JPH0329974A - Precharger corona wire cleaning mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the burden of cleaning apparatus storage and to facilitate the wire cleaning work by supporting a cleaning apparatus in a precharger itself or its vicinity so that this apparatus can be pressed to the corona wire of the precharger and can be slided along the corona wire. CONSTITUTION:A cleaning part 13 and an operation part 14 are provided in upper and lower parts of an apparatus main body 12 provided with grooves 12a in the right and the left to constitute a cleaning apparatus 11, and the cleaning apparatus 11 is deflected to some end part of a precharger 4, and upper walls of grooves 12a are detained by upper faces of edge parts 16 and 17 of a hole 15b of an aperture part 8. In this state, the upper face of a cleaning felt 18 provided in the upper end of the cleaning part 13 is placed below a corona wire 6. When the corona wire 6 will be cleaned, the cleaning apparatus 11 is pushed up by the operation part 14 to softly press the felt 18 to the corona wire 6 and the cleaning apparatus 11 is moved right and left to clean the wire. Thus, the burden of cleaning apparatus storage is eliminated and the corona wire cleaning work is facilitated.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a corona wire cleaning mechanism of a pre-charger used in an electrophotographic image forming device, the present invention eliminates the burden of storing cleaning equipment and facilitates the corona wire cleaning work. For this purpose, a cleaning tool that can be pressed against the corona wire of the pre-charger is supported on or in the vicinity of the pre-charger so as to be able to slide along the corona wire.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a corona wire cleaning mechanism for a precharger used in an electrophotographic imaging device.

In electrophotographic imaging devices, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of a uniformly charged photoreceptor, and this is developed with toner to form a toner image. The toner image is transferred onto paper by a transfer device, and the transferred toner image is fixed by a fixing device to complete image formation.

A pre-charger is used for the above-mentioned uniform charging, and the pre-charger uniformly charges the surface of the photoreceptor, which has been neutralized and cleaned after transfer, by discharge from a corona wire. When the corona wire is used for a long time, it gets dirty and print problems occur, so it is necessary to clean it using a cleaning tool when a print problem occurs or at regular intervals.

[Conventional technology]

Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of conventional corona wire cleaning procedures;
A process cartridge is a process cartridge in which a photosensitive drum (photosensitive member) 2, a cleaner 3, a pre-charger 4, and a developing device 5 are integrated.

Formation of a toner image on the photosensitive drum 1 by the process cartridge 1 is performed in the above-described procedure. Incidentally, after uniform charging by the pre-charger 4, exposure by the exposure means to form an electrostatic latent image is performed between the pre-charger 4 and the developing device 5.

The front charger 4 is equipped with a corona wire 6, and when cleaning the corona wire 6, the opening 8 of the front charger 4 is opened using a stored cleaning tool 7 (attached to the device when the device is delivered). Use it to clean.

Specifically, the felt 9 at the tip of the cleaning instrument 7 is brought into contact with the corona wire 6, and the cleaning instrument 7 is moved in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 4 to perform cleaning.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As described above, in the conventional method, the user must keep the attached cleaning tool and use it to clean the corona wire when necessary, which is inconvenient in handling.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a pre-charger corona wire cleaning mechanism that eliminates the burden of storing cleaning tools and facilitates corona wire cleaning work.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in the present invention, a cleaning tool that can be pressed against the corona wire of the pre-charger is supported on or near the charger itself so as to be slidable along the corona wire. It will be structured as follows.

[For production]

As mentioned above, the cleaning device is supported so as to be able to press against and slide along the corona wire, and is usually located at either end of the precharger.

When cleaning the corona wire, cleaning can be carried out by moving the cleaning tool from side to side along the corona wire while in pressure contact with the corona wire, making the cleaning work extremely easy.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an outline of the main parts of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a process cartridge similar to that in FIG. 4, and 11 is a cleaning tool.

As shown in detail in FIG. 2, the cleaning instrument 11 has cleaning parts 1 at the upper and lower parts of the instrument body 12, which is provided with grooves 12a on the left and right sides.
3 and an operation section 14. This cleaning tool 11 has a hole 15 provided at both edges 16 and 17 of a hole 15 at a position opposite to the front charger opening 8 of the housing of the process cartridge 1 which is removable from the printing apparatus main body. The left and right grooves 12a of 12 are arranged to fit with each other with vertical clearance, and are movable along the corona wire 6 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper of FIG. The cleaning device 11 is normally moved to either end of the pre-charger 4 so as not to interfere with the discharge action of the corona wire 6, and due to its own weight, the upper wall of the groove 12a is pushed against the upper surface of the edges 16, 17. It is locked in. In this state, the cleaning felt 1 provided at the upper end of the cleaning section 13
The upper surface of 8 is located below the corona wire 6.

When cleaning the corona wire 6, use the operating section 14 to push up the cleaning tool 11 to remove the felt 18 from the corona wire 6.
The wire is cleaned by lightly pressurizing the wire and moving the cleaning tool 1l from side to side, which is extremely easy.

Figure 3 shows an example of application.

In this case, a leaf spring 1 is inserted between the lower wall of the groove 12a and the edge 16.
9 is attached and the cleaning device 11 is brought to the end of the normal front charger 4, the leaf spring 19 biases the top wall of the groove 12 downward and the top surface of the edge 16 It is securely positioned at the position where it locks. Therefore, the felt 18 and the corona wire 6 can be reliably maintained in a non-contact state. When cleaning the corona wire 6, use 1 liter of cleaning equipment
is pushed up against the urging force of the leaf spring 19 to perform cleaning.

In the above description, an example has been described in which the cleaning tool 11 is supported near the front charger 4, but the cleaning tool 11 may be supported by the front charger 4 itself.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an overview of the main parts of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of a corona wire cleaning device; FIG. FIG. 4 is a side view showing an example of the application of the figure, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of conventional corona wire cleaning procedures. In the figure, 4 is a front charger, 6 is a corona wire, and 11 is a cleaning tool.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cleaning device (11) that can be pressed against the corona wire (6) of the pre-charger (4) is provided on or near the charger (4), along the corona wire (6). A pre-charger corona wire cleaning mechanism characterized by being slidably supported.