JP6308352B2 - Cleaning device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaner and an image forming apparatus.

Conventionally, an image forming apparatus that forms a toner image and a cleaner that cleans transfer residual toner are known.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an image forming apparatus in which waste toner conveying means is disposed in a downward direction in a vertical plane including a contact ridge line between a blade and an image carrier.

JP 2005-202317 A

  An object of this invention is to suppress aggregation of a powdery material.

The cleaning device according to claim 1 is:
A plate-like scraping member that contacts the surface of the moving object to be cleaned and scrapes off the powder on the surface;
A storage tank for storing the powdered material scraped off by the scraping member;
A conveying member that is provided at a direct drop point of the powdery material dropped from the scraping member in the storage tank, and conveys the powdery material in a direction along the axis of rotation by rotating,
A rotating brush that avoids the drop point and rotates in the storage tank along with the conveying member, and rubs the surface of the object to be cleaned on the upstream side of the movement of the object to be cleaned rather than the scraping member;
With
The conveying member moves a part of the powdery material directly to the rotating brush by rotation .

The cleaning device according to claim 2 further includes the cleaning device according to claim 1.
It is provided between the brush and the conveying member in the storage tank, and includes a wall having a height higher than the lowest point of the brush and lower than the highest point of the conveying member. To do.

An image forming apparatus according to claim 3
An image holding body for holding the toner image by forming a toner image on the surface while moving;
An image forming unit for forming a toner image on the image carrier;
A transfer device for transferring the toner image on the image carrier onto the transfer target;
A cleaner for removing the toner remaining on the image carrier after the transfer by the transfer device and cleaning the image carrier,
The cleaner is
A plate-shaped scraping member that scrapes off the toner on the surface of the image carrier by contacting an edge;
A storage tank for storing toner scraped off by the scraping member;
A conveying member that is provided at a direct drop point of the toner dropped from the scraping member in the storage tank and conveys the toner in a direction along the axis of rotation by rotating;
A rotating brush that avoids the drop point and is provided in the storage tank and rotates side by side with the conveying member, and rubs the surface of the image carrier upstream of the scraping member on the upstream side of the movement of the image carrier; ,
With
The conveying member is configured to move a part of the toner directly to the rotating brush by rotation.

According to the cleaning device according to the first aspect and the image forming apparatus according to the fourth aspect , the aggregation of the powdery material can be suppressed as compared with the case where this configuration is not provided.

  According to the cleaner which concerns on Claim 2, compared with the case where it does not have this structure, the powdery material supply to to-be-cleaned material is stabilized.

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a belt cleaner.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 has image forming units 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K arranged in parallel for each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K). This is a tandem color printer that prints a full-color image consisting of four color toner images and also prints a single-color image.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes toner cartridges 18Y, 18M, 18C, and 18K that store toner of each color of YMCK.

  Since the four image forming units 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K have the same configuration except for the developer to be used, the image forming unit 10Y corresponding to yellow will be described as a representative example. . The image forming unit 10Y includes a photoreceptor 11Y, a charger 12Y, an exposure device 13Y, a developing device 14Y, a primary transfer device 15Y, and a photoreceptor cleaner 16Y.

  The photoconductor 11Y has a photoconductor layer on a cylindrical substrate, holds an image formed on the surface, and rotates in the direction of arrow A around the axis of the cylinder. The charger 12Y, the exposure device 13Y, the developing device 14Y, the primary transfer device 15Y, and the photoconductor cleaner 16Y are sequentially arranged around the photoconductor 11Y.

  The charger 12Y charges the surface of the photoreceptor 11Y. The charger 12Y in the present embodiment is a charging roll that contacts the surface of the photoreceptor 11Y. A voltage having the same polarity as the charging polarity of the toner in the developing device 14Y is applied to the charging roll, and the surface of the photoreceptor 11Y that comes into contact is charged. As the charger 12Y, a corona discharger that is not in contact with the photoreceptor 11Y can be employed in addition to the charging roll.

  The exposure device 13Y includes a light emitter that emits laser light based on an image signal supplied from the outside of the image forming apparatus 1, and a rotary polygon mirror that scans the photoconductor 11Y with the laser light. By irradiating 11Y with laser light, the surface of the photoreceptor 11Y is exposed. As the exposure device 13Y, in addition to the method using laser light, an LED array in which a large number of LEDs are arranged along the scanning direction can be employed.

  The developing device 14Y develops the surface of the photoreceptor 11Y using a two-component developer composed of toner and a magnetic carrier. The toner is supplied from the toner cartridge 18Y to the developing device 14Y, and the toner is mixed with the magnetic carrier in the developing device 14Y.

  The primary transfer unit 15Y is a roll facing the photoconductor 11Y with the intermediate transfer belt 30 interposed therebetween. The primary transfer unit 15Y has a conductive elastic layer on the surface, and a toner image on the photoreceptor 11Y is statically applied to the intermediate transfer belt 30 by applying a voltage having a polarity opposite to the charging polarity of the toner. Electrosuction. The photoreceptor cleaner 16Y has a cleaning blade that comes into contact with the surface of the photoreceptor 11Y, and scrapes off residual toner on the surface of the photoreceptor 11Y.

  The image forming apparatus 1 also includes an intermediate transfer belt 30, a fixing device 60, a belt cleaner 70, and a paper conveyance unit 80.

  The intermediate transfer belt 30 is an endless belt made of a resin material containing a conductive agent. The intermediate transfer belt 30 is stretched over belt support rolls 31 to 35 and circulates in the direction indicated by arrow B passing through the image forming units 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K and the secondary transfer unit 50. The toner images of the respective colors are transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 30 from the image forming units 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K. The intermediate transfer belt 30 moves while holding the toner images of these colors. The intermediate transfer belt 30 corresponds to an example of an image carrier according to the present invention, and the image forming units 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K correspond to an example of an image forming unit according to the present invention.

  The secondary transfer device 50 is a roll that rotates with the intermediate transfer belt 30 and the paper sandwiched between the secondary transfer unit 50 and the backup roll 34 that is one of the belt support rolls 31 to 35. The secondary transfer unit 50 has a conductive elastic layer on the surface, and a voltage having a polarity opposite to the charging polarity of the toner is applied to electrostatically attract the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 30 to the sheet. . The secondary transfer device 50 corresponds to an example of a transfer device according to the present invention.

  The belt cleaner 70 removes the toner on the intermediate transfer belt 30 to clean the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 30, and corresponds to an embodiment of the cleaner of the present invention. Here, the intermediate transfer belt 30 corresponds to an example of an object to be cleaned according to the present invention.

  The fixing device 60 fixes the toner on the paper. The fixing device 60 includes a heating roll 61 and a pressure roll 62, and the heating roll 61 includes a heater. The heating roll 61 and the pressure roll 62 fix the toner image on the paper by passing the paper on which the toner image before fixing is formed sandwiched therebetween.

  The paper transport unit 80 includes a take-out roll 81 that takes out the paper stored in the paper container T, a scooping roll 82 that picks up the picked-up paper, a transport roll 83 that transports the paper, and a resist that transports the paper to the secondary transfer unit 50 And a discharge roll 86 for discharging the paper to the outside. The paper transport unit 80 transports paper along a paper transport path R that passes through the secondary transfer device 50 and the fixing device 60.

  The basic operation of the image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. In the yellow image forming unit 10Y, the photoreceptor 11Y is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow A, and a charge is applied to the surface of the photoreceptor 11Y by the charger 12Y. . The exposure device 13Y forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductor 11Y by irradiating the surface of the photoconductor 11Y with exposure light based on an image signal corresponding to yellow among image signals supplied from the outside. . The developing device 14Y forms a toner image by developing the electrostatic latent image with toner. The developing device 14Y is supplied with yellow toner from the toner cartridge 18Y as needed, not necessarily simultaneously with the development. The photoconductor 11Y rotates while holding the yellow toner image formed on the surface. The toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 11Y is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 30 by the primary transfer unit 15Y. After transfer, the toner remaining on the photoreceptor 11Y is collected and removed by the photoreceptor cleaner 16Y.

  The intermediate transfer belt 30 is stretched around the support rolls 31 to 35 and cyclically moves in the arrow B direction. The image forming units 10M, 10C, and 10K corresponding to colors other than yellow form toner images of colors corresponding to the image forming units in the same manner as the yellow image forming unit 10Y. The toner image of each color is transferred onto the toner image transferred by the image forming unit 10Y.

  The paper P is taken out from the paper container T by the take-out roll 81 and the separating roll 82. The paper P is transported along the paper transport path R in the direction of arrow C toward the secondary transfer device 50 by the transport roll 83 and the registration roll 84. The registration roll 84 feeds the paper P to the secondary transfer device 50 so that the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 30 and the paper P reach the secondary transfer device 50 at the same timing. The secondary transfer device 50 transfers the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 30 to the paper P by applying a transfer voltage between the intermediate transfer belt 30 and the paper P. The sheet P on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed from the secondary transfer unit 50 to the fixing device 60, and the toner image transferred onto the sheet is fixed. In this way, an image is formed on the paper. The sheet on which the image is formed is discharged to the outside of the image forming apparatus 1 by the discharge roll 86. The toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 30 after the transfer by the secondary transfer device 50 is removed from the intermediate transfer belt 30 by the belt cleaner 70.

  FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the structure of the belt cleaner.

  The belt cleaner 70 is provided with a cleaning blade 71, a brush roll 72, and a scraper 73, and these remove residual toner from the intermediate transfer belt 30 (see FIG. 1). FIG. 2 shows an arrow B indicating the movement direction of the intermediate transfer belt 30, and the brush roll 72, the cleaning blade 71, and the scraper 73 are arranged in this order from the upstream side of the movement along the movement direction indicated by the arrow B. Are lined up.

  The cleaning blade 71 is a rubber plate-like member extending in a direction intersecting with the moving direction indicated by the arrow B, and an edge 71a which is an edge of the plate contacts the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 30 and is intermediated by the edge 71a. The toner on the transfer belt 30 is scraped off. The cleaning blade 71 corresponds to an example of a scraping member according to the present invention.

  The brush roll 72 has a structure in which bristles 72b are planted around a brush shaft 72a extending in a direction crossing the moving direction indicated by the arrow B, and intermediate transfer is performed by rotating in the arrow D direction around the brush shaft 72a. Rub the surface of the belt 30. The brush roll 72 rubs the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 30 to destroy the residual toner attached on the surface, to remove the broken toner from the surface, and to supply a small amount of toner to the surface. Occurs. The toner supplied to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 30 by the brush roll 72 contributes to the formation of a so-called toner dam formed in the vicinity of the edge 71 a of the cleaning blade 71, and as a result, contributes to the stability of the cleaning force of the belt cleaner 70. . The brush roll 72 corresponds to an example of the brush according to the present invention.

  The scraper 73 is a thin metal plate extending in a direction intersecting the moving direction indicated by the arrow B, and further scrapes off the toner that has passed through the cleaning blade 71 from the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 30.

  The belt cleaner 70 is also provided with a toner storage tank 75 and an auger 74. In the toner storage tank 75, toner scraped off from the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 30 by the cleaning blade 71 is stored, and the auger 74 is arranged at the dropping point of the toner to be scraped off.

  The auger 74 is a spiral blade 74b that spirally surrounds a rotating shaft 74a extending in a direction intersecting the moving direction indicated by the arrow B, and rotates in the direction of arrow E around the rotating shaft 74a. The toner in the toner storage tank 75 is conveyed by the spiral blade 74b in a direction crossing the paper surface of FIG. The above-described brush roll 72 is arranged adjacent to the auger 74, but is disposed at a position where the dropping point of the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 71 is avoided. For this reason, the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 71 falls directly onto the auger 74 without passing through the brush roll 72, and the stirring action accompanying the rotation of the auger 74 also contributes to the toner in powder form. A part of the powdery toner moves to the brush roll 72 with the rotational force of the auger 74. As a result, the brush roll 72 continues to supply a certain amount of toner to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 30 even when the image density of the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 30 is low and the residual toner is low. The cleaning power of the belt cleaner 70 is also stabilized.

  A wall 76 extends between the auger 74 and the brush roll 72 in the toner storage tank 75, and the height of the wall 76 is higher than the lowest height H 1 of the brush roll 72 and the highest of the auger 74. The height is lower than the point height H2. This wall 76 corresponds to an example of a wall according to the present invention. The wall 76 having such a height serves not only to store toner near the lowest point of the brush roll 72 but also to selectively move the powdered toner to the brush roll 72 side as described above. As a result, the amount of toner that the brush roll 72 supplies to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 30 is stabilized, and the cleaning force of the belt cleaner 70 is further stabilized.

  This is the end of the description of the embodiment.

  In the above description, a printer is shown as an embodiment of the image forming apparatus. However, the image forming apparatus of the present invention may be a facsimile, a copier, or a multifunction machine.

  In the above description, the belt cleaner that cleans the intermediate transfer belt is shown as an embodiment of the cleaner. However, the cleaner of the present invention may be, for example, a cleaner that cleans the photoreceptor.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus, 10Y, 10M, 10C, 10K ... Image forming part 30 ... Intermediate transfer belt, 70 ... Belt cleaner,
71 …… Cleaning blade, 72 …… Brush roll, 73 …… Scraper 74 …… Auger, 75 …… Toner storage tank 76 …… Wall

Claims (3)

A plate-shaped scraping member that scrapes off the powder on the surface by contacting the edge of the surface of the moving object to be cleaned;
A storage tank for storing the powdered material scraped off by the scraping member;
A conveying member that is provided at a direct drop point of the powdery material dropped from the scraping member in the storage tank, and conveys the powdery material in a direction along the axis of rotation by rotating,
A rotating brush that is provided in the storage tank and rotates along with the conveying member while avoiding the drop point, and rubs the surface of the object to be cleaned upstream of the scraping member in movement of the object to be cleaned; With
The cleaning device, wherein the conveying member moves a part of the powdery material directly to the rotating brush by rotation.   It is provided between the brush and the conveying member in the storage tank, and includes a wall having a height higher than the lowest point of the brush and lower than the highest point of the conveying member. The cleaning device according to claim 1. An image carrier that holds the toner image by forming a toner image on the surface while moving;
An image forming unit for forming a toner image on the image carrier;
A transfer device for transferring a toner image on the image carrier onto a transfer medium;
A cleaner for removing the toner remaining on the image carrier after the transfer by the transfer device and cleaning the image carrier,
The cleaner is
A plate-like scraping member for scraping off the toner on the surface by contacting an edge with the surface of the image carrier;
A storage tank for storing toner scraped off by the scraping member;
A conveying member which is provided at a direct drop point of the toner dropped from the scraping member in the storage tank and conveys the toner in a direction along the axis of rotation by rotating;
Aside from the drop point, it is provided next to the conveying member side by side in the storage tank and rotates, and rubs the surface of the image carrier upstream of the scraping member with respect to the movement of the image carrier. A rotating brush,
With
The image forming apparatus , wherein the conveying member moves a part of the toner directly to the rotating brush by rotation .

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