JP5090998B2 - Cleaning device and image forming apparatus having the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning device having a rubbing roller for rubbing the surface of an image carrier to remove discharge products and the like, and an image forming apparatus having the same.

  Photosensitive drums used in image forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers, especially photosensitive drums made of amorphous silicon, have a hard surface, and the discharge products attached to the surface due to the high voltage applied during charging are used as cleaning blades. Alone, it remains with the photosensitive layer without being scraped. If this discharge product is left unattended, defects such as image flow and wobbling of the cleaning blade occur. Therefore, a technique for removing the discharge product with a rubbing roller of a cleaning device is known.

In the invention according to Patent Document 1, a rubbing roller (cleaning roller) formed long along the axial direction of the photosensitive drum is rubbed against the surface of the photosensitive drum, and the surface of the photosensitive drum is polished to remove discharge products. I am doing so. At this time, polishing is performed using toner to which an abrasive is added. A scraper is used so that the pressure of the scraper on the surface of the rubbing roller is substantially uniform so that the toner adhering to the surface of the rubbing roller is uniform in the axial direction.
JP 2006-126493 A

  However, according to Patent Document 1, for example, when the amount of toner adhering to the rubbing roller is too small or conversely too large, or when toner concentrates in one axial direction due to transfer failure or the like. In some cases, the scraper ability, that is, the ability to make the toner on the surface of the rubbing roller sufficiently uniform in the axial direction is not always sufficient.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a uniform toner adhesion amount on the surface of the rubbing roller in the axial direction even when the amount of toner adhering to the rubbing roller varies or is biased to one side in the axial direction. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device that can be evenly divided and an image forming apparatus including the same.

  The invention according to claim 1 relates to a cleaning device for grinding the image forming surface by using a part of the toner removed and collected from the image forming surface on the outer periphery of the photosensitive drum.

The cleaning device according to the present invention includes:
(1) a cleaning container that is formed long in the generatrix direction of the image forming surface and collects removed toner;
(2) A rubbing roller, a toner regulating member, and a toner leveling member that are housed in the cleaning container and are formed long along the generatrix,
(3) a cleaning blade attached to the cleaning container and formed long along the generatrix,
(4) The rubbing roller is a rubbing surface that is brought into contact with the image forming surface through an opening formed in the cleaning container and forms a rubbing portion along the generatrix. The rubbing surface has the rubbing surface that rotates from the top to the bottom in the same manner as the image forming surface,
(5) The cleaning blade is brought into contact with the image forming surface on the downstream side of the rubbing portion along the rotation direction of the image forming surface to remove toner from the image forming surface, and to the cleaning container. Have an edge to collect,
(6) the toner regulating member is configured to have a partition plate for forming a toner regulating gap between the sliding surfaces facing the sliding surface, at both ends of the generatrix direction of the partition plate Having a first convex portion, attached to the back surface of the cleaning blade on the opposite side with respect to the side in contact with the image forming surface via a sponge;
(7) The toner leveling member has contacted the rubbing surface on the rubbing surface on the downstream side of the partition plate along the rotation direction of the rubbing surface and has passed through the toner regulating gap. A scraper for leveling the toner in the generatrix direction, and a support plate connected to both ends of the scraper in the generatrix direction and extending toward the shaft portion of the rubbing roller;
(8) The support plate has a support hole that is swingably supported by the shaft portion, and the toner leveling member is rotated in a rotating direction of the rubbing roller by a frictional force between the scraper and the rubbing roller. A second convex portion that engages with the first convex portion and pulls the first convex portion to the downstream side in the rotational direction of the rubbing roller.
(9) When the second convex portion pulls the first convex portion, the toner regulating member is pulled by the sponge to the upstream side in the rotation direction of the rubbing roller, and the first convex portion is the toner leveling unit. Pressed against the positioning guide of the member, the toner regulation gap is formed between the rubbing surface of the rubbing roller and the partition plate;
It is characterized by that.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising a biasing member that biases the rubbing roller to bring the rubbing surface into contact with the image forming surface. It is said.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photosensitive drum having an image forming surface on the outer periphery on which a toner image is formed, and cleaning for removing and collecting toner remaining on the image forming surface after the toner image is transferred to another member. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including the apparatus.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that the cleaning device is the cleaning device according to claim 1 or 2 .

According to the first aspect of the present invention, part of the toner collected by the cleaning blade is pressed against the rubbing surface of the rubbing roller and leveled in the generatrix direction when passing through the toner regulating gap of the toner regulating member. The Further, excess toner is scraped off by the scraper of the toner leveling member and leveled in the direction of the bus. In other words, the toner scraped off from the image forming surface of the photosensitive drum by the cleaning blade is leveled in the direction of the bus when passing through the toner regulating gap and is attached to the rubbing surface of the rubbing roller more frequently. Will level out in the direction of the bus and scrape off unnecessary parts. Thereby, an appropriate amount of toner is uniformly leveled along the generatrix direction of the rubbing surface. Therefore, carrying such a toner, by rubbing the image forming surface by the sliding surface of the sliding roller, the generatrix direction of the image forming surface can be ground to a uniform.
According to the present invention, the toner leveling member that requires higher positional accuracy with respect to the rubbing surface than the toner regulating member is positioned with reference to the shaft portion of the rubbing roller, while the toner regulating member is used as the toner regulating member. Since the positioning is performed by the leveling member, the toner regulating member is positioned along the generatrix direction of the rubbing surface of the rubbing roller while maintaining a relatively high accuracy as compared with the case where the toner regulating member is positioned based on the shaft portion of the rubbing roller. The length of can be taken longer.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since the rubbing roller is urged by the urging member to bring the rubbing surface into contact with the image forming surface of the photosensitive drum, the rubbing surface moves following the image forming surface. As a result, it is possible to perform good grinding with no grinding unevenness as compared with the case where it does not move following the movement.

  Hereinafter, the best embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, in each drawing, the member etc. which attached | subjected the same code | symbol are the same structures, The duplication description about these shall be abbreviate | omitted suitably. Moreover, in each drawing, members and the like that are not necessary for the description are omitted as appropriate.

<Embodiment 1>
The cleaning device 47 and the image forming apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Among these, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire image forming apparatus 1 as viewed from the front left and obliquely upward. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the internal structure of the image forming apparatus 1 as viewed from the left side. 3A is a diagram of the drum unit 50 as viewed from the front side, and FIG. 3B is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing the drum unit 50 cut along the line AA in FIG. 3A. is there. FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the drum unit 50 as viewed from the upper right rear obliquely, and FIG. 4B is a perspective view of the drum unit 50 as viewed from the upper left oblique upper direction. FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 54 and the toner leveling member 55 attached to the rubbing roller 52 as viewed from the right rear obliquely upward, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 54, and the toner leveling member 55 attached to the rubbing roller 52 when viewed from the diagonally upper left side. FIG. 6 (a) is a perspective view seen from the right rear obliquely upper side for explaining the urging of the rubbing roller 52 by the compression spring 60 as the urging member, and FIG. 6 (b) is the urging member. It is the perspective view seen from the left front diagonally upward direction explaining the urging | biasing of the rubbing roller 52 by the compression spring 60 as. FIG. 7A is a perspective view of the toner regulating member 54 as viewed from the upper right rear obliquely, and FIG. 7B is a perspective view of the toner regulating member 54 as viewed from the upper left oblique upper side. FIG. 8A is a perspective view of the toner leveling member 55 as viewed from the upper right rear obliquely, and FIG. 8B is a perspective view of the toner leveling member 55 as viewed from the upper left front obliquely. is there.

  In the following description, the generatrix direction, the axial direction, the left-right direction, and the longitudinal direction are properly used, but these all indicate the same direction.

(Schematic configuration of image forming apparatus)
The outline of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, examples of the image forming apparatus 1 include a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, and a complex machine thereof. In the following description, a case where the image forming apparatus 1 is a printer will be described as an example. The image forming apparatus 1 shown in these drawings is a four-color full-color image forming apparatus 1 adopting an electrophotographic system, an intermediate transfer system, and a tandem system.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a substantially box-shaped (cuboid) image forming apparatus main body 4 and a fixing rotating body supported by the image forming apparatus main body 4 so as to be opened and closed (swingable). I have.

  In the image forming apparatus main body 4, the front side sheet conveyance path 21 and the refeed conveyance path 5 (see FIG. 2) are covered with a front cover (side part) 2, and the left side surface and the right side surface are made of synthetic resin. It is covered with an exterior panel 6 and a right exterior panel (not shown) (see FIG. 2). A paper discharge tray 8 having a sheet stacking surface 7 is disposed on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus main body 4. The sheet stacking surface 7 is composed of an inclined surface 7a that is gently inclined so that the rear end side is positioned higher, and a flat surface 7b that follows the rear end of the inclined surface 7a. The sheet S discharged rearward from the figure is supported from below.

  The front cover 2 has a bearing portion 40 on the lower end side (base end side), and the bearing portion 40 is swingably supported by a shaft 41 on the image forming apparatus main body 4 side. The front cover 2 releases a lock mechanism (not shown) for fixing the front cover 2 to the image forming apparatus main body 4 when a paper jam occurs in the sheet conveyance path 21 and the refeed conveyance path 5. Then, by pulling out the upper end side to the front side, the sheet conveyance path 21 and the refeed conveyance path 5 of the image forming apparatus main body 4 can be opened (exposed) to the outside, and the jammed sheet S is removed from the sheet conveyance path 21. In addition, the sheet can be removed from the refeed conveyance path 5 (see FIG. 2).

  An operation panel 10 is disposed on the upper end side of the front cover 2. A touch panel type liquid crystal display unit and various buttons are arranged on the operation panel 10, and an operator (for example, a user or a serviceman) stands on the front side (front side) of the image forming apparatus 1. The entire image forming apparatus 1 can be operated by the operation panel 10.

  The front cover 2 has a swingable manual feed tray 3 housed in a recess 11 on the front surface side (outer surface side). As shown in FIG. 2, the manual feed tray 3 is supported by the front cover 2 so that the support shaft 13 of the base end portion 12 located on the lower end side thereof is swingable. The manual feed tray 3 is in a standing position from the storage position (solid line in FIG. 2) stored in the recess 11 of the front cover 2 to the sheet feeding position (two-dot chain line in FIG. 2) where the sheet can be manually fed. It can be pulled out by swinging.

  Next, the internal structure of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a sheet storage unit 14, a substrate storage unit 15, an image forming unit 16, a toner supply unit 17, and a paper discharge tray 8 in order from the lower side to the upper side of the image forming apparatus body 4. Is provided. A sheet conveying unit 18 is provided between the front side of the image forming apparatus main body 4 and the front cover 2.

  A sheet feeding cassette 20 is disposed in the sheet storage unit 14. A plurality of sheets are stored inside the sheet feeding cassette 20, and one of the sheets is sent out to the sheet conveying unit 21 via the conveying roller pair 38 and the like.

  A substrate, electrical components, and the like (not shown) that control the entire image forming apparatus 1 are disposed in the substrate storage unit 15. An image forming unit 16 is disposed above the substrate storage unit 15.

  The image forming unit 16 includes an endless intermediate transfer belt (other member) 22 and four (four color) image forming stations aligned along the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer belt 22 (arrow R1 direction). That is, image forming stations 23, 24, 25, and 26 for forming toner images with magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (K) toners are provided. In the image forming unit 16, the toner images of the respective colors formed in the image forming stations 23 to 26 are primarily transferred and superimposed on the surface of the rotating intermediate transfer belt 22. The four-color toner images primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 22 are secondarily transferred to the sheet at the secondary transfer position 27.

  The toner replenishing unit 17 is provided with four toner containers that individually store toners of respective colors, that is, magenta, cyan, yellow, and black toner containers 30, 31, 32, and 33.

  In the present embodiment, the sheet conveying unit 18 is provided between the front side of the image forming apparatus main body 4 and the front cover 2, and a sheet conveying path 21 that guides a sheet from below to above, and the sheet conveying unit. It has a refeed conveyance path 5 that is disposed in front of the path 21 and guides a sheet from the upper side to the lower side, and further includes a manual feeding unit 34.

  In the sheet conveyance path 21, a fixing device 35 is disposed at a position downstream of the secondary transfer position 27 in the sheet conveyance direction, and the sheet S on which the toner image is fixed by the fixing device 35 is transferred onto the paper discharge tray 8. They are guided or guided to the refeed conveyance path 5 (sheet reconveyance path for double-sided printing). The re-feed conveyance path 5 is configured such that, when performing double-sided printing, a sheet conveyed through the sheet conveyance path 21 is guided by a flapper 36 and the trailing edge of the sheet is held by a reverse roller 37, and then the sheet is The sheet is conveyed from the upper side to the lower side by the reverse roller 37, and the sheet is guided to the sheet conveying path 21. Further, a manual feed roller 39 is disposed immediately in front of the conveyance roller pair 38 in the sheet conveyance unit 18. The manual feed roller 39 feeds a sheet set on the upper surface of the manual feed tray 3 at the paper feed position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 toward the conveyance roller pair 38 side.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 described above, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, in the black image forming station 26 disposed in the image forming unit 16, the photosensitive drum is rotationally driven at a predetermined process speed in the direction of the arrow. Further, around the photosensitive drum 42, a charging device 43, an exposure device 44, a developing device 45, a primary transfer roller 46, and a cleaning device 47 are disposed substantially along the rotation direction. The surface of the photosensitive drum 42 rotating in the direction of the arrow is charged to a predetermined polarity / potential by the charging device 43 and then exposed based on the image information by the exposure device 44 to remove the charge in the exposed portion. A latent image is formed. The electrostatic latent image is developed as a toner image with toner attached thereto by the developing device 45. This toner image is primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 22 by the primary transfer roller 46. After the toner image is transferred, the toner (transfer residual toner) remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 42 is removed by the cleaning device 47 and used for the next image formation. The same applies to the image forming stations 23, 24, and 25 other than the black image forming station 26 described above. In the present invention, an abrasive (for example, titanium) is mixed as an external additive in the toner, and the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 is polished by the cleaning device 47 using this toner.

(Cleaning device)
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3B, the cleaning device 47 makes contact with the intermediate transfer belt 22 from below and is sandwiched between the intermediate transfer belt 22 and the primary transfer roller 46. It is arranged on the front side. As shown in FIG. 3B, the cleaning device 47 constitutes a drum unit 50 together with the photosensitive drum 42 and the charging device 43 . FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the entire drum unit 50 as seen from the right rear obliquely upward, and FIG. 4B is a perspective view seen from the left front oblique upward. In the present embodiment, the photosensitive drum 42 is formed of, for example, amorphous silicon, and is predetermined in the direction of the arrow R42 as described above by the driving unit (not shown) of the image forming apparatus main body 4 (see FIG. 2). It is rotationally driven at the process speed (circumferential speed).

  The cleaning device 47 includes a cleaning container 51, a rubbing roller 52, a cleaning blade 53, a toner regulating member 54, and a toner leveling member 55.

  The cleaning container 51 is formed in a substantially box shape that is long in the left-right direction, and an opening 51 a that is long in the left-right direction is formed in a portion corresponding to the photosensitive drum 42 on the rear side. A rubbing roller 52 described later is brought into contact with the photosensitive drum 42 through the opening 51a. The cleaning container 51 collects toner scraped off from the image forming surface (outer peripheral surface) 42a of the photosensitive drum 42 by a cleaning blade 53 described later. As will be described later, a part of the collected toner is carried on the surface of the rubbing roller 52 and used for rubbing the outer peripheral surface 42 a of the photosensitive drum 42, and the rest is inside the cleaning container 51. Is conveyed to the front end side or the rear end side where a waste toner discharge port (not shown) is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the rubbing roller 52 is disposed at the upper part and the rear part of the cleaning container 51. As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the rubbing roller 52 includes a shaft portion 52a and a roller portion 52b. The shaft portion 52a is made of metal and penetrates the center of the roller portion 52 in the longitudinal direction. The roller portion 52b is made of, for example, urethane foam having an ASKER-C hardness of 70 ° or less, and its outer peripheral surface carries a toner and rubs against the image forming surface 42a of the photosensitive drum 42. It has become.

  Bearings 57 are mounted in the vicinity of both ends of the shaft 52a in the longitudinal direction of the roller 52b. These bearings 57, 57 are supported by a left side wall and a right side wall (not shown) of the cleaning container 51 (see FIG. 3B) so as to be movable in the front-rear direction by a slight distance. Here, the “slight distance” is such an extent that the rubbing roller 52 can move following the photosensitive drum 42.

  The portions of the shaft portion 52a that protrude outward from the bearings 57 and 57 are supported by arm bearings 58 and 58, as shown in FIGS. Each arm bearing 58 has an annular portion 58a on the lower end side, a shaft support hole 58b on the intermediate portion, and a spring mounting portion 58c on the upper end side. Of these, the annular portion 58a is fitted to a boss (not shown) coaxial with the conveying screw 56, which protrudes outward from the left and right walls (not shown) of the cleaning container 51. The end portion of the shaft portion 52a of the rubbing roller 52 is inserted into the shaft support hole 58b. One end (rear end) of a compression spring (biasing member) 60 is attached to the spring attachment portion 58c from the front side. The other end (front end) of the compression spring 60 is attached to a part (not shown) of the image forming apparatus main body 4 (see FIG. 2). The rubbing roller 52 can swing substantially in the front-rear direction based on the center of the annular portion 58a by supporting both ends of the shaft portion 52a in the longitudinal direction (left-right direction) by these arm bearings 58. It is like that. The rubbing roller 52 has an opening 51a (refer to FIG. 3B) of the cleaning container 51 when the spring mounting portions 58c and 58c of the arm bearings 58 and 58 are urged rearward by the compression springs 60 and 60. ) To the photosensitive drum 42 in a biased state. As a result, the rubbing portion S (see FIG. 3 (FIG. 3)) between the image forming surface 42a of the photosensitive drum 42 and the rubbing surface 52c of the rubbing roller 52 along the generatrix direction of the image forming surface 42a and the rubbing surface 52c. b)) is formed. At this time, the above-described arm bearing 58 keeps the center-to-center distance between the center of the conveying screw 56 and the center of the rubbing roller 52 constant, so that power transmission between the two is not hindered. .

As described above, the rubbing roller 52 is in contact with the photosensitive drum 42 by the compression springs 60 and 60 via the arm bearings 58 and 58, so that the rubbing surface 52c is the image forming surface 42a. Move to follow. Accordingly, since the width of the rubbing portion S (the width in the rotational direction of the rubbing roller 52) and the contact pressure are uniform along the generatrix direction, the image forming surface 42a is rubbed well over the entire length in the generatrix direction. Is possible. Note that a toner regulating member 54 and a toner leveling member 55 described later are also integrated with the rubbing roller 52 and follow the photosensitive drum 42. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the photosensitive drum 42 is rotated at a peripheral speed v1 of the arrow R42 direction, whereas, sliding roller 52 is rotated at a peripheral velocity v2 of the arrow R52 direction Furthermore, since v1> v2 is set, a relative speed difference of (v1-v2) corresponding to these differences occurs between the image forming surface 42a and the rubbing surface 52c in the rubbing portion S. As a result, the rubbing roller 52 polishes the photosensitive drum 42 using a toner externally added with an abrasive (for example, titanium) to remove discharge products.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the cleaning blade 53 is formed in a plate shape that is long in the generatrix direction, and is substantially upright, and the lower end 53 a is fixed to a part of the cleaning container 51. One edge 53b on the upper end side of the cleaning blade 53 is in contact with the image forming surface 42a of the photosensitive drum 42 with a predetermined contact pressure. The contact position is on the downstream side of the rubbing portion S along the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 42. The cleaning blade 53 scrapes off and collects the toner adhering to the image forming surface 42a of the photosensitive drum 42 in the cleaning container 51 by the edge 53b.

As shown in FIGS. 3B and 7, the toner regulating member 54 includes a partition plate 54a that is long in the left-right direction, and a first support plate that is bent so as to be connected to both longitudinal ends of the partition plate 54a. 54b, 54b, and the whole is integrally formed of a metal plate. The first support plates 54b and 54b are formed with engagement holes 54c having openings facing rearward, and these engagement holes 54c and 54c are bearings in the shaft portion 52a of the rubbing roller 52 shown in FIG. The entire toner regulating member 54 is positioned by being engaged with the insides of 57 and 57, respectively. The partition plate 54a has a flat plate portion 54e having a bent portion 54d whose rear end side is bent downward, and an arc portion 54f continuous to the front end side of the flat plate portion 54e . As shown in FIG. 3B, the partition plate 54 a has a bent portion 54 d attached to the back side of the cleaning blade 53 via a sponge 61 that also serves as a sealing member, and a flat plate portion 54 e below the rubbing roller 52. The arc portion 54f is arranged so as to face the rubbing surface 52 through the gap G at the lower front side of the rubbing roller 52. The tip of the arc portion 54 f extends to substantially the same height as the center of the rubbing roller 52. The above-mentioned gap G is set to about 0.5 mm, for example. The toner scraped off from the rubbing surface 42a of the photosensitive drum 42 by the cleaning blade 53 passes through the flat portion 54e without leaking below the toner regulating member 54 by the sponge 61, and further, the arc portion 54f. When passing through the gap G, it is leveled in the direction of the generatrix and pressed against the rubbing surface 52c of the rubbing roller 52 to be carried on the rubbing surface 52c. In this way, a part of the toner carried on the rubbing surface 52c passes through a toner leveling member 55 described below and is conveyed to the rubbing portion S, and the rest is accumulated at the tip of the arc portion 54f. Or is transported by the transport screw 56.

As shown in FIGS. 3B and 8, the toner leveling member 55 includes a metal mounting base 55 a that is long in the left-right direction, and the same metal thin scraper 55 b supported by the mounting base 55 a ( 3 (b)). The mounting base 55a is formed long in the left-right direction, and second support plates 55c, 55c bent so as to be connected are formed at both ends in the left-right direction. The second support plates 55c and 55c are formed with engagement holes 55d and 55d having openings directed rearward, and these engagement holes 55d and 55d are formed in the shaft portion 52a of the rubbing roller 52 shown in FIG. The toner leveling member 55 as a whole is positioned by being engaged with the bearings 57 and 57 respectively. The second support plates 55c and 55c are disposed adjacent to the first support plates 54b and 54b of the toner regulating member 54 described above on the shaft portion 52a. The base plate 55a has a scraper mounting portion 55e that is bent downward on the front end side. The length of the scraper 55b in the left-right direction is substantially the same as that of the scraper mounting portion 55e, the base end side (upper end side) is welded to the scraper mounting portion 55e, and the tip end side (lower end side) is scraper. It protrudes downward from the mounting portion 55 e and is in contact with the rubbing surface 52 c of the rubbing roller 52. This contact position is immediately downstream of the gap G along the rotational direction of the rubbing roller 52, as shown in FIG. The toner leveling member 55 removes unnecessary toner while leveling the toner passing through the gap G carried on the rubbing surface 52c of the rubbing roller 52 in the direction of the generating line by the scraper 55b.

  According to the cleaning device 47 having the above-described configuration, the toner regulating member 54 and the toner leveling member 55 are positioned with reference to the shaft portion 52a of the rubbing roller, and thus are positioned with high accuracy with respect to the rubbing surface 52c. . Therefore, the toner scraped off from the image forming surface 42a of the photosensitive drum 42 by the cleaning blade 53 is pressed against the rubbing surface 52c when passing through the gap G as the rubbing roller 52 rotates in the direction of arrow R52. However, when passing through the scraper 55b, the toner is uniformly leveled in the direction of the bus while removing excess toner. Therefore, the toner carried on the rubbing surface 52c and carried on the rubbing portion S is uniformly leveled in an appropriate amount and in the generatrix direction. For this reason, using this toner, the image forming surface 42a of the photosensitive drum 42 is uniformly polished in the generatrix direction by the rubbing surface 52c of the rubbing roller 52.

  The rubbing roller 52 is in contact with the image forming surface 42a of the photosensitive drum 42 while being urged by a compression spring 60 as an urging member together with the toner regulating member 54 and the toner leveling member 55. Then, it moves following the movement of the image forming surface 42. This also enables the image forming surface 42a to be rubbed uniformly in the axial direction.

  In the above configuration, the toner regulating member 54 and the toner leveling member 55 are grounded to the metal portion on the image forming apparatus main body 4 side via the shaft portion 52a of the rubbing roller 52 and the conductive arm bearing 58. . As a result, unnecessary charged charges on the toner are removed to prevent defects caused by the large amount of charge of the toner, for example, damage to the image forming surface 42a due to leakage.

<Embodiment 2>
A cleaning device 47 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 9A is a perspective view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 64, the toner leveling member 65, the pedestal 66, and the like as viewed from the left rear obliquely upward, and FIG. FIG. 9C is a view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 64, the toner leveling member 65, the pedestal 66, and the like as viewed from the rear side. FIG. 9C illustrates these members as AA in FIG. It is an enlarged vertical sectional view cut and shown by a line. FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 64, the toner leveling member 65, the base 66, and the like. FIG. 11A is a perspective view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 64, the toner leveling member 65, the pedestal 66, and the like as viewed from the diagonally upper left side, and FIG. 11B is a perspective view of FIG. FIG. 11C is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the left end portion of FIG. 11A, and FIG. 11C is a diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the toner regulating member 64 and the toner leveling member 65 before the rubbing roller 52 rotates. 11D illustrates a positional relationship between the toner regulating member 64 and the toner leveling member 65 after the rubbing roller 52 rotates.

  In the second embodiment, the toner restricting member and the toner leveling member are different from those in the first embodiment, and the other constituent members are the same. Parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted as appropriate.

The second embodiment is greatly different from the first embodiment described above. In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7B, the positioning of the toner regulating member 54 is based on the shaft portion 52a of the rubbing roller 52. In contrast, in this embodiment, the toner regulating member 64 is positioned by the toner leveling member 65 instead of the shaft portion 52a of the rubbing roller 52. Accordingly, the first support plate 54c required in the first embodiment is omitted, and a configuration for positioning the toner regulating member 64 is added to the toner leveling member 65 side. In this embodiment, since the first support plate 54c is omitted, the length of the roller portion 52b of the rubbing roller 52 can be increased accordingly.

As shown in FIG. 10, in this embodiment, the rubbing roller 52 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and has a shaft portion 52a and a roller portion 52b, and the outer peripheral surface of the roller portion 52b is a rubbing surface. 52c. The same applies to the bearing 57.

The toner leveling member 65 is the same as the toner leveling member 55 of the first embodiment, the mounting base 65a (55a), the scraper mounting portion 65e (55e), the second support plate (support plate) 65c, 65c (55c, 55c). ), Engagement holes (support holes) 65d, 65d (55d, 55d). On the other hand, in the present embodiment, a hook (second convex portion) 65f projects toward the downstream side along the rotation direction of the rubbing roller 52 at a portion of the second support plate 65c located obliquely below the front side. It is installed.

  On the other hand, the toner restricting member 64 is formed with a protrusion (first protrusion) 64g protruding in the left-right direction at a position corresponding to the hook 65f described above. The toner regulating member 64 has a partition plate 64a (54a) similar to that of the first embodiment, and the partition plate 64a includes a bent portion 64d (54d), a flat plate portion 64e (54e), and an arc portion 64f (54f). And is composed of. On the other hand, the toner support member 64 of the present embodiment omits the first support plate 54b provided on the toner control member 54 of the first embodiment. In this embodiment, instead of this, as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 (b), the left end and the right end on the distal end side (upper end side) of the arc portion 64f protrude outward (first (Convex part) 64g is provided. The protrusion 64g has a protrusion amount that is set to be equal to or greater than the plate thickness (thickness in the left-right direction) of the hook 65f described above, so that the hook 65f can be engaged and disengaged.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, two temporary fixing through holes 64h and 64h are formed at different positions in the left-right direction on the flat surface portion 64e of the toner regulating member 64. As shown in FIGS. 9C and 10, a pedestal 66 constituting a part of the cleaning container 51 is disposed below the toner regulating member 64, and the toner regulating member is disposed on the upper surface of the pedestal 66. Engagement projections 66b and 66b are formed at positions corresponding to the through holes 64h and 64h on the 64 side. As shown in FIG. 9C, the toner regulating member 64 has a bent portion 64d attached to the back side of the cleaning blade 53 via a sponge 61 that also serves as a seal member. 64h is temporarily fixed by engaging the engaging projections 66b and 66b of the pedestal 66. FIG. 11C shows the temporarily fixed state. As shown in the drawing, in this state, the hook 65f on the toner leveling member 65 side is not yet engaged with the protrusion 64g on the toner regulating member 64 side. Here, when image formation is started in the image forming apparatus 1, the rubbing roller 52 rotates in the direction of the arrow R52. As a result of this rotation, the toner leveling member 65 having the tip of the scraper 55b in contact with the rubbing surface 52c of the rubbing roller 52 is entirely moved in the direction of the arrow R65 by the friction between the rubbing surface 52a and the scraper 55b. It is rotated. As a result, the hook 65f on the toner leveling member 65 side is engaged with the protrusion 64g on the toner regulating member 64 side, and the protrusion 64g is lightly pulled in the direction of the arrow R65. Since the base end side of the toner regulating member 64 is pulled by the sponge 61, as a result, the protrusion 64g is pressed against the positioning guide M formed on a part of the peripheral edge of the second support plate 65c, and a predetermined gap is formed. G is formed.

  According to the present embodiment, since the toner regulating member 64 is positioned by the toner leveling member 65 instead of the shaft portion 52a of the rubbing roller 52, the first support plate can be omitted. It is possible to extend the length of the rubbing surface 52a in the generatrix direction. Further, since the sponge 61 that also serves as a seal member also serves as a member for urging the partition plate 64a of the toner regulating member 64, the number of parts can be reduced correspondingly and the configuration can be simplified.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the entire image forming apparatus 1 as viewed from diagonally upward on the left side of the front side. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an internal structure of the image forming apparatus 1 as viewed from the left side. 3A is a diagram of the drum unit 50 as viewed from the front side, and FIG. 3B is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing the drum unit 50 cut along the line AA in FIG. 3A. is there. FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the drum unit 50 as viewed from the upper right rear obliquely, and FIG. 4B is a perspective view of the drum unit 50 as viewed from the upper left oblique upper direction. FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 54 and the toner leveling member 55 attached to the rubbing roller 52 as viewed from the right rear obliquely upward, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 54, and the toner leveling member 55 attached to the rubbing roller 52 when viewed from the diagonally upper left side. FIG. 6A is a perspective view seen from obliquely upward on the right side for explaining the urging of the rubbing roller 52 by the compression spring 60 as the urging member, and FIG. 6B is the urging member. It is the perspective view seen from the left front diagonally upward direction explaining the urging | biasing of the rubbing roller 52 by the compression spring 60 as. FIG. 7A is a perspective view of the toner regulating member 54 as viewed from the upper right rear obliquely, and FIG. 7B is a perspective view of the toner regulating member 54 as viewed from the upper left oblique upper side. FIG. 8A is a perspective view of the toner leveling member 55 as viewed from the upper right rear obliquely, and FIG. 8B is a perspective view of the toner leveling member 55 as viewed from the upper left front obliquely. is there. FIG. 9A is a perspective view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 64, the toner leveling member 65, the pedestal 66, and the like as viewed from the left rear obliquely upward, and FIG. 9B is a rubbing roller 52. FIG. 9C is a view of the toner regulating member 64, the toner leveling member 65, the pedestal 66, and the like viewed from the rear side, and FIG. 9C is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 9B. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a rubbing roller 52, a toner regulating member 64, a toner leveling member 65, a pedestal 66 and the like. FIG. FIG. 11A is a perspective view of the rubbing roller 52, the toner regulating member 64, the toner leveling member 65, the pedestal 66, and the like as viewed from the diagonally upper left side, and FIG. 11B is a perspective view of FIG. FIG. 11C is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the left end portion of FIG. 11A, and FIG. 11C is a diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the toner regulating member 64 and the toner leveling member 65 before the rubbing roller 52 rotates. 11D illustrates a positional relationship between the toner regulating member 64 and the toner leveling member 65 after the rubbing roller 52 rotates.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus, 16 ... Image forming part, 18 ... Sheet conveying part, 22 ... Intermediate transfer belt (other members), 42 ... Photosensitive drum, 42a ... Image forming surface (outer peripheral surface), 47 ... Cleaning device, 50 ... Drum unit, 51 ... Cleaning container, 51a ... Opening, 52 ... Rub roller, 52c ... Rub surface (outer peripheral surface), 53 ... Cleaning blade, 53b ... Edge (Edge portion), 54, 64... Toner restricting member, 54a, 64a... Partition plate, 54b... First support plate, 54c .. engaging hole , 55, 65. Scraper, 55c ... second support plate, 55d ... engagement hole , 60 ... compression spring (biasing member), 64g ... projection (first projection), 65f ... hook (second projection), S …… Rubbing part

Claims (3)

In a cleaning apparatus for grinding the image forming surface using a part of the toner removed and collected from the image forming surface on the outer periphery of the photosensitive drum,
A cleaning container which is formed long in the generatrix direction of the image forming surface and collects the removed toner;
A rubbing roller, a toner regulating member, and a toner leveling member, which are housed in the cleaning container and are formed long along the generatrix,
A cleaning blade attached to the cleaning container and formed long along the generatrix,
The rubbing roller is a rubbing surface that is brought into contact with the image forming surface through an opening formed in the cleaning container and forms a rubbing portion along the generatrix, and in the rubbing portion Similar to the image forming surface, the rubbing surface that rotates from top to bottom,
The cleaning blade is in contact with the image forming surface on the downstream side of the rubbing portion along the rotation direction of the image forming surface, removes toner from the image forming surface, and collects it in the cleaning container Part
The toner regulating member, the facing the sliding surface as well as have a partition plate for forming a toner regulating gap between the sliding surfaces, each of the first projections at both ends of the generatrix direction of the partition plate And is attached via a sponge to the back surface located on the opposite side to the side of the cleaning blade in contact with the image forming surface,
The toner leveling member is configured to remove the toner that has contacted the rubbing surface and passed through the toner regulating gap on the rubbing surface on the downstream side of the partition plate along the rotation direction of the rubbing surface. A scraper leveled in the direction of the busbar, and a support plate connected to both ends of the scraper in the direction of the busbar and extending toward the shaft portion of the rubbing roller;
The support plate has a support hole that is swingably supported by the shaft portion, and the toner leveling member is rotated in the rotation direction of the rubbing roller by the frictional force between the scraper and the rubbing roller. And a second convex part that engages with the first convex part and pulls the first convex part to the downstream side in the rotational direction of the rubbing roller,
When the second convex portion pulls the first convex portion, the toner regulating member is pulled by the sponge to the upstream side in the rotation direction of the rubbing roller, and the first convex portion is positioned by the toner leveling member. The toner regulation gap is formed between the rubbing surface of the rubbing roller and the partition plate by being pressed against the guide.
A cleaning device. A biasing member that biases the rubbing roller to bring the rubbing surface into contact with the image forming surface;
The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a photosensitive drum having an image forming surface on the outer periphery on which a toner image is formed; and a cleaning device that removes and collects toner remaining on the image forming surface after the toner image is transferred to another member. In
The cleaning device is the cleaning device according to claim 1,
An image forming apparatus.

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