JPH04274476A - Cleaning method for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove the material of toner, etc., stayed on a cleaning blade and simultaneously, to prevent the turning up of the cleaning blade. CONSTITUTION:In an image forming device having a photosensitive body 1, a cleaning brush 5 disposed on the outer periphery of the photosensitive body 1, the cleaning blade 3, a motor for the photosensitive body, which can rotate forward and backward, and a motor for the cleaning brush, after an image is completely formed, the motor for the photosensitive body 19 is reversely rotated by a distance (angle alpha) from the tip edge of the cleaning blade 3 to the contact point of the cleaning brush 5 and the photosensitive body 1, and simultaneously, the rotation of the cleaning brush 5 is continued.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning method for removing toner adhering to a latent image carrier such as a photosensitive drum in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor such as a drum is developed with toner in a one-component or two-component developer, and the developed toner image remains on the photoreceptor after being transferred. The remaining toner is first scraped off by a cleaning brush, then scraped off by a cleaning blade disposed downstream of the cleaning brush, and the scraped toner is stored in a residual toner collection bin attached to the cleaning device. is common.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the cleaning blade, small particle size toner and external additives of toner gradually accumulate on the edge of the cleaning blade, and agglomerates of toner and external additives of toner are deposited on the surface of the photoreceptor. There is a problem that the toner particles may adhere and be transferred, resulting in black spots or white spots on the formed image. In order to solve this problem, it is possible to remove toner and external additives attached to the photoreceptor surface by rotating the photoreceptor surface using a cleaning brush, but it is possible to remove the toner and external additives attached to the photoreceptor surface with a cleaning brush. Therefore, when the photoreceptor is rotated again, as shown in FIG.
Toner as a lubricant is not supplied between the edge of the photoreceptor 1 and the surface of the photoreceptor 1, resulting in a failure in which the cleaning blade 3 turns over as shown at 3'.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and provides a method for cleaning an image forming apparatus, which can remove substances such as toner remaining on the cleaning blade and prevent the cleaning blade from turning over. With the goal.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] To solve the problem, the method for cleaning an image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a photoreceptor, a cleaning brush and a cleaning blade disposed around the outer periphery of the photoreceptor, and a photoreceptor capable of forward and reverse rotation. In an image forming apparatus including a body motor and a cleaning brush motor, after image formation is completed, the photoconductor motor is reversed by a distance from the tip edge of the cleaning blade to the contact point between the cleaning brush and the photoconductor; The cleaning brush is characterized by continuous rotation.

[0006] After the photoreceptor has stopped, the cleaning brush may continue to rotate, or the photoreceptor may be further rotated in the opposite direction. Sometimes, the cleaning brush may be rotated faster than the rotation of the photoreceptor.

[0007]

[Operation] In the present invention, when an image formation end signal is input, the photoconductor motor is reversed, and the photoconductor is reversely rotated by the distance from the tip edge of the cleaning blade to the contact point between the cleaning brush and the photoconductor. Since the cleaning brush continues to rotate, the toner and toner external additives that remain on the edge of the cleaning blade and adhere to the surface of the photoreceptor are removed by the cleaning brush. In addition to being able to remove the substance, the rotation of the cleaning brush supplies the toner adhering to the cleaning brush to the surface of the photoreceptor from which the toner has been removed. Since toner exists as a lubricant between the edge of the photoreceptor and the surface of the photoreceptor, troubles such as the cleaning blade turning over are eliminated.

[0008]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows one of the cleaning methods according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 2, a photoreceptor 1 having a drum shape
is arranged so as to be drivable by a photoconductor motor 19 (FIG. 1) that can rotate forward and reverse. In order, a charger 2 for uniformly charging the surface of the photoreceptor 1, a cleaning blade 3, a cleaning brush 5,
Film seal 6 to prevent toner from leaking to the outside
A claw 7 for peeling off the transfer paper is also provided.

The cleaning blade 3 is made of an elastic material such as rubber, and one end thereof is fixed to the support member 8 via a sealing material 9, and the other end edge is attached to the photoreceptor 1 at an acute angle with respect to the direction of rotation thereof. are placed in contact with each other. The cleaning brush 5 is connected to a brush motor 20 (see FIG.
), and by rotating in contact with the photoreceptor 1, the toner remaining on the photoreceptor 1 without being transferred by the transfer device is swept away.

On the opposite side of the cleaning brush 5 from the photoreceptor 1, a rotary paddle 10 for conveying toner is rotatably disposed as shown by the arrow in the figure. The remaining toner is transported toward the toner collection box. The support member 8 includes a flicker bar 12 that functions to knock out toner adhered to the cleaning brush 5, and a toner scraping sheet 13 that scrapes off toner adhered to the rotating paddle 10 and scrapes the toner toward the toner collection box. It is provided.

To explain the operation of the image forming apparatus having the above structure, the photoreceptor 1, which is uniformly charged by the charger 2, undergoes image exposure in an exposure section (not shown).
An electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 1. Next, in a developing device (not shown), toner charged to a polarity opposite to that of the electrostatic latent image is brought into contact with the surface of the photoreceptor 1, forming a toner image. This toner image is brought into contact with a sheet of paper conveyed at a speed equal to the circumferential speed of the photoreceptor 1 in a transfer device (not shown) provided at the next position, and is transferred onto this sheet of paper. The paper onto which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed to a fixing device, the toner image is fixed on the paper, and the paper is discharged from the apparatus. On the other hand, the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 1 without being transferred by the transfer device is scraped off onto the bottom plate of the housing 11 by the cleaning brush 5 and the cleaning blade 3, and the residual toner accumulated at this position is removed. The toner is scraped out in the direction of the toner collection box by the toner transport rotary paddle 10 rotating at the toner position.

Next, one embodiment of the cleaning method of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, the control device 18 is
By processing the copy start signal 15, the copy end signal 16, and the rotation amount signal 17 of the photoconductor motor 19, the photoconductor motor 19 and the brush motor 20 are controlled as follows.

When the copy start signal 15 is input, the photoconductor motor 19 and the brush motor 20 are rotated as shown by the arrows in FIG.
is input, the photoreceptor motor 19 is reversed and the image shown in FIG.
, the photoreceptor 1 is reversely rotated by the distance from the tip edge of the cleaning blade 3 to the contact point between the cleaning brush 5 and the photoreceptor 1, that is, the angle α. At this time, the rotation of the cleaning brush 5 is continued. When the photoconductor 1 reversely rotates by the angle α, the rotation amount signal 17 of the photoconductor motor 19
This causes the photoreceptor 1 and cleaning brush 5 to stop. Therefore, the toner and external additives for toner that have accumulated on the edge of the cleaning blade 3 and adhered to the surface of the photoreceptor 1 are removed by the cleaning brush 5, so that substances such as toner that have accumulated on the cleaning blade can be removed. Can be done. Further, since the toner adhering to the cleaning brush 5 is supplied to the surface of the photoreceptor 1 from which the toner has been removed by the rotation of the cleaning brush 5,
In the next copying process, since toner exists as a lubricant between the edge of the cleaning blade 3 and the surface of the photoreceptor 1, there is no problem of the cleaning blade 3 turning over.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be modified in various ways.

For example, in the above embodiment, the photoreceptor 1
The photoconductor 1 and the cleaning brush 5 are stopped when the photoconductor 1 rotates in the opposite direction by an angle α, but the cleaning brush 5 is rotated for at least 0.5 seconds after the photoconductor 1 stops, and the cleaning brush 5 is rotated for at least 0.5 seconds. The amount of toner supplied may be increased. Furthermore, after that, the photoreceptor 1
The effect can be further enhanced by reversing the cleaning brush 5 by the angle β and rotating the cleaning brush 5. In addition, by rotating the cleaning brush 5 at least 0.5 seconds faster than the rotation of the photoreceptor 1 when starting the next copying operation, the amount of toner supplied as a lubricant can be further increased.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a photoconductor, a cleaning brush and a cleaning blade disposed around the outer periphery of the photoconductor, a photoconductor motor capable of forward and reverse rotation, and a cleaning In an image forming apparatus equipped with a brush motor, after image formation is completed, the photoconductor motor is reversed by a distance from the tip edge of the cleaning blade to a contact point between the cleaning brush and the photoconductor, and the cleaning brush continues to rotate. Therefore, it is possible to remove substances such as toner remaining on the cleaning blade and prevent the cleaning blade from turning over.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the cleaning method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

[Fig. 3] Cross-sectional view of main parts for explaining the problem to be solved by the invention

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Photoconductor, 3...Cleaning blade, 5...Cleaning brush, 15...Copy start signal, 16...Copy end signal, 17...Photoconductor motor rotation amount signal, 18...Control device,
19...Photoconductor motor, 20...Brush motor.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A photoreceptor, a cleaning brush and a cleaning blade disposed around the outer circumference of the photoreceptor, normal rotation,
In an image forming apparatus including a photoconductor motor capable of reversing rotation and a cleaning brush motor, after image formation is completed, the photoconductor motor is moved from the tip edge of the cleaning blade to the contact point between the cleaning brush and the photoconductor. A method for cleaning an image forming apparatus, comprising: reversing the cleaning brush by a distance, and continuing rotation of the cleaning brush. 2. The method of cleaning an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning brush continues to rotate after the photoreceptor is stopped. 3. The method of cleaning an image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising rotating the photoreceptor in reverse. 4. The method of cleaning an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning brush is rotated faster than the photoreceptor when starting the next image formation.