JPH01314278A - Moisture absorption cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of an image flow phenomenon by constituting the title cleaner of a center axis, a high mol.wt. absorber disposed so as to cover around the outer circumferential surface of a substrate body, an absorbing paper disposed so as to cover around the outer circumferential surface of the high mol.wt. absorber and a surface nonwoven fabric disposed so as to cover around the outer circumferential surface of the absorbing paper. CONSTITUTION:The title cleaner 11 is constituted of the center axis 12 composed of stainless or aluminium, etc., the substrate body 13 disposed around the outer circumferential surface of the axis in a fixed state, the high mol.wt. absorber 14 disposed so as to cover around the outer circumferential surface of the substrate body 13 composed of the aluminium or a plastics, etc., the absorbing paper 15 disposed so as to cover around the outer circumferential surface of the absorber 14 and the surface nonwoven fabric 16 disposed so as to cover around the outer circumferential surface of the absorbing paper 15. As the high mol.wt. absorber 14 has an ability capable of absorbing a moisture, the moisture absorbed on the surface of a photosensitive body 1 is effectively absorbed to the high mol.wt. absorber 14 through the surface nonwoven fabric 16 and the absorbing paper 15. Thus, the image flow phenomenon is prevented at the time of printing the image, and the printing quality of the image is improved.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] The purpose of this invention is to provide a roller-type moisture absorbing cleaner installed in electrophotographic equipment, etc., which can prevent image drift, and which covers the central axis and the outer circumferential surface of the base. It is composed of a polymer absorbent material arranged in a shape, an absorbent paper arranged to cover the outer peripheral surface of the cough polymer absorber, and a surface nonwoven fabric arranged to cover the outer peripheral surface of the absorbent paper. Ru.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a moisture absorbing cleaner installed in an electrophotographic apparatus or the like.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing the electrophotographic printing process. In the figure, 1 is a photoconductor drum having photoconductivity, 2 is an exposure section, 3 is a development section that attaches toner 10 to the latent image on the photoconductor drum (hereinafter referred to as photoconductor) 1, and 4 is a photoconductor drum. 1, a transfer section that transfers the toner 10 adhering to the recording paper 9; 5, a fixing section; 6, a static eliminator that neutralizes the charged photosensitive drum 1; 7, a part of the cleaner; and 8, a charging section. Each is shown below.

The main role of the cleaner part 7 is to remove the toner 10 that has not been transferred to the recording paper 9, and a fur brush or the like has conventionally been used. Note that since paper dust generated from the recording paper 9 also adheres to the photoreceptor 1, some devices are equipped with a plate-shaped blade (not shown) to remove these.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of a main part showing an example of the structure of the photoreceptor 1. FIG. In the figure, 21 is a base made of aluminum or the like; 22
23 is a photosensitive layer made of hydrogenated amorphous silicon highly doped with boron (hereinafter hydrogenated amorphous silicon will be referred to as a-3t:H); Carbon-containing a SiC: H(a-stl-xC,l
:H2x0.5) respectively.

The reason why photoreceptors using a-St:H are increasing recently is that a-3i:H has higher photosensitivity than conventional amorphous selenium (a-5e).

This is because it is thought to be suitable for high-speed printing due to its hardness, and it is expected that photoreceptors using this a-3i:H will increase in the future.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, although the a-3t:H photoreceptor has the above-mentioned advantages, it also has the disadvantage of being sensitive to humidity. This phenomenon is called ``image drift,'' and is a phenomenon in which images become blurred or faded when printed in high humidity.The inventors investigated the cause of this through the following experiments.

Figure 5 shows that the a-5iC:H film used as the surface layer of the a-Si:H photoreceptor is exposed to corona irradiation in high humidity, and the difference in surface changes is measured using the high-sensitivity reflection FT-IR method (Fourier transform). 2 is a diagram showing the results measured by infrared absorption spectroscopy), where the vertical axis shows absorbance and the horizontal axis shows the wavelength of infrared light (c
r'). As is clear from FIG. 5, as the corona irradiation time increases from 60 minutes to 120 minutes to 180 minutes, 5i-Off, 5i-Off,
A peak due to H-OH or 5t-0-Si (a phenomenon in which the absorbance increases) appears.

Figure 6 shows the results obtained by changing the corona irradiation time.

The contact angle θ of the sample was measured and the wettability was investigated (the smaller the contact angle θ, the more “wettable” it is and the easier it is to get wet, so the larger θ is, the better).

This data shows that the contact angle θ decreases sequentially from E to R due to corona irradiation in high humidity. When this sample is washed with methanol and N2 blow (nitrogen blow), the contact angle recovers to some extent from "8" to "2". As a result of investigating this difference using the above-mentioned FT-IR method, it was found that in the 'C' state, 5t-OH and H-O
It was found that there were many H peaks. Note that there was no change in the 5i-0-Si peak in the "2" and "C" states.

In the figure, "E" indicates the contact angle θ when corona irradiation is performed for another 30 minutes on the "2" state, and "HE" indicates the contact angle θ when the same is subjected to methanol cleaning and NZ blowing again. θ, and “g” indicates each value of θ when the product is left in a natural environment.

According to the above investigation, "image blur" is caused by (1) water decomposition due to ozone generated by corona irradiation in high humidity, and the resulting Si-OR on the surface layer of the photoreceptor 1? Adsorbs in the form of H-OH. -■ A polar molecule of water (H, 0) further adheres there. →■ When charging is performed in this state, charges flow into the conductive water (H2O).

It was found that this occurs through a series of processes.

The present invention is a cleaner for suppressing the above-mentioned "image drift phenomenon".

[Means to solve the problem]

As shown in the embodiment diagram of FIG. 1, the moisture absorbing cleaner according to the present invention has a central axis 12. and a polymer absorber 14 disposed to cover the outer peripheral surface of the base 13;
The absorbent paper 15 is arranged to cover the outer peripheral surface of the absorbent paper 15, and the surface nonwoven fabric 16 is arranged to cover the outer peripheral surface of the absorbent paper 15.

[For production]

The moisture-absorbing cleaner configured in this manner has the photosensitive drum 1
Since the water adhering to the surface of the lens is efficiently absorbed, the image blurring phenomenon can be accurately avoided.

〔Example〕

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in detail below based on embodiment figures.

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are a perspective view and a sectional side view of an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(bl), the moisture absorbing cleaner 11 according to the present invention includes a central shaft 12 made of stainless steel or aluminum, a base 13 fixedly disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the central shaft 12, A polymer absorbent body 14 disposed to cover the outer circumferential surface of the base body 13 made of aluminum or plastic, an absorbent paper 15 disposed to cover the outer circumferential surface of the polymer absorbent body 14, and the absorbent A surface nonwoven fabric 16 is arranged to cover the outer peripheral surface of the paper 15.

The polymer absorbent material 14 disposed between the base body 13 and the absorbent paper 15 is made of a porous polymer obtained by adding an alkali metal group to acrylic acid and polymerizing it. It may be composed of a hydrolyzate of.

The polymer absorber 14 manufactured in this way has a weight of 30
Since it has the ability to absorb 50 to 50 times more water, the water adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor 1 is efficiently absorbed by the polymer absorber 14 via the surface nonwoven fabric 16 and the absorbent paper 15.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example in which the moisture absorbing cleaner according to the present invention is applied to a printing process. The body drum 1 is placed in contact with the body drum 1. By arranging the moisture-absorbing cleaner 11 at this position, moisture that could not be removed by the cleaner section 7 is effectively removed, so that the "image blurring phenomenon" is accurately prevented.

Note that this moisture absorbing cleaner 11 is particularly effective for photoreceptors using a-5t:H;
It goes without saying that good effects can be obtained even when used in a photoreceptor using 5e or an organic substance.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above explanation, by applying the present invention, moisture adhering to the photoreceptor can be completely removed.
"Image drift phenomenon" does not occur during printing, and therefore printing quality can be significantly improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 (al and (bl) are a perspective view and a side sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a schematic side view showing an example in which the moisture absorbing cleaner according to the present invention is applied to a printing process, and Figure 3 is a schematic side view showing an electrophotographic printing process, FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of a main part showing an example of the configuration of a photoreceptor, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing changes in the IR spectrum of the a-5iC:H film due to corona irradiation. Figure 6 is a diagram showing the change in the contact angle of the a-SiC:H film due to corona irradiation. In the figure, 1 is a photosensitive drum, 2 is an exposure section, 3 is a developing section, 4 is a transfer section, 5 is a fixing section, 6 is a static eliminator, 7 is a cleaner section, 8 is a charging section, 9 is a recording paper, 10 is a toner, 11 is a moisture absorbing cleaner, 12 is a central axis, 13 is a substrate, 14 is a polymer absorber, 15 is an absorbent paper, 16 is a surface nonwoven fabric, 21 is a substrate, 22 is a blocking layer, 23 is a photosensitive layer, and 24 is a surface layer. Figure skill moxibustion) 7 Palm slap on Lina 760′hi Z1;ノ Fl q L
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Claims (1)

[Claims] A roller-type moisture absorbing cleaner installed in an electrophotographic device, etc., comprising a polymer absorber (14) disposed to cover the outer peripheral surface of a central shaft (12) and a base (13). ), an absorbent paper (15) arranged to cover the outer peripheral surface of the polymer absorbent body (14), and a surface nonwoven fabric (16) arranged to cover the outer peripheral surface of the absorbent paper (15). A moisture-absorbing cleaner characterized in that the surface nonwoven fabric (16) is arranged so as to be in contact with the outer peripheral surface of a corresponding photoreceptor drum.