made of urethane that contacts the photosensitive member 100, and 102 is a magnetic material having magnetism on the surface. A roller 103 is a scraper made of a sheet material that is in contact with the rotation direction of the magnetic roller 102 in a counter direction, and 104 is a waste toner tank.
[0005]
As shown in FIG. 5, the toner remaining on the photosensitive member 100 without being transferred to the recording paper by the electrophotographic process is dammed by the cleaning blade 101, and the damped toner is attracted to the magnetic roller 102 to be magnetic. The toner adsorbed on the roller 102 is scraped off by the scraper 103. At that time, the toner scraped off by the scraper 103 is convected in the direction indicated by the arrow A in the vicinity of the scraper 103. As the convection range gradually increases and eventually goes out of the magnetic force range of the magnetic roller 102, the toner spills out and is stored in the waste toner tank 104.
[0006]
Since the toner scraped off from the magnetic roller 102 by the scraper 103 is convected in the vicinity of the scraper 103, the scraper 103 is always pushed in the B direction as shown in FIG. This force increases as the amount of toner in convection increases, and when the amount of waste toner exceeds a certain amount, the scraper 103 is pushed down to the lower part of the magnetic roller 102 due to the force, and turning occurs as shown in FIG. To do.
[0007]
If the scraper 103 is turned over, the toner adhering to the magnetic roller 102 cannot be scraped off and spilled in the direction of arrow C in FIG. End up.
[0008]
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-308866, the scraper is brought into contact with the magnetic roller at a certain angle to prevent turning up due to flaws. However, it is not possible to obtain the effect of preventing the turning-up due to the pressure of the toner by adopting the configuration in which the contact is made at an angle.
[0009]
The present invention is to solve such a problem, by preventing curling due to the pressure of the toner of the contact member for scraping off the toner from the magnetic roller, that such can not be scraped off the toner from the magnetic roller It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device, a cleaning toner magazine, and an image forming apparatus that can prevent this.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the cleaning device of the present invention comprises a cleaning means for damming up untransferred toner remaining on the photoreceptor after transfer, and a rotatable means for collecting the untransferred toner dammed up by the cleaning means. A waste toner collecting unit, a contact member that contacts the waste toner collecting unit and scrapes the untransferred toner collected by the waste toner collecting unit to the upper side, and stores the untransferred toner from the contact member In the cleaning device including the waste toner tank, the contact member has a tip abutted in a counter direction with respect to a rotation direction of the waste toner collecting unit, and a lower portion of the upper side surface is attached to the bracket. 1 and the sheet material, and the first and composed of a second sheet material to fix the lower portion of the lower surface of the sheet material, further wherein said first sheet material second sheet material, prior Wherein the distal end of the first sheet material is disposed so as to protrude from the tip portion of the second sheet material. With this configuration, the rigidity of the contact member can be partially increased, so that the deflection of the contact member due to the pressure of the toner can be reduced.
[0011]
In the cleaning device of the present invention, the shorter direction of the second sheet material is shorter than the shorter direction of the first sheet material. By comprising in this way, the whole rigidity can be raised easily, without changing the thickness of the front-end | tip part of a 1st sheet material.
[0012]
In the cleaning device of the present invention, the thickness of the second sheet material is larger than the thickness of the first sheet material.
[0013]
In the cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the first sheet material and the second sheet material are made of PET resin. With this configuration, the contact member can be configured at low cost.
[0014]
In the cleaning device of the present invention, the thickness of the first sheet material is 0.05 mm to 0.125 mm. With this configuration, the waste toner on the magnetic roller can be stably scraped off.
[0015]
The cleaning toner magazine according to the present invention includes at least the cleaning device, a fresh toner tank for supplying toner to the developing unit, a charging unit for applying a charge to the photosensitive member, or a discharging unit for removing the charge remaining on the photosensitive member. One of the two is integrated and configured to be detachable from the main body of the image forming apparatus. With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent waste toner from spilling due to the turning of the contact member in the cleaning device of the cleaning toner magazine.
[0016]
The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes the cleaning device or the cleaning toner magazine. With this configuration, it is possible to prevent waste toner from spilling due to occurrence of turning of the contact member in the photoconductor cleaning device.
[0017]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0018]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a facsimile apparatus. Reference numeral 1 denotes a document reading unit arranged at the upper part of the apparatus main body, and reference numeral 2 denotes a recording unit arranged at the lower part of the apparatus main body.
[0019]
The document reading unit 1 includes a document table 3 for setting a document, a document reading sensor 4 for reading a document image, a document stack tray 5 for stacking documents discharged outside the apparatus body, and a transport system for transporting documents. Is provided. A plurality of documents set on the document table 3 are separated and conveyed one by one by a conveyance system, passed through a document reading sensor 4 and discharged to a document stack tray 5. Here, the image of the document is optically read when passing through the document reading sensor 4.
[0020]
The recording unit 2 includes a paper feeding / conveying unit 6 for supplying recording paper, an image forming unit 7 for forming an image by electrophotography and recording an image on the recording paper, and a fixing unit 8 for fixing the image on the recording paper. Is provided.
[0021]
The paper feeding / conveying unit 6 includes a paper feeding cassette 9 for storing recording paper, and a paper feeding roller 10 for picking up the recording paper stored in the paper feeding cassette 9 and transporting the recording paper to the image forming unit 7. During image formation, the images are separated and conveyed one by one to the image forming unit 7.
[0022]
The image forming unit 7 employs an electrophotographic configuration having the photosensitive member 11 as a main component, and the charge charger 12, the developing device 13, the transfer roller 14, and the photosensitive member 11 are neutralized around the photosensitive member 11. A neutralizing lamp 15 for cleaning and a cleaning blade 16 for cleaning the photosensitive member 11 are provided. Further, a laser optical system 17 that scans an area between the charging charger 12 and the developing device 13 on the photosensitive member 11 with laser light modulated based on image data received from the outside or image data from the document reading sensor 4. Is provided. Then, the toner image formed on the photoconductor 11 by the electrophotographic process is conveyed to the recording paper at a timing when the toner image passes through the nip portion between the photoconductor 11 and the transfer roller 14, whereby the toner image is formed on the recording paper. After being transferred, the recording paper is conveyed to the fixing unit 8.
[0023]
The fixing unit 8 includes a fixing roller and a pressure roller that is in pressure contact with the fixing roller, and the recording paper is pressed / heated when passing through the fixing roller and the pressure roller, whereby a toner image is obtained. Is fixed to the recording paper, and then discharged to the recording paper stack unit 18.
[0024]
FIG. 2 is a side view showing the structure around the photoconductor in the image forming unit of FIG. 1, and 20 is a fresh toner tank 21 for storing new toner and toner remaining on the photoconductor 11 without being transferred to the recording paper. 1 shows a cleaning toner magazine (hereinafter referred to as CTM) configured as a cartridge body that is integrated with a waste toner tank 22 to be housed and detachable from the apparatus main body.
[0025]
A cleaning blade 16 is fixed to a waste toner collecting port formed in the waste toner tank 22 in the CTM 20, and a magnetic roller 23 is provided in the waste toner tank 22 near the tip of the cleaning blade 16. Further, an elastic scraper 24 is fixed inside the waste toner tank 22, and the tip of the scraper 24 contacts the magnetic roller 23 in the counter direction with respect to the rotation direction of the magnetic roller 23.
[0026]
Further, the charging charger 12 is fixed to the outer surface of the waste toner tank 22, and the charging charger 12 is disposed so as to face the photoconductor 11 when the CTM 20 is mounted on the apparatus main body.
[0027]
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 25 denotes a developing roller, 26 denotes a replenishing roller that conveys new toner to the developing roller 25, and 27 denotes an intermediate roller that contacts the photoreceptor 11 and the developing roller 25.
[0028]
When the CTM 20 is mounted on the apparatus main body, the toner supply port of the fresh toner tank 21 and the toner supply port of the developing device 13 face each other, so that new toner in the fresh toner tank 21 can be conveyed into the developing device 13. New toner from the fresh toner tank 21 is conveyed to the developing roller 25 by the replenishing roller 26, and a thin toner layer is formed on the surface of the developing roller 25. The toner on the surface of the developing roller 25 is transferred and attached to the intermediate roller 27, and the toner on the surface of the intermediate roller 27 is selectively transferred and attached to the latent image formed on the photosensitive member 11, whereby the toner is attached to the photosensitive member 11. An image is formed.
[0029]
As waste toner collecting means, a magnetic roller is generally used. As the configuration of this magnetic roller,
(1) Metal core and magnet
(2) Resin mandrel and magnet
(3) Although there is a configuration in which the cored bar magnet is integrally molded with resin, it has the following relationship when compared in terms of rigidity, component accuracy (especially runout), and cost. In terms of cost, the resin of (2) The core metal and magnet are the best. However, the metal core bar and magnet of (1) are the most excellent in preventing scraper turning, which is the subject of this study.
Rigidity: (1)>(3)> (2)
Part accuracy: (1)> (2) >> (3)
Cost: (2)>(1)> (3)
FIG. 3 is a side view showing the configuration of the scraper in FIG. 2, 30 is a first sheet material, 31 is a second sheet material, 32 is a waste toner tank 22, and a bracket for fixing the scraper 24. Indicates. The scraper 24 is configured by aligning the ends of the first sheet material 30 and the second sheet material 31 and joining them together with the double-sided adhesive tape 33. Here, since the second sheet material 31 is thicker and x mm shorter than the first sheet material 30, the first sheet material 30 protrudes xmm from the second sheet material 31 at the tip of the scraper 24. To come. The scraper 24 is adhered to the bracket 32 with a double-sided adhesive tape 33 so that the tip of the scraper 24 contacts the magnetic roller 23. In the present embodiment, the first sheet material 30 is set to have a thickness of 0.050 mm to 0.125 mm and a protrusion amount x of 2 mm.
[0030]
Next, when the scraper 24 shown in FIG. 3 and the turn-up test in the case where the second sheet material 31 was removed from the scraper 24 were performed, about 90 grams of toner was found when the second sheet material 31 was removed. A turn occurred when the convection began. On the other hand, the scraper 24 shown in FIG. In the above-described test, a PET (polyethylen terephthalate) resin having a thickness of 0.1 mm was used as the first sheet material 30, and a PET resin having a thickness of 0.3 mm was used as the second sheet material 31.
[0031]
FIG. 4 is a side view showing another configuration of the scraper in FIG. Note that members having the same or the same functions as those shown in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
[0032]
In the scraper shown in FIG. 3, the first sheet material 30 and the second sheet material 31 are attached with a double-sided adhesive tape. In the scraper shown in FIG. 4, one surface of the first sheet material 30 is attached to the bracket 32. The double-sided adhesive tape 33 is attached, and the opposite surface is pressure-bonded with the second sheet material 31.
[0033]
In addition, when not fixing the 2nd sheet material 31 with the double-sided adhesive tape 33 in this way, a metal thin plate is more desirable than PET resin from an intensity | strength surface. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, when the first and second sheet materials 30 and 31 are fixed using the double-sided adhesive tape 33, the PET resin is sufficient in strength and can be configured at a lower cost than the metal thin plate. .
[0034]
According to the embodiment described above, the surface of the photoconductor 11 is charged by the charging charger, but may be charged by the charging roller. In this case, the charging charger can reduce the cost compared to the charging roller, but on the other hand, ozone is generated during charging. For this reason, the charging roller is more desirable in consideration of the environment.
[0035]
In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the charging charger 12 is attached to the waste toner tank. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a discharging lamp 15 may be attached instead of the charging charger 12. Both may be attached and CTM20 may be constituted.
[0036]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention configured as described above, the magnetic member generated when the contact member for scraping off the waste toner by contacting the magnetic roller for collecting the waste toner is turned up by the pressure of the toner. It is possible to prevent the toner from being scraped off from the roller .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a facsimile machine. FIG. 2 is a side view showing a configuration around a photoconductor in an image forming section of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a side view showing a configuration of a scraper in FIG. 2 is a side view showing another configuration of the scraper in FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a waste toner collecting state in a mechanism of turning up of the scraper. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a state where the waste toner is accumulated. [Explanation of the scraper turning over]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Document reading part 2 Recording part 3 Document table 4 Document reading sensor 5 Document stack tray 6 Paper feed conveyance part 7 Image formation part 8 Fixing part 9 Paper feed cassette 10 Paper feed roller 11 Photoconductor 12 Charging charger 13 Developer 14 Transfer roller 15 Static elimination lamp 16 Cleaning blade 17 Laser optical system 18 Recording paper stack unit 20 Cleaning toner magazine (CTM)
21 Fresh toner tank 22 Waste toner tank 23 Magnetic roller 24 Scraper 25 Development roller 26 Supply roller 27 Intermediate roller 30 First sheet material 31 Second sheet material 32 Bracket 33 Double-sided adhesive tape

Claims (8)

A cleaning unit for blocking untransferred toner remaining on the photosensitive member after transfer, a rotatable waste toner recovery unit for recovering untransferred toner blocked by the cleaning unit, and a waste toner recovery unit In a cleaning device comprising a contact member that contacts and scrapes the untransferred toner recovered by the waste toner recovery means to the upper side surface, and a waste toner tank that stores untransferred toner from the contact member,
A first sheet material whose tip is in contact with the rotation direction of the waste toner collecting means in the counter direction and whose lower portion of the upper side surface is attached to the bracket, and a lower portion of the first sheet material . A second sheet material that fixes a lower portion of the side surface; and the first sheet material and the second sheet material are further protruded from the distal end portion of the second sheet material. A cleaning device, which is arranged so as to perform . The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a width direction of the second sheet material is shorter than a width direction of the first sheet material. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the second sheet material is larger than a thickness of the first sheet material. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the first sheet material and the second sheet material are made of PET resin. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein the thickness of the first sheet material is 0.05 mm to 0.125 mm. The cleaning device according to claim 1, a fresh toner tank for supplying toner to the developing unit, a charging unit for applying charge to the photosensitive member, or a charge remaining on the photosensitive member is removed. A cleaning toner magazine, wherein at least one of the charge eliminating means is integrated and detachable from the main body of the image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus comprising the cleaning device according to claim 1. An image forming apparatus comprising the cleaning toner magazine according to claim 6.

Images