JP6945792B2 - Toner image forming device, charging device, and image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a toner image forming apparatus, a charging apparatus, and an image forming apparatus.

A charging member that rotates while in contact with an image holding member to charge the image holding member is known. It is known that toner or the like may adhere to this charging member over time to cause charging defects.

Here, in Patent Document 1, by swinging the cleaning member in contact with the charging roller to clean the charging roller in the axial direction in conjunction with the rotation of the charging roller, the adhesion of toner or the like to the charging roller is suppressed. An image forming apparatus having a structure is disclosed.

Further, Patent Document 2 discloses an image forming apparatus having a structure in which a cleaning member for cleaning a charging roller is reciprocated by a predetermined amount in the longitudinal direction of the charging roller to suppress adhesion of toner or the like to the charging roller. Has been done.

Further, Patent Document 3 includes a mechanism for contacting and separating the charging roll from the photoconductor drum and a mechanism for moving the photoconductor drum in the rotation axis direction, and a contact position between the photoconductor drum and the charging roll in the rotation axis direction. An image forming apparatus having a structure in which the adhesion of toner or the like to the charging roller is suppressed by changing the above is disclosed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-162813 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-054141 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-267952

An object of the present invention is to provide a toner image forming apparatus, a charging apparatus, and an image forming apparatus that extend the life of members by shifting the contact positions between members in the direction of the rotation axis by utilizing a change with time.

Claim 1 is
An image-holding member that holds a toner image through the processes of charging, exposure, and development while rotating, and transfers the toner image onto the transferred object.
A charging member that rotates while in contact with the image holding member to charge the image holding member,
A cleaning member that rotates in contact with the charging member to clean the charging member,
A bearing member that rotatably supports the end of the image-holding member, the charging member, and the time-moving member, which is at least one of the cleaning members.
It is arranged at a position sandwiched between the end face of the time-moving member and the inner wall surface of the bearing member facing the end face, and due to the rotation of the time-moving member, the end face and one of the inner wall surfaces are rubbed and slid. The toner image forming apparatus is provided with a wear member that is rubbed and worn and whose dimensions are reduced over time.

2. The toner image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wear member is a member having a faster wear rate at a stage where the time has progressed as compared with the initial stage of time.

Plurality claim 3, wherein the wear member, wherein the material speed of the relative wear quickened as the distance from the sliding speed of the rubbing surface side relatively wear is disposed slow material the sliding surface is arranged The toner image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the toner image forming apparatus is made of various kinds of materials.

Claim 4, the wear member is said by rubbing the surface side, characterized in that the speed of the relative wear is formed in a quickened shape with distance from slow the rubbing surface speed of the relative wear The toner image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

Claim 5, wherein the wear member is the outer diameter is constant in the rotation axis direction of the time the moving member, the interior from the end face of the side away from the sliding Kosumen to a position halfway toward the sliding surface The toner image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the toner image forming apparatus has a hollowed shape.

6. The toner image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a pressing member that pushes the time-moving member toward the wear member.

The toner image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the time-moving member is arranged obliquely in a direction of being pushed toward the wear member with respect to a member in contact with the time-moving member. Is.

Claim 8 is a toner image forming apparatus according to any one of the seven claim 1, characterized in that it comprises the wear scraping shavings reservoir that reservoir debris members.

Claim 9
A charging member that holds a toner image through the processes of charging, exposure, and development while rotating and rotates while being in contact with an image holding member that transfers the toner image onto a transfer body, and a charging member that charges the image holding member.
A cleaning member that rotates in contact with the charging member to clean the charging member,
A bearing member that rotatably supports the end of the time-moving member, which is at least one of the charging member and the cleaning member, and
It is arranged at a position sandwiched between the end face of the time-moving member and the inner wall surface of the bearing member facing the end face, and due to the rotation of the time-moving member, it slides on the end face or the inner wall surface and wears over time. It is a charging device characterized by being provided with a wear member that reduces the size of the device.

Claim 10
The toner image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
A transport device that transports paper and
A transfer device that transfers the toner image formed by the toner image forming device onto the conveyed paper, and a transfer device.
The image forming apparatus is provided with a fixing device for fixing a toner image transferred onto the paper onto the paper.

According to the toner image forming apparatus of claim 1, the charging apparatus of claim 9, and the image forming apparatus of claim 10, the contact positions of the members in the rotation axis direction move due to the wear of the worn members over time, and the contact positions are changed. The life can be extended by suppressing the adhesion of toner or the like to the charging member as compared with the case where the is not moved.

According to the toner image forming apparatus of claims 2 and 3, the moving member with time can be moved at a speed corresponding to the degree of time of time.

According to the toner image forming apparatus of claims 4 and 5, even a wear member made of a single material can be moved at a speed corresponding to the degree of time of the moving member with time.

According to the toner image forming apparatus of claim 6, the time-moving member moves more reliably than in the case where the force for pushing the time-moving member toward the wear member does not act.

According to the toner image forming apparatus of claim 7, the time-dependent moving member reliably moves without providing a separate member such as a pressing member.
According to the toner image forming apparatus of claim 8, the possibility of malfunction due to shavings of the wear member is reduced.

It is a schematic diagram of the image forming apparatus as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram of a charger. It is a schematic diagram which showed the time-shifting member and the bearing member structure. It is a figure which showed the 1st example of the wear member. It is a figure which showed the 2nd example of the wear member. It is a figure which showed the 3rd example of the wear member. It is a schematic diagram which showed the 2nd example of the time-moving member and the bearing member structure.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes an embodiment of the toner image forming apparatus of the present invention and an embodiment of the charging apparatus of the present invention.

The image forming apparatus 100 includes a paper feeding unit 110, an image forming unit 120, and a winding unit 130.

A long roll paper P1 wound in a roll shape is mounted on the paper feed unit 110. The roll paper P1 mounted on the paper feed unit 110 is directed toward the image forming unit 120 by the rotation of the roll shaft 111 in the direction of the arrow A and the rotation of the delivery roll 112 by a drive source (not shown). It is sent out as continuous paper P in the direction.

In the image forming unit 120, the continuous paper P fed in the direction of the arrow X1 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow X2 by the conveying member 121, and an image is formed on the continuous paper P in the meantime.

The continuous paper P on which this image is formed is sent to the winding unit 130 in the direction of arrow X3, and is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow B by a drive source (not shown) via a buffer 132 for absorbing the speed difference. It is wound around the roll shaft 131 to be rolled as roll paper P2.

The image forming unit 120 is provided with four image holders 11Y, 11M, 11C, and 11K, each of which rotates in the direction of the arrow Y. Here, Y, M, C, and K mean yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. On the four image holders 11Y, 11M, 11C, and 11K, each toner image is formed by toners of each color through the toner image forming process described below. In the following, in the description common to each color, the symbols Y, M, C, and K indicating the color distinction will be omitted.

Each charger 12 and each developer 13 are provided around each image holder 11. Each charger 12 charges each image holder 11. Further, each developer 13 develops an electrostatic latent image formed on each image holder 11 with toner of each color. Further, an exposure device 14 is provided above the four image holders 11Y, 11M, 11C, and 11K. From the exposure device 14, each exposure light 141 modulated with image data corresponding to each color is irradiated toward each image holder 11. Then, on each image holder 11, a toner image of each color is formed by charging by each charging device 12, forming an electrostatic latent image by irradiating each exposure light 141 from the exposing device 14, and developing by each developing device 13. Each image holder 11 is formed and temporarily holds the formed toner image of each color. Here, each charger 12 corresponds to an example of the charger of the present invention, and the combination of the image holder 11, the charger 12, the developer 13, and the exposure device 14 is an example of the toner image forming apparatus of the present invention. Corresponds to.

Further, the image forming unit 120 is provided with an intermediate transfer belt 21. The intermediate transfer belt 21 is an endless belt that is supported by a plurality of rolls 22 and circulates in the direction of the arrow Z along a path along the four image holders 11.

Each primary transfer roll 23 is provided at each position where the intermediate transfer belt 21 is sandwiched between the image holder 11 and the image holder 11. Then, each toner image temporarily held on each image holder 11 is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 21 by the action of each primary transfer roll 23. The toner image transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 21 is carried by the intermediate transfer belt 21 in the direction of arrow Z, and is transferred onto the continuous paper P by the action of the secondary transfer roll 24.

The toner image transferred onto the continuous paper P is carried to the continuous paper P and proceeds in the direction of arrow X2, and is sandwiched between the heating roll 31 and the pressure roll 32 constituting the fixing device 30 to heat and pressurize. The toner image is fixed on the continuous paper P. As a result, an image composed of the fixing toner image is formed on the continuous paper P. As described above, the continuous paper P on which this image is formed is fed to the winding unit 130 and wound up to become the roll paper P2.

The image forming apparatus 100 is further provided with a control unit 41 and an operation unit 41. The control unit 41 is in charge of overall control for realizing the above-mentioned image formation process in the image forming apparatus 100. Further, the control unit 41 receives a print instruction including image data transmitted from an external device, temporarily stores the print instruction, controls the exposure device 14 based on the image data, and causes the exposure device 14 to display the image. The exposure light 141 according to the data is generated.

Further, the operation unit 42 has a role of accepting an operation by the user and transmitting the user operation to the control unit 41. The control unit 41 controls the image forming apparatus 100 so that the operation corresponding to the user operation transmitted from the operation unit 42 is executed.

Here, the feature of this embodiment lies in the structure of the charger 12, and the structure of the charger 12 will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the charger 12. Although four chargers 12Y, 12M, 12C, and 12K are shown in FIG. 1, all of these chargers 12Y, 12M, 12C, and 12K have the same configuration, and in each of the drawings after FIG. , The codes of Y, M, C, and K representing colors are omitted.

The charger 12 includes a charging roll 50 and a cleaning roll 60.

The charging roll 50 is a member that charges the image holder 11 while being in contact with the image holder 11 that rotates in the direction of the arrow Y and rotating in the direction of the arrow E. Further, the cleaning roll 60 is a member that cleans the charging roll 50 by adhering toner or the like adhering to the charging roll 50 to itself while rotating in the direction of the arrow F in contact with the charging roll 50. Here, the image holding body 11, the charging roll 50, and the cleaning roll 60 correspond to each example of the image holding member, the charging member, and the cleaning member referred to in the present invention.

Here, any one of the image holder 11, the charging roll 50, and the cleaning roll 60 is configured to move with time in the rotation axis direction as described below. Here, a member of the image holder 11, the charging roll 50, and the cleaning roll 60 that is configured to move with time in the rotation axis direction is referred to as a “time-moving member”.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a moving member with time and a bearing member structure thereof. Here, the drive structure of the time-dependent moving member 70 is not shown. Alternatively, the time-dependent moving member 70 is a member that rotates in accordance with the rotation of an adjacent member (for example, the image holder 11 when the time-lapse driving member 70 is the charging roll 50) in contact with the time-dependent moving member 70. be.

The time-shifting member 70 has a roll shape, and the shaft 71 protrudes from both ends in the rotation axis direction. Here, for convenience, the portion of the shaft 71 protruding to the left side of FIG. 3 is referred to as a shaft 71a, and the portion protruding to the right side is referred to as a shaft 71b.

The shaft 71a is rotatably supported by one of the bearing members 80. In the bearing member 80, the wear member 81 is arranged coaxially with the rotation axis of the time-dependent moving member 70. The wear member 81 is fixed to the inner wall surface of the bearing member 80, and when the time-dependent moving member 70 rotates, the wear member 81 and the end face of the shaft 71a slide. The wear member 81 is gradually scraped over time by sliding with the end surface of the shaft 71a, and its length in the rotation axis direction is gradually reduced. The bearing member 80 is formed with a shavings reservoir 82 for accumulating the shavings of the wear member 81. The wear member 81 also collects the shavings in the shavings pool 82, thereby preventing the shavings from entering between the shaft 71a and the bearing member 80 and causing a rotation failure of the aging moving member 70.

Further, the shaft 71b of the time-moving member 70 protruding from the right side of FIG. 3 is rotatably supported by the other bearing member 90. A leaf spring 91 that pushes the end surface of the shaft 71b is arranged in the bearing member 90. By being pushed by the leaf spring 91, the time-dependent moving member 70 gradually moves in the direction of the arrow Z as the wear member 81 decreases its length with time. As a result, the contact position between the time-dependent moving member 70 and the adjacent member in contact with the time-dependent moving member 70 shifts with time in the rotation axis direction.

That is, when the time-shifting member 70 is the charging roll 50 shown in FIG. 2, the charging roll 50 moves in the direction of the rotation axis with time, so that the image holder 11 and the charging roll 50, and the charging roll 50 and the cleaning roll 60 are used. Is rubbed in the direction of the rotation axis, and adhesion of toner or the like to the charging roll 50 is suppressed.

Further, when the time-dependent moving member 70 is the image holder 11, the image holder 11 and the charging roll 50 rub against each other in the direction of the rotation axis, and the adhesion of toner or the like to the charging roll 50 is suppressed.

Further, when the time-dependent moving member 70 is a cleaning roll 60, the cleaning roll 60 and the charging roll 50 rub against each other in the direction of the rotation axis, and the adhesion of toner or the like to the charging roll 50 is suppressed.

Next, the wear member 81 will be described. The wear member 81 may be a simple member having a cylindrical shape or the like made of a single material, but if devised as described below is applied, the amount of movement of the moving member over time until the end of its life is achieved. Is suppressed, and the length of the moving member with time can be suppressed accordingly, which is more effective.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a first example of a wear member. The wear member 81A shown in FIG. 4 or the wear members 81B and 81C shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 described later are members that can be adopted as the wear member 81 shown in FIG.

The wear member 81A shown in FIG. 4 is a member made of two types of materials having the same diameter, that is, a material 811A and a material 812A, and they are bonded to each other. The shaft 71a (see FIG. 3) first slides with the material 811A to scrape the material 811A, and after all the material 811A is scraped, slides with the material 812A. As the adhesive for adhering the material 811A and the material 812A, it is necessary that the material 811A and the material 812A are not peeled off and that the material 811A and the material 812A can be easily scraped by sliding with the shaft 71a.

The material 811A is a material harder than the material 812A, and the speed of scraping by sliding with the shaft 71a is slower than that of the material 812A. When the charger 12 (see FIG. 2) is still new, it is less necessary to move the aging moving member 70 in the direction of the rotation axis, and the hard material 811A is scraped at a slow speed. Then, the time-dependent moving member 70 moves at a slow speed in the direction of arrow Z shown in FIG. When the material 811A is scraped and the end face of the shaft 71a starts sliding with the material 812A, the material 812A is a softer material than the material 811A, so it is scraped faster than the material 811A, and the time-shifting member 70 slides with the material 811A. It moves faster than it was when it was. When the charger 12 is in operation for a long period of time, toner or the like tends to adhere to the charging roll 50. Therefore, the moving member 70 with time is moved at a slightly higher speed to prevent the toner or the like from sticking to the charging roll 50.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second example of the wear member.

The wear member 81B shown in FIG. 5 is also composed of two materials 811B and 812B having the same diameter. The materials themselves of these materials 811B and 812B are the same as the two materials 811A and 812A shown in FIG. 4, respectively.

Here, three protrusions 811Ba are provided on the surface of the material 811B facing the material 812B side. Further, three holes 812Ba into which the protrusions 811Ba are fitted are formed at positions corresponding to the three protrusions 811Ba on the surface of the material 812B facing the material 811B side. The wear member 81B shown in FIG. 5 is formed by fitting the protrusion 811Ba and the hole 812Ba, unlike the bonding in the first example shown in FIG. Therefore, the occurrence of defects due to peeling of the adhesive is prevented. The number of protrusions 811Ba and holes 812Ba is not limited to three and may be any number. However, if only one is provided coaxially with the rotating shaft, rotation may occur between the material 811B and the material 812B, so it is preferable to avoid providing only one coaxially with the rotating shaft. Further, in addition to this fitting, adhesion may be further used.

The first example shown in FIG. 4 and the second example shown in FIG. 5 are examples in which two types of materials are used, but the moving speed of the moving member with time is determined by using three or more types of materials. It may be gradually accelerated to 3 or more stages.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a third example of the wear member.

The wear member 81C shown in FIG. 6 has a cylindrical outer shape and is made of a single material. However, the wear member 81C is formed with a hollow portion 811C that is hollowed out and has a cylindrical shape on the side away from the shaft 71a (see FIG. 3).

Therefore, in the wear member 81C, the hollow portion 811C is not formed at the initial stage, the portion where the inside is clogged is scraped at a slow speed, and the scraping extends to the portion where the hollow portion 811C is formed. The speed at which it can be scraped increases.

By changing the shape in the direction of the rotation axis in this way, the moving speed of the time-lapse moving member 70 may be increased at the stage where the time has progressed.

The wear member 811C of the third example shown in FIG. 6 is an example having a simple cylindrical hollow portion 8111C, but for example, a conical hollow portion is formed, and as time goes by, the time-shifting member 70 The moving speed may be gradually increased.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing another example of the time-dependent moving member.

In the case of the example shown in FIG. 7, the leaf spring 91 for pushing the shaft 71b provided in FIG. 3 is not provided. Although not shown here, the structure is the same as that shown in FIG. 3 except that the leaf spring 91 is not provided. Further, FIG. 7 shows a roll-shaped adjacent member 150 in contact with the time-dependent moving member 70. The adjacent member 150 is, for example, an image holder 11 when the moving member 70 with time is, for example, a charging roll 50. The time-dependent moving member 70 is arranged so as to have a rotation axis slightly oblique to the rotation axis of the adjacent member 150.

Here, the time-dependent moving member 70 will be described as a member that is driven by the rotation of the adjacent member 150 and rotates in a driven manner.

In this case, the time-dependent moving member 70 receives a force H from the adjacent member 150 in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the adjacent member 150 due to the rotation of the adjacent member 150. This force H can be divided into a component force H1 in the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the time-dependent moving member 71 and a component force H2 in the rotation axis direction of the time-dependent moving member 71. The component force H1 in the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis acts as a force for rotating the time-dependent moving member 70. On the other hand, the component force H2 in the rotation axis direction of the time-dependent moving member 71 acts as a force pushing the time-dependent moving member 70 in the rotation axis direction. A wear member is arranged at the tip in the direction in which the component force H2 acts. By doing so, the time-moving member 70 is pushed toward the wear member 81 without separately providing a member for pushing the time-moving member 70 in the rotation axis direction, such as the leaf spring 91 in the first example shown in FIG. be able to.

When the temporally moving member 70 is a member that receives a rotational driving force to drive and rotate the adjacent member 150, the temporally moving member 70 receives a reaction force from the adjacent member 150, and the force is increased. The direction is reversed. Therefore, it is necessary to arrange the warp and weft moving member 70 so as to be a rotation axis slightly tilted in the opposite direction with respect to the rotation axis of the adjacent member 150.

Although the example in which the wear member 81 is fixed to the bearing member 80 has been described here, the wear member 81 is fixed to the shaft 71a and slid between the wear member 81 and the inner wall surface of the bearing member 81. It may be configured. In that case, the wear member 81 is arranged so that the side sliding with the bearing member 80 is made of a material (or a shape that is difficult to scrape) that is hard to scrape.

Further, here, an example in which the present invention is applied to the image forming apparatus 100 for forming an image on continuous paper P shown in FIG. 1 has been described, but the present invention is used for an image forming apparatus for forming an image on cut paper. Can be applied as it is.

Further, although an example in which the present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus for forming a color image has been described here, the present invention can be directly applied to an image forming apparatus for forming a monochrome image.

11,11Y, 11M, 11C, 11K Image holder 12, 12Y, 12M, 12C, 12K Charger 13Y, 13M, 13C, 13K Developer 14 Exposure device 21 Intermediate transfer belt 23Y, 23M, 23C, 23K Primary transfer roll 24 Secondary transfer roll 30 Fixer 50 Charging roll 60 Cleaning roll 70 Time-shifting member 71, 71a, 71b Shaft 80 Bearing member 81, 81A, 81B, 81C Wear member 811A, 811B, 812A, 812B Material 811Ba Protrusion 812Ba Hole 811C Hollow Part 82 Shavings pool 90 Bearing member 91 Leaf spring 100 Image forming device 150 Adjacent member

Claims (10)

An image-holding member that holds a toner image through the processes of charging, exposure, and development while rotating, and transfers the toner image onto the transferred object.
A charging member that rotates while in contact with the image holding member to charge the image holding member,
A cleaning member that rotates in contact with the charging member to clean the charging member,
A bearing member that rotatably supports the end of the image-holding member, the charging member, and the time-moving member, which is at least one of the cleaning members.
It is arranged at a position sandwiched between the end face of the time-moving member and the inner wall surface of the bearing member facing the end face, and due to the rotation of the time-moving member, the end face and the rubbing surface and the sliding surface on one side of the inner wall surface are slid. A toner image forming apparatus including a wear member that is rubbed and worn and whose dimensions are reduced over time. The toner image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wear member is a member having a faster wear rate at a stage where the time has progressed as compared with the initial stage of time. The wear member is composed of a plurality of types of materials in which a material having a relatively slow wear rate is arranged on the rubbing surface side and a material having a relatively high wear rate is arranged as the wear member moves away from the rubbing surface. The toner image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The wear member is said in the rubbing surface side of claims 1 to, characterized in that the speed of the relative wear is formed in a quickened shape with distance from slow the rubbing surface speed of the relative wear 3 The toner image forming apparatus according to any one of the above items. The wear member has a shape in which the outer diameter is constant in the direction of the rotation axis of the moving member over time, and the inside is hollowed out from the end surface on the side away from the rubbing surface to an intermediate position toward the rubbing surface. The toner image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the toner image forming apparatus is provided. The toner image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a pressing member that pushes the time-moving member toward the wear member. The toner image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the time-moving member is arranged obliquely in a direction of being pushed toward the wear member with respect to a member in contact with the time-moving member. The toner image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the toner image forming apparatus has a shavings pool for collecting shavings of the wear member. A charging member that holds a toner image through the processes of charging, exposure, and development while rotating and rotates while being in contact with an image holding member that transfers the toner image onto a transfer body, and a charging member that charges the image holding member.
A cleaning member that rotates in contact with the charging member to clean the charging member,
A bearing member that rotatably supports the end of the time-moving member, which is at least one of the charging member and the cleaning member, and
It is arranged at a position sandwiched between the end face of the time-moving member and the inner wall surface of the bearing member facing the end face, and due to the rotation of the time-moving member, it slides on the end face or the inner wall surface and wears over time. A charging device characterized by being provided with a wear member that reduces the size of the device. The toner image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
A transport device that transports paper and
A transfer device that transfers the toner image formed by the toner image forming device onto the conveyed paper, and a transfer device.
An image forming apparatus including a fixing device for fixing a toner image transferred onto the paper onto the paper.

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