JPH0250178A - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily perform electric image processing such as the working and the editing, etc., of image information by converting the image information into an electrical signal, storing it in a storage means, displaying it on a display device and changing the displayed image contents in the storage means through an operation means for processing images. CONSTITUTION:The image corresponding to an original image is temporarily formed on an image carrier 8 by performing electrostatic charging, the exposure of image and development. At the time of transferring the image to the transfer material P, the image information is converted into the electrical signal by a photoelectric conversion means 4, stored in the storage means 5 and displayed on the display device 49. Then, the image contents in the storage means 5 displayed by the display device 49 can be changed through the operation means 50 for processing images. Thus, not only copying but also the electric image processing such as the working and editing, etc., can be easily performed in the case of forming the image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Purpose of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention provides the ability to transfer an image corresponding to an original image onto an image carrier in one document by performing electrification, image exposure, and development. An electronic device designed to form an image and transfer the image to a transfer material. ＾I agree with MrIt.

(Prior Art) Image recording technology using electrophotography has a long history, and various methods have been proposed and disclosed. Among these, the technology that has recently been attracting attention is a method using a light emitting element such as Lli;

There are the following methods using optical systems such as liquid crystals and optical switching electrons using the 7th day effect to desomerize and incorporate nine-light information. These technologies are considered to be effective for color memory.41 Based on this, it has been conventionally known that color information based on horizontal color separation is considered to be one of the major technical aspects of color electronics. Osamu Masaru and the spectroscopy of photoreceptors II! Gross speed 01111'jX>! caused by the inconsistency of rcL with 14! 7k<7! Ru. Various improvements can be made to the rounding via the electrical tin block in lA2. ^
3. This is because there are many applications that can be considered due to the connection with the electric imprint maple-filled temple, including the result of image information: L/Pi Island - Mae, and the digitization of these. In an electrophotographic apparatus that uses a method of writing image information onto a photoreceptor, reversal development is generally performed to visualize the portion irradiated with the exposure beam. This is because the burden on accuracy of the digital processing circuit and scanning optical system can be reduced. The basic method of color electrophotography is to turn the charging and exposing light as many times as necessary for the required colors, but this is done by rotating a cylindrical photoreceptor in one rotation. Each device for charging, image exposure, and development is arranged for the required number of colors so that the cycle of charging, image exposure, and development is repeated. Separated. The former is a big problem in terms of equipment, but
This method has high expectations from a practical standpoint as it requires short recording time.

The new and desirable basic concept of the multicolor recording apparatus described above can be summarized as shown in FIG. This apparatus will be explained below, including FIG. 2. Original table 1
The original placed on the screen is converted into a playback using a CCD array known as a solid-state sensor or image scanner, or a photosensitive material such as silicon, using a known exposure optical system 2 and a known three-color separation filter 3. The three colors are converted into electric signals by the image reading element 4 of the photoelectric converter, and the electric charger IK is precharged to a predetermined potential V via the storage and information processing section 5 and the output circuit 6. Optical scanning device 9, 10.11 which uses a laser 7 light 2 light emitting diode play (IJD) or a liquid crystal optical shutter array etc. on an electrophotographic photoreceptor 8 as an image carrier.
Scanning exposure is performed from. This scanning exposure is performed using the outputs separated by the one-color separation filter 3. For example, if there are three colors as in this example, the outputs of red, blue, and yellow are exposed as 9h, 10*, and jJa, respectively, and each This is done by applying a developing bias v1 higher than the potential v111 of the exposed portion to the electrophotographic developing devices 12, 13 and 14 of the same color for each exposure to perform reversal development.

Three-color rainbow force 2 - The formation of a copy image takes place, and the photoreceptor 8
The nine sheets formed on the paper are fed from the paper feeding device 15.
For 1MPK transfer: The RONA 16 is transferred and peeled off by the peeling device 11, heated and fixed by the fixing device 18, and then discharged onto the paper discharge tray 19 outside the machine to complete the copying. - The residual agent on the photoconductor s is cleaned by the cleaner 21 after the photoconductor is neutralized by the erasing lamp 20, and is applied to the next cycle. On the other hand, it is possible to connect the output of an external output device such as a copier or word processor to the input section 22 of this device without copying.
It is also used as a multicolor printer that can output colors according to the signal.

The inventor of the present invention has conducted various studies on the apparatus described above and has found that the following problems remain.

First, the photoreceptor 8 charged by the charger 1 is
It is necessary to retain the charge until it passes through the 4Iith developing device 14, but in practice there are few photoreceptors 8 that can maintain a constant stain load over a long period of time using this method, and even if there are, they are pure and pure. Low sensitivity such as regular selenium, or
Many of them are unsuitable for use due to limitations in spectral sensitivity, and those that are suitable in terms of sensitivity have the problem of increased image fluctuations due to charge attenuation. As a countermeasure for this, a recharge charger: IB is used prior to each color exposure.
-a and 23-b may be provided upstream of the developing device 13, 14 to compensate for the attenuation ΔV of the charge on the photoreceptor 8, thereby creating a stable condition for the electric potential necessary for deterioration. was satisfied. In this case, the potential distribution X on the photoreceptor 8 is 1Ii
As shown in Fig. 2, the potential v11 of the portion zs developed after the first exposure 9 and the potential V of the non-exposed portion become vl2 and v2, respectively, after being recharged.
In order to prevent @body from adhering to the E area during reversal development after the second color, use electrostatic contrast for development)
(vl - vl2) is the developing sensitivity of the developing agent), and as a result, if the initial charged potential v, t of the photoreceptor 8 is kept constant, the potential of Since the color does not return to its original state, it is reproduced by the developing units 13 and 14, resulting in unnecessary overlapping color streaks and a new color mixing problem in which the specified color cannot be obtained. This ultimately resulted in the fact that satisfactory conditions could only be obtained by the method of completely erasing the charge on the photoreceptor 8 by exposure and then recharging, which is a typical basic process in the prior art. As a result, in addition to the recharging devices 23-* and 23-b, it became necessary to provide a light source for erasing latent images (not shown), and a compact device could no longer be expected. Furthermore, this = sea urchin charging device 23-*, 23-bK
It is undesirable to repeatedly irradiate the photoconductor 8 with light in close proximity to the photoconductor 8 from the viewpoint of fatigue prevention.
It has also been found that in amorphous silicon/photoreceptors, etc., fluctuations in potential depending on the mode of use are amplified.

In addition, since the developer (toner) of the negative color or the developer (toner) of the second color is charged by corona during recharging, the developer (toner) of the third color developed last, which has not received corona discharge, is ), there is a large difference in the amount of charge, and the transfer corona 16 cannot achieve the same transfer efficiency with F, and if four colors are used, there will often be transfer omissions, which is an even bigger problem that has not yet been resolved. This resulted in a major technical hurdle.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, in the past, the problems necessary for image formation have not been solved, and it has been difficult to easily perform not only copying but also electrical image processing such as editing. The electrophotographic device that was designed for this purpose had not yet been realized.

The present invention was made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is not only for copying but also for processing.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electrophotographic apparatus that can extremely easily perform electrical image processing such as editing.

[Components of the invention (Means for solving problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems by charging.

In an electrophotographic apparatus, an image corresponding to a printed original image is formed on a carrier by performing image exposure and development, and then this image is transferred to a transfer material. A charge conversion means for converting into an electric signal, a storage means for storing the electric signal converted by the photoelectric conversion means, and a display device for displaying an image stored in the storage means.

The apparatus is constructed to include an image processing operation means for changing the image content of the storage means displayed by the display device.

(Function) With the above configuration, image information is converted into an electrical signal, which is stored in the storage means and displayed on the display device, and the image content of the storage means displayed by the display device is subjected to double-image processing. can be changed via the operating means. This results in
When forming an image, electrical image processing such as processing and editing of image information can be performed extremely easily.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to an example shown in the drawings. First, among the problems mentioned above, the conditions for preventing color mixing are to keep the charging potential V of the photoreceptor 8 constant, and *the potential vIt of the light area is the developing bias potential minus the exposed area potential, i.e. , (VB - VBl), it is necessary to satisfy two points at the same time: to restore the development start potential to a smaller value at the values of (VB - VBl). As a result of trying various considerations regarding this question, it was found that the voltage V applied to the recharging charger was an AC voltage v as shown in Figure 3.
AC/DC superimposition type recharging charger 30-h, which is expressed as a combination of AC and DC voltage vDc.

30=b and 30-c, the input control unit inputs the 400 Hz AC component vAc and DC component vr1c to the transformer unit T using the high voltage power supply 31 for recharging charger having the configuration shown in FIG. (RGT) 32, and by controlling the DC component control Kalimu VR,
Combination experiments were conducted in the range of θ to 6.5 kilogels, and the first developer 3 on the photoreceptor 8 as a carrier was
Examine the potential v1 of the unexposed part after passing through 4, the potential v of the exposed part 9, and the potential v2 and v82 after passing through the recharging charger 30-&.9, and 33 is 40
0 HS oscillation circuit (OSC>).

As a result, the required potential of the non-exposed area, which is the development condition for the apparatus used in this example, is 1. OOO&LT, AC component vAc is %vDO in the range of 750v development start voltage of the exposed area, that is, the area shown by hatching in FIG.
It has been found that a value of 4.6 to 5.2 kilograms is sometimes achieved, and preferably a value of 5.0 kilograms is sufficient.

Figure 5 shows the nine values of alternating current (effective value) when direct current is fixed.

(Note that in the case of only DC components without AC components, the values will be as shown in Figure 6, and in the case of only AC components without DC components, the values will be as shown in Figure 7.) The other conditions at this time are that the photoreceptor used is a selenium-e-tellurium photoreceptor with a film thickness of 60 micrometers and a peripheral speed of 130 cm.
/ Used in s@e. Furthermore, the frequency of the alternating current component must be a frequency at which so-called alternating current marks do not occur.

The changes in the potential v1m2 of the non-lightened part after recharging and the potential v2 of the non-lightned part after recharging are shown in FIGS. Note that the vAc in this case is 5 km at the time of sitting. This figure shows that the potential of the photoreceptor 8 can be controlled mainly by the DC component vDc. It has been found that only a specific portion of the photoreceptor 8 can be selectively charged during charging. Moreover, under these discharge conditions, no adverse effects such as disturbing the unfixed image developed during the first development occurred.

Based on the above results, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described using the device shown in FIG. 1θ, which is an expanded version of the device shown in FIG.

First, around the photoreceptor 8, there is a charger 7, a first optical scanning member 35, a first developing device 34, and so on. First recharging charger so-a, iE 2 optical scanning body 36°, second developer 31. Second recharge charger 3O-4b, third
optical scanning body 38, third developing device 39. The third recharging charger 30-e, the fourth optical scanning body 40, and! The developing devices 41 of s4 are sequentially arranged along the rotational direction of the photoreceptor 8, and are configured to form a color image on the photoreceptor 8.

Further, on the downstream side of the fourth developing device 41, that is, between the charging charger 1t, a control charger 42, a transfer corona 16, a peeling device 11. An erasing lamp 20 and a cleaner 21 are arranged in sequence.

The color image on the photoreceptor 8 is transferred to the transfer paper P and cleaned after the transfer.

Further, the first to fourth optical scanning bodies 35.36°313.
As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, 40 is a light emitting element (hereinafter referred to as IJD array) 43 in which 16 light emitting diodes 4Ja... are arranged in an array, and a focusing photoconductive member (trade name: cell) is attached to the light emitting element (hereinafter referred to as IJD array) A hook lens) 44 is engaged, resulting in nine configurations. In addition, the LED array 4s is for drive I
The converging light-conducting member 44 is attached to the ceramic substrate 41 together with C45, terminal pin 46, etc., and is attached to the holder 48.
It is attached to the ceramic substrate 41 via .degree. 48 (only one of which is shown).

Also, the first to fourth developing devices 34.3? , 39.degree. 41 are constituted by a known magnetic brush developer.

In the figure, 49 is a display device (l), and So is an operation/4 channel for image processing.

Therefore, the charger 7) DC positive voltage 5.6k
Apply V to z, 6 photoreceptor 8 at 1,000 df torque (v, -
After being electrically charged to 1000 Hz, the first optical scanning body 35 scans and exposes a round surface signal corresponding to the black color of the document sent from the reading element 4 or the input unit 22, and then applies a black developer (black toner). As mentioned above, the first development is carried out in the first developing device S4 using the primary recharging charger 3O-aK.
■ Da=4, a voltage expressed by OkV and vAC5-OkV is applied, image exposure according to the red signal is performed by the second light scanning body 36, and a second light beam using red developer (red toner) is applied. The developing device 37 performs the second development. 2nd below
．． Exactly the same conditions are applied to the third recharging charger 30"b, 30-c, and #I3 developer 39 using blue developer (yellow toner) and the fourth developer #I3 using yellow developer (yellow toner) The 4 developing units are operated in sequence, and the recharging charger 30-* is operated.

Each has the same configuration as b and c, VAc=5. OkV
#VDC! After 1.5 kV is applied and the toner passes through the toner charge amount control charger 42, -5.5 kV is applied to the negative corona 16 for transfer to the recording paper P fed from the paper feeder 15, and the toner is transferred from the photoreceptor 8. The toner is peeled off by a peeling device 17, and then discharged via a fixing device 18. Copies made by the color recording process obtained under the above conditions do not have any color mixing, and may be due to the effect of the charger 42 for controlling the toner charge amount, which operates on the same principle as 30-a to 30-c. The toner of each color on the good and bad light bodies can be uniformly distributed by being blown away by the corona, so uniform transfer efficiency can be obtained even under the same transfer corona conditions, resulting in perfect transfer without unevenness. A four-color copy was obtained. Furthermore, the surface potential v at each position on the photosensitive drum 8 at this time
The trace of p is shown in FIG. The numbers shown on the horizontal axis t represent the positions of each device in FIG. Recharger 1 NS 15 Chargers 30-*, 30-b, 30-c are recharged to a potential of 750° or more that will not be developed.
, and the potential V of the unexposed portion.

It was confirmed that even if V and K were applied, the recharging chargers 30-a to 30-C maintained the set potential of 1000 &lt; Furthermore, after the four-color development is completed, the potentials of each exposed area remain significantly different as shown by the arrows, which confirms that uniform conditions will not be provided in the next transfer process if this continues. . However, in the present invention,
Furthermore, by providing the control charger 42 with the discharge conditions described above, it is possible to converge to almost the same potential and maintain a value of about 200° which is preferable for transfer, thereby improving and uniformizing the transfer efficiency. Both are supported.

The above explanation has been limited to the embodiments of the present invention and the conditions have been fixed in accordance with the optimum conditions at that time. However, as mentioned in the above explanation, the circumferential speed of the photoreceptor, the AC component of the discharge device, and the DC component It is possible to set a desired photoreceptor potential depending on the combination of components, and it goes without saying that the recharging potential can be controlled in accordance with the development method. In this way, high-quality color recording, which was previously unattainable, became possible.

In this device, it is possible to temporarily store the scanned good images and display them on the display device 49, while editing or color conversion can be performed on the image processing operation panel 50. By being able to make copies, a multifunctional and highly reliable recording device is realized.

As shown in FIG. 8A, the multicolor images formed on the photoreceptor have different histories of application of recharging corona, so some may deviate from the transfer conditions by voltage application such as corona transfer or roller transfer. . In particular, when it is charged to a negative degree, the adhesion force to the photoreceptor is strong, and it becomes difficult to transfer the developer image (toner image) that was developed last. Therefore, in order to transfer multiple developer images with different charges under the same transfer conditions, the developer (toner) must be charged to the opposite polarity to the voltage applied to the transfer device, and the amount of charge must be as equal as possible. It is required to work hard. Transfer control charger 42
The alternating current component vAC can equalize the charge amount of a plurality of toners, and the direct current component vDC can control the value or polarity of the charge amount, so that the transfer conditions can be kept optimal.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

That is, in this embodiment, a so-called reversal development method is used in which developer toner is attached to the light image irradiation area, but as can be seen from the explanation in the main text, the potential difference generated on the photoreceptor by image exposure is used in the next step. Therefore, the effect of convergence at a specific potential and within a desired range is the same for regular development, and normal operation can be provided by the same working means, and the invention is not limited to this. In addition, in this example, four colors are reproduced in one rotation to increase speed, but the cleaner operation is stopped for multiple rotations. It will be understood that a similar effect can be obtained by applying the discharge conditions described above to the charger (including 7) before recharging.In this case, the transfer corona 16 The control corona 42 may be operated after the final 3J images are completed to transfer the image.Although the description has been made for forming a color image, the invention is not limited thereto.

1. It goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

Further, as described above, in the present invention, the image reading device (photoelectric conversion means) 4 converts image information into an electrical signal, stores this in the storage means 5, displays it on the display device 49, and displays it. The image content of the storage means 5 displayed on the device 49 can be changed via the operation panel (image processing operation means) 50. This makes it possible to extremely easily perform electrical image IA embedding such as processing and editing of image information when forming an image.

Therefore, in the electrophotographic apparatus 1 of the present invention, not only copying but also electrical image processing such as processing 1 editing can be performed extremely easily.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention allows not only copying but also processing, I! It is possible to provide an electrophotographic apparatus that can perform electrical image processing such as images very easily.

A schematic configuration diagram of the device; FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining conventional problems; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing waveforms of an AC/DC heavy type recharger necessary for carrying out the present invention; and FIG. The figure is a circuit diagram showing the high-voltage power supply for the recharger, Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of the photoreceptor surface potential when alternating current is applied when the DC of the recharger is fixed, and Figure 6 is the DC component. An explanatory diagram showing the state of the photoreceptor surface potential in the case of
Figure Jg7 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of the photoreceptor surface potential in the case of only AC components, and Figures 8 and 9 are exposed and unexposed areas after recharging using an AC/DC superimposition type recharging charger. A diagram showing the state of change in the potential of
FIG. 1O is a schematic configuration diagram of a multicolor copying apparatus capable of implementing an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 11 and 12 are side views and perspective views of an optical scanning member, and FIG. 13 is a diagram of a photosensitive drum. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of surface potential at each position.

4... Image reading element (photoelectric conversion means), 5... Storage means, 8... Photoreceptor (image carrier), ze-... Transfer copying device (of C), soa, sob , 5oe-
...Recharging charger (recharging means), ss, se.

38.40... Optical scanning body (exposure means), 34.37.
39.41...Developing device (developing means), 49...Display device, 50...Operation panel (image processing operation means)
, P-... Transfer paper (transfer member).

Applicant's agent: Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 2 J.J. No. figure Porridge figure No. figure Condolences figure No. figure No. figure No. figure No. Cause

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an electrophotographic apparatus, an image corresponding to a document image is formed on an image carrier by performing charging, image exposure, and development, and then this image is transferred to a transfer material. A photoelectric conversion means for converting into a signal, a storage means for storing the electric signal converted by the photoelectric conversion means, a display device for displaying an image stored in the storage means, and a storage means for displaying the image by the display device. An electrophotographic apparatus comprising: an image processing operation means for changing the image content of the image.