JP5609598B2 - Lubricant supply device, image forming device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a lubricant supply device that supplies a lubricant to an image carrier and an image forming apparatus having the lubricant supply device.

  Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus, it is generally known that applying a lubricant to the surface of an image carrier has an effect of reducing the wear of the image carrier by a cleaning blade. A lubricant supply device is provided for application.

  Then, as a device for supplying (applying) the lubricant to the surface of the image carrier, the device has a rotatable brush-like lubricant carrier member and an electrode that contacts the brush of the lubricant carrier member. There is known a lubricant supply device that applies an electric charge to the adhered lubricant particles, forms an electric field between the brush and the image carrier, and transfers the lubricant particles to the image carrier using electrostatic force (patent) Reference 1).

  Further, as a device for supplying (applying) the lubricant to the surface of the image carrier, a lubricant supply unit for supplying and supporting the stored lubricant to a rotatable brush-like lubricant supporting member, and lubricant particles supplied to and supported by the brush There is known a lubricant supply device having the above-mentioned lubricant support member that causes a centrifugal force generated by rotation to fly toward an image carrier (see Patent Document 2).

  Also, as a general knowledge, if there are too many (too thick) lubricant particles applied on the surface of the photoreceptor, the exposure light during latent image formation diffuses inside the thickened lubricant layer, and the carrier generation layer inside the photoreceptor It is known that the focal point of the light that reaches the image becomes blurred and the latent image becomes unclear, resulting in image blur of the output image.

  Further, a technique for removing a residual developer by providing a cleaning blade is known for a photoreceptor or an intermediate transfer member.

  When the applied lubricant particles are in an appropriate amount, the sliding contact portion of the cleaning blade with the photosensitive member or the intermediate transfer member is slightly turned up and down repeatedly. However, if too many lubricant particles are applied (too thick), the sliding contact portion of the cleaning blade with the photosensitive member or intermediate transfer member will remain turned up, resulting in loss of the sliding contact portion or abnormal progress of wear. It is known to end up.

JP 2007-310336 A JP 2007-328098 A

  Since the lubricant supply device described in Patent Document 1 transfers the lubricant particles, which are charged by the electrodes and attached to the brush, to the image carrier by electrostatic force, the larger the lubricant particles, the easier it is to transfer, and a large amount of large lubricant particles. If the lubricant layer becomes thick as a result, image blurring may occur in the output image due to the reasons described above, and streaks due to missing or worn cleaning blades may occur in the output image. There is a problem that a streak failure that causes a striped image to occur.

  The lubricant supply device described in Patent Document 2 causes the lubricant particles carried on the rotatable brush-like lubricant carrying member to fly toward the image carrier by centrifugal force, so that the lubricant is used regardless of the size. There is a possibility that a large amount of particles adhere to the image carrier. As a result, when the thickness of the lubricant layer is increased, image blurring of the output image occurs due to the reasons described above, and the streak failure occurs in the output image. There was a problem of end.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a lubricant supply device that can provide a high-quality output image free from image blurring and streak failure, and an image forming apparatus that includes the lubricant supply device.

  The above object is achieved by the following configuration.

1. In the lubricant supply device for supplying the lubricant to the surface of the image carrier,
A cloud generation unit for generating a cloud in which the lubricant particles are mixed in the air;
The lubricant particles contained in the cloud generated by the cloud generation unit are classified into small particles having a size smaller than a predetermined size and large particles having a size larger than a predetermined size, and the classified small particles are classified as the image carrier. A transport unit that transports the body toward the body;
Have
The transport unit includes an air flow generation unit that generates an air flow at least a part of which is directed to the image carrier,
The air flow generation unit is
Classifying the particles of the lubricant contained in the cloud into the small particles and the large particles;
In addition, the lubricant supply device is characterized in that the classified small particles can be transported to the image carrier, and the classified large particles generate the air flow at a wind speed that cannot be transported to the image carrier.

2. Wherein are respectively disposed apart from the cloud generating portion and the conveying portion and said image bearing member, wherein said cloud generating section in the direction of movement of particles of lubricating agent to the conveying unit and the image carrier are arranged in this order 2. The lubricant supply device according to 1 above, wherein the lubricant supply device is provided.

3 . The air flow generation unit is
A plurality of blade members;
A blade support member that rotatably supports the blade member;
The lubricant supply device according to 1 or 2 , further comprising: a rotation drive member that rotates the blade support member at a constant predetermined rotation speed.

4 . 4. The lubricant supply device according to 3 above, wherein the airflow is a circulating airflow circulating around the blade member, and at least a part of the circulating airflow is directed to the image carrier.

5 . The cloud generation unit
A plurality of elastic members;
A contact member that contacts the tip of the elastic member;
A support member that supports the elastic member and allows the elastic member to move relative to the contact member;
The sliding agent accommodated, the housing and lubricity agents have a sliding containing portion supplying the elastic member,
Said abutment member, said slip agent lubricant supply device according to any one of the 1-4, characterized in that disposed on the downstream side in the moving direction of the elastic member with respect to housing part.

6 . 6. The lubricant supply according to 5 , wherein the supporting member is a rotatable rotating member, and the elastic member is a brush having elasticity arranged radially on the circumferential surface of the rotating member at an equal pitch. apparatus.

7 . 7. The lubricant supply device according to claim 6 , further comprising a brush driving member that rotates the brush at a predetermined rotation speed through the rotating member.

8 . A housing that houses the cloud generation unit and the transport unit;
On the side of the image bearing member and the counter of the housing is one end fixed to the housing and the other end abuts on the image carrier, particles of the lubricating agent is of the enclosure lubricant supply device according to any one of the 1-7, characterized in that lubricant sealing member for preventing the leakage of outside are disposed.

9 . 9. The lubricant supply device according to any one of 1 to 8 , wherein the image carrier is a photoconductor.

10 . In the rotation direction of the photoconductor, the photoconductor is disposed downstream of a cleaning unit that removes developer remaining on the photoconductor and upstream of a charging unit that uniformly charges the photoconductor. 10. The lubricant supply device according to 9 above.

11 . 9. The lubricant supply device according to any one of 1 to 8 , wherein the image carrier is an intermediate transfer member.

12 . 11. In the rotational direction of the intermediate transfer member, disposed on the downstream side of the cleaning unit that removes the developer remaining on the intermediate transfer member, and on the upstream side of the photosensitive member according to 9 or 10 located on the most upstream side. The lubricant supply device according to 11 above, wherein the lubricant supply device is used.

13 . An image forming apparatus comprising the lubricant supply device according to any one of 1 to 12 above.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a lubricant supply device capable of providing a high-quality output image free from image blur and streak failure, and to provide an image forming apparatus having the lubricant supply device.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an image forming apparatus. Explanatory drawing (side view) of a lubricant supply apparatus. Explanatory drawing of the blade member of an airflow generation member. Explanatory drawing (side view) which shows the positional relationship of a lubricant supply apparatus and a photoreceptor. The figure of the lubricant supply apparatus used by the comparative example. The figure of the halftone image used for evaluation.

  The present invention is intended to provide a lubricant supply device that uniformly and thinly applies a lubricant layer to an image carrier.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an image forming apparatus.

  As an example of the image forming apparatus, an image forming apparatus A referred to as a tandem type full-color copying machine will be described below as an example.

  The automatic document feeder B picks up the documents S stacked on the paper feed tray B1 one by one and conveys them to the document reading area r, and the document S on which image information is read in the document reading area r Discharge to B2.

  The document image reading unit 1 includes a light source 11, a movable scanning unit 12, and an optical system 14 that forms an image of the document image on a line image sensor 13.

  For example, in the case of a stationary optical system type reading operation, the scanning unit 12 is fixed to the document reading area r, and the image of the document S conveyed by the automatic document feeder B is read. In the case of the moving optical system type reading operation, the image of the document S placed on the document image reading unit 1 is read while moving the scanning unit 12.

  The analog signal of the original image photoelectrically converted by the line image sensor 13 is subjected to analog processing, A / D conversion, shading correction, image compression processing, etc., and Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), This is digital image data for each color of K (black).

  An exposure unit 22 (22Y, 22M, 22C, 22K) that forms a latent image based on digital image data of each color on a drum-shaped photoconductor 21 (21Y, 21M, 21C, 21K) as a first image carrier; Developing unit 23 (23Y, 23M, 23C, 23K) for developing a latent image corresponding to each color with toner, charging unit 24 (24Y, 24M, 24C, 24K) for uniformly charging photosensitive member 21, and intermediate transfer A cleaning unit 25 (25Y, 25M, 25C, 25K) for removing toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor 21 without being transferred to the body 26 is disposed.

  A lubricant supply device 5 that supplies a lubricant to the surface of the photoreceptor 21 is installed on the downstream side of the cleaning unit 25 and the upstream side of the charging unit 24 in the rotation direction of each photoreceptor 21.

  Further, a semiconductive endless belt-like intermediate transfer member 26 that is rotatably stretched by rollers 261, 262, 263, and 264 is disposed opposite to each photosensitive member 21 (21 Y, 21 M, 21 C, 21 K). The intermediate transfer member 26 is driven in the direction of arrow a via a roller 263 by a driving device (not shown).

  The toner images of the respective colors carried on the respective photoconductors 21 are sequentially transferred to the intermediate transfer body 26 by pressing of the primary transfer rollers 27 (27Y, 27M, 27C, 27K), and a combined color image is formed. .

  The toner remaining on the intermediate transfer member 26 without being transferred to the recording material is removed by the cleaning unit 28.

  In the rotational direction of the intermediate transfer member 26, a lubricant supply device 5 that supplies lubricant to the surface of the intermediate transfer member 26 is installed on the upstream side of the photosensitive member 21 that is located on the downstream side and the most upstream side of the cleaning unit 28. Has been.

  The paper feed unit 3 includes a plurality of paper feed cassettes 31 that are paper storage members, and a recording material is accommodated in the paper feed cassette 31.

  Examples of the recording material include a resin sheet and sheet-like paper, and the recording material is hereinafter referred to as paper P.

  The accommodated paper P is picked up one by one by a paper feed roller 32, conveyed to a transfer area 35 through a plurality of conveyance rollers 33 and a registration roller 34, and intermediate to the paper P conveyed by the pressure of the secondary transfer roller 36. The synthesized toner images on the transfer body are transferred collectively.

  The sheet P on which the toner image has been transferred is separated from the intermediate transfer body 26 by curvature, and the toner image is fixed to the sheet P by the heating and pressing of the heating unit 41 and the pressure unit 42 of the fixing device 4.

  The paper P on which the toner image is fixed is sandwiched between the paper discharge rollers 37 and discharged from the discharge port 38 to the outside of the apparatus.

  The image forming apparatus A has an operation panel SP that displays various types of information and allows the user to input various types of information according to the display contents.

  The above-described operation is controlled by the control unit C that controls the entire image forming apparatus.

  Although the tandem type full-color copying machine has been described above as an example, it goes without saying that the lubricant supply device 5 can be applied to a monochrome copying machine.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory view (side view) of the lubricant supply device.

  The lubricant supply device will be described with reference to FIG.

  The lubricant supply device 5 is a device that supplies a lubricant to the surface of a photoconductor or intermediate transfer member that is an image carrier, and includes a cloud generation unit 6 that generates cloud Cr in which lubricant particles are mixed in the air, and cloud generation The lubricant particles Kr contained in the cloud Cr generated in the unit 6 are classified into small particles having a size smaller than a predetermined size and large particles having a size larger than a predetermined size, and the classified small particles are conveyed toward the image carrier. And a transport unit 7.

Incidentally, steering zinc phosphate is preferably used as a lubricant, a solid lubricant is formed into a rod, or supplied as a powder state powder Lubricant.

The cloud generation unit 6 and the conveyance unit 7 are housed in a lubricant supply case 8 fixed to the case of the image forming apparatus. The cloud generation unit 6, the conveyance unit 7, and the image carrier 10 are respectively included in the cloud generation unit 6 and the conveyance unit 7. are arranged apart from, the cloud generating section 6 in the direction of movement of Lubricant particles Kr and transport unit 7 and the image carrier 10 are arranged in that order.

  Hereinafter, when it is not particularly necessary to identify the image carrier 10 as the photosensitive member 21 or the intermediate transfer member 26, the photosensitive member 21 or the intermediate transfer member 26 is also simply referred to as the image carrier 10.

  Hereinafter, the case where the image carrier 10 is the intermediate transfer member 26 will be described as an example.

Cloud generation unit 6, a lubricant release portion 61 the intermediate transfer member 26 is released toward the conveyor 7 the lubricant particles having a predetermined amount per unit time during the rotation, a slip agent accommodated, the resilient member receiving the Lubricant It has a sliding agent supply unit 63 to be attached to 611, a.

  The lubricant discharge unit 61 (cloud generation unit 6) supports a plurality of elastic members 611, an abutting member 62 that abuts on the distal end of the elastic member 611, and the elastic member 611, and is elastic against the abutting member 62. And an elastic body support member 612 that can move 611 relatively.

  Then, the tips of the plurality of elastic members 611 provided on the rotating elastic body support member 612 come into contact with the contact member, whereby the lubricant particles Kr adhering to the elastic member 611 are released toward the transport unit 7. It is like that.

Incidentally, the contact member 62 is disposed on the downstream side in the moving direction of the elastic member 611 relative to the slip agent supply unit 63.

  The elastic body support member 612 is only required to be able to move the elastic member 611 relative to the abutting member 62. The flat body elastic body support member 612 reciprocates parallel to the surface, and the flat plate elastic body. The support member 612 may rotate in parallel with the surface, or the cylindrical elastic support member 612 may rotate.

  As the cylindrical elastic support member 612 rotates, a brush-like rotary member in which fibrous brushes are planted radially on the elastic support member 612, and a plate-like member having elasticity on the elastic support member 612 radially. Examples include a fixed plate-like rotating member, etc. Hereinafter, a case where a brush-like rotating member in which brushes are radially planted on the elastic support member 612 will be described.

  That is, the support member (brush-like rotating member) that supports the brush 611 that is an elastic member is a rotatable rotating shaft, and the elastic members are elastically arranged on the circumferential surface of the rotating shaft radially at equal pitches. It is the brush 611 which has.

  Hereinafter, an elastic body support member in which brushes are radially planted, which is a form of the elastic body support member 612, is referred to as a brush support member 612, and a brush that is a form of the elastic member 611 is referred to as a brush 611.

  The brush support member 612 has a cylindrical shape with a diameter of, for example, about 8 mm, and a brush 611 having a length of, for example, about 3 mm is planted uniformly in the circumferential direction and the axial direction.

The brush 611, which is an elastic member, is composed of thin resin fibers. The fibers are, for example, acrylic carbon fibers, have a thickness of about 3 denier, a length of about 3 mm, and are attached to the brush support member 612. About 115.000 hairs are planted per 6.45 cm ² .

  The brush support member 612 is configured so that the direction of the cloud Cr generated by the brush 611 is the same in the opposite portion between the airflow generation member 71 and the brush 611 of the transport unit 7, that is, in the rotation direction of the airflow generation member 71. The brush 611 is rotated by a brush drive member (not shown) so that the rotation direction of the brush 611 is reversed.

  In addition, the preferable rotation speed of the brush support member 612 (brush 611) by the brush drive member not shown is mentioned later.

Contact member 62 is a plate-like or cylindrical, metal (e.g., SUS) or stiff resin, in the rotation direction of the brush support member 612 as described above (direction of arrow c), Lubricant supplying section 63 And on the upstream side of the facing region 64 between the cloud generation unit 6 and the transport unit 7.

  Here, the brush 611 and the contact member 62 are spaced apart so that the tip side 1 mm of the brush 611 has a length of approximately 3 mm and contacts the contact member 62.

Further, Lubricant supply unit 63 includes a slip agent receiving member 631 for accommodating a slipping agent K, and a biasing member 632 for urging the solid Lubricant K1 cloud generator 6.

Then, Lubricant supply unit 63 is fixed to the lubricant supply housing 8, attachment to the sliding agent supply portion 63 of the lubricant supply housing 8 is open, urges the solid Lubricant K1 brush 611 It is possible.

Solid biasing member 632, if Lubricant K is a solid, the elastic body for urging a predetermined presses the solid lubricant K1 to brush 611, for example, a compression spring, is mounted on the Lubricant housing member 631 The lubricant K1 is urged toward the brush 611 with a predetermined pressure (for example, 0.64N).

  The solid lubricant K1, the brush 611, and the contact member 62 generate a uniform and temporally uniform cloud Cr over the entire length in the width direction of the intermediate transfer body 26. However, the length of each intermediate transfer member 26 is longer than the length of the intermediate transfer member 26 in the width direction (the depth direction in the drawing).

Moreover, for similar purposes, the biasing member 632 biases the solid Lubricant K1 at a constant pressing, the brush 611 is rotated at a constant rotational speed.

  The preferred number of rotations of the brush support member 612 (brush 611) by a brush drive member (not shown) includes the shape of the lubricant supply housing 8, the size and shape of the brush support member 612, the material and size / shape of the brush 611, The distance varies depending on the distance between the airflow generating member 71 and the blade member 712.

  For this reason, as described above, the number of revolutions in which the lubricant particles Kr uniformly adhere to the surface of the brush 611 in a predetermined amount and the cloud Cr in which the lubricant particles Kr are uniformly mixed at a predetermined density in the air is generated in advance. Etc.

  That is, the movement distance of the surface of the intermediate transfer body 26 per unit time determined by the moving speed of the intermediate transfer body 26 (the number of rotations of the roller that rotates the intermediate transfer body 26) and the length of the intermediate transfer body 26 in the width direction ( And the movement area of the surface of the intermediate transfer body 26 per unit time determined by the product of the product in the depth direction of the drawing) and the lubricant particles Kr by the brush 611 determined by the number of rotations of the brush 611 and the pressing of the biasing member 632. The number of rotations of the roller for rotating the intermediate transfer body 26, the number of rotations of the brush 611, and the urging force are set such that the amount of the small particles Ks attached to the intermediate transfer body 26, that is, the thickness is a predetermined value. The pressing of the member 632 is obtained in advance by experiments.

  Then, the number of rotations of a brush drive member (not shown) is set to the number of rotations, and the pressing of the urging member 632 is set to be the pressing.

  Here, the predetermined value is a value that can prevent image blurring and streak failure.

  Under the above-described conditions of each component member, the rotation speed of the brush support member 612 (brush 611) is set to, for example, about 500 rpm to 1500 rpm, preferably about 550 rpm.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the cloud generation unit 6 will be described.

  (1) The brush 611 is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed (for example, 550 rpm) by a brush driving member (not shown) that rotates the brush 611.

(2) The tip of the rotating brush 611 is rubbed against the surface of the solid lubricant K1 urged toward the brush 611 with a predetermined thickness (eg, 0.64N), so that the lubricant particles Kr are applied to the surface of the brush 611. Adheres uniformly in a given amount,
(3) then rubs the tip of the brush 611 contact member 62 is rotated, by playing the tip portion, a lubricant supply housing lubricity agent particles Kr which was uniformly applied in a predetermined amount to the brush 611 It is discharged into the body 8 to generate cloud Cr in which the lubricant particles Kr are mixed with air at a predetermined density.

  As a result of rubbing the solid lubricant K1 with the cloud generation unit 6 having the configuration and conditions described above, it was confirmed that the cloud Cr containing the largest amount of lubricant particles Kr having a maximum outer portion passing length of around 20 μm was generated. .

Figure 2 (b) is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the slip agent accommodating member.

If Lubricant K is a powder, the powder Lubricant and Lubricant accommodating member 631 'for accommodating the K2, slit-like inlet to inject powder Lubricant K2 opened in lubricant supply housing 8 to the cloud generator 6 81 And a shutter 634 that opens and closes the insertion port 81 and a drive member 635 (for example, a solenoid) that opens and closes the shutter 634.

Then, by opening the shutter 634 during operation of the intermediate transfer member 26, so as to supply a quantity of powder Lubricant K2 determined by the opening area of the inlet 81.

The opening area of the inlet 81, the amount of powder Lubricant K2 passing through the opening of the inlet 81, the amount or thickness of the small particles Ks adhering to the intermediate transfer member 26 of the powder Lubricant K2 as a result An area having a predetermined value is obtained in advance by experiments, and the insertion port 81 is opened so as to be the area.

  Here, the predetermined value is a value that does not cause image blur or streak failure.

  Returning to FIG. 2A, the transport unit 7 includes an air flow generation unit 71 that generates an air flow at least a part of which is directed toward the image carrier 10.

  The airflow generation member 71 includes a plurality of blade members 712, a rotation shaft 711 that is a blade support member that rotatably supports the blade member 712, and a rotation drive member (not illustrated) that rotates the rotation shaft 711 at a constant predetermined number of rotations. And have.

Then, to generate a circulating air flow AC by rotating the blade member 712, the circulating air flow AC lubricant particles Kr and small particles Ks and large particles K _L and the secondary classifying, is conveyed small particles Ks to the intermediate transfer member 26, Small particles Ks are attached to the intermediate transfer member 26.

  The airflow generation member 71 of the transport unit 7 and the brush support member 612 of the cloud generation unit 6 are converted into a circulating airflow AC generated mainly by the airflow generation member 71 in the cloud Cr generated by the cloud generation unit 6. The distance that can be wound, for example, the shortest distance from the tip of the brush 611 to the tip of the opposing blade member 712 is 0.5 mm or more and 5 mm or less, preferably 1 to 3 mm apart.

By taking such a distance, but small particles Ks is caught in the recirculating gas current AC, large particles K _L Most not involved in circulating the air flow AC, resulting in free fall from between the brush 611 and blade member 712 Making it possible.

Further, the air flow generation member 71 and the intermediate transfer member 26 have a predetermined distance at which the classified small particles Ks can be transported to the intermediate transfer member 26 on the air flow toward the intermediate transfer member 26 in the circulating air flow AC. and free distance of fall for the large particles _{K L} does not adhere to the intermediate transfer member 26, for example, the shortest distance from the tip of the blade member 712 to the intermediate transfer member 26 facing the 5mm or less 0.5mm or more, preferably 1~2mm spaced Are arranged.

  The blade member 712 generates a circulating airflow AC that circulates around the blade member 712 by rotation, and at least a part of the circulating airflow AC is directed to the image carrier 10.

  Note that, in the rotation driving unit (not shown), the direction of the airflow (circulation airflow AC) generated by the airflow generation member 71 is the moving direction of the intermediate transfer body 26 at the facing portion between the intermediate transfer body 26 and the airflow generation member 71. The airflow generation member 71 is rotated so as to be the same.

The rotation driving unit, not shown, the wind speed can be large particles K _L and the secondary classifying the lubricant particles Kr of predetermined size less than small particles Ks and a predetermined size or larger contained in the cloud Cr to rotate the blade member 712 The circulating airflow AC is generated, and at least a part of the circulating airflow AC can generate a wind speed capable of conveying the classified small particles Ks toward the image carrier 10.

In other words, the rotation driving unit, not shown, the lubricant particles Kr big particles K _L and the secondary classifying and small particles Ks, at a rotation speed capable of generating a circulating air flow AC for transporting small particles Ks to the intermediate transfer member 26 The blade member 712 is rotated.

  A guide 716 (broken line) extending in the circumferential direction is provided apart from the airflow generation member 71 in order to efficiently convert the airflow generated by the airflow generation member 71 into a circulating airflow AC that circulates inside the transport unit 7. Also good.

  The guide 716 (broken line) is open on the cloud generation unit 6 side and the intermediate transfer member 26 side, and allows the cloud Cr generated in the cloud generation unit 6 to enter the transfer unit 7. The small particles Ks can be transported.

  The airflow generating member 71 may be any member that generates the circulating airflow AC, and a fan, a sirocco fan, or the like can be used. In this case, the circulating airflow AC can be efficiently obtained by providing the guide 716 in particular.

The cloud generation unit 6 (brush 611) and the airflow generation member 71 (blade member 712), and the airflow generation member 71 (blade member 712) and the intermediate transfer member 26 are disposed at a predetermined distance as described above. the circulating air flow is small particles Ks is conveyed to the intermediate transfer member 26 spaced riding the circulating air flow AC generated by the air flow generating member 71 lighter, large particles K _L is generated by the air flow generating member 71 for heavy It is not possible to get on the AC, and it falls freely along the lubricant supply housing 8 and is not transported to the intermediate transfer member 26 that is separated.

As no large particles K _L which did not adhere to the intermediate transfer member 26 is reattached the internal lubricant supply housing 8 to the intermediate transfer member 26 be free fall, a predetermined angle with respect to a lubricant supply device 5 is a vertical line Is arranged in.

  Specifically, an angle θ1 formed by a straight line L1 connecting the rotation center 622 of the brush support member 612 and the rotation center 714 of the rotation shaft 711 and the perpendicular L2 of the intermediate transfer member 26 is 90 ° to 180 °, preferably 90 ° to The lubricant supply device 5 is arranged with respect to the intermediate transfer body 26 so as to be 60 °.

Thus even if the image bearing member by taking the angle θ1 is vertically positioned as the intermediate transfer member 26, the small particles Ks only an intermediate transfer member without attaching the large particles K _L to the intermediate transfer member 26 26 can be attached.

Incidentally, it reduced to a lubricant supply being crushed to repeat the collision to the housing 8 and the brush 611 or the like, the same extent as some of the particles small particles Ks of large particles K _L when the large particles K _L of free fall.

  The reduced particles (small particles Ks) adhere to the brush 611 of the cloud generation unit 6, and are transported again to the transport unit 7 in the same manner as the lubricant particles Kr are transported to the transport unit 7. Up to 26.

  Thus, the utilization efficiency of the solid lubricant K1 was able to be raised by generating the circulating airflow AC in the transport unit 7 and reducing the size of the large particles to make the particles small.

Although conveyor 7 as described above has both a function of transporting up functions and the intermediate transfer member 26 for classifying a slip agent particles Kr contained in the cloud Cr which is generated in the cloud generation unit 6, intermediate from conveyor 7 In the area close to the brush 611 among the areas up to the transfer body 26, the classifying function is more dominant than the conveying function, and in the area far from the brush 611, the conveying function is more dominant.

The lubricant supply device 5 includes a lubricant supply housing 8 that is a housing that houses the cloud generation unit 6 and the transport unit 7. One end of the lubricant supply device 5 is on the side facing the intermediate transfer body 26 of the lubricant supply housing 8. parts is fixed to the lubricant supply housing 8 and the other end in contact with the intermediate transfer member 26, slip agent particles and Kr is lubricants sealing member 86 for preventing the leakage of the outside of the lubricant supply housing 8 It is arranged.

Then, Lubricant sealing member 86 is made from an elastic material such as rubber, the large particles K _L which have not been transported to the intermediate transfer member 26 is set to an angle that can not adhere to the intermediate transfer member 26.

The angle at which large particles K _L can not adhere to the intermediate transfer member 26, a contact point between the intermediate transfer member 26 and Lubricant sealing member 86, a slip agent sealing member 86, an intermediate transfer of the upstream side of the contact point The angle formed by the body 26 is set to 0 to 90 ° or less.

Also, slip agents sealing member 86 located at the upstream end 82 of the moving direction (arrow) of the intermediate transfer member 26 constitutes a first blade 83 in which the blade-like to the distal end side becomes thinner.

  The first blade 83 also has the function of a cleaning blade that removes the developer that could not be removed by the cleaning unit 28.

  In order to simplify the configuration of the image forming apparatus A, the developer remaining on the intermediate transfer member 26 may be removed using the first blade 83 without installing the cleaning unit 28.

Also, slip agents sealing member 86 located at the downstream end 84 of the moving direction of the intermediate transfer body 26 (arrow) constitutes the second blade 85 in which the blade-like to the distal end side becomes thinner.

  The second blade 85 has a function of leveling the lubricant by slidingly contacting the lubricant attached to the surface of the intermediate transfer body 26.

  Since the lubricant has a relatively high viscosity, when the second blade 85 is brought into sliding contact with the lubricant adhering to the surface of the intermediate transfer body 26, the lubricant is stretched to form a thin and uniform lubricant coating layer.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a blade member of the airflow generation member.

  In order to apply the lubricant layer uniformly and thinly on the intermediate transfer body 26, the transport unit 7 entrains the cloud Cr generated in the cloud generation unit 6 in which the lubricant particles Kr are uniformly distributed at a predetermined density in the air. It is necessary to generate a circulating airflow AC at a constant wind speed without uniform unevenness in the width direction (the depth direction in the drawing) of the intermediate transfer body 26. Therefore, the airflow generation member 71 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  3A is a perspective view of the airflow generation member 71 shown in FIG. 2A viewed from the right front side of FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B is an airflow generation member of FIG. 3A. It is the figure which looked at from the left side.

  In FIG. 3A, only three of the plurality of blade members 712 are shown to make the drawing easy to see.

  3A and 3B, the airflow generation member 71 has a rotation shaft 711, a plurality of blade members 712 (shaded portions), and a support member 715.

  The rotating shaft 711 is rotatably supported by the lubricant supply housing 8, and a plurality of blade members 712 are fixed to the rotating shaft 711 via support members 715, and the rotating shaft 711 is driven by a driving member (not shown). The blade member 712 rotates.

  The rotation direction of the blade member 712 is the same as the movement direction (arrow) of the intermediate transfer member 26 and the rotation direction (arrow a direction) of the blade member 712 at the facing portion between the blade member 712 and the intermediate transfer member 26. It has become.

  For example, the diameter d1 of the rotating shaft 711 is 2 mm, the length d2 of the support member 715 is 3 mm and 5 mm, and the length d3 of the blade member 712 is 1.5 mm.

  A plurality of, for example, eight blade members 712, each having the same shape and size, are fixed to the rotating shaft 711 at an equal pitch, and generate a circulating airflow AC by rotating in the direction of arrow a. Yes.

  The plurality of blade members 712 are provided over the entire length of the rotating shaft 711, and the lengths L4 of the plurality of blade members 712 are the same and longer than the width W1 of the intermediate transfer member 26 (one-dot chain line). The widths W2 of the plurality of blade members 712 are the same (for example, 3 mm).

  Further, the blade member 712 is fixed to the support member 715 with a predetermined angle θ2 with respect to the straight line L3 that is the diameter direction of the rotating shaft 711 in order to efficiently generate the circulating airflow AC.

  The optimum angle as the predetermined angle θ2 varies depending on the shape of the lubricant supply housing 8 and the shape of the blade member 712. Therefore, an experiment is performed in advance so that the small particles Ks can be classified from the lubricant particles Kr, and the small particles Ks are intermediate. An angle at which a circulating airflow AC having a wind speed that is easily conveyed to the transfer body 26 is generated is determined.

  For example, the blade member 712 is fixed to the rotary shaft 711 via the support member 715 so that the angle θ2 is 0 ° to 60 °, preferably 30 °, in the shape and dimensions of the blade member 712 described above.

  Thus, by providing the angle θ2, the circulating airflow AC is efficiently generated by the rotation of the blade member 712, and the small particles Ks contained in the circulating airflow AC are classified and conveyed toward the intermediate transfer member 26. Can do.

  Then, by rotating the air flow generating member 71 having the above-described configuration at a predetermined constant rotation speed (for example, 550 rpm), the air flow generating member AC is uniform in the width direction of the intermediate transfer body 26 and has a predetermined air speed and a uniform non-uniform circulation air flow AC. Can be generated.

  The configuration in which the blade member 712 is fixed to the rotating shaft 711 via the support member 715 has been described above, but the blade member 712 may be directly fixed to the rotating shaft 711.

  In this case, it is set beforehand by experiment to a size / shape and an angle θ2 that can classify the small particles Ks and generate the circulating airflow AC at a wind speed at which the small particles Ks are easily transported to the intermediate transfer body 26.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory view (side view) showing the positional relationship between the lubricant supply device and the photosensitive member.

Large particles K _L which did not adhere to the photosensitive body 21 so that it can not be re-adhered to the photosensitive member 21, the rotational center of the photosensitive member 21 from the rotational center of the airflow generating member 71 is disposed at a higher position.

In addition, as large particles K _L which did not adhere to the photosensitive member 21 is not re-adhere to the photosensitive member 21 to fall freely internal lubricant supply housing 8, a lubricant supply device 5 is at an angle to the horizontal line Has been placed.

  The positional relationship between the lubricant supply device 5 and the photoconductor 21 when the lubricant supply device 5 is provided on the photoconductor 21 will be described below.

  The lubricant supply device 5 has the same configuration as that shown in FIG. 2 except that the shape of the end of the lubricant supply housing 8 on the image carrier side is slightly different. A detailed description of the transport unit 7 is omitted.

  The rotation direction of the rotating shaft 711 is such that the moving direction of the surface of the photosensitive member 21 and the moving direction of the tip of the blade member 712 are the same in the facing portion between the blade member 712 and the photosensitive member 21. The direction of rotation of the rotary shaft 711 (the direction of arrow a) is opposite to that of (arrow).

  FIG. 4A shows a case where the rotation center 211 of the photoconductor 21 is located on the extended line of the straight line L1 connecting the rotation center 622 of the brush support member 612 and the rotation center 714 of the rotation shaft 711.

  Such a positional relationship is preferably used when the lubricant supply device 5 is disposed below the photoconductor 21. For example, the rotation center 211 of the photoconductor 21 and the brush support are arranged on a vertical line (on a line perpendicular to the horizontal line). The lubricant supply device 5 is attached to the photoreceptor 21 so that the rotation center 622 of the member 612 and the rotation center 714 of the rotation shaft 711 are positioned.

In this case, since the lubricant supply unit 5 is disposed under the photosensitive member 21, the large particles K _L reattach to the photosensitive member 21 to fall freely internal lubricant supply device 5 without being conveyed to the photoreceptor 21 There is no fear.

  In FIG. 4B, the rotation center 211 of the photosensitive member 21 is positioned on the extension line of the straight line L1 connecting the rotation center 622 of the brush support member 612 and the rotation center 714 of the rotation shaft 711, and the extension line of the straight line L1. The case where the horizontal line L5 passing through the rotation center 211 of the photoconductor 21 intersects at a predetermined angle is shown.

  Such a positional relationship is preferably used when the lubricant supply device 5 is disposed obliquely below the photoreceptor 21.

So as to drop the internal lubricant supply device 5 along the lubricant supply housing 8 which is inclined large particles K _L which have not been transported to the photosensitive member 21, the mounting angle of the lubricant supply device 5 with respect to the photosensitive member 21, i.e., the straight line L1 The lubricant supply device 5 is attached to the photoreceptor 21 so that the angle θ4 formed by the horizontal line L5 is, for example, 90 ° or more and less than 180 °, preferably 90 ° or more and less than 150 °.

By taking such an angle .theta.4, even when disposing the lubricant supply device 5 obliquely downward side of the photosensitive member 21, the large particles K _L which have not been transported to the photoreceptor 21 along the lubricant supply housing 8 which is inclined Thus, since the inside of the lubricant supply device 5 falls, it does not reattach to the photoconductor 21, but only small particles Ks can be attached to the photoconductor 21.

  In FIG. 4C, the rotation center 211 of the photosensitive member 21 is not positioned on the extension line of the straight line L1 connecting the rotation center 622 of the brush support member 612 and the rotation center 714 of the rotation shaft 711. The case where the horizontal line L5 passing through the rotation center 211 of the body 21 intersects at a predetermined angle is shown.

  Such a positional relationship is suitably used when the lubricant supply device 5 is disposed at substantially the same position as the photoconductor 21 in the height direction.

So as to drop the internal lubricant supply device 5 along the lubricant supply housing 8 which is inclined large particles K _L which have not been transported to the photosensitive member 21, the rotational center 714 of the rotation center 622 of the brush supporting member 612 rotating shaft 711 And a horizontal line L5 passing through the rotation center 211 of the photoconductor 21 is a predetermined angle θ3, for example, an angle of 90 ° or more and less than 180 °, preferably 90 ° or more and less than 150 °. The lubricant supply device 5 is attached to the photoreceptor 21 so that

By taking such an angle .theta.3, even when disposing the lubricant supply device 5 to the side of the photosensitive member 21, the large particles K _L which have not been transported to the photoreceptor 21 along the lubricant supply housing 8 which is inclined lubricant Since the inside of the supply device 5 falls, it does not reattach to the photoconductor 21 but only the small particles Ks can be attached to the photoconductor 21.

Incidentally, in place of FIG. 4 (a) ~ Lubricant supplying solid lubricant K1 in (c) housing member 631 is provided with a slip agent accommodating member 631 'for supplying the powder Lubricant K2 described with reference to FIG. 2 It goes without saying.

  Needless to say, the lubricant supply device 5 shown in FIG. 4 can also be suitably used for a monochrome image forming apparatus.

  The operation related to the lubricant supply of the lubricant supply device 5 described above is described in a program stored in a storage unit (not shown), and the program is sequentially read out by the control unit C, and each component is driven and controlled. Executed.

  In the following, since image blurring and streak failure, which were problems in the prior art, were compared and evaluated by the conventional lubricant supply device and the lubricant supply device of the present invention, see Table 1 and Table 2 below. To explain.

  In the evaluation, the image forming apparatus A described with reference to FIG. 1 was incorporated with the lubricant supply device 5 described with reference to FIG. 4 as an example to form an image, and the output image was evaluated. As a comparative example, an image was formed by incorporating the lubricant supply device shown in FIG. 5 and the output image was evaluated.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram of the lubricant supply device used in the comparative example.

  5A shows the lubricant supply device used in Comparative Example 1, and FIG. 5B shows the lubricant supply device used in Comparative Example 2.

In FIG. 5, the lubricant supply device 5 ′ does not have the transport unit 7 described above, but includes a brush support member 612 ′, a contact member 62 ′ whose tip contacts the brush 611 ′ planted on the brush support member 612 ′, these and lubricant supply housing 8 interior 'has a housing the solid lubricant K1 lubricant accommodating member 631', a.

  The brush support member 612 'and the brush 611' have the same structure as the brush support member 612 and the brush 611 described with reference to FIG.

  The tip of the brush 611 'and the photosensitive member 21 are arranged to face each other with a distance of about 1 mm, and the brush support member 612' is rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow at a rotational speed of 550 rpm by a drive unit (not shown).

  Then, the surface of the solid lubricant K1 is abraded by the rotating brush 611 ′, the lubricant particles Kr formed by solidifying the solid lubricant K1 are adhered to the brush 611 ′, and then the brush 611 ′ is repelled by the contact member 62 ′ to thereby generate the lubricant particles. Kr is directly conveyed and adhered to the photosensitive member 21.

  In FIG. 5A, the contact member 62 'is electrically grounded.

  Then, the lubricant particles Kr adhering to the brush 611 ′ which is electrically at zero potential are repelled by the contact member 62 ′, and are blown off by the centrifugal force of the rotating brush 611 ′ and directly adhered to the photoreceptor 21. Yes.

  In FIG. 5B, the contact member 62 ′ is connected to a DC power supply 65, and a DC bias (−200 V) is applied by the DC power supply 65.

  Then, the lubricant particles Kr adhering to the brush 611 ′ having an electrically negative potential are repelled by the contact member 62 ′, and are blown off by the centrifugal force and electrostatic force of the rotating brush 611 ′, and directly adhered to the photoreceptor 21. It is like that.

  Table 1 is mainly evaluated for image blur. A dot hatched image composed of 2 × 2 dots (1200 dpi) shown in FIG. 6 is output, and the graininess of the dot hatched region is confirmed by visual observation. The case where there was no roughness was rated as ◯, and the case where the roughness was conspicuous was marked as x.

  In FIG. 6, 1 枡 represents 1 dot, and a black dot constituted by 4 dots and a blank constituted by 4 dots were alternately repeated vertically and horizontally to obtain a halftone image.

  In addition, a 5-point (1200 dpi) high-definition character image was output, and “◯” was given when all the characters could be clearly read visually, and “X” was given when even one character could not be read due to image blur.

  Table 2 is mainly evaluated for streak failure. A large number of images with a printing rate of 10% are output continuously. The output image is visually checked for the presence of streak failure, and streaks appear on the white background. The case where there was no streak was marked as ◯, and the case where streaks were entered was marked as x.

  As a result, as shown in Table 1, in the example, the 2 × 2 dot area has good graininess, no unevenness is observed in the halftone image, and the reproducibility of the high-definition character of 5 points (1200 dpi) is also good and the character is clear. I was able to read.

  However, in Comparative Example 1 and Comparative Example 2, the 2 × 2 dot region has poor granularity, unevenness is recognized in the halftone image, and the reproducibility of the high-definition character of 5 points (1200 dpi) is also poor and the character cannot be read. there were.

  Further, as shown in Table 2, in the example, no streak failure occurred even with 300,000 sheets.

  However, in Comparative Example 1 and Comparative Example 2, streak failure occurred after 100,000 sheets.

  As described above, the lubricant supply device of the present invention has no image blur and can reliably read 5 point (1200 dpi) high-definition characters, no image unevenness is observed, and even if 300,000 sheets are output, It was confirmed that there was an effect that no failure occurred.

  As described above, the cloud generation unit 6 and the conveyance unit 7 are provided, the cloud generation unit 6 generates a cloud in which lubricant particles are mixed in the air, and the conveyance unit 7 generates a circulating airflow AC with a uniform and predetermined wind speed. It is possible to apply the lubricant layer of the image carrier uniformly and thinly by selecting the small particles from the lubricant particles by the classification action by the circulating air flow and attaching the selected small particles Ks to the image carrier. did.

  As a result, it has become possible to provide a lubricant supply device capable of outputting a high-quality image free from image blur, image unevenness, and streak failure, and an image forming apparatus having the lubricant supply device.

5 lubricant supply device 6 cloud generator 7 conveyor 8 lubricant supply housing 10 image bearing member 21 photoconductor 26 the intermediate transfer member 62 abutting member 63 Lubricant supply unit 71 airflow generating member 631 Lubricant housing member 712 blade members A picture forming apparatus AC cycle gas C controller Cr cloud K lubricant K1 solid lubricant Kr lubricant particles Ks small particles K _L large particles

Claims (13)

In the lubricant supply device for supplying the lubricant to the surface of the image carrier,
A cloud generation unit for generating a cloud in which the lubricant particles are mixed in the air;
The lubricant particles contained in the cloud generated by the cloud generation unit are classified into small particles having a size smaller than a predetermined size and large particles having a size larger than a predetermined size, and the classified small particles are classified as the image carrier. A transport unit that transports the body toward the body;
Have
The transport unit includes an air flow generation unit that generates an air flow at least a part of which is directed to the image carrier,
The air flow generation unit is
Classifying the particles of the lubricant contained in the cloud into the small particles and the large particles;
In addition, the lubricant supply device is characterized in that the classified small particles can be transported to the image carrier, and the classified large particles generate the air flow at a wind speed that cannot be transported to the image carrier. Wherein are respectively disposed apart from the cloud generating portion and the conveying portion and said image bearing member, wherein said cloud generating section in the direction of movement of particles of lubricating agent to the conveying unit and the image carrier are arranged in this order The lubricant supply device according to claim 1, wherein the lubricant supply device is provided. The air flow generation unit is
A plurality of blade members;
A blade support member that rotatably supports the blade member;
Lubricant supply device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it has a rotary drive member for rotating the blade supporting member at a constant predetermined rotational speed. The lubricant supply device according to claim 3 , wherein the airflow is a circulating airflow that circulates around the blade member, and at least a part of the circulating airflow is directed to the image carrier. The cloud generation unit
A plurality of elastic members;
A contact member that contacts the tip of the elastic member;
A support member that supports the elastic member and allows the elastic member to move relative to the contact member;
The sliding agent accommodated, the housing and lubricity agents have a sliding containing portion supplying the elastic member,
Said abutment member, said slip agent lubricant supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that disposed on the downstream side in the moving direction of the elastic member with respect to housing part . 6. The lubricant according to claim 5 , wherein the supporting member is a rotatable rotating member, and the elastic member is an elastic brush radially arranged on the circumferential surface of the rotating member at an equal pitch. Feeding device. The lubricant supply device according to claim 6 , further comprising a brush driving member that rotates the brush at a predetermined rotation speed via the rotating member. A housing that houses the cloud generation unit and the transport unit;
On the side of the image bearing member and the counter of the housing is one end fixed to the housing and the other end abuts on the image carrier, particles of the lubricating agent is of the enclosure lubricant supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that lubricant sealing member for preventing the leakage of outside are disposed. Lubricant supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, the image bearing member is characterized in that it is a photosensitive member. In the rotation direction of the photoconductor, the photoconductor is disposed downstream of a cleaning unit that removes developer remaining on the photoconductor and upstream of a charging unit that uniformly charges the photoconductor. The lubricant supply device according to claim 9 . Lubricant supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein said image bearing member is an intermediate transfer member. Distribution wherein the rotational direction of the intermediate transfer member, on the upstream side of the photosensitive member according to claim 9 or 10 located on the downstream side, and most upstream side of the cleaning unit for removing the developer remaining on the intermediate transfer member The lubricant supply device according to claim 11 , wherein the lubricant supply device is provided. An image forming apparatus characterized by having a lubricant supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

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