JPH0437873A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce flow velocity of air passing through an ozone filter and to improve ozone elimination ratio by providing a specified angle between advancing direction of the air flowing through an air duct to introduce the air to the filter and the advancing direction of air flowing through the filter. CONSTITUTION:The device 15 is the ozone filter to eliminate ozone generated inside the device, and inclination of an arrow 22 corresponding to an arrow 21 is shown by the angle theta. The direction of air flowing through the filter 15 is inclined only for theta (0<theta<90 deg.). The air sunctioned from inside the device flows inside the air duct 14 in a horizontal direction, from left to right, as shown by the arrow 21. Next, since the air flowing to the ozone filter 15 is passed through the filter 15 and has its advancing direction forcedly altered as shown by the arrow 22, the air flowing to the filter 15 has its flowing speed (flow velocity) reduced, and as the angle theta is made greater, the flow velocity of air when it passes through the filter 15 is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application in Industry A] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that includes a ventilation device that removes and discharges ozone generated by corona discharge by decomposition or adsorption. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

[Prior Art] A conventional image forming apparatus of this type has a configuration as shown in FIG. 47, for example.

That is, within the body A, a cylindrical photoreceptor 1 having a photoconductive layer formed on its surface is rotatably supported, and on the top surface of the body is an original table 2 on which an original to be copied is placed. An exposure light source 3 for scanning the surface of the document is disposed below it and within the body. The surface of the original placed on the original table 2 and the exposure light source 3 are moved relative to each other, the entire surface of the original is irradiated by the exposure light source 3, and the reflected light is reflected by the mirror M.
1. The original image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 1 through M2, Ms, M4, Ms and a lens system. Since the surface of the photoreceptor 1 is charged in advance by the charger 4, a latent image is formed on this charged surface by exposure, and this latent image is visualized in a transferable state by the toner supplied from the developer 5. be done.

On the other hand, a transfer material P supplied from a cassette C attached to the body A is synchronously fed to the transferable image on the surface of the photoreceptor 1, approaches the photoreceptor 1, and is charged by the charger 6 for transfer. At this position, a toner image is transferred from the photoreceptor 1 to the transfer material P. The transfer material carrying this toner image reaches a fixing section 9 via a conveyance path 8. A pair of fixing rollers 9a and 9b heated to a predetermined temperature are arranged in the fixing section 9, and the transfer material P carrying the aforementioned toner image passes between the rollers 9a and 9b.
The toner is stably fused and fixed to the transfer material P and is discharged from the body A. Further, the residual toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor 1 without contributing to the transfer at the above-mentioned transfer position is removed by the cleaning device 7, so that it does not interfere with the formation of the next transferable image.

The image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 7 has been well known in the past, but as can be easily understood from its configuration,
There are heat sources such as a light source for scanning the original and a heat source in the heat fixing unit that fixes the toner image on the transfer material P. If these are left unattended, for example, the glass placed on the original stand 2 In extreme cases, the plate may be heated again and the plate may be damaged, and the fixing roller 9a may be damaged.

The heat generated from 9b is also 150℃~250℃ for fixing.
℃, most of which are maintained at around 180 to 200 degrees Celsius, reach a considerable amount, for example, causing an increase in the viscosity of the toner in the cleaning device 7 or the developing device, impairing its original function, or causing photosensitive damage. This causes various inconveniences, such as promoting the fusion of residual toner on the surface of the body 1.

Furthermore, since there are a plurality of high voltage electrodes, one for charging the photoreceptor, one for transferring, and one for eliminating static electricity, ozone and the like are generated by the operation of these electrodes.

The opening 10 is located near the fixing section 9 and is mainly used to discharge heat generated by the fixing section 9 to the outside of the machine. The heat inside the aircraft is sucked by the unused fan. Further, the openings 11, 12 are located near the charger 4.6, and ozone mainly generated by the charger 4.6 is sucked in by a fan (not shown).

FIGS. 8 and 9 are cross-sectional views of ventilation devices used in conventional ozone evacuation devices.

In the figure 's8, 31 is an ozone filter for adsorbing or decomposing ozone generated inside the aircraft, and 32 is an ozone filter that guides the ozone-containing air generated inside the aircraft to the ozone filter 31, and also directs the air that has passed through the ozone filter 31 to the outside of the aircraft. An air duct 33 is a fan for sucking out air inside the machine and discharging it outside the machine. That is,
Air sucked out from inside the machine by the fan 33 is guided to the ozone filter 31 by the air duct 32, and when passing through the ozone filter 31, ozone is adsorbed or decomposed by the ozone filter 31, and the ozone content is reduced. Thereafter, the air is discharged out of the machine through the air duct 32 again.

In order to further improve the ozone removal ability of the ventilation device shown in FIG. 9, the ozone filter is constructed in two stages. That is, in FIG. 9, in addition to the ozone filter 31 with a thickness of t, an ozone filter 34 with a thickness of t is added in the air flow direction indicated by the arrow.

If the shells have the same area in the air flow direction, as shown in Figure 9, the ozone filter's thickness t will be larger than that of one ozone filter with a thickness of 2t, as shown in Figure 9.
However, in the conventional technology shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the ozone removal effect is greater when the straw is divided into two parts. Since the direction of and the direction of the air flowing inside the ozone filter 31.34 are the same, the speed of the air flowing inside the ozone filter 31.34 becomes relatively large. In general, as a characteristic of ozone filters, the slower the air velocity inside the ozone filter, the greater the ozone removal efficiency. The desired ozone removal rate was achieved by using a method such as constructing a plurality of sheets.

In other words, in conventional technology, in order to improve the ozone removal rate, the thickness of the ozone filter was increased or the number of ozone filters was increased, which took up a large amount of space within the image forming apparatus and increased costs. There was a problem with that.

The present invention aims to solve the above problems. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can prevent the installation space of an ozone filter from expanding and can reduce costs.

[1m! Means for Solving the Problem] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an appropriate number of ozone filters for removing ozone generated from an image forming apparatus in a ventilation device having an air duct and a fan. In the image forming apparatus, the ozone filter is arranged such that the direction of flow of air within the ozone filter is at a predetermined angle with respect to the direction of flow of air flowing through an air duct that guides air into the ozone filter. It is assumed that

[Function] According to the present invention, the direction of travel of air flowing in the air duct for guiding air to the ozone filter and the direction of travel of air flowing inside the ozone filter are made to have a predetermined angle. Depending on the angle, the flow rate through the ozone filter is reduced and the ozone removal rate is improved.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, and is a sectional view of a duct portion.

In FIG. 1, 14 is the opening 10, 1 explained in FIG.
1.12 is an air duct for guiding air sucked out of the aircraft, and 15 is an ozone filter for removing ozone generated inside the aircraft. Further, 21 is an arrow indicating the flow direction of air sucked from inside the machine, and 22 is an arrow indicating the flow direction of air inside the ozone filter 15.

FIG. 2 shows the arrows 21 and 22 superimposed, and the inclination of the arrow 22 with respect to the arrow 21 is indicated by an angle θ.

As can be seen in Figures 1 and 2, ozone filter 1
The direction of air flow inside 5 is θ (0<θ<90')
is only tilted.

In this first embodiment, the air sucked from inside the aircraft is
As shown by the arrow 21, the air flows horizontally from left to right inside the air duct 14.

At the same time, the air that has flowed up to the ozone filter 15 is forced to change its traveling direction as shown by the arrow 22 in order to pass through the ozone filter 15. The flow velocity (flow velocity) of the air passing through the ozone filter 15 is reduced, and the flow velocity when passing through the ozone filter 15 increases as the angle θ in this embodiment increases.
becomes smaller.

By configuring the duct as described above, the flow rate passing through the ozone filter 15 is reduced, and the ozone removal rate of the ozone filter 15 is improved.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, and is a sectional view of the duct portion.

In FIG. 3, 23 indicates the direction of air flow within the air duct 14, 24 indicates the direction of air flow within the ozone filter 15, and 25 indicates the flow direction of air discharged outside the machine. It is an arrow.

FIG. 4 shows the arrows 23, 24 (25) superimposed, and the inclination of the arrow 24 (25) with respect to the arrow 23 is indicated by an angle θ.

In this second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the flow direction of air sucked from inside the machine (arrow 23) and the flow direction of air passing through the ozone filter 15 (arrow 24) are determined.
The ozone removal rate of the ozone filter 15 is improved by giving a predetermined angle θ to the ozone filter 15. The difference between this 1J2 embodiment and the 's1 embodiment is that the ozone filter 15
The flow direction of the air after passing through the ozone filter 15 (arrow 25) and the flow direction of the air after passing through the ozone filter 15 (arrow 24)
This means that the flow rate of the air after passing through the ozone filter 15 does not have to be reduced, so that the air that has passed through the ozone filter 15 can be efficiently discharged to the outside of the machine. .

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 similarly shows a fourth embodiment.

In the 's3 and 's4 embodiments, in addition to the ozone filter 15, another filter is installed at an appropriate distance on the downstream side.
Two ozone filters 16 are provided.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, 26 is an arrow indicating the flow direction of air led from inside the machine through the air duct 14, 27 is an arrow indicating the flow direction of air passing through the ozone filter 15, 28 is an arrow indicating the flow direction of air passing through the air duct 14 between the ozone filter 15 and the ozone filter 16, 29 is an arrow indicating the flow direction of air passing through the ozone filter 16, and 30 is an arrow indicating the direction of air flowing through the air duct 14 between the ozone filter 15 and the ozone filter 16. This is an arrow indicating the direction of air flow. Also, θX is the angle of arrow 27 with respect to arrow 26, θy is the angle of arrow 28 with respect to arrow 27, and θ2 is the angle of arrow 29 with respect to arrow 28.
is the angle of

In the ventilation device of the image forming apparatus configured as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the flow direction of the air input in the direction of the arrow 26 is changed by an angle of θXθy and θ2. . At this time, by reducing the flow velocity, the flow velocity when passing through the ozone filter 15.16 decreases each time the air advances to the ozone filter 15.16, so the air passes through without being completely removed by the ozone filter 15. The ozone filter 16 can remove the ozone-containing air more efficiently than the ozone filter 15.

Note that FIG. 7 shows a case where angles θX, θy, and θ2 are all equal.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the flow direction of the air flowing through the ozone filter in the ventilation device and the flow direction of the air inside the air duct for guiding the air inside the aircraft to the ozone filter are Since it has a predetermined angle θ, it is possible to reduce the flow velocity of air passing through the ozone filter. As a result, ozone removal by the ozone filter can be made more efficient, compared to conventional methods in which the desired removal rate was achieved by increasing the thickness of the ozone filter or increasing the number of ozone filters. This not only results in significant cost reductions, but also saves space.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The first section is a cross-sectional view of the duct part of the first embodiment of the present invention, and the second section is
The figure is an explanatory diagram of the air flow angle, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the duct section of the second embodiment, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the air flow angle, and FIG. 5 is the duct section of the third embodiment. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the duct part of the fourth embodiment, and FIG.
8 is a cross-sectional view showing one example of a conventional image forming apparatus, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing one of the conventional duct parts, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing another one. 14...Air duct 15...Ozone filter 16...Ozone filter θ...Angle 0<θ<90° (when θ, = θ, I11+02)

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus in which an appropriate number of ozone filters for removing ozone generated from the image forming apparatus are provided in a ventilation device having an air duct and a fan, wherein the ozone filter removes the ozone generated from the image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus characterized in that the direction of flow of air in the filter is arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to the direction of flow of air in an air duct that guides air to the ozone filter. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an angle θ between the direction of air flow within the ozone filter and the direction of air flow within an air duct that guides air to the ozone filter satisfies 0<θ<90°. 3 The angle at which air is guided to the ozone filter is θ_
1. When the angle at which air is discharged outside the machine after passing through the ozone filter is θ_2, |θ_1|≧|θ
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relationship is _2|≧0.