JP6501061B2 - Image forming apparatus and cooling device - Google Patents

Description

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

  In Patent Document 1, a first driving roller member, a first belt member rotated by the first driving roller member, a second driving roller member, and the first belt member abut the sheet to convey the sheet. A second belt member, a cooling mechanism that is in contact with the first belt member to cool the first belt member, and a pressure that presses the first belt member to the cooling mechanism via the second belt member A sheet cooling apparatus is described which includes a member and a pressing force variable unit that changes the pressing force of the pressing member to the cooling mechanism.

JP, 2013-109028, A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and a cooling device capable of reducing foreign matter adhering to the inner circumferential surface of a conveyance member.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner image forming portion for forming a toner image, and a recording medium which is belt-shaped and endless and on which the toner image formed by the toner image forming portion is fixed The apparatus has a conveying member to be conveyed, and a cooling mechanism that contacts the inner circumferential surface of the conveying member and cools the conveying member, and the cooling mechanism is at a position where the conveying member contacts the inner circumferential surface. In the image forming apparatus, a groove is formed in a direction intersecting a moving direction for conveying a recording medium.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driven rotating body that contacts the inner circumferential surface and rotates following the movement of the transport member in the direction of transport of the recording medium, and transports the recording medium. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an inclination of the driven rotary member so as to suppress movement of the conveyance member in a direction intersecting the direction.

  The present invention according to claim 3 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the outer peripheral surface is in contact with the surface of the recording medium on which the toner image is fixed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a pinching area forming member which is in the form of a band and is endless and which is in contact with the outer circumferential surface to form a pinching area in which the recording medium is pinched The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cooling mechanism is in contact with a position on the inner circumferential surface facing the sandwiching region forming member with the transport member interposed therebetween.

  The present invention according to claim 5 is a drive rotating body driven to rotate, further comprising the drive rotating body which moves the transport member by contacting the inner circumferential surface and rotating it, The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the drive rotating body is disposed downstream of the cooling mechanism in a direction in which the transport member moves to transport the recording medium.

  The present invention according to a sixth aspect is the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, further comprising a cleaning device for cleaning the inner circumferential surface.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a conveyance member for conveying a recording medium having a toner image fixed thereon in the form of a band and an endless, on an outer circumferential surface thereof, and the inner circumferential surface of the conveyance member. A cooling mechanism for cooling the recording medium, and the cooling mechanism has a groove formed at a position in contact with the inner circumferential surface in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the transport member for transporting the recording medium It is a cooling device.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of reducing foreign matter adhering to the inner circumferential surface of the conveyance member.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the movement of the conveyance member in the direction intersecting the movement direction for conveying the recording medium can be suppressed.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the recording medium is efficiently cooled as compared with the case where the outer peripheral surface of the transport member is in contact with the surface opposite to the surface on which the toner image of the sheet is fixed. Can.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the recording is performed in comparison with the case where the cooling mechanism is in contact with the position other than the position opposite to the sandwiching area forming member across the conveying member on the inner circumferential surface of the conveying member. The medium and the transport member can be brought into good contact, and the recording medium can be cooled efficiently.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the drive rotator is disposed on the drive rotator in comparison with the one on the upstream side of the cooling mechanism in the direction in which the transport member moves to transport the recording medium. It is possible to make it difficult for foreign matter to adhere.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, foreign matter adhering to the inner circumferential surface of the conveyance member can be reduced as compared with the one without the cleaning device.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a cooling device capable of reducing foreign matter adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the transport member.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a view showing a configuration of a toner image forming unit included in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a view showing a configuration of a fixing device included in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the cooling device which the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has. It is a figure which shows the bottom face of the cooling mechanism which the cooling device shown in FIG. 4 has. FIG. 5 is a view showing a configuration of a suppression device which the cooling device shown in FIG. 4 has, and which suppresses movement of the conveyance member in a direction intersecting the movement direction for conveying the recording medium.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 10 has an image forming apparatus main body 12, and the image forming apparatus main body 12 is formed with a discharge port 14 for discharging a sheet used as a recording medium.

  In the image forming apparatus main body 12, a conveyance path 700 for conveying the sheet is formed. Also, in the image forming apparatus main body 12, for example, two sheet feeding devices 600 and a sheet supplied from the sheet feeding device 600 are transferred and fixed in order from the upstream side in the sheet conveyance direction along the conveyance path 700. An image forming unit 100 for forming a toner image, a fixing device 200 formed by the image forming unit 100 for fixing a toner image transferred onto a sheet on a sheet, A curvature reducing device 300 for reducing the curvature of the fixed sheet and a cooling device 400 for cooling the sheet conveyed from the curvature reducing device 300 are disposed.

  The sheet feeding device 600 includes a sheet storage unit 602, and a delivery device 604 that delivers the uppermost sheet stored in the sheet storage unit 602 to the conveyance path 700.

  The image forming unit 100 has photosensitive drums 112Y, 112M, 112C, and 112K used as image holders, respectively, and a yellow toner image and a magenta toner image on the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 112Y, 112M, 112C, and 112K. A yellow toner image forming unit 110Y that forms cyan toner images and black toner images, a magenta toner image forming unit 110M, a cyan toner image forming unit 110C, and a black toner image forming unit 110K, respectively. Details of the yellow toner image forming unit 110Y, the magenta toner image forming unit 110M, the cyan toner image forming unit 110C, and the black toner image forming unit 110K will be described later.

  Further, the image forming unit 100 has a transfer device 130, and the transfer device 130 has an intermediate transfer belt 132. The intermediate transfer belt 132 is used as a transfer body to which a toner image is transferred, and rotates in the direction of arrow a shown in FIG. The toner images formed on the photosensitive drums 112Y, 112M, 112C, and 112K are transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 132 so as to be superimposed, and the toner images transferred so as to be superimposed are transported from the sheet storage unit 602 to the conveyance path. Further, the image is transferred to the sheet conveyed using 700.

  The fixing device 200 is a device that fixes the toner image transferred to the sheet to the sheet using at least heat. Details of the fixing device 200 will be described later.

  The curving reduction device 300 reduces the curving of the curved sheet, for example, because heat is applied from the fixing device 200.

  The cooling device 400 is a device for cooling a sheet that has become hot due to the application of heat by the fixing device 200. Cooling the sheet by the cooling device 400 also cools the toner image fixed on the sheet. For this reason, the fused state of the toner image fixed on the sheet is eliminated, and even if a plurality of sheets after the toner image is formed, the fused toner causes an adverse effect that adjacent sheets adhere to each other. It can be difficult.

  The conveyance path 700 is used to convey a sheet from the sheet feeding device 600 to the image forming unit 100, and is used to convey a sheet from the image forming unit 100 to the fixing device 200. The sheet used to convey the sheet to the curving reduction device 300 and used to convey the sheet from the curving reduction device 300 to the cooling device 400, and the sheet cooled by the cooling device 400 is outside the image forming apparatus main body 12 Are used to

  In FIG. 2, toner image forming units 110Y, 110M, 110C, and 110K are shown. The toner image forming units 110Y, 110M, 110C, and 110K have the same configuration but different in color of the toner used and the color of the image to be formed. As shown in FIG. 2, the toner image forming unit 110 applies a light to the charging device 114 for charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 112 and the surface of the photosensitive drum 112 charged by the charging device 114 to form a latent image. The latent image forming device 116 to be formed, the developing device 118 for developing the latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 112 by the latent image forming device 116 using toner, and the toner image is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 132 And a cleaning device 122 for cleaning the surface of the photosensitive drum 112 after the image formation.

  A fixing device 200 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the fixing device 200 includes a heating member 210 that contacts the surface of the sheet on which the toner image is formed by the image forming unit 100 (see FIG. 1) and heats the sheet. The heating member 210 is strip-shaped and endless, and is supported so as to be rotatable by the support roll 212, the support roll 214 and the support member 216. Each of the support roll 212, the support roll 214, and the support member 216 has a heat generating portion 222 such as a halogen lamp, a heat generating portion 224, and a heat generating portion 226 inside. The fixing device 200 also has a pressing roll 230 used as a pressing member that presses the sheet against the heating member 210.

  In fixing device 200, heating member 210 rotates in the direction of arrow b1 shown in FIG. 3 and pressing roll 230 rotates in the direction of arrow b2 shown in FIG. 3 to pass through the contact portion between heating member 210 and pressing roll 230 The toner image is fixed to the sheet by heating and pressurizing the sheet.

  A cooling device 400 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the cooling device 400 has a belt member 410. The belt member 410 is belt-like and endless, and conveys the sheet P in contact with the outer circumferential surface 410a, and is used as a conveying member for conveying the sheet P on which the toner image is fixed. Further, the belt member 410 is stretched around the drive roll 414, the driven roll 416, the driven roll 418, the driven roll 422, and the driven roll 424 so as to be able to rotate in the direction of arrow c shown in FIG. ing. Here, the direction indicated by the arrow c is a direction in which the belt member 410 moves to convey the sheet.

  As the material of the belt member 410, for example, a resin having flexibility can be used, and in this embodiment, polyimide is used as the material of the belt member 410. The outer circumferential surface 410 a of the belt member 410 is in contact with the surface of the sheet P on which the toner image I is fixed.

  The drive roll 414 is a drive rotation that drives to rotate, and is used as a drive rotation body that moves the belt member 410 by contacting with the inner circumferential surface 410 b of the belt member 410 and rotating. That is, a motor 426 used as a drive source is connected to the drive roll 414 via a drive transmission mechanism 428 consisting of, for example, a gear train, and the drive roll 414 receives the drive transmission from the motor 426 and is shown in FIG. The belt member 410 is rotated in the direction of arrow c by rotating in the direction of arrow d indicated by 4 and rotating in the direction of arrow d.

  In addition, the drive roll 414 is disposed downstream of the heat dissipation device 460 described later in the direction of the arrow c, which is the direction in which the belt member 410 moves. Further, in order to suppress a change in circumferential speed due to a change in diameter, it is preferable that the drive roll 414 be made of, for example, a material whose diameter does not easily change. Further, it is desirable that the drive roll 414 be subjected to processing for increasing the coefficient of friction of the surface portion which is a portion in contact with the belt member 410 so that the drive transmission to the belt member 410 can be favorably performed. In order to increase the coefficient of friction of the surface of the drive roll 414, for example, the surface of the drive roll 414 may be covered with a material having a coefficient of friction greater than that of metal, such as urethane.

  The driven roller 418 is used as a driven rotating body that contacts the inner circumferential surface 410 b of the belt member 410 and rotates following the movement of the belt member 410 in the sheet conveyance direction. That is, the driven roller 418 rotates in the direction of arrow e shown in FIG. 4 following the movement of the belt member 410 in the direction of arrow c.

  Further, an adjustment mechanism 480 for adjusting the inclination of the driven roller 418 is attached to the driven roller 418, for example, with respect to the shaft 420. The adjusting mechanism 480 adjusts the tilt of the driven roll 418 so as to suppress the movement of the belt member 410 in the direction intersecting the movement of the belt member 410 in the direction of the arrow c. That is, the adjustment mechanism 480 adjusts the tilt of the driven roller 418 so as to suppress so-called meandering that may occur in the belt member 410. Details of the adjustment mechanism 480 will be described later.

  The cooling device 400 also has a cleaning device 476 for cleaning the inner circumferential surface 410 b of the belt member 410. The cleaning device 476 is a device for removing foreign matter attached to the inner circumferential surface, and the foreign matter may include, for example, wear powder generated by wearing of a heat radiation device 460 described later. The cleaning device 476 has, for example, a brush member 478, and the brush member 478 scrapes foreign matter adhering to the inner circumferential surface 410b by rotating the belt member 410 with a circumferential speed difference, for example, in the direction of arrow f shown in FIG. Drop and remove.

  In addition, the cooling device 400 has a belt member 510. The belt member 510 has a belt shape and is endless, and contacts the outer circumferential surface 410 a of the belt member 410 to form a nip portion N, which is a pinching region between the belt member 410 and the sheet P. It is used as a region forming member. Also, the belt member 510 is stretched so as to be able to rotate in the direction of the arrow g shown in FIG. 4 by the driven roller 514, the driven roller 516, the driven roller 518, the driven roller 522, and the driven roller 524. ing. Then, the belt member 510 moves to rotate in the arrow g direction following the movement of the belt member 410 in the arrow c direction.

  An adjustment mechanism 580 for adjusting the inclination of the driven roll 518 is attached to the driven roll 518, for example, with respect to the shaft 520. The adjustment mechanism 580 is equivalent to the adjustment mechanism 480.

  In addition, the cooling device 400 has a heat dissipation device 460. The heat dissipation device 460 is a so-called heat sink, and is used as a cooling mechanism for cooling the belt member 410. The heat radiating device 460 cools the belt member 410 to cool the sheet conveyed in contact with the belt member 410 and the toner image fixed on the sheet. The heat dissipation device 460 has a plurality of diffusion plates 462 used as a dissipation portion for dissipating heat, and a support portion 464 supporting the plurality of diffusion plates 462 so that they do not contact each other. In the heat dissipation device 460, a bottom surface 466 which is a surface opposite to the surface on the side where the diffusion plate 462 of the support portion 464 is attached is in contact with the inner circumferential surface 410b of the belt member 410.

  Further, the heat dissipation device 460 is in contact with the inner circumferential surface 410b of the belt member 410 at a position opposite to the nip portion N with the belt member 410 interposed therebetween.

  The heat dissipating device 460 is made of aluminum as a whole including the bottom surface 466. The material of the belt member 410 is polyimide as described above. Here, the wear resistance of aluminum is lower than that of polyimide. Therefore, when the belt member 410 and the bottom surface 466 rub against each other as the belt member 410 moves in the direction of the arrow c, the portion of the bottom surface 466 of the support portion 464 is abraded to generate wear powder of aluminum. Then, there is a possibility that the generated abrasion powder adheres to the inner circumferential surface 410 b of the belt member 410 and may deposit on the inner circumferential surface 410 b of the belt member 410.

  If wear powder adheres to the inner circumferential surface 410b of the belt member 410, slippage is likely to occur between the drive roll 414 and the inner circumferential surface 410b, and the drive transmission from the drive roll 414 to the belt member 410 may not be favorably performed. There is. In addition, when wear powder adheres to the inner circumferential surface 410b of the belt member 410, the gap between the driven roller 418 and the inner circumferential surface 410b becomes slippery, and the belt member is adjusted even if the inclination of the driven roller 418 is adjusted by the adjustment mechanism 480. There is a possibility that the meandering of the line 410 can not be suppressed well.

  The heat dissipation device 460 is shown in FIG. 5 from the bottom surface 466 side. As shown in FIG. 5, the bottom surface 466 is formed with, for example, a plurality of grooves 470 in a direction intersecting the direction indicated by the arrow c, which is the direction in which the belt member 410 moves to convey the sheet. The groove 470 is formed on the downstream side of the bottom surface 466 in the direction of the arrow c, and the width w is, for example, 1 mm, and the interval i at which two grooves 470 adjacent to each other are formed is, for example, 5 mm. Instead of forming the plurality of grooves 470, the number of grooves 470 may be one.

  By forming the groove 470, foreign matter such as aluminum abrasion powder generated by the wear of the heat dissipation device 460 is collected by the groove 470 so as to enter the groove 470, and the inner periphery of the belt member 410 The adhesion and deposition of foreign matter such as abrasion powder on the surface 410b are suppressed. And, by suppressing adhesion and deposition of foreign particles such as wear powder on the inner circumferential surface 410b, slippage between the drive roll 414 and the inner circumferential surface 410b is less likely to occur, and the driven roller 418 and the inner circumferential surface Slippage between it and 410b is less likely to occur.

  The belt member 410, the driven roll 418, and the adjustment mechanism 480 are shown in FIG. The belt member 410 moves from the front side (left side in FIG. 6) to the rear side (right side in FIG. 6) at least when the driven roll 418 is rotating, as shown by the arrow h in FIG. Power can be applied to In order to apply a force in the direction of the arrow h to the belt member 410, for example, the diameter of the driven roll 418 may be larger on the rear side than on the front side.

  A plate-like member 438 is fixed to the driven roll 418 at the rear portion of the shaft 420. The plate member 438 is pushed by the edge of the belt member 410 so as to move integrally with the driven roll 418 in the direction of arrow h when the belt member 410 moves in the direction of arrow h. Then, as the plate-like member 438 is pushed in the direction of arrow h by the edge of the belt member 410, the plate-like member 438 tries to move in the direction of arrow h integrally with the driven roll 418.

  The driven roller 418 has a bearing 440F attached to the front portion of the shaft 420, a bearing 440R attached to the rear portion of the shaft 420, and is rotated by the bearing 440F and the bearing 440R. It is supported to be able to

  The bearing 440F can be rotated about a point p shown in FIG. 6 with respect to the side plate 16 forming a part of the image forming apparatus main body 12, and is supported so as to be able to tilt. Therefore, the bearing 440F, the driven roll 418, the plate member 438, and the bearing 440R rotate about the point p and tilt relative to the side plate 16 as shown by the arrow j in FIG. It is possible to

  The bearing 440R is supported by the elastic body 484 of the adjustment mechanism 480 so as to be pushed upward from below and supported from below. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the adjusting mechanism 480 has a mounting member 482 mounted so that the bearing 440R is fitted, and is used as a biasing means on the outer surface of the mounting member 482, for example, a coil spring One end of an elastic body 484 such as, for example, is connected. The other end of the elastic body 484 is fixed to the base member 486. The base member 486 is fixed to the side plate 18 which forms a part of the image forming apparatus main body 12. Therefore, the base member 486 does not move with respect to the image forming apparatus main body 12.

  Further, the adjustment mechanism 480 has a swinging member 488. The swinging member can be rotated about a shaft 490 in the directions of arrows k1 and k2 shown in FIG. 6 and is attached to the base member 486 so as to be able to swing. Further, in the swinging member 488, a through hole 492 whose diameter is larger than the diameter of the shaft 420 is formed so that the rear side portion of the shaft 420 can pass through.

  In the adjusting mechanism 480 configured as described above, when the plate-like member 438 is moved rearward by being pushed by the belt member 410, the plate-like member 438 is pushed by the plate-like member 438 moving backward. Thus, the rocking member 488 rotates about the shaft 490 in the direction of the arrow k1. Then, when the swinging member 488 rotates in the arrow k 1 direction, the rear end of the shaft 420 is pushed downward by the upper end of the through hole 492 as shown by the arrow l in FIG. Then, when the rear side portion of the shaft portion 420 is pushed down, the driven roll 418 rotates around the point p and moves so that the rear side goes down. Then, the rotation of the driven roller 418 around this point p stops in a state in which the force for pushing down the driven roller 418 and the force for pushing up the driven roller 418 by the elastic body 484 become equal.

  As described above, the adjustment mechanism 480 suppresses the movement of the belt member 410 in the direction of arrow h, which is the direction intersecting the direction of arrow c (see FIG. 4), which is the direction of movement of the belt member 410 for transporting the sheet. Thus, the inclination of the driven roll 418 is adjusted.

  As described above, the present invention can be applied to image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, facsimile machines, and printers, and cooling apparatuses used in these image forming apparatuses, for example.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image forming apparatus 100 ... Image formation part 400 ... Cooling device 410 ... Belt member 414 ... Drive roll 418 ... Followed roll 460 ... Heat dissipation device 470 ... Groove 476 ... Cleaning device 480 ... Adjustment mechanism 510 ... Belt member N ... Nip section

Claims (8)

A toner image forming unit for forming a toner image;
A conveying member that conveys a recording medium having a belt-like shape and an endless shape and having the toner image formed by the toner image forming unit fixed on an outer peripheral surface thereof;
A cooling mechanism which contacts the inner circumferential surface of the transport member and cools the transport member;
Have
In the cooling mechanism, a groove is formed at a position in contact with the inner peripheral surface in a direction intersecting the direction in which the transport member moves to transport the recording medium .
The image forming apparatus , wherein the groove is formed only on the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the recording medium on the surface in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the cooling mechanism . A driven rotating body that contacts the inner circumferential surface and rotates following the movement of the transport member in the direction of transporting the recording medium;
An adjustment mechanism that adjusts the tilt of the driven rotary member so as to suppress the movement of the conveyance member in the direction intersecting the movement direction for conveying the recording medium;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the outer peripheral surface is in contact with the surface of the recording medium on which the toner image is fixed. It has a band-like and endless shape, and further includes a sandwiching region forming member which contacts the outer peripheral surface and forms a sandwiching region between which the recording medium is sandwiched with the transport member,
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cooling mechanism is in contact with a position on the inner peripheral surface facing the sandwiching region forming member with the transport member interposed therebetween. A driving rotating body which is driven to rotate, and further includes the driving rotating body which moves the transport member by being in contact with the inner circumferential surface and rotating;
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the drive rotating body is disposed downstream of the cooling mechanism in a direction in which the transport member moves to transport a recording medium.   The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a cleaning device configured to clean the inner peripheral surface.   The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the groove is provided downstream of a center of the recording medium in the conveyance direction on a surface in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the cooling mechanism. A conveying member which conveys a recording medium having a belt shape and an endless shape and having a toner image fixed thereon on the outer peripheral surface;
A cooling mechanism which contacts the inner circumferential surface of the transport member and cools the transport member;
Have
In the cooling mechanism, a groove is formed at a position in contact with the inner peripheral surface in a direction intersecting the direction in which the transport member moves to transport the recording medium .
The cooling device, wherein the groove is formed only on the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the recording medium on the surface in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the cooling mechanism .

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