JP6848684B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

Conventionally, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, for example, a toner image is first-transferred from a photoconductor to a transfer surface of an intermediate transfer belt, and then the primary-transferred toner image is secondarily transferred to paper or the like to form an image. Do. This image forming apparatus generally includes a cleaning apparatus for removing toner remaining on the transfer surface after the secondary transfer (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

This cleaning device has a rotating brush, a recovery roller and a blade. The rotary brush sweeps away residual toner on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt. The recovery roller is applied with a bias of the opposite polarity to the toner, and electrically attracts and collects the toner swept by the rotating brush. The blade abuts on the surface of the recovery roller and scrapes off the toner. The toner scraped off by the blade is conveyed to the recovery tank by the recovery screw.

This type of cleaning device is provided with a sealing material that prevents the toner scraped off by the blade from flowing back (scattering) toward the intermediate transfer belt side.

The sealing material has a sheet shape extending in the axial direction of the recovery roller. The tip of the sealing material is in contact with the recovery roller on the upstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller with respect to the cleaning blade.

JP-A-2016-062065

In the conventional image forming apparatus shown in Patent Document 1, foreign matter such as paper dust having a larger particle size than the toner may get caught between the tip of the sealing material and the surface of the recovery roller. As a result, there is a problem that a gap is generated between the tip of the sealing material and the surface of the recovery roller, and the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade flows back from this gap to the intermediate transfer belt side. If the backflow toner adheres to the intermediate transfer belt, the image quality of the transferred image deteriorates.

In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable to increase the contact pressure of the sealing material with respect to the surface of the recovery roller. However, in this case, the recovery roller may be worn due to contact with the sealing material. Further, the load torque acting on the recovery roller may increase from the sealing material, and the drive gear for driving the recovery roller may be worn or noise may increase. Further, there is a problem that it is necessary to increase the size of the drive motor in response to the increase in the load torque, which in turn leads to an increase in cost.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and an object of the present invention is to prevent foreign matter such as paper dust between the tip of the sealing material and the surface of the recovery roller while suppressing wear of the recovery roller. The purpose is to prevent the toner from being caught and flowing back to the intermediate transfer belt side.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention comes into contact with an image carrier on which a toner image is formed on the surface and the surface of the image carrier after the toner image is transferred to transfer paper, and the residual toner adhered to the surface. The rotating brush, which collects the toner, comes into contact with the rotating brush on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the rotating brush from the contact portion between the image carrier and the rotating brush, and the residual toner collected by the rotating brush is collected. A cleaning blade that abuts the recovery roller to be removed on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller from the contact portion between the rotary brush and the recovery roller and scrapes off the toner collected by the recovery roller, and the rotary brush. A sheet-shaped sealing material is provided between the contact portion with the recovery roller and the cleaning blade so that the tip portion contacts the recovery roller to prevent backflow of toner.

A plurality of the sealing materials are provided, and the plurality of sealing materials are arranged side by side along the rotation direction of the recovery roller.

According to the present invention, while suppressing wear of the recovery roller, it is possible to prevent foreign matter such as paper dust from getting caught between the tip of the sealing material and the surface of the recovery roller and causing the toner to flow back to the intermediate transfer belt side. be able to.

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic view showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an intermediate transfer unit. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the cleaning device as viewed from the intermediate transfer belt side. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the cleaning device from which the recovery roller and the rotating brush have been removed, as viewed from the intermediate transfer belt side. FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing the sealing material and its periphery in FIG. 5 in an enlarged manner. FIG. 7 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6 showing a modified example 1. FIG. 8 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6 showing the modified example 2.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

<< Embodiment 1 >>
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus 1. The image forming apparatus 1 is, for example, a tandem color printer, which includes a developing unit A, an intermediate transfer unit B arranged above the developing unit A, and a plurality (four) arranged above the intermediate transfer unit B. ) Is provided with the toner container C. The image forming apparatus 1 also includes a primary transfer unit 6, a secondary transfer unit 9, a fixing unit 11, and an optical scanning device 15. The developing unit A has a plurality of (four) image forming units 16 arranged above the optical scanning device 15. The intermediate transfer unit B has an endless intermediate transfer belt (intermediate transfer body) 7, and the intermediate transfer belts 7 are arranged above the four image forming portions 16 along the arrangement direction of the image forming portions 16. ing.

A paper feed cassette 3 is arranged below the inside of the apparatus main body 2 of the image forming apparatus 1. The paper feed cassette 3 is loaded with unprinted paper (not shown) and accommodated therein. A first paper transport unit 21 is provided on the side of the paper cassette 3. The first paper transport unit 21 receives the paper fed from the paper feed cassette 3 and transports the paper to the upper secondary transfer unit 9.

A manual paper feed unit 5 is provided on the side of the paper cassette 3 opposite to the first paper transport unit 21. A second paper transport unit 22 is provided between the manual paper feed unit 5 and the first paper transport unit 21. The second paper transport unit 22 receives the paper fed from the manual paper feed unit 5 and transports it to the first paper transport unit 21.

The optical scanning device 15 is arranged above the second paper transport unit 22, and irradiates the image forming unit 16 with laser light based on the image data received by the image forming apparatus 1. The intermediate transfer belt 7 is wound around a driving roller 12 and a driven roller 13, and is rotationally driven by a driving device (not shown). Reference numeral 14 is a tension roller.

The intermediate transfer belt 7 is configured so that the toner image is transferred from the outer peripheral surfaces of the plurality of photoconductor drums 25 by abutting on the outer peripheral surfaces of the plurality of photoconductor drums (image carriers) 25.

The four image forming portions 16 are arranged in a row along the intermediate transfer belt 7 and form yellow, magenta, cyan, or black toner images, respectively. Each image forming unit 16 has a photoconductor drum 25, a charger 31, a developing unit 33, and a cleaning device 32 arranged around the photoconductor drum 25, respectively.

The charger 31 charges the surface of the photoconductor drum 25. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoconductor drum 25 charged by the charger 31 by the laser light emitted from the optical scanning device 15. The developing unit 33 develops an electrostatic latent image to form a toner image on the surface of the photoconductor drum 25.

The primary transfer unit 6 is arranged above each image forming unit 16. The primary transfer unit 6 has a primary transfer roller 8 that primary transfers the toner image formed on the photoconductor drum 25 by the image forming unit 16 onto the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 7.

Then, the intermediate transfer belt 7 is rotationally driven, and the toner image on each photoconductor drum 25 is displayed on the intermediate transfer belt at a predetermined timing with a voltage having a polarity opposite to the charging polarity of the toner applied to the primary transfer roller 8. By transferring to 7, a color toner image in which four color toner images of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black are superimposed on each other is formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 7. Further, the surface of the photoconductor drum 25 on which the toner image is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 7 is cleaned by the cleaning device 32.

The secondary transfer unit 9 has a secondary transfer roller 17 arranged on the side of the intermediate transfer belt 7. Then, the secondary transfer unit 9 sends the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 7 from the first paper transport unit 21 at a voltage opposite to the charging polarity of the toner applied to the secondary transfer roller 17. It is designed to be transferred to the paper.

A cleaning device 34 for cleaning the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 7 is arranged on the opposite side of the intermediate transfer belt 7 from the secondary transfer portion 9 (see FIG. 2). Details of the cleaning device 34 will be described later.

The fixing portion 11 is provided above the secondary transfer portion 9. A third paper transport unit 23 is formed between the secondary transfer unit 9 and the fixing unit 11 to transfer the paper on which the toner image is secondarily transferred to the fixing unit 11. The fixing portion 11 includes a pressure roller 18, a fixing roller 19, and a heating roller 20. Then, the fixing unit 11 heats and pressurizes the paper conveyed from the third paper conveying unit 23 to fix the toner image on the paper.

A branch portion 27 is provided above the fixing portion 11. When double-sided printing is not performed, the paper ejected from the fixing portion 11 is ejected from the branch portion 27 to the paper ejection unit 28 formed on the upper portion of the image forming apparatus 1. When double-sided printing is performed, the paper is transferred from the branch portion 27 to the secondary transfer unit 9 again via the fourth paper transport unit 24.

On the front side of the intermediate transfer unit B, an inner unit D is arranged so as to cover the front surface of the intermediate transfer unit B (see the alternate long and short dash line), and the toner is transferred from the toner container C to the developing unit 33 of the developing unit A via the inner unit D. Is to be supplied.

Next, the details of the cleaning device 34 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. The cleaning device 34 includes a rotating brush 35, a recovery roller 36, and a blade 37. The rotary brush 35 is composed of fur brushes arranged so as to face the driven roller 13 with the intermediate transfer belt 7 interposed therebetween. The rotary brush 35 has a rotary shaft 35a made of stainless steel (SUS) and a large number of brush fibers raised from the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft 35a. The rotary brush 35 contacts the intermediate transfer belt 7 while rotating in the opposite direction, and sweeps away the residual toner adhering to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 7. The rotating brush 35 and the recovery roller 36 do not necessarily have to be made of stainless steel, and may be made of, for example, a cost-effective SUM material (free-cutting steel) and Ni plating.

A recovery roller 36 having a rotation shaft 36a is arranged in contact with the rotation brush 35. The recovery roller 36 is made of stainless steel (SUS) or stainless steel (SUS) provided with a resistance layer such as alumite or nylon rubber. A voltage having a polarity opposite to the polarity of the toner (for example, positive polarity in this embodiment) is applied to the recovery roller 36 by a voltage applying portion (not shown). The recovery roller 26 electrically attracts and collects the toner swept from the intermediate transfer belt 7 by the rotating brush 35. The blade 37 is made of a rubber plate-like member whose tip abuts on the surface of the recovery roller 36. The blade 37 scrapes off the toner adhering to the surface of the recovery roller 36.

Below the blade 37, a discharge screw 38 for transporting the scraped toner to a waste toner bottle (not shown) is arranged. The discharge screw 38 is housed in the casing 40.

The casing 40 has a curved wall portion 40a, an upper inclined wall 40b, a lower inclined wall 40c, and a protruding wall 40d. The curved wall portion 40a has a substantially U shape when viewed from the axial direction of the discharge screw 38, and covers the discharge screw 38 from the side opposite to the recovery roller 36 side. The upper inclined wall 40b is inclined to the left side in FIG. 3 from the upper end portion of the curved wall portion 40a toward the upper side. The L-shaped bracket 41 is fixed to the upper inclined wall 40b, and the blade 37 is fixed to the L-shaped bracket 41. The blade 37 is inclined downward toward the right side in FIG. The blade 37 is in contact with the peripheral surface of the recovery roller 36 on the downstream side in the roller rotation direction from the contact portion between the rotary brush 35 and the recovery roller 36. The lower inclined wall 40c is inclined to the right side of FIG. 3 from the lower end portion of the curved wall portion 40a toward the lower side, and the protruding wall 40d projects from the lower end portion of the lower inclined wall portion 40c to the right side of FIG.

A sealing material 42 is fixed to the lower inclined wall 40c via a substrate 43. The sealing material 42 is in contact with the surface of the recovery roller 36 between the contact portion between the rotary brush 35 and the recovery roller 36 and the blade 37. The sealing material 42 has a function of preventing the toner scraped off by the blade 37 from flowing back to the intermediate transfer belt 7 side (right side in FIG. 3) and a function of blocking foreign matter such as paper dust adhering to the collection roller 36. And have. The former backflow prevention function prevents the toner from reattaching to the intermediate transfer belt 7 and causing transfer defects. Further, the latter foreign matter blocking function prevents foreign matter from getting caught between the blade 37 and the recovery roller 36 and damaging the blade 37.

A pre-cleaning brush 39 is provided on the upstream side in the roller rotation direction with respect to the cleaning device 34. The pre-cleaning brush 39 physically disturbs the toner adhering to the intermediate transfer belt 7 so that the toner can be easily swept by the rotating brush 35. Further, the pre-cleaning brush 39 aligns the polarities of the toner passing through the brush 39 with a predetermined polarity so that the toner can be easily electrically adsorbed by the recovery roller 36.

As shown in FIG. 6, the sealing material 42 is composed of two pieces, a first sealing material 42a and a second sealing material 42b, which are arranged along the rotation direction of the recovery roller 36. The second sealing material 42b is arranged on the downstream side in the roller rotation direction with respect to the first sealing material 42a. The sealing materials 42a and 42b are fixed to the casing 40 via the substrate 43.

The first and second sealing materials 42a and 42b are made of a rectangular sheet material extending in the entire axial direction of the recovery roller 36. The first and second sealing materials 42a and 42b are made of a flexible member such as thermoplastic polyurethane. By using thermoplastic polyurethane, it is possible to suppress the generation of contact scratches and contact noise. Further, since the thermoplastic polyurethane has a small surface friction coefficient, it is preferable because the load torque acting on the recovery roller 36 can be reduced. In the present embodiment, the thicknesses of the first sealing materials 42a and 42b are equal to each other.

The tips of the first and second sealing materials 42a and 42b are in contact with the surface of the recovery roller 36 and are bent from the upstream side to the downstream side in the roller rotation direction. The length L2 of the contact portion of the second sealing material 42b with the recovery roller 36 in the roller rotation direction is longer than the length L1 of the contact portion of the first sealing material 42a with the recovery roller 36 in the roller rotation direction.

The first and second sealing materials 42a and 42b are fixed to both side surfaces of the substrate 43, respectively. The substrate 43 is made of a metal member such as SUS. The base end side half portion on one side surface of the substrate 43 is fixed to the lower inclined wall 40c of the casing 40 with double-sided tape. The base end side portion of the second sealing material 42b is adhesively fixed to the tip end side half portion on one side surface of the substrate 43. On the other hand, the base end side portion of the first sealing material 42a is adhesively fixed to the entire other side surface of the substrate 43. Therefore, the adhesive area of the second sealing material 42b to the substrate 43 is smaller than the adhesive area of the first sealing material 42a to the substrate 43.

By the way, in the conventional cleaning device, since the sealing material is composed of one sheet, when a foreign substance having a relatively large particle size such as paper dust gets caught between the sealing material and the surface of the recovery roller 36, A gap is created between the sealing material and the recovery roller 36. As a result, there is a problem that the toner on the discharge screw 38 side flows back to the intermediate transfer belt 7 side through this gap.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since the sealing material 42 is composed of two sheets, the first sealing material 42a and the second sealing material 42b, foreign matter such as paper dust is temporarily collected from the first sealing material 42a. Even if a gap is formed between the roller 36 and the roller 36, the second sealing material 42b can prevent the backflow of toner. That is, in the present embodiment, the backflow of toner can be prevented in two steps by the two sealing materials 42a and 42b.

Here, it is conceivable to increase the contact pressure between the sealing material and the recovery roller 36 in order to prevent foreign matter from being caught in the conventional cleaning device. However, in this case, the recovery roller 36 is easily worn by being scraped by the sealing material. In the present embodiment, instead of increasing the contact pressure of the sealing material with respect to the recovery roller 36, the number of sealing materials is increased to form two sheets, so that the contact pressure between the sealing materials 42a and 42b and the recovery roller 36 can be increased. It is possible to prevent backflow of toner while keeping it low.

Further, in the present embodiment, the length L2 of the contact portion of the second sealing material 42b with the recovery roller 36 in the roller rotation direction is the length L1 of the contact portion of the first sealing material 42a with the recovery roller 36 in the roller rotation direction. Longer than.

According to this, the contact area of the second sealing material 42b with the recovery roller 36 is larger than that of the first sealing material 42a. Therefore, the contact pressure of the second sealing material 42b with the recovery roller 36 can be suppressed to a low level, and the wear of the recovery roller 36 can be suppressed. On the other hand, since the contact area between the first sealing material 42a and the recovery roller 36 is small, the contact pressure of the first sealing material 42a with respect to the recovery roller 36 is larger than the contact pressure of the second sealing material 42b. Therefore, the contact pressure of the first sealing material 42a can be sufficiently secured, and foreign matter such as paper dust can be reliably blocked on the upstream side of the blade 37 as much as possible.

Further, in the present embodiment, the adhesive area of the second sealing material 42b to the substrate 43 is smaller than the adhesive area of the first sealing material 42a to the substrate 43.

According to this, the support rigidity of the second sealing material 42b by the substrate 43 can be made lower than the support rigidity of the first sealing material 42a. Therefore, the second sealing material 42b tends to bend due to contact with the recovery roller 36. Therefore, the contact pressure of the second sealing material 42b with the recovery roller 36 can be suppressed to a low level, and the wear of the recovery roller 36 can be suppressed. On the other hand, the first sealing material 42a has high support rigidity by the substrate 43, so that it is difficult to bend. Therefore, the contact pressure of the first sealing material 42 with respect to the recovery roller 36 can be sufficiently secured, and foreign matter such as paper dust can be reliably blocked on the upstream side of the blade 37 as much as possible.

<< Embodiment 2 >>
FIG. 7 shows the second embodiment. In the present embodiment, the thicknesses of the first sealing material 42a and the second sealing material 42b are different from each other. In the following description, the same components as those in FIG. 6 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

That is, in the present embodiment, the thickness of the second sealing material 42b is smaller than the thickness of the first sealing material 42a. Specifically, the thickness of the second sealing material 42b is preferably 1/3 or more and 1/2 or less of the thickness of the first sealing material 42a.

According to this configuration, the rigidity of the second sealing material 42b is lower than the rigidity of the first sealing material 42a. Therefore, the second sealing material 42b is more likely to bend than the first sealing material 42a. Therefore, the contact pressure between the second sealing material 42b and the recovery roller 36 can be suppressed to a low level, and the wear of the recovery roller 36 can be suppressed. On the other hand, since the contact pressure between the first sealing material 42a and the recovery roller 36 is sufficiently secured, foreign matter such as paper dust can be reliably blocked on the upstream side of the blade 37 as much as possible.

<< Embodiment 3 >>
FIG. 8 shows the third embodiment. The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the sealing material 42 is composed of three pieces of the first sealing material 42a, the second sealing material 42b, and the third sealing material 42c. In the following description, the same components as those in FIG. 6 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The first sealing material 42a, the second sealing material 42b, and the third sealing material 42c are arranged in this order from the upstream side to the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller 36. In this embodiment, the first substrate 44 and the second substrate 45 are used to support the sealing materials 42a to 42c.

The base end side portion of one side surface of the first substrate 44 is fixed to the lower inclined wall 40c of the casing 40 with double-sided tape (not shown). The second substrate 45 is fixed to the tip end side half of the other side surface of the first substrate 44. The first sealing material 42a and the second sealing material 42b are fixed to both sides of the second substrate 45, respectively. The third sealing material 42c is fixed to the tip of one side surface of the first substrate 44.

The length of the adhesion allowance of the first sealing material 42a to the second substrate 45 is S1, the length of the adhesion allowance of the second sealing material 42b to the second substrate 45 is S2, and the third sealing material 42c to the first substrate 44. When the length of the bonding allowance is S3, the relationship of S1> S2> S3 is satisfied.

According to this, the sealing material located on the downstream side can reduce the support rigidity with respect to the first substrate 44 (or the second substrate 45) and can be easily bent in the roller rotation direction. Therefore, the contact pressure with the recovery roller 36 can be reduced as the sealing material is located on the downstream side. Therefore, the same action and effect as those of each of the above embodiments can be obtained.

Further, when the lengths of the contact portions between the first sealing material 42a, the second sealing material 42b, the third sealing material 42c, and the recovery roller 36 in the roller rotation direction are L1, L2, and L3, respectively, L1 <L2 <L3. Meet the relationship.

According to this, the contact area with the recovery roller 36 becomes larger as the sealing material is located on the downstream side of the three sealing materials 42a to 42c. Therefore, the contact pressure with the recovery roller 36 can be reduced as the sealing material is located on the downstream side. Therefore, the same action and effect as those of each of the above embodiments can be obtained.

<< Other Embodiments >>
In the second embodiment, the thicknesses of the first sealing material 42a and the second sealing material 42b are made different, but the thicknesses of both the sealing materials 42a and 42b may be the same and the materials may be made different. Specifically, the second sealing material 42b may use a softer material than the first sealing material 42a. Thereby, the same action and effect as in the second embodiment can be obtained.
In the above-described first and second embodiments, the sealing material 42 is composed of two sheets, and in the third embodiment, the sealing material 42 is composed of three sheets, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the sealing material 42 is composed of four or more sheets. It may be configured.

In each of the above embodiments, an example in which the image forming apparatus 1 is a printer has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the image forming apparatus 1 may be a copying machine, a facsimile, or an MFP (multifunction device). The present invention also includes any combination of the above embodiments.

As described above, the present invention is useful for an image forming apparatus.

L1: Length in the roller rotation direction of the portion of the sealing material in contact with the surface of the recovery roller L2: Length of the portion of the sealing material in contact with the surface of the recovery roller in the roller rotation direction L3: With the surface of the recovery roller in the sealing material Length of contacting portion in roller rotation direction 1: Image forming device 7: Intermediate transfer belt 34: Cleaning device 35: Rotating brush 36: Recovery roller 37: Blade 42a: First sealing material 42b: Second sealing material 42c: First Three sealing materials 43: Substrate 44: First substrate 45: Second substrate

Claims (5)

An image carrier on which a toner image is formed on the surface,
A rotating brush that comes into contact with the surface of the image carrier after the toner image is transferred to the transfer paper and collects the residual toner adhering to the surface.
A recovery roller that comes into contact with the rotating brush on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the rotating brush from the contact portion between the image carrier and the rotating brush to remove residual toner collected by the rotating brush.
A cleaning blade that abuts on the downstream side in the rotational direction of the recovery roller from the contact portion between the rotating brush and the recovery roller and scrapes off the toner collected by the recovery roller.
A sheet-shaped sealing material that prevents the backflow of toner when the tip of the tip comes into contact with the recovery roller between the contact portion between the rotating brush and the recovery roller and the cleaning blade.
A support member that supports the sealing material and
An image forming apparatus including a fixed portion to which the support member is fixed.
Three sealing materials, an upstream sealing material, an intermediate sealing material, and a downstream sealing material, are provided.
The upstream side sealing material, the intermediate sealing material, and the downstream side sealing material are arranged side by side in this order from the upstream side to the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller.
The support member is formed by joining the first substrate and the second substrate that are adjacent to each other along the rotation direction of the recovery roller in the thickness direction, and is viewed from the axial direction of the recovery roller. It extends from the fixed portion along a predetermined direction toward the recovery roller side.
The first substrate is arranged on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller with respect to the second substrate.
On the downstream side surface of the first substrate in the rotation direction of the recovery roller, the proximal end side portion in the predetermined direction is joined to the fixed portion.
In the second substrate, the recovery in the first substrate is such that the edge on the tip side in the predetermined direction is located closer to the recovery roller side than the edge on the tip side in the predetermined direction in the first substrate. It is fixed to the upstream side in the direction of rotation of the roller,
The upstream side sealing material is fixed to the upstream side surface of the second substrate in the rotational direction of the recovery roller.
The intermediate sealing material is fixed to the tip side portion of the second substrate in the predetermined direction from the first substrate on the downstream side surface in the rotation direction of the recovery roller.
The downstream sealing material is fixed to the tip side portion of the first substrate in the rotation direction of the recovery roller in the predetermined direction rather than the fixed portion.
Let S1 be the length of the fixing allowance of the upstream sealing material on the second substrate in the predetermined direction.
Let S2 be the length of the fixing allowance of the intermediate sealing material on the second substrate in the predetermined direction.
An image forming apparatus that satisfies S1>S2> S3, where S3 is the length of the fixing allowance of the downstream sealing material on the first substrate in the predetermined direction. In the image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
As for the upstream side sealing material, the intermediate sealing material, and the downstream side sealing material, the contact pressure of the portion of the sealing material located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller is lower than that of the sealing material in contact with the surface of the recovery roller. An image forming apparatus configured in. In the image forming apparatus according to claim 2,
As for the upstream side sealing material, the intermediate sealing material, and the downstream side sealing material, the contact pressure of the portion of the sealing material located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller is lower than that of the sealing material in contact with the surface of the recovery roller. An image forming apparatus in which a sealing material located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller has a longer length in the roller rotation direction of a portion in contact with the surface of the recovery roller. In the image forming apparatus according to claim 2,
As for the upstream side sealing material, the intermediate sealing material, and the downstream side sealing material, the contact pressure of the portion of the sealing material located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller is lower than that of the sealing material in contact with the surface of the recovery roller. An image forming apparatus in which the thickness of the sealing material is formed thinner as the sealing material is located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller. In the image forming apparatus according to claim 2,
As for the upstream side sealing material, the intermediate sealing material, and the downstream side sealing material, the contact pressure of the portion of the sealing material located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller is lower than that of the sealing material in contact with the surface of the recovery roller. An image forming apparatus, which is arranged so that the sealing material located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the recovery roller has a smaller contact area with the support member.

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