JP4902249B2 - Apparatus for removing image forming substance from recording material on which image is formed - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image removing apparatus that removes an image forming substance from a recording material on which an image is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, a method of repeatedly using a recording material using the image removing apparatus, The present invention also relates to an image forming / removing system in which the image removing apparatus and the image forming apparatus are combined. In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus for transferring an image forming substance from a recording material on which an image is formed with a thermoplastic image forming substance powder to a peeling member and removing the image forming substance from the recording material. The present invention relates to a means for removing an image forming substance from a peeling member for transferring the image forming substance.
An image removing apparatus and an image forming / removing system according to the present invention include an ordinary electrophotographic method in which an electrostatic latent image is formed on a photoreceptor and then developed using dry toner, and the toner image is transferred to a recording material. In addition to being applied to the technical field of forming an image by the electrophotographic method such as electrostatic recording method, toner jet recording method, ion flow recording method, etc. Is also applicable.
In addition, the present invention is not limited to the case where an image is formed by electrophotography, but a magnetic recording process for forming an image using a thermoplastic image forming substance, a thermal transfer method, and an ink jet using a heat-meltable solid ink. The present invention can also be applied to a technical field in which an image is formed by a method.

  In recent years, printers, analog copying machines, digital copying machines, and printing machines using electrophotographic methods, inkjet recording methods, and thermal transfer recording methods have become widespread, and paper is used in large quantities. Paper generally used as a recording material is made of pulp obtained from wood, which is a renewable resource. However, in the paper manufacturing process, a lot of energy is consumed in order to dry the paper in the pulping process for extracting cellulose fibers from wood and the paper making process. In some of the processes for producing these papers, efforts are made to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide generated by using biomass-derived fuel such as black liquor, which is a residue obtained by extracting pulp from wood. However, biomass-derived fuel is not used in all processes, and a large amount of fossil fuel is currently used. Carbon dioxide gas generated from fossil fuels is considered to be a causative substance that causes global warming, and from the viewpoint of environmental conservation, it is desirable to reduce the amount of paper used to prevent depletion of fossil fuel resources. ing. If fuel derived from biomass can be saved, it can be used for other than the paper manufacturing process.

In recent years, timber harvesting to produce paper has been reduced, but not all paper is made from wood that is managed in the forest, and paper consumption is reduced. It is also an important social issue to protect forests and prevent deterioration of the global environment.
In addition, since paper contains inorganic components that do not burn or decay, waste that needs to be landfilled is generated at a certain rate when the paper is discarded. Finding landfills for waste has become difficult, and from this point of view, reducing paper consumption is a social issue.

  In order to deal with these problems, a method of collecting information recording paper that is no longer needed, and once collecting the collected paper to a pulp state at a paper mill and reusing it has been performed. However, this method does not require new wood resources, but uses approximately the same energy as when paper is made from fresh pulp for transport, repulping, and repapering for recovery. In addition, paper with recycled pulp has a quality problem such as reduced stiffness and whiteness and blurring when printed. For high-quality paper generally used as information recording paper, the percentage of recycled pulp mixed Needs to be kept at about 30%. In order to produce high-quality information recording paper with high whiteness, it is necessary to keep the ratio of pulp extracted from waste paper low, to produce pulp from unused waste paper, etc., rather than to produce paper from new wood. It may be expensive. Furthermore, collecting and playing back the recording material on which information is recorded causes the recording material on which the information is recorded to be distributed outside the home or outside the home, which is problematic from the viewpoint of maintaining confidentiality and privacy. is there.

  In order to solve the problem of collecting paper once used and recycling it as recycled paper, the recording material and method can be used by removing the image on the recording material once used and reproducing the recording material. Has been proposed. For example, as a method for transferring an image formed on a recording material to a peeling member and removing it, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-13383 (Patent Document 1) discloses that water is applied to paper on which an image is formed by electrophotography. A method in which the heat-flexible image-forming substance is peeled and removed from the paper by impregnating the liquid containing the liquid, weakening the adhesive force between the paper and the image-forming substance, and press-contacting the paper and the peeling member in a heated state. It is disclosed. In this method, since the paper fiber is swollen with a liquid containing water, a shearing force is generated between the image forming substance that is not swollen with the liquid, and the adhesive force between the image forming substance and the paper is weakened. For this reason, there is an advantage that the image forming substance can be transferred and peeled in a state where the adhesive force between the paper and the image forming substance is relatively weak. However, when using plain paper that is generally available on the market, the adhesion between the image forming substance and the paper is strong, and it is difficult to completely remove the image forming substance, or image formation is attempted when removing the image forming substance. There was a problem that a part of the paper was peeled off together with the substance.

If even a small amount of image forming material remains on the recording material after the processing to remove the image forming material, the image forming material is repeatedly processed by repeating the image formation and image removal cycles for a specific recording material. In a recording material that is frequently used repeatedly, residual image-forming substances accumulate, and the visibility of the image information to be formed is reduced or it becomes sensuously unsightly. There was a problem.
In addition, if a metal or plastic film that does not have a thermoplastic resin layer on the surface is used as the peeling member, it is difficult to completely remove the image forming substance in the concave portion of the paper, and in particular, a background fog is formed. It was difficult to completely remove the powder image forming substance particles and the low density gradation image adhering alone. Further, when water is applied to the recording material, even if a small amount of water is applied, if the recording material is used repeatedly, wrinkles and curls may occur during processing by the image forming apparatus or the image removing apparatus. It has been difficult to solve the problem that the paper jam occurs or the paper jam occurs due to the curling. Further, when a large amount of water is applied, a large amount of energy is required to dry the water absorbed in the recording material, and the dimensions of the reproduced recording material are changed.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-297294 (Patent Document 2) uses plastic, metal, non-liquid-permeable paper, ceramics, or the like as a recording material, and heat-meltable images formed on these recording materials. And a method of peeling and removing an image by heating with a hot-melt peeling member interposed therebetween. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-64472 (Patent Document 3) uses an endless belt having a heat-meltable resin on the surface, and transfers and peels an image formed on a recording material treated with a release agent. An apparatus for removal is disclosed.

  In apparatuses for transferring an image forming substance on a recording material to a peeling member and removing an image on the recording material, as described in these patent documents, the surface has a thermoplastic or heat-meltable resin. By using a peeling member and a recording material with reduced adhesion to the image forming substance, the image forming substance on the recording material can be completely removed. It is such a height that a thermoplastic or heat-melting resin present on the surface of the peeling member is deformed when superimposed on a recording material and heated / pressurized to form a low density gradation image or background fog. The release member can also come into contact with an image forming substance having a low density or an image forming substance present in the recess of the recording material, and the thermoplastic or thermomeltable resin used on the surface of the peeling member and the solubility parameter are If approximately the same thermoplastic or heat-meltable resin is used for the image forming material, the adhesive force between the image forming material and the surface layer of the release member will be extremely strong, and the force to peel the image forming material will be increased to the cohesive force of the image forming material It is.

  Therefore, in order to remove the image forming substance on the recording material, it is preferable to provide a thermoplastic or heat-meltable resin layer on the surface of the peeling member as in Patent Document 2 or Patent Document 3, but the peeling member Since both the surface layer and the image forming substance contain a thermoplastic or heat-meltable resin, they are compatible with each other by heating and pressurization and do not form an interface. For this reason, it has been difficult to remove the image forming material transferred from the recording material to the peeling member. When processing a sheet-like recording material, it is possible to remove the image-forming substance transferred from the recording material to the peeling member from the peeling member every time the image-forming substance removing process of one sheet-like recording material is performed. Although not always necessary, if the image forming substance transferred onto the peeling member is not removed, a difference occurs in the thickness of the thermoplastic or heat-meltable resin layer on the peeling member, making it difficult to contact the recording material. Or a thick portion of the image forming substance is reversely transferred from the peeling member to the recording material, which makes it difficult to use the image removing apparatus continuously. Further, even if the thickness distribution of the thermoplastic or heat-meltable resin layer on the peeling member can be made uniform, if the thickness becomes large by repeating the transfer of the image forming substance from the recording material, the heat capacity of the peeling member And the thermal conductivity decreases, making it difficult to perform an appropriate image forming substance removal operation. Patent Document 2 or Patent Document 3 does not describe any means or method for removing the image forming substance on the peeling member.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-230761 (Patent Document 4) discloses means for removing an image forming substance on a peeling member by providing a blade having a heating means so as to face the peeling member. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-219073 (Patent Document 5), a means for maintaining the thickness of the thermoplastic resin layer arranged at a predetermined interval from the peeling member and the peeling member are moved relative to each other on the peeling member. An image removing device for scraping off the transferred image forming substance is disclosed. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-66957 (Patent Document 6) discloses a peeling member having a thermoplastic resin layer by elastically contacting a fixing member that regulates the thickness of the thermoplastic resin layer with a constant load. Means for removing the imaging material are disclosed.

  In Patent Document 5, in addition to the fixed film thickness regulating member, there is also a film thickness regulating member configured such that a roller or an endless belt is opposed to a position facing the peeling member, and the peeling member is conveyed in the counter direction. It is disclosed. This movable film thickness regulating member is made of a low surface energy material such as Teflon (registered trademark) whose surface does not exhibit adhesion to the image forming substance. That is, the means disclosed in these patent documents apply, as a basic principle, a shearing force to the thermoplastic resin layer on the peeling member and / or the thermoplastic image forming material transferred from the recording material, A part of it is scraped off. The image forming material used in ordinary electrophotographic devices is designed so that the internal cohesion of the image forming material is high even at the fixing temperature so that it does not adhere to the heat fixing roller or heat fixing belt. Is done. Therefore, even when the image forming substance is heated to a temperature higher than the fixing temperature in the image forming apparatus, the image forming substance is kept in a relatively high cohesive force. As in the means described in the above-mentioned patent document, in order to give the image forming material a shearing force that overcomes the cohesive force and scrape it off, the image forming material must be scraped off unless a large shearing force is applied. Can not. Therefore, in the methods for removing the image forming substance on the peeling member disclosed in these patent documents, a large driving force is required for conveying the peeling member, or the film thickness regulating member and the peeling member are opposed to each other. The temperature of the thermoplastic resin and / or the thermoplastic image forming material must be set high, and there is also a problem that a lot of energy is consumed. In addition, the scraped image forming substance adheres to the film thickness regulating member, and there is a problem that it is difficult to collect the image forming substance.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-311520 (Patent Document 7) discloses an image removing apparatus that once transfers an image forming material transferred from a recording material to a peeling member to a cleaning member. This patent document 7 discloses that an image forming substance on a peeling member is transferred to a cleaning member whose surface is made of a material having stronger adhesion than the peeling member, and the image forming substance on the peeling member is disclosed. Is a technology that removes all of the image forming material transferred from the recording material onto the peeling member without rubbing it with a blade, etc., so that wear of the peeling member can be reduced and the peeling member has a long life. Is something that can be done.

  As disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 7, in order to use a material having higher adhesion to the image forming substance than the peeling member as the transfer cleaning member, the surface of the peeling member has relatively weak adhesion to the image forming substance. There was a need to use material. In an apparatus for transferring an image forming material from a recording material to a peeling member after applying an image removal accelerating liquid to the recording material to weaken the adhesive force between the recording material and the image forming material, adhesion to the image forming material Although the image forming substance could be transferred from the recording material even when using a relatively weak release member material, the recording material with weakened adhesion to the image forming substance was used, and the image removal accelerating liquid was used. The method of transferring the image forming substance to the peeling member without removing it from the recording material without using the image removal accelerating liquid in order to ensure the practical fixability of the recording material to the image forming substance. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the image forming substance from the recording material using a peeling member having higher adhesion to the image forming substance. For this reason, it is difficult to adopt a conventional transfer cleaning method in a transfer peeling and removing method of an image forming substance that does not use an image removal accelerating liquid.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-56480 (Patent Document 8) discloses a technique for directly removing an image forming material on a recording material transferred to a peeling member with a flat blade, and image formation transferred onto the peeling member. A method is disclosed in which the material is further transferred onto a cleaning roller and the image forming material on the cleaning roller is removed by a blade. Although there is no detailed description of the transfer cleaning method in Patent Document 8 described above, there is a description that a transfer cleaning member having a releasability with respect to an image forming substance is weaker than that with respect to a peeling member is used. This is based on the same idea as the transfer cleaning means 7.

Furthermore, there are the following which are related to the present invention and correspond to the prior application of the same applicant as the present case.
(1) Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-72007 (“Image Forming Substance Removal Method of Recording Material, Image Forming Substance Removal Device”)
In this prior application, on the upstream side, a non-thermoplastic release member is used to transfer and remove the image formed on the recording material, and on the downstream side, an image is formed with a release member having a thermoplastic surface layer. A method and apparatus for transferring and removing a substance.
(2) Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-42355 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-234162, “Electrophotographic Paper, Method for Producing the Same, Method for Forming Electrophotographic Image”)
This prior application is a compound containing an alkyl group or an alkenyl group having 6 or more carbon atoms after applying a sealing layer containing a polymer selected from polyvinyl alcohol, starch, carboxymethyl cellulose, and the like on a base paper. A reusable electrophotographic paper coated with a composition containing an image repellent substance comprising:

(3) Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-260535 ("Reusable recording material for electrophotography and manufacturing method thereof")
This prior application is a reusable recording material containing an olefin-maleic anhydride polymer as an image forming material agent at least in the vicinity of the surface on which an image is formed.
(4) Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-360201 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-128046, “Image Forming Apparatus, Image Removing Apparatus, Image Forming and Removing System”)
In this prior application, a first image forming mode that presupposes erasing an image formed on a recording material and a second image forming mode that does not presuppose erasing an image formed on a recording material. An image forming apparatus having

JP-A-7-13383 JP-A-1-297294 JP-A-4-64472 JP-A-9-230761 JP-A-11-219073 JP 2001-66957 A Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-311520 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-56480

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.
That is, one of the objects of the present invention is excellent in the removability of the image forming substance, and can also remove a low density gradation image and an image forming substance that forms a background fog. An object of the present invention is to provide an image removing device that transfers a forming substance to a peeling member and removes the forming material. Another object of the present invention is to remarkably increase the number of times the recording material is repeatedly used by improving the removability of the image forming substance from the recording material. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image removing apparatus excellent in maintainability that can be used without frequently replacing the peeling member by removing the image forming material transferred from the recording material from the peeling member. It is to be. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system including a method of repeatedly using a recording material and an image forming apparatus that are most convenient for the user using the image removing apparatus.

As a result of intensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors have reached the following solution means. Means for solving the above-mentioned problem is that the transfer cleaning member is made of a material having adhesiveness to the image forming substance transferred to the peeling member, and is transported at a speed higher than the transportation speed of the peeling member. It is based on facing the peeling member.
An image removing apparatus according to the present invention (corresponding to claim 1) includes at least a recording material on which an image is formed with an image forming substance having thermoplasticity, and a peeling member having an adhesive force to the image forming substance. A means for superimposing, a means for heating / pressing the superposed recording material and the peeling member, and a separating member for separating the superposed recording material and the peeling member to separate the image forming substance on the recording material. Assuming an image removal device consisting of separation means to transfer to
Means for causing a transfer cleaning member made of a material having adhesiveness to the image forming substance transferred to the peeling member to be conveyed at a speed faster than the conveying speed of the peeling member, facing the peeling member ;
There is provided a heating means for making the temperature of the image forming substance at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member higher than the temperature of the image forming substance at a position where the recording material and the peeling member are separated by the separating means . And
The image forming substance on the peeling member is transferred to the transfer cleaning member by causing a cohesive failure of the image forming substance at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member. Removing the image-forming substance.

A means for superimposing a recording material on which an image is formed with an image forming substance having thermoplasticity and a peeling member having an adhesive force to the image forming substance, and heating the superimposed recording material and the peeling member An image removing apparatus comprising a pressurizing means and a separating means for separating the superposed recording material and the peeling member is equivalent to that described in Patent Documents 1 to 8, which are the prior art. Device. The present invention can be applied to both an image removing apparatus using a peeling member having a composition containing a thermoplastic resin on its surface and an image removing apparatus using a peeling member not having a surface layer containing a thermoplastic resin. In an image removing apparatus using a peeling member that does not have a surface layer containing a thermoplastic resin, the present invention prevents wear of the peeling member, and the image removing apparatus can be configured with a roller-type peeling member instead of an endless belt. Although providing an advantage, the present invention is particularly effective in an image removing apparatus using a peeling member having a composition containing a thermoplastic resin on the surface thereof.
In an image removing apparatus using a peeling member that does not have a surface layer containing a thermoplastic resin, it is practical to use a blade, particularly a roller provided with a spiral blade as a means for removing an image forming material on the peeling member. This is because a high level of durability can be obtained. On the other hand, in an image removing apparatus using a peeling member having a composition containing a thermoplastic resin on its surface, the image forming substance is removed compared to the case of using a peeling member having no composition containing a thermoplastic resin. Although it has been clarified that the characteristics are remarkably improved, in the prior art, as a means for removing the image forming material transferred from the recording material onto the peeling member, there was no means for reaching a practical level. It is.

An image removing apparatus according to the present invention is disclosed in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 described above, an image removing apparatus that applies an image removal promoting liquid to a recording material as disclosed in Patent Document 1 above. It can be applied to any image removing apparatus that uses a recording material having a low fixability of an image forming substance and transfers the image forming substance on the recording material to a peeling member and removes it without applying an image removal accelerating liquid. . In any type of image removal apparatus, the present invention improves the removability of the image forming substance on the recording material, enables continuous operation of the image removal apparatus, and improves the maintainability of the image removal apparatus. Has an effect.
However, as will be described later, the image removing apparatus of the present invention uses a recording material that has a lower fixability to an image forming substance and has a higher surface smoothness than that of plain paper. In the case of removing the image forming substance formed thereon without using an image removal accelerating liquid, it has a particularly great effect and increases the number of times the recording material can be repeatedly used (claim 12).

The image removing apparatus according to the present invention (Claim 1) is characterized by means for removing the image forming material transferred onto the peeling member. As a result of inventor's earnest research, in order to remove the image forming substance on the peeling member, in particular, in order to remove the image forming substance from the peeling member having the composition containing the thermoplastic resin on the surface, the surface becomes the peeling member. A transfer cleaning member made of a material having adhesiveness to the transferred image forming substance and transported at a speed faster than the conveying speed of the peeling member is provided with a means for facing the peeling member, and recorded on the peeling member. The present inventors have found that the above technical problem can be solved by once transferring the image forming substance transferred from the material to the transfer cleaning member, and have reached the present invention.
When the image forming material transferred onto the peeling member is transferred to the transfer cleaning member, the temperature of the image forming material can be increased at the opposing portion of the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member. The cohesive force of the substance becomes weaker than the adhesive force between the transfer cleaning member and the image forming substance, and internal cohesive failure of the image forming substance occurs in the transfer cleaning portion. That is, when the recording material and the peeling member are superposed and heated / pressurized and then separated from the recording material and the peeling member, the image forming substance is kept at a relatively low temperature at which the cohesive force is relatively high, An image is transferred from a recording material to a peeling member without causing cohesive failure of the image forming substance, and during transfer cleaning, the image forming substance is heated to a relatively high temperature at which cohesive failure is likely to occur .

In the present invention, the operation of removing the image forming material on the peeling member is hereinafter referred to as “cleaning”, and the cleaning operation is performed by transferring the image forming material transferred from the recording material onto the peeling member to the transfer cleaning member. Execute. Once the image forming material is accumulated on the transfer cleaning member, it is possible to replace the transfer cleaning member itself, but once the image forming material transferred to the transfer cleaning member is transferred to the transfer cleaning member by a method or means described later. Can also be removed.
For example, when processing a sheet-like recording material, the cleaning unit of the present invention can be controlled to operate each time an image forming substance removing process is performed on one sheet-like recording material on which an image is formed. However, it is also possible to perform control so that each time a certain amount of image forming material is accumulated on the peeling member, a plurality of image forming materials are removed from the recording material on which the image is formed. .

  Patent Document 7 and Patent Document 8 also disclose a method and apparatus for transferring an image forming substance on a peeling member to a transfer cleaning member for cleaning. Here, “transfer” is defined as the movement of the image-forming substance between the members in a state where an image is formed, and “transfer” is a state where the formed image is subjected to shearing force and does not form an image. Defined as moving between. The conventional cleaning methods and cleaning devices described in Patent Document 7 and Patent Document 8 basically use the “transfer” method, and have the above-described drawbacks.

  The important point of the technical idea in the present invention is that a means for conveying the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member to face each other is provided so that the image forming material on the peeling member can come into contact with the transfer cleaning member. It is to make the transfer speed of the transfer cleaning member in the facing portion faster than the transfer speed of the peeling member. In addition, an important technical idea in the present invention is that it is not always necessary to use a material having a stronger adhesion to the image forming substance than the peeling member surface layer or the substrate as the surface layer material of the transfer cleaning member. In order to improve the peelability of the forming substance, a release member having high adhesiveness to the image forming substance is positively used. The material of the transfer cleaning member has the same adhesive strength as that of the surface layer or substrate material of the release member, or The weaker material is used (claim 4).

In the transfer cleaning methods and apparatuses described in Patent Document 7 and Patent Document 8, a material having an adhesive force with respect to an image forming substance much larger than that of the surface constituting material of the peeling member is used as the material of the surface layer of the transfer cleaning member. Otherwise, transfer from the peeling member to the transfer cleaning member was difficult, and it was difficult to construct a practical transfer cleaning means.
In the present invention, the adhesive force of the transfer cleaning member surface with respect to the image forming substance is preferably larger than the adhesive force of the image forming substance with respect to the peeling member surface in order to improve the cleaning. The difference in adhesion of the surface to the image forming substance does not have a significant influence on the cleaning performance as compared with the methods and means described in these prior arts. The same material can be used for the peeling member surface and the transfer cleaning member surface, and the image forming substance can also be transferred to a transfer cleaning member that exhibits weaker adhesive strength than the peeling member.
Selecting a composition as a transfer cleaning member that makes the transfer cleaning member more adhesive to the image forming material than the adhesion of the release member to the image forming material is also considered in the present invention in terms of cleaning only. This is advantageous in that it facilitates cleaning. However, in order to achieve such conditions, it is necessary to select a composition having a low adhesion to the image forming substance as the peeling member, and the image cannot be removed unless the fixing property of the recording material is lowered. There arises a problem that an offset is generated in the fixing roller at the time of forming, and it becomes difficult to obtain advantages of the entire system including the image forming apparatus and the image removing apparatus.

  However, in the present invention, the image forming substance is transferred from the release member for cleaning, and the surface layer of the transfer cleaning member is extremely adhesive to the image forming substance such as a low surface energy material such as a fluororesin. It is not preferable to use a low material because the transfer to the transfer cleaning member is unlikely to occur. As a material that can be transferred to a transfer cleaning member with respect to a thermoplastic image forming material used in a general image forming apparatus, a material having a surface energy of 30 to 50 mN / m is preferably used. In particular, it is preferable to use a material of 34 to 48 mN / m.

  In the present invention, the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member are conveyed opposite to each other, and the transfer speed of the transfer cleaning member is made faster than the transfer speed of the peeling member. The transfer direction of the transfer cleaning member is the same as the transfer direction of the peeling member in the forward direction or the reverse direction, the same transfer characteristics can be obtained, but the forward transfer can reduce the driving load, It is preferable at the point which can make the thickness of the composition layer containing the thermoplastic resin on a peeling member uniform. Although the reason why the thickness of the composition layer containing the thermoplastic resin on the peeling member can be made uniform by rotating in the forward direction is not certain, in the apparatus that transports the transfer cleaning member to the peeling member transport direction and the counter, Since the beginning of contact with the transfer cleaning member where the plastic image forming material remains is on the downstream side of the peeling member, when the image forming material pool occurs, the image forming material pool is transported while adhering to the peeling member. It is presumed that the thickness uniformity of the composition layer containing the thermoplastic resin on the surface of the peeling member is reduced.

The ratio of the transfer speed of the transfer cleaning member to the transfer speed of the release member is determined by the viscoelasticity of the image forming material used, the adhesive force to the release member or the transfer cleaning member, the temperature conditions during the transfer cleaning, and the thermoplasticity on the release member. The optimum value varies depending on the thickness of the layer containing the resin, and it is difficult to define an appropriate range in general, but the transfer cleaning member can be transported in a forward direction or a reverse direction with respect to the peeling member. It is preferably 1.1 to 15.0, and particularly preferably 2 to 5. Within this range, the image forming substance on the peeling member is transferred to the transfer cleaning member. In addition, the transfer direction of the transfer cleaning member is the forward direction with respect to the transfer direction of the peeling member, and when the transfer speed ratio is above, an excessive driving load is not required, and a thermoplastic resin having a uniform thickness on the release member. It becomes possible to leave the composition containing.
When the image forming substance transferred to the peeling member by cleaning is removed almost completely using a peeling member having no thermoplasticity, that is, when it is not necessary to leave a composition containing a thermoplastic resin on the peeling member. The ratio between the transfer speed of the transfer cleaning member and the transfer speed of the peeling member is smaller, preferably in the range of 1.1 to 5.0, and more preferably 1.5 to 3.

The image removing device had contact (corresponding to claim 1), only a part of the image forming substance on the peeling member by transferring the metastasis cleaning member, it is possible to remove the image forming substance on該剥release member . (Corresponding to claim 2)

Further, in the image removing apparatus, means for heating the transfer cleaning member so that the temperature of the transfer cleaning member surface at the facing portion between the release member and the transfer cleaning member is higher than the temperature of the release member surface. Can be provided. That is, in the transfer cleaning unit, heating is performed such that the temperature distribution in the thickness direction of the image forming material on the release member is higher on the transfer cleaning member side than on the release member side. (Corresponding to claim 3)
With such a configuration, the image forming substance on the surface of the transfer cleaning member whose temperature is increased by the heating means and the cohesive force is weakened is transferred from the release member to the transfer cleaning member, so that the thermoplastic resin on the release member is removed. Only the image-forming substance transferred from the recording material to the peeling member can be transferred to the transfer cleaning member while keeping the composition layer including the constant thickness.

In the image removing apparatus, as the composition for forming the surface of the transfer cleaning member, a composition in which the adhesive force of the material of the composition to the image forming substance is equal to or less than the adhesive force of the peeling member to the image forming substance is used. be able to. (Corresponding to claim 4)
With such a configuration, even if a composition that forms the surface of the transfer cleaning member has an adhesive strength with respect to the image forming substance equal to or less than that of the peeling member with respect to the image forming substance, the transfer cleaning member can be conveyed. Since the speed is faster than the conveying speed of the peeling member, the image forming substance can be transferred from the peeling member to the transfer cleaning member.
As described above, the use of a material having a low adhesive force as the transfer cleaning member does not work advantageously from the viewpoint of cleaning, and a peeling member having a high adhesive force to the image forming substance can be used. The entire image forming / removing system including the image removing device brings significant advantages. As a composition for forming the surface of the transfer cleaning member, it is possible to use a composition having an adhesive strength to the image forming substance equal to or less than that of the peeling member to the image forming substance. Therefore, it is possible to select a material having a large size, and the image forming / removing system as a whole has great advantages.

In the image removing apparatus, the transfer cleaning member may be provided on a roller, and the transfer cleaning member may be made of a material selected from a thermosetting resin, an ultraviolet curable resin, and an electron beam curable resin. (Corresponding to claim 5)
These curable resin compounds generally have high adhesion to image forming materials, high hardness, and high heat resistance, so that transfer cleaning can be performed efficiently by using these materials as transfer cleaning members. The transfer cleaning member hardly undergoes thermal deformation, and even when the image forming material is removed from the transfer cleaning member, even if the transfer cleaning member is rubbed with a blade or the like, the transfer cleaning member is less worn, and the durability of the transfer cleaning member is improved.

Further, in the image removing apparatus, at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member, the peeling member or a member that backs up the transfer cleaning member is a rubber member having a hardness of 20 degrees or less according to JIS K6253, and / or JIS. You may comprise with the sponge elastic member whose hardness by K6253 is 20 degrees or less. (Corresponding to claim 6)
With such a configuration, the peeling member or the backup member of the transfer cleaning member is made of an elastic body having a low elastic coefficient, so that the frictional force is relatively weakened even if the transfer cleaning member and the peeling member are driven at different speeds. It is possible to ensure the conveyance stability of the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member. Further, since the transfer cleaning member can contact the peeling member with a relatively large nip width, the image forming substance can be transferred to the transfer cleaning member even if the heating temperature of the transfer cleaning member is relatively low.
Further, even when the pressure is applied between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member and the transfer cleaning member is abutted against the peeling member, the image forming material on the peeling member is not crushed. Is mainly brought into contact with the image forming material transferred from the recording material to the surface of the peeling member.

In the image removing apparatus, the position regulating member can be provided so that the distance between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member is constant at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member. (Corresponding to claim 7)
With such a configuration, since the distance between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member is constant at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member, the transfer cleaning member forms an image transferred from the recording material onto the surface of the peeling member. It will mainly contact the substance, and the thickness of the composition layer containing the thermoplastic resin on the peeling member can be kept constant.

In the image removing apparatus, a blade member for scraping off the image forming material transferred from the peeling member can be provided on the transfer cleaning member. (Corresponding to claim 8)
With such a configuration, the blade member for scraping off the image forming material transferred onto the transfer cleaning member is provided, so that the image forming material transferred from the peeling member to the transfer cleaning member can be scraped off.

Further, in the above image removing apparatus, after transferring the image forming substance to the transfer cleaning member, a smoothing means for smoothing the surface of the peeling member can be provided on the downstream side of the cleaning portion of the peeling member. (Corresponding to claim 9)
With such a configuration, even when the surface of the peeling member is uneven after the image forming substance is transferred from the peeling member to the transfer cleaning member, the surface is surely flattened so that the image forming substance on the recording material is Good contact can be achieved.

An image removal apparatus according to the present invention (corresponding to claim 10) comprises any one of the above-described image removal apparatuses (corresponding to any one of claims 1 to 9) .
In the upstream image removal apparatus, the surface layer in contact with the recording material uses a peeling member that does not exhibit plasticity at the temperature at the time of pressurization,
In the image removal device on the downstream side is that by using a peeling member surface layer in contact with the recording material exhibits plastic at a temperature of pressurization.
With this configuration, the image removal process contain a large image of low density gradation images or steps, even if the upstream can not be completely removed image on the recording material, the downstream image In the removing apparatus , since the surface layer in contact with the recording material uses a peeling member that exhibits plasticity at the temperature at the time of pressurization, the image forming substance on the recording material can be completely removed. Further, by adopting a cleaning means using a transfer cleaning member in the downstream image removing apparatus , it is possible to remove the image forming material transferred from the recording material while leaving the thermoplastic layer from the peeling member. Therefore, the image forming substance removing process of the recording material can be repeatedly and continuously performed.

In particular, in the image removing apparatus having the above-described multi-stage image removing apparatus (Claim 10), a cleaning blade for rubbing the peeling member is used as means for removing the image forming substance from the peeling member of the upstream image removing apparatus. Use
In the downstream image removing apparatus , as a means for removing the image forming substance from the peeling member, it is provided to face the peeling member and is transported at a speed higher than the conveying speed of the peeling member. It is preferable to use a transfer cleaning member in which the image forming substance on the peeling member is transferred at the facing portion . (Corresponding to claim 11)
By adopting such a configuration, the upstream image removing apparatus removes most of the image formed on the recording material even when a peeling member having no thermoplastic composition on the surface is used. For this reason, the amount of the image forming material transferred to the peeling member in the downstream image removing apparatus becomes small. For example, when removing an image formed on a sheet-like recording material, one sheet-like material is removed. The cleaning member is not cleaned by the transfer cleaning member every time the image forming substance removal process of the recording material is performed, and the cleaning process is performed every time the image forming substance removal process on a plurality of recording materials is performed. Good image forming substance removal quality can be maintained. In order to remove the image forming material from the release member having the thermoplastic composition on the surface by transfer cleaning, the surface temperature of the transfer cleaning member is used to remove the image forming material from the release member in order to reduce the cohesive force of the image forming material. It is necessary to heat so that it becomes higher than the temperature to transfer. By reducing the chance of heating to a high temperature as much as possible so that transfer cleaning is possible, the life of the peeling member and transfer cleaning member can be lengthened, and energy for heating can be saved. On the other hand, the upstream image removing device uses a peeling member that does not have a thermoplastic composition on the surface, so that the image forming material transferred onto the peeling member can be removed with a spiral blade roller or the like relatively easily. Thus, the transfer stability of the image forming substance from the recording material can be maintained.

Method for reusing a recording medium according to the present invention (corresponding to claim 12), a compound is one that decreases the fixing properties with respect to the image forming substance reusable onto a recording material applied on the front surface, an image forming substance having thermoplastic Form an image with
Using any one of the image removing devices (corresponding to any one of claims 1 to 11), the image forming substance on the recording material is removed,
On the recording material from which the image forming material has been removed, image formation is repeated again using a thermoplastic image forming material.
With this configuration , an image formed of a thermoplastic image forming material on a reusable recording material is removed using the image removing apparatus according to the present invention, so that the image forming material on the recording material is removed. It can be removed completely, and the number of repeated uses of the recording material can be improved. It, by employing a cleaning method using such a transfer cleaning member of the present invention, it is possible to use a peeling member provided a composition containing a thermoplastic resin on the surface, by a release member having a heat-friendly plastic This is because the image forming substance on the recording material can be completely removed.
In particular, when employing the method of removing the image forming substance that does not use the image removal accelerating liquid, when re-imaging the reusable recording material and the image forming substance has been removed processed when processing divided image forming substance, Since wrinkles, curls, and jams can be prevented and the image can be completely removed, there is no accumulation of residual images even after repeated use of the reusable recording material, and image formation of the reusable recording material Since the conveyance in the apparatus and the image removing apparatus is stably performed, the number of repeated use of the recording material can be remarkably improved.
The reusable recording material used here is provided with notches and holes, printing bar code information, character information, picture information, etc., coloring the entire recording material with a dye or pigment, or embedding an IC chip. by a means such as, Yu Za and the image forming apparatus, it is preferable to use those image removing device is to be easily identifiable and generally paper.

Further, one surface above the method for reusing a recording medium (claim 12), a paper made mainly of cellulose fibers as a base material, on its front surface, a composition comprising a compound is one that decreases the fixing property of the image forming substance A recording material having 1.5 g / m ² or more adhered per unit and smoothness measured by a Beck smoothness meter of 90 seconds or more can be used. (Corresponding to claim 13)
With such a configuration, since the recording material with low fixability and high smoothness of the image forming material and the image removing apparatus of the present invention are used, the image forming material on the recording material is completely removed. And the number of repeated uses of the recording material can be improved.
By using a release member provided with a composition containing a thermoplastic resin on the surface, the ability to remove the image-forming substance is remarkably increased, but the powder image-forming substance containing toner particles having a small particle diameter is used on the photoreceptor. after forming an image, in the case of transferring a powder image on a recording material by applying an electric field, a paper and comparable irregularities recording material is generally used in an electrophotographic apparatus has to Then, toner particles having a small particle size are likely to enter the concave portion of the paper. In particular, when a powder having a particle size of 8 μm or less is included, it is difficult to completely remove the image. By adhering a certain amount or more of the composition to the paper and eliminating the large concave portion on the paper surface, the image can be completely removed even when the developer contains a powder image forming substance having a particle size of about 3 μm. It becomes possible.

Image forming removal system according to the present invention (corresponding to claim 14) includes a first image forming mode is set to assume that erasing the image formed on the recording material, the image formed on the recording material A second image forming mode not premised on erasing the image, and the user can arbitrarily select the first image forming mode and the second image forming mode,
When the first image forming mode is selected, a reusable recording material having a reduced fixability of the image forming material is supplied to form an image thereon, and the second image forming mode is selected. An image forming apparatus that is controlled so that ordinary paper is supplied and an image is formed thereon;
Any one of the image removing apparatuses (corresponding to any one of claims 1 to 11) is a set.

  With this configuration, the user browses the information recorded by the image only for a short period of time, and after the viewing, the image forming substance formed on the recording material is removed and the recording material is reused. When it is determined that the information is recorded, information is recorded on the recording material to which the composition that reduces the fixability of the image forming substance is applied. In addition, since the image removing apparatus of the present invention enables the use of a peeling member provided with a composition containing a thermoplastic resin layer on the surface, the image information on the recording material on which information is recorded is completely removed. In addition, the image forming material transferred onto the peeling member can also be cleaned, and information from the image forming material transferred onto the peeling member can be erased.

The effects of the present invention are summarized for each claim as follows.
(1) The invention according to claim 1 Means for causing the transfer cleaning member made of a material having adhesion to the image forming substance transferred to the release member to be faster than the transfer speed of the release member and facing the release member. Therefore, even when a peeling member provided with a composition containing a thermoplastic resin on the surface is used, it is possible to remove the image forming substance transferred from the recording material to the peeling member. It is possible to completely remove the upper image forming material and repeat the image forming material removal operation.
There is also provided a heating means for making the temperature of the image forming substance at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member higher than the temperature of the image forming substance at a position where the recording material and the peeling member are separated by the separating means. Therefore, the cohesive force of the image forming substance on the peeling member is weaker than the adhesive force between the transfer cleaning member and the image forming substance, and internal cohesive failure of the image forming substance occurs in the transfer cleaning portion. It becomes possible to stably transfer the forming substance to the transfer cleaning member and remove the image forming substance on the peeling member .

(2) Invention according to claim 2
This is the same as the effect of the first aspect of the invention .

(3) The invention according to claim 3 Provided with means for heating the transfer cleaning member so that the temperature of the transfer cleaning member surface at the facing portion between the release member and the transfer cleaning member is higher than the temperature of the release member surface. Therefore, the image forming substance on the surface of the transfer cleaning member whose temperature is further increased and the cohesive force is weakened is transferred from the release member to the transfer cleaning member, and the composition layer containing the thermoplastic resin on the release member has a constant thickness. It is possible to transfer only the image forming material transferred from the recording material to the peeling member to the transfer cleaning member while keeping the recording material, completely removing the image forming material on the recording material and removing the image forming material from the peeling member. It is possible to repeat the image forming substance removal operation without causing reverse transfer of the image forming substance to the recording material.

(4) Invention of Claim 4 As a composition for forming the surface of the transfer cleaning member by making the transfer speed of the transfer cleaning member faster than the transfer speed of the peeling member, the material of the composition with respect to the image forming substance Even when a composition having an adhesive strength equal to or less than that of the peeling member to the image forming substance is used, the image forming substance can be transferred from the peeling member to the transfer cleaning member.
The image removing apparatus according to claim 4 uses, as a transfer cleaning member, a composition in which the adhesive force of the material of the composition to the image forming substance is equal to or less than the adhesive force of the peeling member to the image forming substance, and adheres to the image forming substance. By using a peeling member having a large force, the image forming substance can be removed from the recording material even if the fixing property of the recording material is relatively improved. Further, since the fixability of the recording material is improved, it is possible to prevent the offset generated by the fixing roller during image formation.

(5) The invention according to claim 5 The transfer cleaning member is provided on the roller, the transfer cleaning member is made of a material selected from a thermosetting resin, an ultraviolet curable resin, and an electron beam curable resin, and is bonded to an image forming substance. Since a transfer cleaning member having a large force and high durability can be obtained, it is possible to improve durability in repeated image forming substance removal processing of the image removing apparatus, and to improve the removal characteristics of the image forming substance. be able to.

(6) The invention according to claim 6 The member that backs up the peeling member or the transfer cleaning member at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member is a rubber member having a hardness of 20 degrees or less according to JIS K6253 and / or JIS K6253. Is composed of a sponge elastic member having a hardness of 20 degrees or less, and the backup member is made of an elastic body having a low elastic coefficient. Therefore, even if the transfer cleaning member and the peeling member are driven at different speeds, a relatively frictional force is generated. It is possible to weaken, and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of trouble due to an increase in the transport load accompanying different speed transport. Further, since the transfer cleaning member can contact the peeling member with a relatively large nip width, the image forming substance can be transferred to the transfer cleaning member even if the heating temperature of the transfer cleaning member is relatively low. The conveyance speed difference between the cleaning member and the peeling member can also be kept relatively low.
Further, even if the transfer cleaning member is abutted against the peeling member, the image forming material on the peeling member is not crushed. Therefore, the transfer cleaning member mainly contacts the image forming material transferred from the recording material to the surface of the peeling member. Thus, the image forming substance transferred from the recording material can be mainly transferred to the transfer cleaning member while keeping the thickness of the composition layer containing the thermoplastic resin on the peeling member constant.

(7) The invention according to claim 7 Since the position regulating member is provided so that the distance between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member is constant at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member, the transfer cleaning member is peeled off. An image transferred from the recording material while maintaining a constant thickness of the composition layer containing the thermoplastic resin on the peeling member, which is mainly in contact with the image forming material transferred from the recording material on the surface of the member. The forming material can be primarily transferred to the transfer cleaning member.

(8) The invention according to claim 8 By providing a blade member for scraping off the image forming material transferred from the peeling member on the transfer cleaning member, the image forming material transferred from the peeling member is scraped off to the transfer cleaning member. Therefore, it is possible to repeatedly perform the process of removing the image forming substance from the recording material.

(9) The invention according to claim 9 Since the image forming substance is transferred to the transfer cleaning member, a smoothing means for smoothing the surface of the release member is provided on the downstream side of the cleaning portion of the release member. Even if there is unevenness on the surface of the peeling member after transferring the image forming material from the member to the transfer cleaning member, the surface is surely flattened and the contact with the image forming material on the recording material is improved. It is possible to reliably remove the image forming material on the recording material and prevent the image forming material remaining on the peeling member from being reversely transferred to the recording material.

(10) Invention according to claim 10
Made with a plurality of stages of any of the image removal device of claims 1 to 9, the downstream side of the image removal device, using a peeling member surface layer in contact with the recording material exhibits plastic at a temperature of pressurization Therefore, it is possible to completely remove the image forming material on the recording material, and it is possible to remove the image forming material transferred from the recording material while leaving the thermoplastic layer from the peeling member. Therefore, it is possible to repeatedly perform the process of removing the image forming substance from the recording material.

(11) In the image removing device of the invention downstream of the claim 11, provided opposition to exfoliation member and the cleaning means, with a transfer cleaning member are conveyed at a speed higher than the conveying speed of the該剥release member Therefore, the image forming material transferred from the recording material to the surface of the peeling member can be removed even if the image forming material removal treatment of the recording material is continued by using the peeling member having the thermoplastic composition on the surface. Thus, it is possible to continuously maintain the complete removal of the image forming substance on the recording material. Further, in the image removing apparatus on the downstream side, since the amount of the image forming substance transferred to the peeling member is small, the cleaning process is performed every time the image forming substance removing process on the plurality of recording materials is performed. However, good image-forming substance removal quality can be maintained. By performing transfer cleaning intermittently in the downstream image removing apparatus , it is possible to extend the life of the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member and to save energy for heating. On the other hand, the upstream image removing device uses a peeling member that does not have a thermoplastic composition on the surface, so that the image forming material transferred onto the peeling member can be removed with a spiral blade roller or the like relatively easily. Thus, the transfer stability of the image forming substance from the recording material can be maintained.

(12) The term compound is one that decreases the fixing property 12 TO INVENTIONS image forming material according to on the reusable recording material was applied to the front surface billing, the image formed by the image forming substance having thermoplasticity, image removing of the invention Since the image forming substance on the recording material is removed using the apparatus, it is possible to completely remove the image forming substance with an image removing apparatus having a simple configuration, and the number of times that the recording material can be repeatedly used is reduced. Can be very much.

(13) paper made mainly of the invention the cellulose fibers according to claim 13 as a base material, its front surface, a composition comprising a compound is one that decreases the fixing property of the image forming substance per side 1.5 g / m ² or more Since the recording material to be attached and the smoothness by the Beck smoothness meter is 90 seconds or more and the image removing apparatus of the present invention are used, the background fog, the low density gradation image, and the image are scattered around the image. The image forming material on the recording material including the image forming material can be completely removed, and the number of times that the recording material can be used repeatedly can be greatly increased.

(14) a first image forming mode is set to assume that erasing the image formed on claim 14 in accordance with the invention the recording material on, not assume that erasing the image formed on the recording material The second image forming mode is provided, and the user can arbitrarily select the first image forming mode and the second image forming mode. When the first mode is selected, the image is When a reusable recording material having a reduced fixing property of the forming substance is supplied and an image is formed thereon, when the second mode is selected, ordinary paper is supplied and an image is formed thereon. The image forming apparatus controlled as described above and the image removing apparatus of the present invention are combined.
Thereby, when the user browses the information recorded by the image only for a short period of time, and after viewing, the image forming substance formed on the recording material is removed and the recording material is judged to be reused, Certainly, information is recorded on the recording material to which the composition that lowers the fixability of the image forming substance is applied. In addition, since the image removing apparatus of the present invention enables the use of a peeling member provided with a composition containing a thermoplastic resin layer on the surface, the image information on the recording material on which information is recorded is completely removed. In addition, since information by the image forming material transferred onto the peeling member is also erased, it is possible to provide an image forming and removing system that is extremely preferable from the viewpoint of information security.

[Image Removal Device According to Embodiment 1]
Here, in order to clarify the configuration of the present invention, an image removing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3 are explanatory views of the image removing apparatus, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a peeling member used in the image removing apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, after an image is formed by an electrophotographic type image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic method, an unnecessary recording material 10 has an image forming surface on the paper feeding cassette 11 of the image removing apparatus. Set downward. The configuration of the recording material 10 is, for example, based on a paper on which a composition that lowers the fixability to an image forming substance is applied in advance.
When the recording material 10 is plain paper, an image forming substance formed by a generally used electrophotographic apparatus cannot be easily removed. When using a recording material on which plain paper or an image forming substance is hardly peeled off, an image removal accelerating liquid mainly composed of water is used as disclosed in JP-A-7-13383 (Patent Document 1). In order to employ the applying method, it is necessary to provide means for applying the image removal promoting liquid to the recording material in the image removing apparatus. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, an image that does not use the image removal promoting liquid is used. A removal apparatus and an image removal method will be described. The recording material 10 on which the image in the paper feeding cassette 11 is formed is conveyed to a transfer / peeling portion by a paper feeding roller 12.

The transfer / peeling portion includes an endless belt-like peeling member 27, a pressure roller 21, a heating roller 22, a heater 23, a separation block 24, a cleaning backup roller 25, a smoothing roller 34, a tension roller 33, and the like. Composed.
The belt-like peeling member 27 is stretched around the heating roller 22, the separation block 24, the cleaning backup roller 25, and the tension roller 33 so as to circumscribe the pressure roller 21 and the smoothing roller 34. Yes. The heating roller 22 is rotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 by a drive system (not shown). The pressure roller 21 is made of a heat resistant elastic material made of silicon rubber or urethane foam elastic body having a hardness of 10 to 50 degrees and a thickness of about 0.5 to 7 mm on a roller made of a metal such as stainless steel or aluminum. A layer 35 is provided. A nip is formed between the pressure roller 21 and the heating roller 22 by applying pressure by a spring, a hydraulic pressure or a pneumatic device (not shown).

The endless belt-like peeling member 27 is conveyed at a speed substantially equal to the circumferential speed of the heating roller 22 by a frictional force generated by a nip pressure formed between the pressure roller 21 and the heating roller 22. The pressure roller 21 also rotates so that its peripheral speed is substantially equal to the peripheral speed of the heating roller 22 due to the frictional force generated by the nip pressure formed with the heating roller 22. The tension roller 33 is biased by a spring, a hydraulic pressure or a pneumatic device (not shown) so that the belt-like peeling member 27 does not loosen. By the paper feeding roller 12, the recording material 10 which has been transported to the transfer and peeling section is overlapped with the stripping member 27 which is heated by the heating roller 22, formed between the pressure roller 2 1 and the pressing heat roller 22 The nip is pressed. This pressing force is determined by setting the pressing force, the rubber hardness of the pressure roller, and the rubber thickness so that the surface pressure of the nip is 1 × 10 ^{5 to} 6 × 10 ⁵ Pa and the nip width is 3 to 13 mm. The transfer from the recording material 10 to the peeling member 27 is performed satisfactorily.

The heating roller 22 is a hollow roller made of a metal such as aluminum or stainless steel, and incorporates a heater 23 such as a halogen lamp or a coil for generating eddy current in the roller.
The end of the heating roller 22 is provided with a temperature sensor (not shown) such as a thermocouple, a platinum resistor, a thermistor, or an infrared sensor type for measuring the surface temperature of the heating roller. Information from the sensor is fed back, and the heater 23 is turned on / off by a temperature controller (not shown) to keep the surface temperature of the heating roller 22 constant. The appropriate temperature range controlled by the temperature controller depends on the physical properties of the image-forming substance and the speed at which the image-forming substance is removed, but for image-forming substances showing thermoplasticity that are generally used, The image forming substance on the recording material 10 is preferably set to 80 to 130 ° C., and the temperature of the surface of the heating roller 22 is preferably 80 to 180 ° C., particularly preferably 90 to 150 ° C. Heated to 80 to 130 ° C. by the heating roller 22, the image forming substance on the recording material is softened and becomes fluid. The heated image forming substance on the recording material 10 is pressed against the peeling member 27 by passing through the nip formed by the heating roller 22 and the pressure roller 21 and adheres to the peeling member.

The separation block 24 is a block having an edge with a radius of curvature of about 0.5 to 5 mm, and the peeling member 27 and the recording material 10 conveyed along the separation block are separated at the edge portion. By this separation operation, the image forming material on the recording material is transferred and peeled to the peeling member 27 side.
The recording material 16 from which the image forming material on the surface has been removed by the transfer / peeling portion is separated from the peeling member 27 by the separation block 24, and then conveyed by the paper discharge roller pair 15 and stocked on the paper discharge tray 17. The

  The peeling member 27 is made of, for example, a polymer compound having relatively high heat resistance such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthylate, polysulfone, polyetherimide, polyamideimide, polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide, polyimide, or polyetheretherketone. What was molded into an endless belt shape of about 50 to 300 μm can be used as it is. Moreover, metal members, such as stainless steel and nickel, can also be used. In the case where a member having a weak adhesive force to the image forming substance is used as the peeling member 27, if the adhesive force of the recording material to the image forming substance is not weaker than that, the image forming substance is transferred to the peeling member to record the recording material. Therefore, it is preferable to use the above-mentioned polymer compound having a relatively strong adhesive force to styrene-acrylic resin or polyester resin, which is generally used as an image forming material for an electrophotographic image forming apparatus or the like.

  In particular, the peeling member 27 used in the image removing apparatus of the present invention preferably has a composition layer containing a thermoplastic resin on the surface thereof. The structural example of the peeling member which has a composition layer containing a thermoplastic resin on the surface is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 27a denotes a substrate of a peeling member. For example, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthylate, polysulfone, polyetherimide, polyamideimide, polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide, polyimide, polyetheretherketone, and the like have high heat resistance. It can be composed of molecular compounds. 27c is a composition layer containing a thermoplastic resin, and the same thermoplastic resin used for the image forming substance can be used as the thermoplastic resin.

  That is, examples of the thermoplastic resin that can be used for the surface layer of the release member 27 include terephthalic acid, fumaric acid, maleic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, pimelic acid, suberic acid, and azelain as carboxylic acids. Acids, sebacic acid, brassic acid, pyromellitic acid, citraconic acid, glutaconic acid, mesaconic acid, itaconic acid, teraconic acid, phthalic acid, isophthalic acid, hemimellitic acid, melophanoic acid, trimesic acid, planitic acid, trimellitic acid, etc. One or more types are used, and polyhydric alcohols include bisphenol A, hydrogenated bisphenol A, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butanediol, neopentyldiol, hexamethylenediol, heptanediol, octanediol, pentaglycerol, pentaerythritol. Polyester resin obtained by condensation polymerization using one or more of lithol, cyclohexanediol, cyclopentanediol, pinacol, glycerin, etherified diphenol, catechol, resorcinol, pyrogallol, benzenetriol, phloroglucinol, benzenetetraol, etc. , Polystyrene, poly-p-chlorostyrene, polyvinyltoluene and other styrene and substituted polymers thereof; styrene-p-chlorostyrene copolymer, styrene-propylene copolymer, styrene-vinyltoluene copolymer, styrene- Vinyl naphthalene copolymer, styrene-methyl acrylate copolymer, styrene-ethyl acrylate copolymer, styrene-butyl acrylate copolymer, styrene-octyl acrylate copolymer, styrene-methacrylate Methyl lurate copolymer, styrene-ethyl methacrylate copolymer, styrene-butyl methacrylate copolymer, styrene-glycidyl methacrylate copolymer, styrene-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate copolymer, styrene-diethylaminoethyl methacrylate copolymer Styrene-diethylaminopropyl acrylate copolymer, styrene-ethylene glycol methacrylate copolymer, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, styrene-vinyl methyl ketone copolymer, styrene-butadiene copolymer, styrene-isoprene copolymer, Styrene copolymers such as styrene-acrylonitrile-indene copolymer, styrene-maleic acid copolymer, styrene-maleic acid ester copolymer; polymethyl methacrylate, polybutylmeta Chryrate, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, epoxy resin, epoxy polyol resin, polyurethane, polyamide, polyvinyl butyral, polyacrylic resin, rosin, modified rosin, terpene resin, aliphatic or alicyclic Examples thereof include hydrocarbon resins and aromatic petroleum resins.

  A thermoplastic resin provided on the surface of the peeling member while the recording material 10 on which the image is formed and the peeling member 27 are overlapped and pass through a nip formed by the pressure roller 21 and the heating roller 22. As a result of the softening of the composition layer 27c containing, the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin on the release member 27 is deformed even when the recording material 10 or the image forming material on the recording material is uneven. Therefore, the contact between the image forming substance and the peeling member becomes good, so that the image forming substance on the recording material 10 is well transferred to the peeling member 27 and removed. In order for the image forming substance on the recording material 10 to be transferred to the peeling member 27 satisfactorily, it is necessary to soften the recording material and the peeling member by overlapping and heating and pressurizing. By using a thermoplastic resin softening at the same temperature as the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin on the surface of the release member, the image forming substance and the thermoplastic resin on the surface of the release member are contained during heating and pressurization. Since both the composition layer 27c and the composition layer 27c are softened, the contact between the image forming substance and the peeling member 27 is improved, and an effect of improving the removal of the image forming substance is obtained.

  When a resin having a solubility parameter value close to the solubility parameter value of the thermoplastic resin used for the image forming material is used as the thermoplastic resin used for the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin, the above-mentioned recording material is used. In addition to the effect that the contact with the image forming material is good, the adhesion between the image forming material and the surface layer of the peeling member is increased, so that the image forming material on the recording material is further improved. It is transferred to the peeling member and removed. Accordingly, it is preferable to select and use the thermoplastic resin used for the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin having the same or the same molecular structure as the image forming substance. It is also preferable to use an image forming substance having thermoplasticity as the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin.

  The thickness of the composition layer 27c containing a thermoplastic resin provided on the substrate 27a of the peeling member is preferably 5 to 200 μm, and more preferably 15 to 40 μm. When the thickness of the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin is smaller than 5 μm, an image forming material for forming a background fog on the recording material 10, an image forming material scattered around the image, and a low density gradation image are formed. It is difficult to remove the image forming substance. If the thickness of the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin is larger than 200 μm, the heat capacity of the peeling member 27 increases or the thermal conductivity of the peeling member decreases, so that much energy is used to remove the image forming substance. When the peeling member 27 is cooled to room temperature when consumed or when the image removing apparatus is not used, or when the peeling member is transported through a portion having a small radius of curvature, the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin is peeled off. The problem of peeling off from the member base 27a is likely to occur.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, a composition layer 27c containing a thermoplastic resin can be provided directly on the base member 27a of the peeling member. However, with the thermoplastic resin and the base material of the peeling member 27 as described above, In general, since the coefficients of thermal expansion are different, the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin is peeled off and detached from the base 27a of the peeling member, particularly when the peeling member is cooled to room temperature when the image removing apparatus is not used. It is easy to end up. The surface of the release member base 27a on which the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin is provided is roughened by a method such as sandblasting, corona discharge treatment, electron beam irradiation treatment, ultraviolet irradiation treatment, oxidation with a dichromate compound-acid solution. Improving the adhesion of the peeling member base 27a to the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin by performing treatment, ablation by laser irradiation, ion beam irradiation treatment, etc. means that the heat from the peeling member base 27a. This is effective for preventing the composition layer 27c containing the plastic resin from peeling off or falling off.

As shown in FIG. 2A, an intermediate layer 27b may be provided between the base member 27a of the peeling member and the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin, or may include the thermoplastic resin from the base member 27a of the peeling member. This is effective for preventing the composition layer 27c from peeling off or falling off. As the material of the intermediate layer 27b, a composition layer 27c containing a thermoplastic resin whose surface has a coefficient of thermal expansion and a base member 27a of a peeling member among resins that can be used for the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin are used. Can be selected and used. Further, a composition having a small coefficient of thermal expansion, more specifically, a composition in which a pigment such as titanium oxide, calcium carbonate, zinc oxide, or carbon black is mixed with a resin that can be used for the composition layer 27c containing a thermoplastic resin. Can also be used. Furthermore, a pretreatment agent for improving the adhesion between the composition layer 27c containing a thermoplastic resin and the base member 27a of the peeling member, such as a coupling agent, can also be used.
The composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin preferably contains 60% by weight or more of the thermoplastic resin with respect to the entire composition layer, thereby obtaining desired thermoplasticity. Components other than the thermoplastic resin can be added to the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin depending on the purpose.

The cleaning unit for removing the image forming material from the peeling member 27 to which the image forming material has been transferred includes a cleaning backup roller 25, a transfer cleaning member roller 26, a cleaning blade 32, and an image forming material collecting container 29. Composed.
The transfer cleaning member roller 26 is provided with a heat resistant elastic layer 30 made of silicon rubber or foamed urethane elastic body having a thickness of about 0.5 to 7 mm on a roller made of metal such as stainless steel or aluminum. Yes. Further, the surface of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is made of transfer cleaning made of, for example, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthylate, polysulfone, polyetherimide, polyamideimide, polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide, polyimide, polyetheretherketone, or polyacetal. A member 39 is provided. As described above, the transfer cleaning member 39 does not necessarily need to use a material having a higher adhesive force to the image forming substance than the peeling member 27. Alternatively, a material having a small adhesive force to the image forming substance can be used. However, in order to keep the temperature of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 as low as possible and to efficiently transfer the image forming material transferred from the recording material onto the peeling member, the adhesion to the image forming material has a peeling member. 27 or a material higher than the base 27a of the peeling member is preferably used.

  When the transfer cleaning member 39 is provided on the surface of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 as in the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the heat resistance strength of the transfer cleaning member 39 is higher than when the transfer cleaning member is used as a belt. In addition to materials with high heat resistance as in the above material examples, use epoxy resin, urethane resin, acrylic resin, phenol resin, urea resin, melamine resin, etc. In addition, an ultraviolet curable resin, a thermosetting resin, and an electron beam curable resin can also be used. Among these various materials, a material having a high adhesive force to the image forming substance can be selected and used. However, when a low-flexibility material such as an ultraviolet curable resin, a thermosetting resin, or an electron beam curable resin is used as the transfer cleaning member 39, the transfer cleaning member as in the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. Rather than providing the elastic layer 30 on the roller 26, an elastic layer is provided on the cleaning backup roller 25 side so that a nip is formed between the transfer cleaning member roller 26 and the cleaning backup roller 25. It is preferable to do.

  The transfer cleaning member roller 26 may be provided with the transfer cleaning member 39 by dissolving the above materials in an organic solvent and coating the roller 26 with a spray method, a dipping method, or the like. There are a method in which the powder is melted after being attached by static electricity or the like, or a method in which a tube made of the above-mentioned material is produced by an extrusion molding method and coated on the roller 26 and then heat-shrinked. Among these methods, the method of covering with a heat-shrinkable tube is the most preferable method because the lower elastic layer 30 is not deteriorated by heating and a transfer cleaning member layer having a uniform thickness can be provided. In addition, a heater 31 such as a halogen lamp and a coil for generating an eddy current in the roller is built in the transfer cleaning member roller 26 to heat the roller 26.

  A temperature sensor (not shown) such as a thermocouple, a platinum resistor, a thermistor, and an infrared sensor type for measuring the surface temperature of the roller is provided at the end of the transfer cleaning member roller 26. Is fed back, and the heater 31 is turned on / off by a temperature controller (not shown) so that the surface temperature of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is kept constant. The appropriate temperature range controlled by the temperature controller depends on the physical properties of the image forming material, the physical properties of the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin formed on the surface of the peeling member, and the processing speed for removing the image forming material. . In order to efficiently transfer the image forming substance transferred from the recording material 10 to the peeling member 27 onto the surface of the transfer cleaning member roller 26, the internal cohesion force of the image forming substance on the peeling member is transferred to the image forming substance. It is preferable to control the temperature to be smaller than the adhesive force to the cleaning member 39. When the recording material 10 and the separation member 27 are separated by the separation block 24, the separation material is separated from the recording material unless the cohesive force of the image forming substance is a relatively low temperature that is sufficiently higher than the adhesive force to the separation member. The image forming substance is not transferred onto the transfer cleaning member 39, whereas the image forming substance at the facing portion between the peeling member 27 and the transfer cleaning member 39 has a cohesive force. It is necessary to set it at a relatively high temperature so as to be smaller than the adhesive strength of (Claim 2).

  For commonly used image forming materials exhibiting thermoplasticity, the surface temperature of the transfer cleaning member 39 is preferably set to 140 to 250 ° C., and in particular, maintained at 150 to 200 ° C. It is preferable. If the surface temperature of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is too high, useless heat is dissipated due to heat conduction and radiation, and the energy efficiency of the image forming substance removal operation is lowered, which is not preferable.

The cleaning backup roller 25 is a hollow roller made of metal such as aluminum or stainless steel, and incorporates a heater 28 such as a halogen lamp or a coil for generating eddy current in the roller. .
A temperature sensor (not shown) such as a thermocouple, a platinum resistor, a thermistor, and an infrared sensor type for measuring the surface temperature of the roller is provided at the end of the cleaning backup roller 25. Information from the sensor is fed back, and the heater 28 is turned on / off by a temperature controller (not shown) so that the surface temperature of the cleaning backup roller 25 is kept constant. The appropriate temperature range controlled by the temperature controller depends on the physical properties of the image forming substance, the physical properties of the composition layer containing the thermoplastic resin formed on the surface of the release member, and the speed at which the image forming substance is removed. The heater 28 of the cleaning backup roller 25 is not always necessary.

The surface temperature of the cleaning backup roller 25 is such that the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin on the surface of the peeling member is softened, but the peeling member 27 is heated so as to have a relatively low fluidity, or the image forming substance that has been transferred from the recording material to the peeling member onto the softened, the composition layer 27c containing a thermoplastic resin is heated so as not to soften the thermoplastic, which is formed on the front surface of the release member This is preferable because the thickness of the resin-containing composition layer 27c can be controlled to be constant. That is, it is preferable that the image forming substance on the peeling member is set to 70 to 110 ° C. with respect to an image forming substance showing thermoplasticity that is generally used, and the cleaning backup roller 25. It is preferable to keep the surface temperature at 70 to 170 ° C, particularly 80 to 140 ° C.

  A nip is formed between the transfer cleaning member roller 26 and the cleaning backup roller 25 by applying a pressing force by a spring, water pressure, pneumatic device or the like (not shown). The transfer cleaning member roller 26 is rotated at a peripheral speed faster than the conveyance speed of the recording material 10 by a drive system (not shown). According to the research results of the present inventor, the same material is used for the peeling member 27 or the peeling member base 27a and the transfer cleaning member 39, and the peripheral speed of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is set to the conveyance speed of the peeling member 27. When the rotation speed of the transfer cleaning member roller is the same as or opposite to the conveyance direction of the peeling member, the image forming material on the peeling member is transferred to the transfer cleaning member roller 26. On the other hand, when the peripheral speed of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is made slower than the conveyance speed of the peeling member 27, the rotation direction of the transfer cleaning member roller is opposite to the conveyance direction of the peeling member. However, the image forming substance on the peeling member was hardly transferred to the transfer cleaning member 39.

The transfer speed ratio between the transfer cleaning member 39 and the peeling member 27 is 1.1 to 15.0 regardless of whether the transfer direction of the transfer cleaning member 39 is the forward direction or the reverse direction with respect to the release member 27. In particular, it is preferably 2.0 to 5.0. When the speed ratio is small, as described above, the image forming substance does not transfer well from the peeling member to the transfer cleaning member. Further, even if the speed ratio is increased more than necessary, there is no difference in transferability of the image forming substance, and the conveyance load becomes high, so that trouble occurs in driving the transfer cleaning member 39 and the peeling member 27.
When the rotation direction of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is set to the forward direction with respect to the conveying direction of the peeling member 27, an excessive driving load is not required and a composition containing a thermoplastic resin having a uniform thickness is left on the peeling member. Is particularly preferable.
Further, by controlling the surface temperature of the transfer cleaning member 39 so that the temperature at the facing portion between the release member 27 and the transfer cleaning member 39 is higher than that of the release member surface, the release member is controlled. It is easy to transfer the image forming material transferred from the recording material 10 to the peeling member 27 to the transfer cleaning member 39 while leaving the composition containing the thermoplastic resin having a uniform thickness on the top. ).

  The elastic layer 30 provided on the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is preferably composed of a rubber member having a hardness of 20 degrees or less according to JIS K6253 and / or a sponge elastic member having a hardness of 20 degrees or less according to JIS K6253. . In particular, the rubber member is preferably composed of a rubber member having a hardness of 15 degrees or less according to JIS K6253 and / or a sponge elastic member having a hardness of 15 degrees or less according to JIS K6253. Since the transfer cleaning member roller 26 and the peeling member 27 are conveyed at different speeds, if the pressure applied between these members is high, the frictional force between the two members becomes large, and it is impossible to convey the two. Even if it can be transported, it becomes unstable. If the pressure applied between the transfer cleaning member roller 26 and the cleaning backup roller 25 is lowered in order to reduce the frictional force, the nip width formed by the two becomes narrower, and the image forming substance on the peeling member is aggregated. In order to weaken the force, it is necessary to set the surface temperature of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 high, or the cohesive force of the image forming material on the peeling member does not become weak enough, so that the image was transferred from the recording material onto the peeling member. It is easy to cause a problem that the image forming substance is not sufficiently transferred to the transfer cleaning member 39.

Therefore, the elastic layer 30 provided on the transfer cleaning member roller 26 that backs up the transfer cleaning member 39 has a hardness within the above range, so that the transfer cleaning member roller 26 and the cleaning backup roller 25 A relatively large nip width can be formed even if the pressure applied to the sheet is lowered and the frictional force between the peeling member 27 and the transfer cleaning member 39 is reduced, and transfer from the recording material onto the peeling member is possible. It is possible to transfer the formed image forming material to the transfer cleaning member 39 satisfactorily.
The pressure applied between the transfer cleaning member roller 26 and the cleaning backup roller 25 is set so that the nip inner surface pressure is 3 × 10 ⁴ Pa or less, so that the transfer cleaning member 39 is conveyed. Can be stable.

(Modification Example of Image Removal Device According to Embodiment 1)
Next, an example in which the configuration of the image removing apparatus (see FIG. 1) according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is slightly changed will be described with reference to FIG.
In the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. 3, the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is not provided with an elastic layer, and the cleaning backup roller 25 facing the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is provided with an elastic layer 36. Yes. When the elastic layer is provided on the cleaning backup roller 25, a rubber member having a hardness of 20 degrees or less according to JIS K6253 is provided on the elastic layer, similarly to the case where the elastic layer is provided on the transfer cleaning member roller 26, and / Or comprises a sponge elastic member having a hardness of 20 degrees or less according to JIS K6253, in particular a rubber member having a hardness of 15 degrees or less according to JIS K6253, and / or a sponge elastic member having a hardness according to JIS K6253 of 15 degrees or less It is preferable for the same reason as in the case where the elastic layer 30 is provided on the transfer cleaning member roller 26.

  By setting the pressure applied between the transfer cleaning member roller 26 and the cleaning backup roller 25 to be low, the image forming material is transferred from the recording material 10 onto the peeling member 27, and image formation on the peeling member is performed. Since the thickened portion of the material layer is not crushed strongly even when pressed in contact with the transfer cleaning member 39, the surface of the transfer cleaning member 39 is transferred from the recording material on the peeling member. The image forming material on the peeling member 27 is transferred to the transfer cleaning member 39 by increasing the temperature of the image forming material until the cohesive force of the image forming material becomes smaller than the adhesive force with the transfer cleaning member 39. And the thickness of the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin on the peeling member is kept substantially uniform.

  Even if the operation of transferring the image forming substance on the recording material 10 to the peeling member 27 and removing the image forming substance on the recording material is repeated, the thickness of the composition layer 27c containing the thermoplastic resin on the peeling member is repeated. Can be achieved by holding the transfer cleaning member roller 26 and the cleaning backup roller 25 in contact with each other with the peeling member 27 interposed therebetween as described above, and applying a relatively weak pressure therebetween. However, when more stable thickness control is performed, a position regulating member is provided so that the distance between the peeling member 27 and the transfer cleaning member is constant at the opposing portion between the peeling member 27 and the transfer cleaning member 39. (Claim 7). The position regulating member is provided with spacers having a thickness of about 10 to 100 μm at both ends in the width direction of the peeling member so that the distance between the peeling member 27 and the transfer cleaning member 39 is constant. 26 or both ends of the cleaning backup roller 25 in the width direction are cut so that the diameter thereof is larger than that near the center so that an appropriate interval is formed between the peeling member 27 and the transfer cleaning member 39, or A ring may be attached to both ends of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 or the cleaning backup roller 25 in the width direction so as to provide an appropriate distance between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member.

  In the above example of the image removing apparatus, a sheet-like recording material is used, and the image forming substance on the peeling member 27 is removed every time the image forming substance on one recording material 10 is removed. Although the method of transferring to the transfer cleaning member 39 has been described, it is not always necessary to transfer the image forming material transferred from the recording material onto the peeling member to the transfer cleaning member 39 every time the recording material 10 is processed. . When the amount of the image forming substance accumulated on the peeling member 27 is small, the power of the heater 31 in the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is turned off, or the gear for rotating the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is set to a clutch, solenoid, etc. The transfer cleaning member roller 26 is rotated with the cleaning backup roller 25 so that the power is not transmitted by the rotation, and the peripheral speed of rotation of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 becomes substantially equal to the conveying speed of the peeling member 27. Or by releasing the transfer cleaning member roller 26 so as not to contact the peeling member 27 by a solenoid, a cam or the like, so that the image forming material on the peeling member 27 is controlled not to transfer to the transfer cleaning member 39, A certain amount of image-forming substance accumulated on the release member It is also possible to control so that the image forming material transferred from the recording material onto the peeling member is transferred to the transfer cleaning member 39 only when the recording material is exceeded or when a certain number of recording materials are processed. .

  The smoothing roller 34 shown in FIG. 1 is made of silicon rubber having a hardness of 10 to 50 degrees and a thickness of about 0.4 to 3 mm, a urethane foam elastic body, or the like on a roller made of a metal such as stainless steel or aluminum. The outermost surface is made of a low surface energy polymer compound such as a fluorine-based polymer. The reason for providing the low surface energy layer 38 is to prevent the softened image forming material from sticking to the surface of the smoothing roller 34. A nip is formed between the smoothing roller 34 and the cleaning backup roller 25 by applying a pressing force by a spring, hydraulic pressure, pneumatic device or the like (not shown). After the image forming substance on the peeling member 27 is transferred to the transfer cleaning member roller 26, a composition containing a thermoplastic resin that is surely softened on the peeling member surface even when the peeling member surface is uneven. It can be smoothed (Claim 9). This smoothing prevents occurrence of reverse transfer of the image forming material from the peeling member 27 to the recording material 10 and occurrence of defective removal of the image forming material, which are caused by unevenness in the image forming material on the peeling member 27. can do.

  However, it is not essential to smooth the surface of the peeling member after the image forming material on the peeling member 27 is cleaned by the transfer cleaning member 39. In the example of the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. Not provided. Whether or not the smoothing roller 34 is necessary depends on factors such as an image forming material, physical properties of the transfer cleaning member 39, a conveyance speed ratio between the peeling member 27 and the transfer cleaning member 39, and a heating temperature of the transfer cleaning member. When the heating temperature of the transfer cleaning member 39 is increased and the conveyance speed ratio between the peeling member 27 and the transfer cleaning member is set high, the image forming material on the peeling member is not completely removed. Since the surface has a relatively uniform thickness and a thermoplastic resin layer and an image forming material layer having a uniform thickness are left on the peeling member, the smoothing roller 34 tends to be unnecessary.

  When the removal process of the image forming substance from the recording material 10 is repeated, the image forming substance is accumulated on the transfer cleaning member 39. Therefore, in order to continuously repeat the removal process of the image forming substance in the image removing apparatus, It is necessary to remove the image forming material from the transfer cleaning member 39 or to replace the transfer cleaning member 39. In the example of the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a cleaning blade 32 is provided in order to remove the image forming material transferred onto the transfer cleaning member 39 (claim 8). This cleaning blade 32 is made of a metal such as stainless steel, aluminum, or cutting steel, or polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthylate, polysulfone, polyetherimide, polyamideimide, polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide, polyimide, polyetheretherketone, polyacetal, phenol. It can be made of a material mainly composed of a polymer compound such as a resin, a urea resin, a urethane resin, or a melamine resin. Although the cleaning blade 32 can also be provided with a heater, the transfer cleaning member roller 26 is set to a temperature at which internal cohesive failure of the image forming material occurs relatively easily, and therefore the image forming material present on the surface thereof. Is scraped off by the cleaning blade 32 and accumulates in the image forming substance recovery container 29.

[Image Removal Device According to Embodiment 2]
Next, an image removal apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the image removing device, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a spiral blade cleaning roller used in the image removing device.
4, the same components as those in FIGS. 1 and 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals. As shown in FIG. 4, the peeling member 27 is in contact with the recording material inlet roller 51, the pressure roller 21, the separation block 24, the cleaning backup roller 25, and the tension roller 33, and the heating roller 22, It is stretched around the smoothing roller 34 and the transfer cleaning member belt 52. The transfer cleaning unit includes a transfer cleaning member belt 52, a transfer cleaning member backup roller 55, a blade backup roller 46, a spiral blade cleaning roller 45, and the like. The transfer cleaning member belt 52 is made of polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthylate, polysulfone, polyetherimide, polyamideimide, polyamide, polyphenylene sulfide, polyimide, polyetheretherketone, or a high heat resistant polymer compound, or nickel, stainless steel, etc. These belts are made of metal members, and these materials can be laminated as necessary. The transfer cleaning member backup roller 55 is a heat resistant elastic layer made of silicon rubber, foamed urethane elastic body, etc. having a hardness of 15 degrees or less and a thickness of about 0.5 to 5 mm on a roller made of a metal such as stainless steel or aluminum. 57 is provided.

  The transfer cleaning member belt 52 is stretched so as to inscribe the transfer cleaning member backup roller 55 and the blade backup roller 46. A nip is formed between the transfer cleaning member backup roller 55 and the cleaning backup roller 25 by a spring, water pressure, pneumatic device or the like (not shown). The transfer cleaning member backup roller 55 contains a heater 56 such as a halogen lamp or a coil for generating an eddy current in the roller, and measures the surface temperature of the roller (not shown) at its end. A temperature sensor such as a thermocouple, a platinum resistor, a thermistor, or an infrared sensor type is provided to feed back information from the temperature sensor, and the heater 56 is turned on / off by a temperature controller (not shown). OFF control is performed, and the surface temperature of the transfer cleaning member backup roller 55 is configured to be kept constant as in the image removing apparatus of FIGS. The transfer cleaning member belt 52 is transported by the transfer cleaning member backup roller 55 at a transport speed faster than the transport speed of the peeling member 27 as in the example of the image removing apparatus of FIGS. The image forming material transferred from the recording material 10 is transferred.

  The blade backup roller 46 is provided with an elastic layer 47, and a pressure is applied between the blade backup roller 46 and the spiral blade cleaning roller 45 by a spring, a hydraulic pressure, a pneumatic device or the like (not shown), A nip is formed. As shown in FIG. 5, the spiral blade cleaning roller 45 is made of a material such as cutting steel, stainless steel, or ceramics, and is provided with a plurality of blades 45a having edge portions 45b. The image forming material transferred onto the transfer cleaning member belt 52 in the vicinity of the transfer cleaning member backup roller 55 is cooled to reach the vicinity of the blade backup roller 46 to increase the cohesive force, and then the spiral blade cleaning roller 45. And is collected in the image forming substance recovery container 29. The rotational direction of the spiral blade cleaning roller 45 can remove the image forming substance in either the forward direction or the reverse direction with respect to the conveying direction of the transfer cleaning member belt 52. If the image forming material transferred onto the transfer cleaning member belt 52 is not sufficiently cooled from the transfer cleaning member backup roller 55 to the blade backup roller 46, the cohesive force cannot be increased and it is difficult to scrape off with the blade. Therefore, it is possible to provide a blowing means for forcibly cooling the image forming substance on the transfer cleaning member belt 52, a means for contacting with the refrigerant, and the like.

[Image Removal Device According to Embodiment 3]
Next, an image removing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the image removing apparatus, and components common to those shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
The applicant separates the recording material and the peeling member from each other, the means for heating and pressing the superimposed recording material and the peeling member, and the superimposed recording material and the peeling member. A plurality of image forming substance transfer means for transferring an image forming substance from a series of recording materials to a peeling member, and an image forming substance transfer means from an upstream recording material to a peeling member The surface layer in contact with the recording material uses a peeling member that does not exhibit plasticity at the temperature at the time of pressurization, and in the downstream image forming substance transfer means, the surface layer in contact with the recording material becomes plastic at the temperature at the time of pressurization. An image removing device using the shown peeling member was proposed. (Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-72007)
The image removing apparatus shown in FIG. 6 is an example in which the image forming substance transfer means from the recording material to the peeling member is composed of two stages. In such an image removing apparatus, the image forming substance that forms the background fog, the low concentration This is preferable in that the image forming substance on the recording material can be completely removed including the image forming substance for forming the gradation image and the image forming substance scattered around the image.

However, conventionally, there has been a problem that it is difficult to remove the image forming material transferred to the release member provided on the surface with the composition containing the downstream thermoplastic resin.
In the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. 6, an image transferred onto the peeling member 27 by using the transfer cleaning member 39 only for cleaning the peeling member 27 provided on the surface with the composition containing the downstream thermoplastic resin. The forming substance is removed (claim 11). That is, as a means for removing the image forming material from the peeling member 67 that does not exhibit plasticity at the temperature when the upstream surface layer is pressurized, a spiral cleaning blade roller 45 that scrapes off the image forming material is used. As a means for removing the image forming material from the peeling member 27 whose surface layer in contact with the recording material 10 exhibits plasticity at the temperature at the time of pressurization, the transfer cleaning member roller 26 that is transported at a speed higher than the transport speed of the peeling member 27 And a cleaning means for transferring the image forming material on the peeling member 27 to the transfer cleaning member roller at a portion facing the transfer cleaning member roller 26.
In FIG. 6, 65 is a tension roller, 66 is a cleaning / backup roller, and 68 is a pair of paper feed rollers.

  In the example of the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. 6, a thick image, character image, or line image, that is, most of the image forming substance on the recording material 10 is transferred to the peeling member 67 by the first stage peeling. To be removed. In the second stage peeling, the image forming material forming the background fog, the image forming material forming the low density gradation image, and the image scattering material are transferred from the recording material 10 to the peeling member 27. Since it is an image formed product and its amount is small, every time the image forming substance of one recording material is removed in the example of the apparatus for processing a sheet-like recording material, the second-stage peeling member 27 There is no need to clean. A means for detecting the thickness of the image forming substance accumulated on the peeling member 27 is provided so that the cleaning operation is performed for every fixed number of sheets such as every 100 to 5000 sheets, and the transfer result is intermittently transferred by feeding back the detection result. It is preferable that the member roller 26 is operated for cleaning because energy consumed for removing the image forming substance from the recording material 10 can be reduced. The specific method and means for enabling or disabling the operation of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 are as already described in the description of the first embodiment shown in FIG. From the means described in the second embodiment, it can be appropriately selected and used according to the purpose and configuration.

[Recording material used in image removing apparatus]
Next, the recording material used for the image removing apparatus of the present invention will be described.
The method and means for removing the image forming substance from the recording material of the present invention can also be applied to plain paper generally used for image formation. However, in general, an image forming substance formed on plain paper has a strong adhesive force to paper, and it is difficult to peel and remove without a means for applying an image removal accelerating liquid to a recording material. When an image removal accelerating liquid mainly composed of water is applied to paper, curling and wrinkles are likely to occur during re-image formation and image forming substance removal processing, and the rate of occurrence increases rapidly, especially when repeated use is made. The number of repeated uses is significantly limited. In addition, since the uneven structure on the surface of plain paper is too large, the image forming substance cannot be completely removed even if it is peeled off by a peeling member having a composition containing a thermoplastic resin layer on the surface.
Thus, the image removing device of the present invention, the unevenness of the surface reduced than plain paper, the recording material with improved smoothness, i.e., a plain paper mainly made of cellulose fibers as a base material, one side on the table surface This is particularly effective when a recording material is used in which a composition for improving smoothness is applied so that the adhesion amount is 1.5 g / m ² or more per unit, and the smoothness measured by a Beck smoothness meter is 90 seconds or more. The image forming substance on the recording material is completely removed, and the number of times that the recording material can be used repeatedly is remarkably improved.

In addition, the image removal apparatus of the present invention is used in combination with a recording material to which a composition that lowers the fixing property with an image forming substance is applied in advance, thereby supplying an image removal accelerating liquid with a relatively simple configuration. In addition to being able to remove image forming substances with an image removing apparatus that does not require maintenance, a composition that does not cause troubles such as generation of wrinkles due to application of an image removal accelerating liquid, and includes a thermoplastic resin on the surface It is possible to use a peeling member provided with an object, and the image forming substance on the recording material can be completely removed, so that the number of times that the recording material can be repeatedly used is remarkably improved. .
As a constitution of the recording material used in the present invention, a sealing layer for smoothing it can be provided on plain paper, and a composition for lowering the fixing property with an image forming substance can be applied. However, it is preferable to provide the paper with a coating liquid having both a sealing function and a fixing property-reducing function in terms of providing an inexpensive recording material.

  Specific compounds for reducing the fixability to the image forming substance include silicon resins, silane coupling agents, fluororesins, olefin resins, surfactants, sizing agents, waxes and the like. An example of a reusable recording material obtained by adding a surfactant to paper is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-74025, and includes a fluorine-based surfactant, a silicon-based surfactant, and the total number of carbon atoms in a molecule. Is preferably a paper provided with a surfactant containing 8 or more linear or branched alkyl groups.

Specific examples of the fluorosurfactant that can be included in the recording material in order to reduce the fixing property with the image-forming substance are anionics such as fluoroalkylcarboxylate and fluoroalkylsulfonate, and fluoroalkyl introduction These include amphoteric systems such as betaine, nonionic systems, and cationic systems.
Specific examples of the silicon surfactant include silicone oils such as epoxy modification, alkyl modification, aralkyl modification, amino modification, carboxyl modification, alcohol modification, fluorine modification, and polyether modification. Examples of surfactants containing a linear or branched alkyl group having a total number of carbon atoms of 8 or more in the molecule are alkyl carboxylates, alkyl sulfates, alkyl sulfonates, alkyl phosphates Anionic compounds such as salts, cationic compounds such as alkylamine salts, alkylamine derivatives, quaternary ammonium salts, imidazolines and imidazolium salts, and amphoteric systems such as betaines.
Examples of the recording material provided with a silicon compound on the surface are disclosed in JP-A-9-204060, JP-A-9-24061, and the like.

In the present invention, a recording material that is particularly preferably used is a recording material that uses an olefin-maleic anhydride polymer as a compound that lowers the fixing property with an image forming substance. As the olefin component of the olefin-maleic anhydride polymer, in particular, by using a polymer compound having a double bond at the α-position and polymerized using an olefin monomer having 10 to 20 carbon atoms, It is possible to prevent the compound that deteriorates the fixing property with the image-forming substance due to repeated use of the recording material from being transferred to the peeling member, the inside of the recording material, etc., and to increase the number of repeated uses.
In addition, as a compound for sealing the recording material, white pigments such as calcium carbonate, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, barium sulfate, latex, styrene-butadiene polymer emulsion, acrylic resin, polyvinyl alcohol, starch, vinyl acetate heavy Polymer compounds such as coalescence emulsion, carboxymethyl cellulose, alginic acid, and gum arabic can be used. These polymer compounds and pigments can be mixed to provide a sealing layer on paper. In addition to the polymer compound, a compound or a pigment that lowers the fixing property of the image forming substance may be mixed and applied to paper.

[Image formation / removal system using image removal device]
Next, an image forming / removing system using the image removing apparatus of the present invention will be described.
The image removing apparatus and the method of repeatedly using a recording material of the present invention erase a first image forming mode that presupposes erasing an image formed on the recording material and an image formed on the recording material. A second image forming mode that is not premised on, and the user can arbitrarily select the first image forming mode and the second image forming mode, and when the first mode is selected, A reusable recording material in which the fixing property of the image forming substance is lowered is supplied and an image is formed thereon. When the second mode is selected, ordinary paper is supplied and an image is formed thereon. It is particularly effective to use as an image forming / removing system combined with an image forming apparatus controlled in this way.

  In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-128046, the applicant of the present invention describes a first image forming mode that presupposes erasing an image formed on a recording material and erasing an image formed on the recording material. An image forming apparatus provided with a second image forming mode which is not assumed has been proposed. If the image forming apparatus proposed here is used in combination with the image removal apparatus of the present invention and the method of repeatedly using the recording material, the user browses the recorded information only for a short period of time, and after browsing, A composition that reliably reduces the fixability with an image-forming substance when it is determined that the image-forming substance formed on the recording material is removed and the recording material on which information is recorded is to be reused. Information is recorded on the recording material to which is provided. On the other hand, in the step of removing the image forming substance from the recording material, the image removing apparatus of the present invention is used, and the image forming substance is removed by using a peeling member provided with a composition containing a thermoplastic resin on the surface. Since the image forming substance on the recording material can be completely removed, the number of times that the recording material can be used repeatedly is remarkably improved. Further, since the image forming substance on the recording material can be completely removed and no image information remains on the peeling member, the recording material or peeling member on which the image information is recorded is recycled. In addition, a system that is extremely preferable from the viewpoint of information security can be configured without being exposed to the outside.

〔Example〕
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on more specific examples and comparative examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples.
Example 1
A coating solution was prepared by mixing 1 part by weight of a 25% by weight aqueous solution of an olefin-maleic anhydride polymer and 10 parts by weight of a 10% by weight aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol. This coating solution is applied to both sides of commercially available plain paper (for example, copy paper Type 6200 manufactured by Ricoh Co., Ltd.) using a wire bar so that the dry coating amount on one side is 2.3 g / m ^2. Drying was performed for 5 minutes, and smoothing was performed with a super calendar to obtain reusable paper. The smoothness of this paper was 350 seconds.
Using this recording material, a commercially available color electrophotographic image forming apparatus (for example, trade name: Ricoh imagio Neo C385) is used to provide a full-color pattern having a gradation image, a secondary color and a solid solid image, and a character image. Is printed. The printed image was clear.

The image forming substance was removed from the recording material on which an image was formed as described above, using the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. The conditions for image removal were as follows.
Process linear velocity (peeling member conveyance speed): 40 mm / sec
<Upstream image forming substance removal processing section>
Peeling member: 100 μm thick polyimide film Image forming substance removing blade: 4-striped spiral cleaning blade made of cutting steel, diameter 25 mmφ
Backup roller surface material: urethane sponge member, hardness 10 degrees Blade rotation direction (during normal use): Reverse direction of peeling member conveyance direction Heating roller set temperature: 135 ° C

<Downstream image forming substance removal processing section>
Peeling member: Ricoh immio Neo C385 black toner applied to a thickness of 21 μm on a polyimide film with a thickness of 100 μm and heat-fixed. Heating roller set temperature: 120 ° C.
Transition cleaning member: polyimide Elastic body of transition cleaning member roller: sponge member with hardness of 15 degrees Transition cleaning member roller set temperature: 180 ° C
Transition cleaning member roller rotation direction: peeling member transport direction and forward direction Transition cleaning member roller peripheral speed: 120 mm / sec
Cleaning interval: Every time 300 sheets of recording material are processed

  When the image forming material was removed from the recording material under the above conditions, the image forming material on the recording material was completely removed. With respect to the same recording material, a cycle in which an image having the same pattern as that described above was formed on paper that had been subjected to the removal process of the image forming substance and then the removal process of the image forming substance was repeated 25 times. There was no noticeable change in the image, the background fog density did not increase, and it was as clear as the image obtained at the first use. In addition, the result of removing the image forming substance from the recording material after repeated use 25 times is also scattered around the low density gradation image and the image periphery as in the first removing process of the image forming substance. In addition, the toner on the recording material, including the toner that was removed and the fog that was removed, was completely removed. Further, the image removal apparatus continued to run, and after 2000 image forming substances were removed, the image forming substance on the recording material was removed in the same manner. The toner on the recording material was completely removed including the toned image, the toner scattered around the image, and the removed toner.

(Comparative Example 1)
In the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. 6, evaluation was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the peripheral speed of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 in the downstream image forming substance removal processing unit was made equal to that of the peeling member 27. Went. In the initial stage of the running of the image removing apparatus, the image forming substance can be removed from the recording material as well as the recording material with the first use and the recording material with the 25th use as in the first embodiment. It was possible to remove the forming material. However, from the time when about 1400 recording materials were processed, the remaining toner gradually started to be recorded on the recording material, and the remaining amount increased as the running continued. In particular, a large amount of toner remained immediately after the cleaning operation of the peeling member 27. Further, from the time when about 1,700 sheets were run, the toner started to reversely transfer from the peeling member 27 to the background portion of the recording material from which the image forming substance was removed, and the stain became severe as the running continued. In particular, the stain was severe immediately after the cleaning operation of the peeling member 27. As a result of observing the surface of the transfer cleaning member roller 26 during the cleaning operation of the downstream release member 27, the image forming substance on the release member is hardly transferred to the transfer cleaning member 39 side by the cleaning operation of the release member 27. As a result, the size of the unevenness of the image forming substance on the surface of the peeling member was increased.

(Example 2)
A coating solution was prepared by mixing 1 part by weight of a 25% by weight aqueous solution of an olefin-maleic anhydride polymer and 8 parts by weight of a 10% by weight aqueous solution of oxidized starch. This coating solution is applied to both sides of commercially available plain paper (for example, copy paper Type 6200 manufactured by Ricoh Co., Ltd.) using a wire bar so that the dry coating amount on one side is 1.6 g / m ^2. After drying for 5 minutes, smoothing processing was performed with a super calendar to obtain reusable paper. The smoothness of this paper was 95 seconds.
Using this recording material, a full-color pattern having a gradation image, a secondary color and a single color solid image, and a character image using a commercially available color electrophotographic image forming apparatus (for example, trade name: Ricoh imagio Neo C385) Is printed. The printed image was clear.

The image forming substance was removed from the recording material on which an image was formed as described above, using the image removing apparatus shown in FIG. The conditions for image removal were as follows.
Process linear speed (peeling member conveying speed): 30 mm / sec
Release member: Ricoh immio Neo C385 black toner applied to a thickness of 21 μm on a 100 μm thick polyether film and heat-fixed. Heating roller set temperature: 128 ° C.
Transfer cleaning member: UV curable acrylic resin Cleaning elastic body of backup roller: Sponge member with hardness of 15 degrees Transfer cleaning member roller set temperature: 180 ° C
Transition cleaning member roller rotation direction: peeling member conveyance direction and forward direction Transition cleaning member roller peripheral speed: 150 mm / sec
Cleaning interval: Every time an image forming substance removal process is performed on a sheet-like recording material

  When the image forming material was removed from the recording material under the above conditions, the image forming material on the recording material was completely removed. With respect to the same recording material, a cycle in which an image having the same pattern as that described above was formed on paper that had been subjected to the removal process of the image forming substance and then the removal process of the image forming substance was repeated 25 times. There was no noticeable change in the image, the background fog density did not increase, and it was as clear as the image obtained at the first use. In addition, the result of removing the image forming substance from the recording material after repeated use 25 times is also scattered around the low density gradation image and the image periphery as in the first removing process of the image forming substance. In addition, the toner on the recording material was completely removed, including the toner and the toner with a background fog. Furthermore, after the image removing apparatus continued to run and removed 2000 image forming substances, the image forming substance on the recording material was removed in the same manner. The toner on the recording material was completely removed, including the gradation image, the toner scattered around the image, and the toner with a background fog.

These are the schematic diagrams explaining the image removal apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. These are explanatory drawings of the peeling member used for the image removing apparatus of the present invention, wherein (a) is provided with an intermediate layer between the substrate and the composition layer containing the thermoplastic resin, and (b) is an intermediate layer. It does not have. These are the schematic diagrams explaining the example of a change of the image removal apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. These are the schematic diagrams explaining the image removal apparatus by Embodiment 2 of this invention. These are explanatory drawings of the spiral blade cleaning roller used for the image removal apparatus of this invention, (a) is a front view, (b) is sectional drawing. These are the schematic diagrams explaining the image removal apparatus by Embodiment 3 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10: Recording material (no longer needed after the image is formed)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Paper feed cassette 12 ... Paper feed roller 13 ... Paper feed roller pair 15 ... Paper discharge roller pair 16 ... Recording material (image removed)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 17 ... Paper discharge tray 21 ... Pressure roller 22 ... Heating roller 23 ... Heating heater 24 ... Separation block 25 ... Cleaning backup roller 26 ... Transfer cleaning member roller 27 ... Release member (endless belt shape) 27a ... Base of release member 27b: peeling member intermediate layer 27c ... peeling member composition layer 28, 31 ... heater 29 ... (image forming substance) recovery container 30 ... heat resistant elastic layer 32 ... cleaning blade 33 ... tension roller 34 ... smoothing roller 35 ˜37 ... heat-resistant elastic layer 38 ... low surface energy layer 39 ... transfer cleaning member 40 ... waste image forming material 45 ... spiral cleaning blade roller 45a ... blade 45b ... edge portion 46 ... blade backup roller 47 ... elastic layer 51 ... recorded Material entrance roller 52 ... Transition Rolling member belt 53 ... Guide plate 55 ... Transition cleaning member backup roller 56,63 ... Heating heater 57 ... Heat resistant elastic layer 61 ... Pressure roller 62 ... Heating roller 64 ... Separation block 65 ... Tension roller 66 ... Cleaning backup roller 67 ... Peeling member 68 ... Feeding roller pair

Claims (14)

Means for superimposing at least a recording material on which an image is formed with an image forming substance having thermoplasticity and a peeling member having an adhesive force to the image forming substance, and the superposed recording material and the peeling member; In an image removing apparatus comprising means for heating and pressurizing, and separation means for separating the superimposed recording material and the peeling member and transferring the image forming substance on the recording material to the peeling member ,
Means for causing a transfer cleaning member made of a material having adhesiveness to the image forming substance transferred to the peeling member to be conveyed at a speed faster than the conveying speed of the peeling member, facing the peeling member ;
There is provided a heating means for making the temperature of the image forming substance at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member higher than the temperature of the image forming substance at a position where the recording material and the peeling member are separated by the separating means . And
The image forming substance on the peeling member is transferred to the transfer cleaning member by causing a cohesive failure of the image forming substance at the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member. An image removing apparatus for removing an image forming substance. Only a part of the image forming substance on the peeling member by transferred to the transfer cleaning member, the image removing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the removal of image forming substance on該剥away member.   A means for heating the transfer cleaning member is provided so that the temperature of the transfer cleaning member surface at the facing portion between the release member and the transfer cleaning member is higher than the temperature of the release member surface. The image removal apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.   2. The composition for forming the surface of the transfer cleaning member is a composition having an adhesive strength of the composition to an image forming substance equal to or less than that of the peeling member to the image forming substance. The image removing apparatus according to claim 3.   4. The transfer cleaning member is provided on a roller, and the transfer cleaning member is made of a material selected from a thermosetting resin, an ultraviolet curable resin, and an electron beam curable resin. The image removing apparatus according to any one of the above. In the facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member, the peeling member or the member that backs up the transfer cleaning member is a rubber member having a hardness according to JIS K6253 of 20 degrees or less and / or a hardness according to JIS K6253 of 20 degrees or less. 6. The image removing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image removing apparatus is formed of a sponge elastic member. 7. The position regulating member is provided at a facing portion between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member so that a distance between the peeling member and the transfer cleaning member is constant. The image removal apparatus described in 1.   The image removing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a blade member for scraping off the image forming material transferred from the peeling member is provided on the transfer cleaning member.   A smoothing means for smoothing the surface of the peeling member is provided downstream of the cleaning portion of the peeling member after transferring the image forming substance to the transfer cleaning member. Item 9. The image removing device according to Item 8. An image removing device comprising a plurality of stages of the image removing device according to claim 1 ,
In the upstream image removal apparatus, the surface layer in contact with the recording material uses a peeling member that does not exhibit plasticity at the temperature at the time of pressurization,
In the image removal device on the downstream side, images remover you wherein Tei Rukoto using a peeling member surface layer in contact with the recording material exhibits plastic at a temperature of pressurization. The Te upstream side of the image removal device smell, a means for removing the image forming substance from the peeling member, a cleaning blade rubbing該剥release member,
The Te downstream side of the image removal device smell, a means for removing the image forming substance from the peeling member, provided opposition to該剥away member, it is transported at a speed higher than the conveying speed of the該剥release member, and該剥release member The image removing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image removing material is a transfer cleaning member to which an image forming substance on the peeling member is transferred at a facing portion of the transfer member. The compound is one that decreases the fixing properties with respect to the image forming substance on the reusable recording material was applied to the front surface, the image formed by the image forming substance having thermoplasticity,
Using the image removing device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, an image forming substance on a recording material is removed,
A method of repeatedly using a recording material, comprising: repeating the formation of an image again using a thermoplastic image forming material on the recording material from which the image forming material has been removed. Paper made mainly of cellulose fibers as a base material, on its front surface, a composition comprising a compound is one that decreases the fixing property of an image forming substance deposited per surface 1.5 g / m ² or more, smoothness by Bekk smoothness meter 13. The method for repeatedly using a recording material according to claim 12, wherein the recording material has a degree of 90 seconds or more. A first image forming mode is set to assume that erasing the image formed on the recording material, and a second image forming mode that does not assume that erasing the image formed on the recording material provided The user can arbitrarily select the first image forming mode and the second image forming mode,
When the first image forming mode is selected, a reusable recording material having a reduced fixability of the image forming material is supplied to form an image thereon, and the second image forming mode is selected. An image forming apparatus that is controlled so that ordinary paper is supplied and an image is formed thereon;
An image forming and removing system in which the image removing device according to claim 1 is set.

Images