JPH02273768A - Developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain high picture quality by an one-component non-magnetic developing method by disposing an elastic blade adjacent to a conductive cylindrical toner carrying quantity controlling member and elastically making it abut on the toner carrying quantity controlling member through toner. CONSTITUTION:The toner carrier 9 is disposed adjacent to a latent image carrier 1, an insulating layer 11 is formed on the conductive supporting body 10 of the toner carrier 9, the conductive cylindrical toner carrying quantity controlling member 12 is disposed adjacent to the toner carrier 9, and the elastic blade 19 is disposed adjacent thereto. The toner 8 is made abut on the toner carrying quantity controlling member 12 by the elastic blade 19, and is uniformly electrified by frictional electrification and/or charge injection between the toner 8 and the toner carrying quantity controlling member 12 and/or between the toner 8 and the elastic blade 19. Thus, even the non magnetic toner 8 can be stably made into a thin film and supplied to the toner carrying body 9, and therefore, a picture of high resolution and high density can be formed even with the one-component non-magnetic toner 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a developing device that visualizes an electrostatic latent image using toner.

[Conventional technology] As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-14264, a conventional developing device develops a one-component magnetic toner by forming a thin insulating layer on the surface of a toner conveying member to improve image density. A developing device that prevents fluctuations, and a developing device that uses an elastic blade to charge and/or thin the toner to enable development of one-component non-magnetic toner, as disclosed in JP-A No. 59-45468, has been proposed. has been done.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, when non-magnetic toner is used, the agitation effect by the magnetic brush cannot be obtained, so the amount of charge on the toner fluctuates widely, and the temperature fluctuates widely as well. ,
-Component There was a problem in that it was difficult to provide a color developing device using non-magnetic toner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a developing device that can obtain high image quality using a -component nonmagnetic developing method.

Still another object is to provide a developing device in which the amount of charge on toner that contributes to image density is stable. Still another object is to provide a developing device capable of producing full colors using -component non-magnetic toner.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the developing device of the present invention, a toner conveying body is disposed adjacent to a latent image carrier that forms an electrostatic latent image, and the toner conveying body is insulated on a conductive support. In a developing device that forms an electrostatic latent image by electrostatically adhering the toner on a toner carrier to a latent image carrier, a conductive and cylindrical layer is formed adjacent to the toner carrier. A toner transport amount regulating member having the shape of a shape is disposed, an elastic blade is disposed adjacent to the toner transport amount regulating member, and the elastic blade is brought into elastic contact with the toner transport amount regulating member via the toner. shall be.

Further, the developing device of the present invention is characterized in that the elastic blade is electrically conductive.

Furthermore, the developing device of the present invention is characterized in that the elastic blade is formed by forming an insulating layer on a conductive and elastic member.

Further, the developing device of the present invention is characterized in that the elastic blade is insulating.

[Operation] According to the above configuration of the present invention, the elastic blade presses the toner against the toner transport amount regulating member, and frictional electrification and/or Alternatively, the toner is uniformly charged by charge injection, the uniformly charged toner is supplied to a portion adjacent to the toner transport body and the toner transport amount regulating member, and the toner transport amount regulating member is used to transport the toner at the adjacent portion to the toner transport body. By rotating at high speed relative to the toner body, even non-magnetic toner can be stably made into a thin layer and supplied to the toner conveying body, and the development gap can be reduced by making the toner layer thinner.

By increasing the layer thickness of the developing electrode, it is possible to stably form high-resolution, high-density images even with a single-component non-magnetic toner.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to Examples.

[Example] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a developing device in an example of the present invention, in which a latent image carrier 1 has a photoconductive layer 3 coated on a conductive support 2. The photosensitive layer 3 is charged to a predetermined potential using a charger 4, and then the light emitted from a light source 5 such as a laser is scanned using a rotating polygon mirror (not shown). An image is formed on the photosensitive layer 3 by the imaging optical system 6 to obtain a potential contrast and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the latent image carrier 1. On the other hand, the developing device 7 charges the toner 8, which is the image forming body, and The toner conveyor 9 is a toner conveyor 9 that has a thin insulating layer 11 formed on a conductive support 10, and a conductive cylindrical toner is placed adjacent to the toner conveyor 9. A conveyance amount regulating member 12 is disposed, and the circumferential speed of the toner conveyance amount regulating member 12 is made larger than the circumferential speed of the toner conveying body 9, and the toner conveying amount regulating member 12 and the toner conveying body are rotated in the forward direction or the opposite direction. A thin layer of charged toner 8 can be supplied to the toner conveying body 9 by generating fluidic shearing force and agitation force in the gap between the toner conveying body 9 and the blade 1 .
3, the toner is supplied to the developing section after making the layer thickness uniform and the amount of charge uniform. On the other hand, an elastic blade 19 is provided on the upstream side of the portion of the toner transport body 9 adjacent to the toner transport amount regulating member 12. The toner transport amount regulating member 12 elastically moves the toner 8
A guide 15 is disposed adjacent to the toner transport amount regulating member 12 to keep the initial supply amount of toner constant, and the toner 8 adhering to the toner transport body 9 is peeled off by the scraper 20 and removed from the gap. This prevents the toner 8 from agglomerating, clogging voids, or being abnormally charged.Furthermore, the toner 8 that has passed through the toner transport amount regulating member 12 and the elastic blade 13 is frictionally charged and/or electrically charged. A certain electric charge is imparted to the toner by injection, and the toner is held and conveyed by the electrostatic image force on the toner conveying body 9, and approaches the development gap (the part where the latent image bearing body 1 and the toner conveying body 9 are close to each other).
In the development gap section, a voltage is applied by the development bias applying means 16 between the support section 2 and the conductive support 10 to generate a development electric field according to the potential contrast of the electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier 1 and charge the electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier 1. Transferring the toner 8 with the toner 8 toward the electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier 1 to obtain a toner adhesion amount corresponding to the potential contrast and making the latent image visible.
The toner 8 deposited on the latent image carrier 1 is electrostatically transferred onto the recording paper 18, and the toner 8 is fixed on the recording paper 18 by means such as pressure or heating to obtain a desired image. 1st
In the figure, the voltage applying means 14 is connected between the conductive support 10 and the toner transport amount regulating member 12, and a high electric field is generated in the gap to reduce the insulation resistance of the toner 8. Charge is injected from the transport amount regulating member 12 to charge the toner 8 to a predetermined uniform amount of charge, and the voltage applying means 14 is also applied to the blade 13 and the elastic blade 19.
to make the amount of charge of the toner on the toner transport body 9 constant, or to connect the toner 8 and the toner transport amount regulating member 12.
The toner 8 is charged to a predetermined amount of charge by frictional charging between the elastic blade 19 and the elastic blade 19, and the amount of charge is made constant. The pressing force allows the toner layer supplied to the adjacent portion of the toner transport body 9 and the toner transport amount regulating member 12 to be thinned.

However, when the elastic blade 19 is formed of a conductive elastic member, it is possible to inject charge into the toner from the elastic blade and/or the toner transport amount regulating member to make the amount of charge held by the toner constant, and the elastic blade 19 When the blade 19 is formed by attaching an insulating layer to a conductive elastic member, it is possible to control the amount of charge injected from the elastic blade to the toner by the insulating layer, or to reduce the charge held by the toner by frictional charging between the insulating layer and the toner. The amount of elastic blade 19 can be increased.
When the toner is made of an insulating elastic member, the toner can be charged by frictional charging between the toner transport amount regulating member and the toner. In addition, in FIG. 1, the peripheral speed of the toner transport body 9 is 120 mm/sec, and the peripheral speed of the toner transport amount regulating member 12 is 30 mm/sec in the forward direction of the toner transport body 9.
0 mm/sec, the gap between the toner conveying body 9 and the toner conveying amount regulating member 12 is 0.2 mm, and the elastic blade 19 is pressed against the toner conveying amount regulating member 1 with a linear pressure of several hundred gf/cm.
When pressed to 2, the toner conveyance amount regulating member 12 is pressed 1 to 2.
Two charged toner layers can be formed, and a toner layer with a thickness of 0.1 mm or less can be stably formed on the toner transport body 9. The charge amount is -6μC/g, and the half width of the peak is 2μC/g.
By visualizing the electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier 1 using the toner 8 that has a small variation in g and charge amount distribution and has obtained such a stable charge amount,
It was possible to form a toner image with high resolution and gradation, and when a semiconductor laser was used as the light source 5, it was possible to form a toner image with high resolution and excellent area gradation. Further, for the elastic blade 19, a plate-like member of a conductive metal such as stainless steel, phosphor bronze, or beryllium copper can be used, and as an insulating material when the insulating layer of the elastic blade 19 or the elastic blade is formed of an insulator. Thermosetting resins, thermoplastic resins, and photocurable resins such as polystyrene, acrylic, phenol, polyester, aromatic, silicone elastomer, polyurethane, epoxy resin, and polyimide can be used. can. Further, for the toner transport body 9, the conductive support 10 can be made of a wide variety of conductive materials such as iron and conductive resin, as well as conductive non-magnetic metals such as aluminum and stainless steel. , polystyrene, acrylic, phenol, polyester, aromatic, silicone elastomer, polyurethane, epoxy resin, polyimide, cellulose, natural rubber, etc. have high insulation properties, are inexpensive, and are moldable. Excellent specific resistance of 1012Ω
It is possible to form an insulating layer with a thickness of 1 cm or more.
By forming i11 from a photoconductive material such as selenium, zinc oxide, titanium oxide, cadmium sulfide, or an organic photoreceptor, static electricity can be removed from the insulating layer by irradiation with light, making it possible to eliminate static electricity uniformly with a simple structure, and to ensure stability. It is possible to provide a developing device in which a toner layer surface potential is obtained and development is always performed in a constant state. Incidentally, in FIG. 1, arrows indicate the rotation directions of the respective members, but the above-mentioned numerical values etc. do not limit the present invention.

Although the embodiments have been described above, the present invention can be applied not only to the above embodiments but also to a wide range of developing devices such as electrophotographic recording devices, full-color printers, copying machines, and monochrome video printers that record television images. It is effective if applied to developing devices that use -component toner, such as copying machines, page printers, and facsimile machines.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, an electrically conductive and cylindrical toner transport amount regulating member is disposed adjacent to a toner transporter having an insulating layer formed on a conductive support, An elastic blade is disposed adjacent to the toner transport amount regulating member, and the elastic blade elastically contacts the toner transport amount regulating member through the toner, thereby stabilizing the amount of charge on the toner that contributes to image density. In addition to making development possible, non-contact development is also possible even if the toner is made into a thin layer and the development gap is reduced, making it possible to provide a developing device that can obtain high image quality using a -component non-magnetic development method. Therefore, it is possible to provide a developing device capable of producing full colors using -component non-magnetic toner.

Furthermore, by forming the elastic blade with a conductive elastic member, an insulating layer on a conductive elastic member, or an insulating elastic member, a stable charging environment can be provided to the toner. This has the effect that it is possible to provide a developing device in which a uniform charge amount of toner can be obtained and there is little variation in image density.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional A view of a developing device in an embodiment of the present invention. Latent image carrier Toner Toner conveyor Conductive support Insulating layer Toner conveyance amount regulating member Elastic blade Above Applicant Seiko Epson Corporation Agent Patent attorney Kizobe Suzuki (1 person) Figure 1

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A toner conveying body is disposed adjacent to a latent image carrier that forms an electrostatic latent image, and the toner conveying body is formed by forming an insulating layer on a conductive support, and the toner conveying body is formed by forming an insulating layer on a conductive support. In the developing device for making the electrostatic latent image visible by electrostatically adhering the toner to the latent image carrier, a conductive and cylindrical toner transport amount regulating member is provided adjacent to the toner transport member. A developing device characterized in that an elastic blade is disposed adjacent to the toner transport amount regulating member, and the elastic blade is brought into elastic contact with the toner transport amount regulating member via the toner. . (2) The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the elastic blade is electrically conductive. (3) The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the elastic blade is formed by forming an insulating layer on a conductive and elastic member. (4) The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the elastic blade is insulating.