JPH04333456A - End face processed seamless belt - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a seamless belt with a guide whose ends are processed so as to be provided with sufficient durability to prevent snaking by arranging the seam of the guide to prevent snaking on the part where the reinforcing tapes of both ends of the base material of a seamless belt are piled. CONSTITUTION:The overlapping section 9 of the reinforced tapes 6 and 6' on the surface of the belt base materials 3 and 3 of a seamless belt is provided so as to be positioned on the extended line of the seam section 7 of guides 5 and 5' reinforced by fluororesin reinforcing tape 9, but drawn polyethylene terephthalate, polyimide is desirable for the base materials of the tapes 6 and 6' to reinforce both ends of the belt base material 3' because of its heat resistance, tensile strength, electric insulation, environmental adaptation and so on. In addition, after sticking a tape 4 for guide comprising a guide 5 made of elastomer adhered to both ends of the base material of the seamless belt, both end faces of the guides opposing to each other are adherededly processed with elastomer of the same type of that of the guides to prevent stress from concentrating to the belt base material section corresponding to both ends as a continuous body over all the peripheral area of the seamless belt.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a seamless belt with reinforced end faces and anti-meandering belt, and relates to an electrophotographic copying machine,
The present invention relates to seamless belts for photoconductor substrates, seamless belts for intermediate transfer, seamless belts for conveyance, seamless belts for fixing, etc. used in laser printers and the like.

0002

[Prior Art] In a copying machine that drives a seamless belt, the seamless belt has problems in the width direction of the belt due to non-uniformities such as the roundness of the rollers that drive the belt, the straightness of the rollers, the parallelism of the rollers, etc. It has a habit of meandering.

[0003] When the belt meanderes, image shifts and unevenness occur, and stress is repeatedly applied to both ends of the belt, so cracks appear on the end faces of the belt after a short period of use, and the cracks develop over time. Eventually, the belt will break and will need to be replaced.

[0004] In order to prevent this belt from meandering, a flange is provided on the drive roll (as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-1001).
No. 45), changing the parallelism of the rolls (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59
-203036), guides are glued to both ends of the belt with hot melt adhesive or pressure sensitive adhesive (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5
A large number of proposals have been made, such as No. 9-230950 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-50873.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the case of the method of arranging the flanges, there is a drawback that when the belt meanderes a lot, the belt rides on the flange portion and the belt is damaged. There is.

[0006] In the case of the method of changing the parallelism of the rolls, the amount of meandering of the belt must be measured by a sensor and the angle of the drive roll must be changed in accordance with the measured amount, so the structure of the device is complicated. Not only that, but the equipment also becomes larger and the cost increases.

On the other hand, the method of gluing the guide to the belt is more advantageous than the former two methods in terms of structure and cost. In this method of making guides with hot melt adhesive,
A guide is made by applying hot melt adhesive melted at 180-200°C directly to the belt. However, the plastic belt base materials currently used are polycarbonate,
The softening point of polyethylene terephthalate, etc. is approximately 190-2
Since the temperature of the resin is 10° C., the belt base material is deformed due to the melting temperature, which causes problems such as image shift and image unevenness.

Furthermore, since the molten hot-melt adhesive has a low viscosity, the shaped guide deforms before being cooled and solidified, making it difficult to take the desired shape, resulting in the problem of the belt meandering. ing.

[0009] The method of creating a guide by adhering it with a pressure-sensitive adhesive instead of a hot melt adhesive is a method in which the width of the guide is several meters.
Since the width is as narrow as m, the adhesion strength of the guide to the belt is insufficient, which poses a problem in the durability of the guide.

[0010] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors first adhered tapes to which guides made of elastomer were adhered to both ends of the base material of a seamless belt. However, among the consumables of electrophotographic copiers, etc., it is still necessary to replace them relatively frequently. It was not possible to go beyond the level of necessary consumables.

[0011] An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems. That is, it is an object of the present invention to provide a seamless belt with an end face treatment meandering prevention guide that has sufficient belt durability.

0012

[Means for Solving the Problems] (Summary of the Invention) As a result of intensive studies to solve the conventional problems, the present inventors discovered that the reinforcing tapes at both ends of the seamless belt base material are double-layered. The inventors have discovered that a seamless belt with an edge-treated meandering prevention guide having sufficient durability can be obtained by arranging a joint portion of the meandering prevention guide at the end face treatment, and has thus arrived at the present invention.

That is, the first aspect of the present invention is a seamless belt with an edge-treated meandering prevention guide, in which a reinforcing tape is provided on one side of both ends of a seamless belt base material, and a meandering prevention guide is provided on the other side. To provide an edge-treated seamless belt with excellent durability, characterized in that a joint part of a meandering prevention guide is provided at a portion where reinforcing tapes are doubled at both ends of a seamless belt base material.

[0014] The second aspect of the present invention is that in the first aspect, the portion where the reinforcing tapes at both ends of the seamless belt base material are doubled is covered with a fluororesin reinforcing tape having a tensile modulus of 5,000 kg/cm2 or less. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an edge-treated reinforced seamless belt with excellent durability, which is further reinforced with .

(Specific description of the invention) The invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the drive unit of the transfer part of the copying machine, and in the figure, 1 is a drive roll, 2 is a driven roll, 3 is a seamless belt, 4 is a guide tape, 5 is a guide, and 6 is a It is a reinforcing tape. When a motor (not shown) is driven, one driving roll rotates, the seamless belt 3 moves, and the driven roll 2 also rotates. Both ends of the base material of the seamless belt 3 are reinforced with reinforcing tapes 6, 6'.

FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of the seamless belt of the present invention, in which the overlapping portion 9 of the reinforcing tapes 6, 6' on the surfaces of the seamless belt base materials 3, 3' is the fluororesin reinforcing tape 9.
The overlapping portion 9 of this reinforcing tape is reinforced by the guide 5.
, 5' so as to be located on an extension of the joint portion 7 of the joints 7.

(1) Reinforcing tape The material of the tapes 6, 6' reinforcing both ends of the seamless belt base material 3' of the present invention is aluminum foil, stretched polyethylene terephthalate, stretched polypropylene, polyimide, etc., but heat-resistant Stretched polyethylene terephthalate and polyimide are preferable in terms of tensile strength, electrical insulation, environmental friendliness, etc.

Adhesion of the reinforcing tapes 6, 6' to the belt base material 3 may be done by applying adhesive to the tape again, but from the viewpoint of workability and uniformity of adhesive thickness, it is preferable to use a single-sided adhesive tape. It is preferable to use

The reinforcing tapes 6, 6' at both ends of the seamless belt base material 3' must be arranged so that the joint of the meandering prevention guide coincides with the double reinforcing tape.

The thickness of the reinforcing tape is desirably 10 to 200 μm in view of the reinforcing effect of the belt end face and the compactness of the device. Preferably it is 25 to 125 μm. The tape width is 3 to 20 mm.

The reinforcing tapes at both ends of the seamless belt base material 3' may be placed on either the front side or the back side of the seamless belt 3. When the reinforcing tape is placed on the front side, the guide 5 is placed on the back side of the belt 3, and in the opposite case, the guide is placed on the front side of the belt. In either case, the reinforcing tapes at both ends of the seamless belt base material are arranged so that the seam of the meandering prevention guide coincides with the overlapped part of the reinforcing tape.

(2) Guide The material of the guide used in the present invention is JIS K721.
5 (Type A) hardness of 60 degrees or less, preferably 50 degrees or less, and specifically, neoprene rubber, urethane rubber, butyl rubber, silicone rubber, etc. can be used. Among these, silicone rubber is better in terms of adhesion to base materials, electrical insulation, and environmental properties such as moisture resistance, solvent resistance, ozone resistance, and heat resistance. As for the silicone rubber, a one-component type that cures at room temperature is preferable from the viewpoint of workability, formability, damage to the base material, etc. Furthermore, due to the dimensional accuracy of the obtained guide, deformation due to gravity in the formed state before curing is desirable. It is preferable that the liquid has semi-fluidity to the extent that it does not. As the solvent capable of dissolving the silicone rubber before curing, alcohol-based solvents are preferred from the viewpoint of safety and from the standpoint of not damaging the belt base material. Specifically, ethyl alcohol and isopropanol are used.

The guide 5 can be attached to the seamless belt 3 by directly attaching the guide to the seamless belt, or by attaching the guide 5 to the guide tape 4 in advance and then seamlessly attaching the guide tape 4 with the guide. It may also be glued to the belt 3. Preferably, the guide is bonded to the guide tape and then to the belt in view of the shape and size accuracy of the guide, the adverse effect of the solvent of the elastomer guide on the belt base material, etc.

In adhering the guide to the guide tape, it is preferable to use the adhesive force of the rubber, rather than the shape and size accuracy of the guide and the adhesive force. That is, no adhesive is used. In order to increase the adhesion to the guide tape,
It is desirable to treat the adhesive surface of the guide tape with alcohol, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, acetone, or the like.

[0025] The shape of the guide is preferably rectangular in view of the meandering prevention effect. The width of the guide is preferably 1 to 10 mm in view of the meandering prevention effect, durability, compactness of the device, etc. The thickness of the guide is also preferably 0.1 to 2 mm for the same reason.

The guide tape to which the guide is adhered used in the present invention is made of aluminum foil, stretched polyethylene terephthalate, stretched polypropylene, polyimide, etc. Polyethylene terephthalate and polyimide are preferred. To adhere the guide tape to the belt, adhesive may be applied to the guide tape again, but from the viewpoint of workability and uniformity of adhesive thickness, it is preferable to use a single-sided adhesive tape.

The guide tape 4 and the belt base material reinforcing tape 6 may be made of the same material or different materials.

[0028] The thickness of the guide tape is determined by 10 mm in consideration of the reinforcing effect of the belt end surface, the meandering prevention effect, and the compactness of the device.
~200 μm is desirable. Preferably 25-125 μm
It is. The width of the guide tape is 3 to 20 mm.

[0029] The thickness ratio of the guide tape and the guide is such that the guide tape/guide = 1 due to the meandering prevention effect of the guide.
/2 to 1/20, preferably 1/3 to 1/10.

The adhesion of the guide 5 to the belt 3 is based on the belt base material 3' due to the meandering prevention effect, durability, reinforcing effect, etc. of the guide.
It is necessary to glue both ends 6, 6' of the.

After the guide tape 4 to which the guide 5 made of elastomer is adhered is adhered to both left and right ends of the base material of the seamless belt, the opposite end surfaces of the guide are bonded to each other to ensure the durability of both ends of the guide. , Due to the durability of the belt base material corresponding to both ends of the guide, we adhesively treated the same type of elastomer as the guide, making the guide a continuous body over the entire circumference of the seamless belt, and attaching it to the belt base material corresponding to both ends of the guide. It is desirable to prevent stress concentration.

(3) Fluororesin reinforcing tape The fluororesin reinforcing tape used in the present invention is made of PTFE, which is a fluororesin, due to its heat resistance, tensile modulus, electrical insulation, environmental friendliness, etc.
PFA, EPE, FEP, ECTFE, etc. are preferable, and PTFE is most preferable.

[0033] It is important that the fluororesin reinforcing tape is thin because it is used for the outermost layer or innermost layer, which has the highest deformation rate. That is, the thickness is 20 to 150 μm
, preferably 25 to 100 μm. Also, for the same reason, it is important that the material is easy to stretch with low stress. That is,
Tensile modulus measured by JIS K7113 is 5,00
0kg/cm2 or less, preferably 4,000kg/c
m2 or less.

The width of the fluororesin reinforcing tape must be the same as the reinforcing tapes at both ends of the seamless belt base material. The reinforcing range by the fluororesin reinforcing tape 8 needs to cover at least the portion 9 where the reinforcing tapes 6, 6' are doubled (see FIG. 1).

[0035] For adhesion of the fluororesin reinforcing tape to the reinforcing tape at both ends of the seamless belt base material, adhesive may be applied to the fluororesin reinforcing tape again, but due to workability and uniformity of adhesive thickness, It is preferable to use single-sided adhesive tape.

[0036] By reinforcing with this fluororesin reinforcing tape with a small tensile modulus, the tensile modulus is high, so
In order to prevent the reinforcing tapes 6, 6' at both ends of the seamless belt base material 3 from peeling off at the double portion where they are likely to peel off, the durability of the seamless belt base material is dramatically improved. .

[0037]

[Examples] The present invention will be further explained below with reference to specific examples.

Example 1 After treating the non-adhesive side of a biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate tape with a thickness of 50 μm, a width of 10 mm, and one side coated with an acrylic adhesive to a thickness of 5 μm with ethyl alcohol, this side was A one-component alcohol solvent type semi-fluid silicone rubber was extruded through a nozzle to create a guide with a width of 5 mm and a height of 0.6 mm.
, and was left to cure for 72 hours.

[0039] The guide tape to which the obtained guide is attached is 200 μm thick, 200 mm in diameter, and 200 m wide.
It was glued to the inside of both ends of a polycarbonate seamless belt.

[0040] On the outside of both ends of the seamless belt with the guide glued on the inside, a thickness of 50 μm and a width of 10 mm was placed.
, place a biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate tape coated with 5 μm of acrylic adhesive on one side so that the double overlapped part 9 is on the extension of the joint part 7 of the guide as shown in FIG. The length of the overlapping part (lO
) was glued so that it was 20 mm.

[0041] Tensile elasticity modulus: 3,700, with a thickness of 50 μm and a width of 10 mm, with acrylic adhesive applied to a thickness of 10 μm on one side so as to cover the 20 mm double overlapped part.
kg/cm2 fluororesin-reinforced poly(tetrafluoroethylene) tape was adhered to a length of 30 mm.

[0042] The obtained end face treatment reinforced seamless belt was tested by setting it in the apparatus shown in Fig. 3 under the conditions of both roll diameters of 25 mm, roll speed of 100 mm/sec, belt tension of 2 kg/total belt width, 25° C., and 55%. Even after 72 hours of operation, no abnormality was observed in either the guide or the belt base material, and meandering could be reliably prevented.

Comparative Example 1 As shown in FIG. 2, the same as Example 1 was used, except that there was no reinforcement with the fluororesin reinforcing tape and the guide seam 7 was not on the extension of the double-overlapping portion 9 of the reinforcing tape. When an identical seamless belt was made, set in the above-mentioned apparatus, and tested under the same conditions as above, cracks occurred in the seamless belt near the reinforcing tape at the part corresponding to the joint of the guide after 40 hours.

[0044]

[Effects] The edge-treated seamless belt of the present invention is highly durable because the double-overlapping portion of the reinforcing tape at both ends of the seamless belt base material is provided on an extension of the guide seam.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of an edge-treated seamless belt of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the edge-treated seamless belt of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the edge-treated seamless belt of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Drive roll 2. Driven roll 3 Seamless belt 4 Guide tape 5. Guide 6 Reinforcement tape 7 Guide seam 8. Fluorine resin reinforcement tape 9 Overlapping part of reinforcing tape

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claim 1: In an end-treated seamless belt in which a reinforcing tape is provided on one side of both ends of a seamless belt base material and a meandering prevention guide is provided on the other side, the reinforcing tapes at both ends of the seamless belt base material are An edge-treated seamless belt characterized by having a joint part of a meandering prevention guide arranged on an extension of the overlapped part. Claim 2: The tensile modulus of the double reinforcing tape at both ends of the seamless belt base material is 5,000k.
The edge-treated reinforced seamless belt according to claim 1, further reinforced with a fluororesin reinforcing tape of g/cm2 or less.