JPH0224134Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a wet cleaning device particularly suitable for electrophotographic copying machines or electrostatic recording devices.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrophotographic copying machine equipped with a conventional wet cleaning device. In this figure, reference numeral 1 indicates a drum-shaped photoreceptor which is an electrostatic latent image carrier. The photoreceptor 1 is rotated in the direction of the arrow, and in the order of this rotation direction, the outer circumference of the photoreceptor 1 is:
Charger 2, exposure section 3, development section 4, transfer section 5
A cleaning device 6 and the like are arranged.
The charger 2 has an integrated charger 21 for charging and a charger 22 for eliminating static electricity, and DC voltage and AC voltage are applied to each of them as necessary. The transfer section 5 includes a pair of transport rollers 51, a transfer charger 52, and a separation roller 53. The cleaning device 6 includes a cleaning roller 61 and a cleaning blade 62, and the developer drawn up by a developer suction means (not shown) is supplied to the cleaning section as a cleaning solution. Reference numeral 7 indicates a squeeze roller.

Now, the copying process in this electrophotographic copying machine is as follows.

First, when the photoreceptor 1 rotates in the direction of the arrow, its surface is uniformly charged by a charging charger 21 that applies a DC voltage and performs corona discharge. Next, an optical image of the original is applied by the exposure unit 3 to the surface of the photoreceptor that is uniformly charged in this way, and an electrostatic latent image that is a mirror image of the original is formed. This electrostatic latent image is developed into a visible image while being immersed in a developer drawn up into a developing tray 42 having opposing electrodes. After development, the squeeze roller 7 removes excess developer excessively wetting the surface of the photoreceptor 1 with its surface rotating in the direction of the arrow in close proximity to the surface. At this time, the recording sheet S is guided by a pair of transport rollers 51 to the transfer section, that is, the gap between the surface of the photoreceptor 1 and the transfer charger 52 in synchronization with the movement of the surface of the photoreceptor 1, and is superimposed on the visible image. It will be done. Then, a transfer charger 52 applies a charge of opposite polarity to the toner constituting the visible image to the back surface of the recording sheet S of the visible image.
An upward transfer is made. The recording sheet S onto which the visible image has been transferred is peeled off and separated from the surface of the photoreceptor 1 by a separation roller 53, subjected to necessary processing, and then discharged from the apparatus. On the other hand, after the visible image is transferred, toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor 1 is removed from the surface of the photoreceptor 1 by a cleaning device 6. That is, the toner is released from the surface of the photoreceptor 1 by the cleaning roller 61, which is an elastic body impregnated with a cleaning liquid and rotates counterclockwise, and then the cleaning blade 62 whose edge is pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor 1 The developer is removed from the surface by the developer and washed away by the developer supplied to the cleaning section. The surface of the photoreceptor 1 that has been cleaned by the cleaning device 6 is subjected to AC corona discharge by the charger 22 for neutralization, thereby erasing the residual charge on the surface and completing the copying process.

By the way, since the surface layer of the cleaning roller 61 is made of a liquid-absorbing elastic material such as a sponge, the cleaning roller 61 has the disadvantage that it absorbs toner and becomes clogged after being used for a long period of time. In addition, when copying is performed intermittently, the cleaning roller dries in a clogged state, causing the cleaning roller itself to deform and not returning to its original shape even when developer is injected later. The effectiveness deteriorates and abnormal images such as black streaks occur in the copied image. Therefore, the cleaning roller must be replaced sooner, resulting in increased maintenance costs.

The present invention has been developed based on the above circumstances, and is capable of being used permanently without clogging, and is equipped with a cleaning roller that releases toner firmly adhered to the surface of an electrostatic latent image carrier from the surface. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a wet cleaning device.

This purpose is achieved by a wet cleaning device having a cleaning roller made of an elastic member that rotates in contact with an electrostatic latent image carrier and cleans toner remaining on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier after being transferred. Liquid wiping members that are liquid absorbent and are arranged at approximately equal intervals on the outer circumference and along the generatrix line for wiping off the developer adhering to the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier; a toner moving member disposed between the matching liquid wiping members for moving toner remaining on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier in a direction transverse to the rotational direction of the electrostatic latent image carrier; This is achieved by a wet cleaning device characterized by having a cleaning roller with a protruding surface.

According to the present invention, since the cleaning roller is made of a non-liquid-absorbing elastic member, there is no fear that the cleaning roller will absorb toner and become clogged, and can withstand continuous use. Next, since the cleaning roller has a liquid wiping member protruding along the outer circumferential upper generatrix, the developer poured into the cleaning section does not flow upstream of the cleaning roller on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier. Furthermore, since a toner moving member is provided on the outer circumference of the roller and between the liquid wiping members, the toner firmly attached to the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier is moved in a direction transverse to the traveling direction of the surface. , liberate. That is, since the toner moving member loosens the toner, the cleaning action of the cleaning blade disposed downstream of the cleaning roller is facilitated.

Further, since the cleaning roller has both the function of loosening the toner and the function of wiping it, the cleaning blade can be omitted, and the cleaning device can be made small in bulk. Note that when a cleaning blade is provided, the pressure means and support means for the blade can be simply constructed.

The illustrated embodiment will be described in detail below.

FIG. 2 shows a cleaning roller 610 that is a feature of the present invention. In this figure, the cleaning roller consists of a rotating shaft 611 and a non-liquid absorbing elastic member 612 such as polyurethane rubber.
The elastic member 612 is fixed to the rotating shaft 611 so as not to slip, and both end shafts of the rotating shaft 611 are rotatably supported by opposing side plates (not shown). The elastic member 612 includes a base cylindrical portion 613, a liquid wiping member 614, and a toner moving member 615 that are integrally molded. Four liquid wiping members 614 are arranged on the outer periphery of the base cylindrical portion 613 at approximately equal intervals along the generatrix. The outer periphery 614a of the liquid wiping member 614 has an arcuate cross section as the outer diameter portion of the cleaning roller. Toner moving member 6
15 is a string-like body wound along an imaginary spiral on the outer periphery of the base cylindrical portion 613, and the outer periphery 615a of the toner moving member 615 is connected to the liquid wiping member 614. Like the outer periphery 614a, it is formed to have an arcuate cross section as the outer diameter portion of the cleaning roller.

To explain in more detail, the toner moving member 615
is a protrusion along an imaginary spiral connecting adjacent liquid wiping members 614, 614 in a diagonal direction in the roller rotation direction. This protrusion is inclined with respect to the direction of rotation of the cleaning roller, so
Toner and the like that come into contact with the inclined surfaces 615b, 615b are pushed and moved in the direction of the generatrix of the electrostatic latent image carrier.

With the above structure, the developer (not shown) poured into the cleaning section is blocked and wiped by the liquid wiping member 614,
The electrostatic latent image carrier does not pass over the cleaning roller and stray onto the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier. Further, the toner adhering to the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier is moved and released along the rotational direction of the electrostatic latent image carrier by the liquid wiping member 614. Because of the intermittent contact, a portion of the toner remains firmly attached to the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier. Therefore, the spiral toner moving member 615
In this method, the toner is pushed and moved in the generatrix direction by the inclined surfaces 615b that are inclined between the toner moving members, and the toner particles are moved and released in a direction transverse to the rotational direction of the electrostatic latent image carrier. let
The spiral toner moving member may be located approximately at the center of the cleaning roller and have its spiral direction reversed. Further, the toner moving member may be one in which a large number of elliptical annular strings are arranged at approximately equal pitches on the base cylinder portion, instead of being wound in a spiral manner. In short, the toner moving member is disposed diagonally between adjacent liquid wiping members on the outer periphery of the base cylinder, contacts the inclined surface 615b of the toner moving member to loosen the toner, and loosens the toner in the rotational direction of the electrostatic latent image carrier. Any device that moves in a direction transverse to the object may be used.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the invention. That is, in this figure, the reference numeral 611 is the rotation axis;
Reference numeral 13 indicates a base cylindrical portion, which has the same structure as the previous embodiment. Four liquid wiping members 616 are arranged on the outer periphery of the base cylindrical portion 613 at approximately equal intervals and along the generatrix. In this case, unlike the previous embodiment, the liquid wiping member does not directly intersect with the toner moving member. Toner moving members 617a, 617a, ... and 617b,
617b, . . . are cylindrical bodies having the same diameter and installed on the outer periphery of the base cylindrical portion 613 between adjacent liquid wiping members at approximately equal intervals in the axial direction. When the cleaning roller rotates, these cylindrical bodies must be arranged in a staggered manner. That is, as clearly shown in the figure, the toner moving members 617a, 617a, . . . in the first row are the toner moving members 617b, 617b, . . . in the second row.
and the pitch are placed half way apart. Further, it is preferable that the interval l between each columnar body in each row is smaller than the diameter d of each columnar body. This is because the toner that did not come into contact with the toner moving member 617a of the previous row is always moved to the left or right by the toner moving member 617b of the next row in a direction transverse to the rotational direction of the electrostatic latent image carrier. This is because it will be moved to

In this embodiment, the toner on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier comes into contact with, for example, the upstream cylindrical surface (slanted surface) 617c of the cylindrical body 617a located upstream in the rotational direction of the roller, and is pushed in the generatrix direction. After that, it is further pushed and moved in the generatrix direction by the upstream cylindrical surface (slanted surface) 617d of the cylindrical body 617b located on the downstream side, thereby loosening it from the surface of the carrier. The toner loosened by the toner moving member made of a group of cylindrical bodies is stopped by the liquid wiping member 616.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an electrophotographic copying machine equipped with a conventional wet-type cleaning device, FIG. 2 is a partial external perspective view showing a cleaning roller used in the wet-type cleaning device according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a partial external perspective view showing another embodiment of the invention. 1... Electrostatic latent image carrier, 61,610,610
A... Cleaning roller, 614, 616...
Liquid wiping member, 615, 617a, 617b...
Toner moving member.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A wet cleaning device having a cleaning roller made of an elastic member that rotates in contact with an electrostatic latent image carrier and cleans toner remaining on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier after being transferred. and a liquid wiping member, each of which is non-liquid absorbing and is arranged at approximately equal intervals on the outer circumference and along the generatrix line, for wiping off the developer adhering to the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier. is disposed between the liquid wiping members adjacent to each other on the outer periphery, is inclined with respect to the generatrix of the electrostatic latent image carrier, and contacts the toner remaining on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier to remove the toner. 1. A wet cleaning device comprising: a cleaning roller having a protruding toner moving member and a toner moving member having an inclined surface for moving the toner in a direction transverse to the rotational direction of an electrostatic latent image carrier.