JPH03288185A - Cleaning device for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always stably perform an excellent cleaning action by providing a means for preventing a cleaning blade and a supporting member from sticking each other on the surface of the supporting member which comes in contact with the cleaning blade. CONSTITUTION:The cleaning blade 1 is interposed and held by the supporting members 2 and 3, and lubricant member 5 is disposed at a part where the member 3 abuts on the blade 1 and a part where a thin plate 4 abuts on the blade 1. Therefore, in the case of detaching the blade 1 so that the edge of the blade 1 press-contacting with an image carrier may be exchanged, the sticking of the blade 1 to the member 3 and the thin plate 4 is prevented. Even when the abutting state of the blade edge on the image carrier is a little irregular, local load fluctuation and stress are absorbed much by force exerted from the image carrier side and a press-contact action is made uniform, thereby preventing defective cleaning and filming from occurring. Thus, the excellent cleaning action is always maintained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (1) Purpose of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using an electrostatic transfer process, such as an electrostatic copying machine and a printer, and a cleaning apparatus thereof. It is something.

(Prior Art and Issues to be Solved) In a well-known image forming apparatus that repeats the process of transferring a transferable toner image formed on the surface of an image carrier onto a transfer material such as paper, the image carrier surface is It is necessary to sufficiently remove the residual toner remaining on the image carrier, and as a cleaning means for this purpose, one edge of a cleaning blade made of an elastic material such as urethane rubber is pressed against the surface of the image carrier. It is well known that devices configured to remove residual toner are widely used in both low-speed and high-speed machines because they are simple, small, low-cost, and have excellent toner removal capabilities. It is as it is.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view showing a typical example of such a leaning device, which is formed into a rotating cylindrical shape.
A cleaning device C is arranged parallel to and close to the image carrier 40 that rotates in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and the edge 50a of the cleaning blade 50 is attached to the opening facing the image carrier 40 of the cleaning device. is the image carrier 40
It is assumed that the toner that has not been transferred to the transfer material at a transfer site (not shown) is removed by pressing against the surface.

One edge of the cleaning blade 50 is held between the support members 20 and 30, and the support member is attached to a suitable position on a stationary part such as a casing of the cleaning device.

In order to attach the cleaning blade to the main body of the cleaning device, it is known that the blade is formed integrally with a support member or that the blade is glued to the support member. If the blade is integrally constructed using screws or the like, a plurality of blade edges can be successively replaced and used, which is advantageous because the life of the - blades can be substantially extended.

However, on the other hand, with this type of blade, if the friction between the blade and the supporting member that holds it is large, the blade will be supported in a distorted state. The edge is not pressed against the image carrier in the long plane direction, and therefore the load on the blade cannot be effectively absorbed, resulting in uneven stress, poor cleaning, filming, etc. Easy to cause inconvenience.

This situation has become more noticeable as toner particles have become smaller in size in recent years, and as a result, it has become necessary to improve the contact precision of the blade edge.

The present invention has been made to deal with this situation, and in the above-mentioned device in which a cleaning blade is held between a pair of support members, the present invention reduces the friction between the blade and the support member. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device which is free from the above-mentioned problems and can be expected to provide a stable cleaning effect at all times.

(2) Structure of the invention (technical means for solving the problem, its effects) (description of embodiments) Figure 1 is a partial slope of the cleaning device as described above, showing only the cleaning blade and its supporting member. It is a diagram.

A cleaning blade l made of a suitable elastic material such as urethane rubber is held between support members 2 and 3.

The one shown is made of SUS between the support member 2 and the blade 1.
A thin plate 4 made of steel is provided, but this is to prevent the blade from being bent and deformed when the blade is left in pressure contact with the surface of the image carrier, and is not an essential requirement. .

In such a configuration, in the illustrated one, a lubricating member 5 is provided at the abutment area between the support member 3 and the blade 1, and at the abutment area between the thin plate 4 and the blade 1.

The lubricating member includes PTFE, PFA, PVdF, FE.
It is formed by coating with a fluororesin film such as P or PCTFE.

With this configuration, when removing the cleaning blade 1 to replace the edge of the cleaning blade 1 that presses against the image carrier, there is no sticking between the blade and the support member, thin plate, etc., and the blade 1 is not damaged. (
It can be easily attached and detached.

In addition, even if there is some irregularity in the contact state of the blade edge with the image carrier, local load fluctuations and stress are well absorbed by the force applied from the image carrier side, and the pressure contact action is uniform. It prevents poor cleaning and the occurrence of filmink, and maintains a good cleaning effect at all times.

The lubricating film disposed between the cleaning blade and the support member may be a film with a low coefficient of friction such as a Teflon tape or a high-density polyethylene film.

Furthermore, when a thin plate is used as the surface of the support member, the surface may be roughened. In this case, the surface roughness is 5μ for R machining.
If it is more than that, it is effective.

In the above embodiments, it is not essential to apply low friction coating, tape adhesion, etc. to all surfaces of the member that the cleaning blade comes into contact with.

(3) As described in the detailed description of the invention, in a cleaning device in which a cleaning blade is used while being held between a pair of support members, a means is provided on the surface of the support member that comes into contact with the cleaning blade to prevent the two from sticking together. By providing this, it is possible to prevent the cleaning blade from being attached to the support member in a distorted manner as much as possible, and to elastically and uniformly absorb the load on the blade from the image carrier during operation. The pressing action can be made uniform over the entire length of the edge, making it possible to perform a stable and good leaning action at all times, which has a remarkable effect on preventing the occurrence of poor cleaning and filming.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view showing the configuration of a known cleaning device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Cleaning blade, 2.3... Supporting member, 4... Thin plate, 5... Low friction film. Figure 1 Figure 2 0

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a cleaning device in which a cleaning blade that presses against an image carrier is held between a pair of supporting members, the surface of the supporting member that the cleaning blade comes into direct contact with is prevented from sticking to the cleaning blade. A cleaning device comprising blocking means. (2) The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the means for preventing the cleaning blade from sticking to its support member is a low-friction coating formed on the surface of the support member. (3) The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the means for preventing the cleaning blade and its supporting member from sticking together is a film made of a low-friction material. (4) The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the means for preventing sticking of the cleaning blade and its support member is a rough surface formed on the surface of the support member.