JPH03212658A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a stage simple and to simplify an image forming device by providing a belt-like pyroelectric member having a pyroelectric effect and a heat adding means for adding heat to the pyroelectric member in accordance with image information. CONSTITUTION:A laser irradiation unit 10 irradiates the rear of a pyroelectric film 9 with a laser light beam to which the image information is given and which is transmitted through a hollow drum 7 and an ITO film electrode 8 from the inner side of the hollow drum 7. The film 9 generates the heat and charges by the irradiation with the laser light. The surface of the film 9 is divided to an image part and a non image part by generating the charges and an electrostatic latent image is formed. At the same time, toner 1 is allowed to adhere to the image part on the surface of a photosensitive drum 11 by a developing roller 2, and the electrostatic latent image is developed to be transferred to a copying paper 3 by the transfer device 4. After forming the electrostatic latent image, the residual charge on the film 9 is naturally discharged and the residual toner 5 remaining on the surface of the film 9 is scraped by a cleaning device 6. It is unnecessary to initially charge the photosensitive drum by an electrostatic charger or to eliminate the residual charge by an eliminating lamp. Besides to that, it is needless to perform all the stages in the dark place.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using the Carlson process.

2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses have been used in copying machines, laser printers, facsimile machines, and the like.

A conventional image forming apparatus will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a conventional image forming apparatus.

In FIG. 2, 11 is a photosensitive drum, 12 is a charger installed close to the photosensitive drum 11 and charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 uniformly, and 13 is an electric charge uniformly attached to the surface of the photosensitive drum 11. , 14 is a laser irradiator that irradiates the photosensitive drum 11 with light according to image information, 1 is a toner, 2 is a developing roller that visualizes the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 11 with the toner 1, and 3 is a copying device. Paper 4 is a transfer device that is close to the photosensitive drum 11 and is attached to the opposite side of the copying surface of the copying paper 3 to transfer the toner on the photosensitive drum 11 onto the copying paper 3. Reference numeral 15 designates an erasing lamp for erasing charges remaining on the photosensitive drum 11, reference numeral 5 designates residual toner adhering to the photosensitive drum 11 after transfer, and reference numeral 6 designates a cleaning device for scraping off and cleaning the residual toner 5.

The operation of the image forming apparatus configured as described above will be described below.

First, the photosensitive drum 11 is driven by a driving means (not shown).

) When a voltage is applied to the charger 12 while being rotationally driven by the photosensitive drum 12, the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 becomes uniformly charged. When the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 in this state is irradiated with a laser beam given image information by the laser irradiator 14, the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 is divided into an image area and a non-image area, and an electrostatic latent image is formed.

Next, the developing roller 2 causes the toner 1 to adhere to the image area on the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 to visualize the electrostatic latent image, which is then transferred to the copy paper 3 by the transfer device 4.

After this, the residual charge on the photosensitive drum 11 is removed by the erasing lamp 15.
The residual toner 5 remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 is scraped off by the cleaning device 6, and the scraped residual toner 5 is collected inside the cleaning device 6.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the conventional configuration described above requires a charger to charge the photosensitive drum, an erasing lamp to erase residual charges, etc., which complicates the process. This method has problems such as the need to perform all steps and the need for the entire device to be of a sealed structure.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention includes a band-shaped pyroelectric member having a pyroelectric effect and a heat applying means for applying heat to the pyroelectric member in accordance with image information.

Function: Due to the above-described configuration, the present invention simplifies the apparatus because it is not necessary to initially charge the photosensitive drum with a charger or erase residual charges with an erase lamp, and there is no need to perform the entire process in a dark place. be done.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an image forming apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is toner, 2 is a developing roller, 3 is copy paper, 4 is a transfer device, 5 is residual toner, and 6 is a cleaning device, which are the same as the conventional example shown in FIG. Therefore, detailed explanation will be omitted.

7 is a transparent hollow drum that allows light to pass through, and 8 is formed on the outside of the hollow drum 7 to apply a bias.
: Sn film electrode (hereinafter abbreviated as ITO film electrode)
, 9 is a pyroelectric film formed on the outside of the ITO membrane electrode 8, and 10 is a laser irradiator provided inside the hollow drum 7, which generates heat by irradiation.

The operation of the image forming apparatus configured as described above will be described below.

First, while the hollow drum 7 is rotationally driven by a driving means (not shown), the laser irradiator 10 applies a laser beam given image information to the hollow drum 7 and the ITO film electrode 8 from inside the hollow drum 7. The light passes through and irradiates the back surface of the pyroelectric film 9. The pyroelectric film 9 generates heat and charges when irradiated with this laser light. Due to the generation of this charge, the surface of the pyroelectric film 9 is divided into an image area and a non-image area, and an electrostatic latent image is formed.

At the same time as the electrostatic latent image is formed, the developing roller 2 applies toner 1 to the image area on the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 to make the electrostatic latent image visible, and the transfer device 4 transfers it to copy paper 3. .

After the electrostatic latent image is formed, the residual charge on the pyroelectric film 9 is spontaneously discharged, and the residual toner 5 remaining on the surface of the pyroelectric film 9 is scraped off by the cleaning device 6. 5 is collected into the cleaning device 6.

In this example, an ITO film electrode was used as the electrode, but 5
It can also be realized with an nOz:Sb film electrode, a ZnO film electrode, or the like. Further, in this embodiment, since the developing roller 2 develops the image at the same time as the electrostatic latent image is formed, the influence of charge deterioration can be prevented.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention includes a band-shaped pyroelectric member having a pyroelectric effect and a heat applying means for applying heat to the pyroelectric member according to image information, thereby applying a charger to a photosensitive drum. It is not necessary to carry out initial charging using an eraser lamp or to erase residual charges using an eraser lamp, and it is not necessary to carry out the entire process in a dark place, thereby simplifying the apparatus and reducing costs.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a conventional image forming apparatus. 1... Toner 2... Developing roller 3...
- Copy paper 4... Transfer device 5... Residual toner 6... Cleaning device 7... Hollow drum 8... ITO membrane electrode 9... Pyroelectric film 10... Laser irradiator 11.・Photosensitive drum
12... Charger 13... Charge 14.
...Laser irradiator 15...Erasing lamp

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A pyroelectric member having a pyroelectric effect, a heat applying means for applying heat to the pyroelectric member according to image information, and a toner to visualize the electrostatic latent image formed on the pyroelectric member. An image forming apparatus comprising: a developing means, wherein the pyroelectric member moves between the heat applying means and the developing means. (2) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a laser is used as the heat applying means. (3) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a heat generating resistive element is used as the heat applying means. (4) The application of heat to the pyroelectric member by the heat application means and the adhesion of toner to the pyroelectric member by the development means are performed simultaneously. Image forming device.