JPH04168471A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To cool the inside of a device, and prevent splash of the toner outside by providing a ventilation hole in a housing of a cleaning device sealed with seal members. CONSTITUTION:A blade 16 made of rubber or the like is supported by a blade supporting shaft 17 and pressure-contacts to a photosensitive drum 8 to scrape the toner, and the scraped toner is carried along a seal member 23 to a carrying member 18 for recovery. A ventilation hole 20 is provided in the upper of a housing 19 of a cleaning device 14, and the air inside of the cleaning device 14 is exhausted by a cooling device using the exhausting method. At this stage, the toner is splashed, but the splash thereof outside of the cleaning device 1 is prevented by providing seal members 22, 23 made of thin elastic material between the housing 19 and the drum 8 and providing a filter 21 in the ventilation hole 20. The blade 16 and the filter 21 are formed into unit type which can be disconnected to facilitate the maintenance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, and particularly to a cleaning device thereof.

As image forming apparatuses become more compact, their internal devices are becoming more densely arranged. For example, a cleaning device is placed close to a fixing device that has a large-capacity heat source. Therefore, in order to prevent the toner from solidifying due to an increase in temperature within the cleaning device, it has become necessary to cool the cleaning device.

As shown in FIG. 4, a cleaning device such as a copying machine scrapes off residual toner from a photoreceptor drum 30 with a blade 29 made of hard rubber or the like, and transfers the scraped toner to a collection container (not shown). The configuration is such that a spiral conveying member 31 for feeding is rotated.

During the above-mentioned cooling, the housing 32 is designed to prevent the toner from being scattered outside the cleaning device by the fan of the cooling device and having an adverse effect on the adjacent charging section (not shown), such as potential abnormality. Seal members 33 , 34 are placed in contact with each photoreceptor drum 30 .

However, with the above configuration, the cleaning device is sealed and can only cool the outside of the housing, so the internal temperature hardly decreases and the toner hardens due to the heat. There was a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device which can solve these problems, prevent toner from scattering due to the fan of the cooling device, and can cool the inside of the cleaning device smoothly.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a housing;
a sealing member provided at the upper end of the housing and in contact with the photoconductor to keep the device in a sealed state; an elastic member (hereinafter referred to as a blade) for scraping off residual toner from the photoconductor;
a sealing member provided at the lower end of the housing that contacts the photoreceptor to keep the device in a sealed state and guides scraped residual toner to a conveying member; a ventilation hole provided in the housing; and the ventilation hole. It has a configuration that includes a filter that covers the.

With this configuration, the inside of the cleaning device can be cooled through the ventilation holes, and the filter can prevent toner from scattering to the outside of the cleaning device.

EXAMPLE 1 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of a digital copying machine embodying the present invention. In the figure, a document 3 is placed on a contact glass 2 provided above a main body 1 of a copying machine. An exposure lamp 4 is provided below the contact glass 2, and the exposure lamp 4 irradiates the document conveyed on the contact glass 2 by a conveyance means (not shown). The light irradiating the original is guided to the CCD 6 via the imaging lens 5, where it is converted into an electrical signal, and then processed as image data by the image processing circuit 7. The output of the image processing circuit 7 is guided to an exposure LED head 10 to expose the surface of a photosensitive drum 80. A charging section 9, the exposure LED head 10, a developing roller 11, a transfer section 12, a separating section 13, a cleaning device 14, and a static eliminating section 15 are provided around the photosensitive drum 8 in this order along the rotation direction thereof. It is being The cleaning device 14 removes the toner remaining on the photoreceptor drum 8 after the toner electrodeposited on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 80 by the developing roller 11 is transferred to the recording paper by the transfer section 12, and is used for the next copying. This is provided to prevent adverse effects such as image defects caused by residual toner during operation.

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of the cleaning device. A blade 16 made of a material such as rubber is supported by a blade fulcrum shaft 17 and is in pressure contact with the photosensitive drum 8 . The toner (not shown) scraped off from the surface of the photoreceptor drum 8 by the blade 16 is carried along the seal member 23 to the conveyance member 18 whose central axis is in the same direction as the axis of the photoreceptor drum 8. Then, by the rotation of the conveying member 18, it is conveyed to a collection container (not shown) and collected. Cleaning device 1
A ventilation hole 20 is provided above the housing 19 of No. 4, and the ventilation hole 20 is covered with a filter 21.

A suction type cooling device (not shown) (installed at the rear of the illustrated device in the drawing) is activated, and the air inside the cleaning device 14 is sucked out through the ventilation hole 20, thereby cooling the inside of the device. At this time, the toner is scattered due to the air flow, but by providing seal members 22 and 23 in contact between the housing 19 and the photoreceptor drum 8, and installing a filter 21 in the ventilation hole 20, the cleaning device 14 Splashing to the outside can be avoided. Seal member 22.2
3 is made of a thin elastic material. Photoreceptor drum 8
It will not damage the surface.

In FIG. 2, a portion 24 surrounded by a dashed line indicates a removable unit that includes a part of the housing 19, a ventilation hole 20, a filter 21, a sealing member 22, a blade 16, and a blade fulcrum shaft 17. I will do it. FIG. 3 shows a perspective view with the unit 24 removed. The unit 24 is fixed by holes 25 and 2 provided in the unit 24.
6 and screws are secured through holes 27 and 28 provided in the housing 19.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the inside of the cleaning device can be cooled without toner scattering to the outside of the cleaning device, and the toner can be prevented from solidifying, especially when using low-melting point toner. Effective for image forming devices.

In addition, the filler is clogged with toner, and the blade and seal member are worn out, so they need to be replaced at regular intervals, but since they are removable as a single component, maintenance is easier. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a digital copying machine embodying the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of its cleaning device, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a part of the cleaning device as a unit, and FIG. 4 is a conventional copying machine. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example. 8... Photosensitive drum, 14... Cleaning device, 16... Blade, 17... Blade fulcrum shaft, 18... Conveying member, 19...
Housing, 20... Ventilation hole, 21... Filter,
22.23... Seal member, 24... Unit, 25.26.27.28... Hole.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) a housing; a sealing member provided at the upper end of the housing to keep the device in a sealed state by contacting the photoreceptor; an elastic member for scraping off residual toner from the photoreceptor; and an elastic member provided at the lower end of the housing. a sealing member that contacts the photoreceptor to keep the device in a sealed state and guides scraped residual toner to a conveying member; a ventilation hole provided in the housing; and a filter that covers the ventilation hole. A cleaning device comprising: (2) a part of the housing; a sealing member provided at the end of the housing that contacts the photoreceptor to keep the device in a sealed state; an elastic member for scraping off residual toner from the photoreceptor; and the elastic member. A fulcrum shaft that supports a member, a ventilation hole provided in the housing, and a filter that covers the ventilation hole are integrated into a unit and made detachable.
A cleaning device according to the claims.