JPH0473677A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain the good quality of an image over a long time by cleaning while making a cleaning member which is mainly made of active carbon fiber always abut on a photosensitive body. CONSTITUTION:A cleaning equipment 21 which is rotated in a direction same as the photosensitive body 1 is constituted of a supporting body 22 and a cleaning member 23. Metals such as aluminum, iron, etc., a compressed paper, plastic goods such as vinyl chloride and polycarbonate, etc., are used for the supporting body 22. The cleaning member 23 is mainly constituted of the active carbon fiber whose fiber diameter is 5 - 30mum, and the active carbon fiber is produced of the cellulose based and polyacrylonitrile based fiber, phenolic resin and pitch, etc., as materials. The polyacrylonitrile based active carbon fiber is excellent to absorb and resolve a corona generation material such as ozon and NOX etc. Thus, image flowing is effectively prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cleaning device for an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser printer facsimile machine, and particularly relates to a cleaning device for preventing image deletion. .

[Prior Art] In image forming devices such as electrophotographic copying machines, laser printers, and facsimile machines, amorphous silicon (
5esAs2Se3.5eTe), inorganic photoconductive materials (Se sensitive prior bodies) such as 5esAs2Se3.5eTe, and organic photoconductive materials (OPC photoreceptors) such as poly-N-vinylcarbazole, trinitrofluorenone, and various azo pigments. ) etc. are generally known.

For example, OPC photoreceptors have good electrical properties and spectral sensitivity, are inexpensive to manufacture, are non-polluting, and can be relatively easily processed into belt- or drum-shaped photoreceptors, so they can be used for both low-speed and medium-speed machines. It is used many times.

On the other hand, although the a-3t photoreceptor has inferior charging ability compared to other photoreceptors, it has high sensitivity and high abrasion resistance, so it is used in high-speed copying machines, laser printers, and the like.

An example of an image forming apparatus using such a photoreceptor is shown in No. 10.
As shown in the figure.

Photoreceptor 1 is a charging corona discharger (charging charger)
2 and is uniformly charged.

There are two types of corona dischargers: the corotron type, in which a tungsten wire with a diameter of 40 to 100 μm is stretched, and the scorotron type, in which a grid is further stretched near the opening of the corona discharger to equalize uneven discharge. )0
A high voltage of 0 volts is applied. After forming an electrostatic latent image by imagewise exposure in the exposure section 3, a toner image is formed in the developing device 4.

The toner image is transferred using a corona discharger (transfer charger) 5
After being transferred to a copy paper 9, the copy paper is separated from the photoreceptor by a separation corona discharger (separation charger) 6, and fixed by a fixing device 10 to become a hard copy.

On the other hand, the toner image on the photoreceptor 1 after transfer is cleaned by a cleaning device 7, and a series of copying steps is completed.

By the way, in an image forming apparatus using a corona discharger, corona products, such as ozone and nitrogen oxides, are generated during corona discharge, and when these corona products adhere to the surface of the photoreceptor, the photoreceptor It is known that image quality characteristics deteriorate due to a decrease in the surface resistance of the surface layer or deterioration of the photosensitive characteristics of the photoreceptor. In particular, the surface resistance decreases with humidity, causing image blurring, and in the worst case, no image may be formed at all. Therefore, in order to maintain the initial image over a long period of time, it is necessary to eliminate the influence of corona products. In such image blurring, the degree of occurrence differs depending on the material that makes up the photoreceptor, and there are also differences in the causative agents that cause image blurring.
In both cases, corona products are the trigger for image blurring.

The following are known as devices designed to prevent the deterioration of image characteristics caused by corona products as described above.

As a first example, by improving the constituent materials of the photoreceptor itself,
Products that prevent a decrease in surface resistance are known. Specifically, photoreceptors include those in which a photosensitive layer is formed on a conductive support, and those in which a protective layer is further laminated on the photosensitive layer. When these photosensitive layers and protective layers are formed by spraying or coating methods, antioxidants (amines, hydroxylamines) are added or rubbed in from the outside to prevent the effects of corona products. I'm trying to exclude it.

As a second example, it is known that corona dischargers are improved to suppress the generation of corona products and prevent corona products from adhering to the photoreceptor. The former method is described in, for example, JP-A-64-6F1774, JP-A-47-37547, JP-A-49-40739, and JP-A-49-84660, and is used for ozone decomposition. Agent A u s A g s P
t SP d SN I SF e 5Ni203, B
The charge wire, shield case, or grid is plated with a metal or metal oxide such as ad, alumina, or chromium oxide to suppress the generation of corona products during corona discharge. On the other hand, the latter method is described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-3113 (i5), in which the inner wall and grid of the shield case are treated with activated carbon fiber, manganese oxide, or a metal chelate compound to remove corona products. The grid is absorbed and prevented from adhering to the photoreceptor.In addition, the grid may be made of activated carbon fiber, or an absorbing member may be attached (for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-210
974), some measures have been taken by making the shield case shape in consideration of the wind flow. Furthermore,
There is also a shield case that uses PT or Ag plating in combination with an absorbent made of activated carbon.
It is described in Publication No. 94.

As a third example, it is known that the photoreceptor is heated with a heater or dried with hot air to eliminate the influence of humidity and prevent the surface resistance of the photoreceptor from decreasing. For example, JP-A No. 59-208558, No. 60-95487, No. 81-132977, No. 62-262065, etc.

As a fourth example, one is known in which corona products adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor are removed by polishing or wet cleaning. For polishing, for example, a roller or blade made of steel wire wrapped in a loop is used (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 1
-161281), wet cleaning uses water or a solvent to remove corona products on the surface of the photosensitive layer.

In addition to the above-mentioned four examples, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-21
1581, JP 60-95459, JP 60-11119789, JP 80-102
659, JP-A-59-219770, JP-A-60-134254, JP-A-H-17785, and JP-A-55-155369 are known.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In an image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. 10, a corona discharger is used to perform charging, transfer, separation, etc., but ozone ( 0,3), and corona products such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) are produced. As a result, these corona products are converted into hydrophilic compounds such as nitrogen compounds, aldehyde groups, and carboxyl groups by the action of discharge energy and atmospheric moisture, carbon dioxide gas, nitrogen gas, etc., so that the surface of the photoreceptor is oxidized. The electrical resistance (surface resistance) of the photoreceptor decreases due to adsorption of compounds and moisture absorption from atmospheric moisture.
This causes a problem in that copy quality is significantly reduced due to phenomena such as image blurring and even more severe white spots due to image deletion.

This development is greatly affected when alternating current or negative voltage is applied to the corona discharger. There are two types of image loss development: band-like image loss that occurs under the corona discharger while the image forming apparatus is stopped, and full-scale image deletion that occurs in a high humidity environment of 80 to 90%.

This phenomenon occurs in most photoconductors to a greater or lesser extent, but it is particularly noticeable in photoconductors using an a-3i layer, where SiO2 is deposited on the surface of the photoconductor.
Due to the formation of second class hydrophilic substances, image blurring is likely to occur.
In addition to being highly durable, a-
It was found that a photoreceptor using C:H as a protective layer also had the same problem as the a-3i photoreceptor.

In these photoreceptors, the higher the humidity, the more severe the image smearing becomes, and sometimes no image is displayed at all.

Also, when using As2Sez photoreceptor alone, image blurring is not a problem, but when using SnO,+ or 5nC);+/5b
It is also known that even when an organic resin such as ester or urethane crosslinked styrene-MMA resin in which ultrafine particles such as zOx and TiO2 are dispersed is overcoated, significant image blurring occurs.

As described above, the process by which image deletion occurs differs depending on the configuration of the photoreceptor, but in all cases it occurs due to corona products.

This phenomenon does not occur when the photoreceptor used is new, but as it is repeatedly used in an image forming apparatus, the surface of the photoreceptor becomes contaminated, resulting in a lack of water repellency and a large ability to absorb contaminants. This is thought to be because the surface of the photoreceptor has high hardness and is difficult to scrape, so the hydrophilic substance remains forever. Contaminants attached to the photoreceptor are hardly removed by cleaning plates or simple cleaning means, and the effects of the contaminants remain for a considerable period of time.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide means for effectively preventing image deletion occurring in an image forming apparatus.

[Means for Solving the Problems] As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the present inventor has found that it is effective to use activated carbon fiber as a cleaning member in a toner cleaning device that comes into contact with the surface of a photoreceptor. This finding led to the present invention.

That is, the present invention is (1) used in an image forming apparatus,
The cleaning device is installed so as to come into contact with a photoreceptor, and the cleaning device used is mainly composed of activated carbon fiber.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained according to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partial schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus equipped with a cleaning device of the present invention. 1 is a photoreceptor, and the photoreceptor is an OPC photoreceptor, an a-Si photoreceptor, a selenium photoreceptor, etc., and on these photoreceptors there is further a-C:H layer, a-3iN:Hs a-S, etc.
The protective layer may be an amorphous silicon-based thin film such as iC:H, or an organic thin film layer in which a resistance control agent or the like is dispersed.

2 is a scorotron-type charging corona discharger with a grid, and when using an N-type photoconductor (e.g. OPC photoconductor for e-charging), it is necessary to use an e\F electric system.
When the corona discharger is an e-discharge, a large amount of corona products, which are the cause of image deletion, are generated, increasing the degree of contamination of the photoreceptor.

3 is the exposure part, which is 750~g2Or for laser printers.
In analog image forming apparatuses and some digital electrophotographic copying machines, an original image projected by a halogen lamp or fluorescent lamp is irradiated onto a photoreceptor through a lens.

7 is a device for cleaning the toner image after image transfer. Furthermore, 20 is a cleaning device for cleaning corona products adhering to the photoreceptor after toner image cleaning. A cleaning tool 21 rotates in the same direction as the photoreceptor. 28 is a brush for preventing dust from the cleaning device 20 from entering the corona discharger 2.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a part of the cleaning tool 21 used in the cleaning device 20 shown in FIG. Cleaning tool 2
1 is composed of a support body 22 and a cleaning member 23. The support 22 is made of metal such as aluminum or iron, compressed paper, or plastic such as vinyl chloride or polycarbonate.

The shape may be a cylindrical hollow cylinder. The cleaning member 23 is mainly composed of activated carbon fibers having a fiber diameter of 5 to 30 μm. This activated carbon fiber is cellulose-based,
It is manufactured using polyacrylonitrile fibers, phenolic resin, pitch, etc. as raw materials, but polyacrylonitrile activated carbon fibers are superior in absorbing and decomposing corona-generating substances such as ozone and NOx.

Although the outermost surface in contact with the photoreceptor 1 may be made of activated carbon fibers, or may be protected by a net with a mesh diameter of approximately 0.5 to 2 sm, it is better to have activated carbon fibers in direct contact with it. The greater the content of activated carbon fiber on the surface in contact with the photoreceptor, the greater the cleaning effect.

The configuration may be laminated. There are various forms of activated carbon fibers, such as activated carbon fibers in the form of felts with a thickness of 3 mm to 3 mm on the support 22, activated carbon fibers in the form of textiles with a thickness of 0.5 to 3 mm (for example, Fine Guard Felt (Toho Rayon), etc.). (For example, attach Fine Guard fabric (Toho Rayon).

Other examples include cotton felt and JIS hardness of 50 to 8.
By gluing woven activated carbon fiber onto 0 degree foam material,
There is one in which a polyester or nylon mesh net with a mesh diameter of about 0.5 to 2 mm is used as a protective material on felt-like activated carbon fiber.

This cleaning member mainly made of activated carbon fibers has 3 to 1
It is also a preferable embodiment to use electrodeposition flocking with a width of about 5 sv, for example, cutting a floaty sheet (Toho Rayon). In this form, as shown in Figure 3(a), for example, a sheet of nylon or polyester with a fiber length of 2
1 Iffi or less, preferably because the activated carbon fiber does not break.
The fibers, which were electrodeposited at about 11 m in length, were wound around the support 22 in a loop with a width of 2 to 5 cm.

FIG. 3(b) shows a cleaning tool 21 that has a further enhanced ability to absorb corona products. Reference numeral 24 denotes a hollow support 22 with loop-shaped ventilation holes of 1 to 5 mm. 25
is made of activated carbon fiber that absorbs and adsorbs substances such as ozone and NOx1 that enter through the ventilation holes 24, as well as corona products scraped by rubbing on the surface of the photoreceptor, and is made of felt or mat-like material with good air permeability. .

26 is a pipe with a ventilation hole 27, and the shape of the ventilation hole is not specified. The vibrator 26 is connected to the exhaust system to increase absorption efficiency. The cleaning tool is made of loop-shaped activated carbon fiber to prevent unevenness and increase cleaning efficiency.
This is advantageous for image forming apparatuses with high copying speeds. Further, as will be described later, by providing means for heating the cleaning member such as 33 in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), a permanently stable image can be obtained. The heating means may be provided within the roller supporting the cleaning member or directly below the cleaning member.

Or it can be done from outside.

In this aspect, by cleaning the photoconductor while contacting it with a cleaning member mainly made of activated carbon fiber, it is possible to efficiently clean the corona products adhering to the photoconductor surface, and also remove the scraped dust and corona products around the photoconductor surface. Since objects are also attracted, there is less contamination of the photoreceptor and good image quality can be maintained.

4(a) and 4(b), or a cross-sectional view and a perspective exploded view showing another preferred embodiment of the cleaning tool 21 used in the cleaning device 20 of the present invention.

33 is a heating means for heating the photosensitive member to approximately 35 to 55° C., and a rod-shaped heater or a cylinder coated with a resistor can be used. The temperature of the heating means is controlled by the surface temperature of the photoreceptor.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a support body for the cleaning tool, which is a cylinder.

Hard aluminum, stainless steel, etc. with a thickness of about 0.5 to 21 mm is used, and a porous body with a diameter of 0.5 to 41 mm may be used.

According to this aspect, corona products adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor can be efficiently cleaned by cleaning while contacting the photoreceptor with a cleaning member mainly made of activated carbon fiber, but at the same time, the temperature is raised by the built-in heat source. This means that there is no deterioration in image quality even with sudden changes in humidity.

By incorporating the heat source into the support of the cleaning member, it is advantageous in terms of space, and since the cleaning member can always be used in a dry state, there is no reduction in the cleaning effect due to moisture absorption.

It is preferable that the cleaning member be in constant contact with the cleaning member. This is because when corona products adhere to the photoreceptor, the shorter the time since the adhesion, the better the cleaning quality, but if the corona product is left for a long time, the surface of the photoreceptor changes in quality and the cleaning ability decreases. The cleaning tool 21 is a photoreceptor l.
From the viewpoint of cleaning performance, it is preferable that the photoconductor be rotated in the same direction as the photoconductor and that the linear velocity ratio is not the same as that of the photoreceptor.

FIG. 5 is another example.

The system is a sliding type cleaning device, and 24 is a cleaning tool. FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the cleaning tool 24. FIG. 2
5 is a support body, 26 is a cleaning member, and the cleaning member 23 in FIG.
is the same as Reference numeral 27 denotes a holding fitting for the cleaning member 26.

Further, although not shown in the figure, it may be in the form of a belt.

FIG. 7 shows another preferred cleaning member of the present invention, with FIG. 7(a) showing a perspective view and FIG. 7(b) showing a sectional view. The cleaning member 21 is a sheet 36 made by laminating activated carbon fibers 23 and nonwoven fabric 35 on a support 22 (roller).
It was sprinkled with For removing deposits on the photoreceptor, activated carbon fibers attached as they are can function satisfactorily, but when used for a long time, the activated carbon fibers are brittle and will inevitably wear out, causing problems in durability.

For this reason, there may be a method of impregnating the activated carbon fiber with a reinforcing agent, a method of blending the reinforcing material, or a method of coating the side of the activated carbon fiber in contact with the photoreceptor with a protective material.

In methods of impregnating reinforcing agents or blending with reinforcing materials such as nylon or polyester, the contact area of the activated carbon fibers that come into contact with the photoreceptor decreases, reducing the cleaning effect and making the cleaning member harder. The surface of the photoreceptor becomes easily scratched.

On the other hand, in the method of covering the protective material, the usual 50 to 200
A mesh sheet made of nylon or polyester with a mesh diameter of approximately 0.2 to 2 μm is used, but as in the above method, it is possible to damage the photoreceptor by using activated carbon fibers and the photoreceptor. Since the contact rate of the product decreases, the cleaning efficiency may deteriorate, and the conditions of use are limited.

Furthermore, depending on the material, the protective material may be damaged, causing problems in durability. In the present invention, the fiber diameter as the protective material is 1 to 2.
A nonwoven fabric loosely woven with ultrafine fibers of about 0 μm made of polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, etc. is suitable.

However, it is not limited to nonwoven fabrics as long as it serves the purpose.

The support 22 (roller) to which these materials are attached is
Materials such as paper, metal, and resin are used.

It is preferable that the surface has an unevenness of about 1 to 2/■■ to prevent slipping.

Further, when exhausting air from the cleaning member, exhaust holes are provided over the entire surface of the support.

The cleaning member of the cleaning device 20 rotates in the same direction as the photoreceptor 1. The rotation ratio is adjusted within the range of 175 to 10 times that of the photoreceptor.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment, in which the cleaning member 37 is a fixed body. FIG. 9 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of this cleaning member 37, in which activated carbon fibers are placed on the mounting jig 22.
Then, the same one as shown in FIG. 7(b) is used, which is covered with a nonwoven fabric.

The support 26 used here is preferably made of elastic material and is suitably made of plastic with a thickness of 1 to 21 mm on the side facing the photoreceptor, but materials made of paper or metal can also be used.

The side of the mounting jig facing the photoreceptor is wave-shaped, and the appropriate width of the peaks and valleys is 1 to 4 mm. The reason why the wave shape is used is that the removal efficiency is improved by distributing the contact portions rather than by single point contact.

The contact pressure of the cleaning member with the photoreceptor differs depending on the form of the cleaning member, but when activated carbon fibers in the form of felt are used, the effect is greater if only a small amount of powder of the same fibers comes out.

Note that it is preferable that the cleaning device be operated by the drive device at the same time as the main switch of the image forming device is turned on, and the cleaning device should be operated by the drive device at the same time as the main switch of the image forming device is turned on. Removal becomes possible. Further, these cleaning members can be operated while constantly in contact with the photoreceptor, and can be released as necessary.

[Example] Next, an example will be given to explain the operation and operation of the cleaning device of the present invention.
Let's talk about the effects.

Example 1 Knoop hardness 1500-2000 kg/on OPC photoreceptor
A photoreceptor 1 in which an a-C:H layer of 1 g+' and a film thickness of 7,500 to 8,000 layers was laminated by plasma CVD was mounted on an experimental laser beam printer.

For example, the support 22 of the cleaning tool 21 shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 6 has a specific surface area of 700 m'/g and a basis weight of 100 g/m.
Felt-like activated carbon fiber (Fine Guard Felt FB-200) with a specific surface area of 700 m2/g
woven activated carbon fiber (Fine Guard Fabric FW21
0).

Although the cleaning device 20 is set so that the cleaning member 23 or 2B is in contact with the photoreceptor, the contact pressure against the photoreceptor may be light, and it is sufficient that the activated carbon fibers are brought into uniform contact with the photoreceptor. When the cleaning tool 21 shown in FIG. 2 rotates,
It is more effective to remove corona products if the cleaning tool 21 rotates in the same direction as the photoconductor, the linear velocity ratio of both rotating bodies is different, and the linear velocity ratio of the cleaning tool 21 is set to be 2 to 3 times or more faster than that of the photoconductor. is big.

55-60% R) 1゜2 when mounted on a laser printer
Running was carried out for 5 days at a rate of 3000 sheets/day at a temperature of 1 to 25°C. However, image confirmation was performed at the beginning and end of each copy. If there is no cleaning device 20, 30
After copying 00 sheets and using the apparatus in the evening, a band-shaped blank area of the image appears on the opposite surface of the e-charging corona discharger, and image deletion occurs at high humidity of 80 to 85%. However, in the method shown in the example, such development does not occur <1,
No practical problems occurred even after copying 50,000 sheets.

Furthermore, there were few scratches caused by rubbing the surface of the photoreceptor, and no scratches were caused on the image.

Example 2 Knoop hardness 1500-2000kg/0PC photoreceptor
A photoreceptor 1 in which a-C:H layers with a thickness of 7,500 to 8,000 layers are laminated by plasma CVD is mounted on a laser beam printer.

Furthermore, the cleaning tool shown in FIG. 3(a) and the cleaning tool shown in FIG. 3(b) are respectively mounted and fixed to the extent that the activated carbon fiber floaty sheet (Toho Rayon) is uniformly in contact with the photoreceptor. . Then, the linear velocity ratio between the photoreceptor 1 and the cleaning tool 21 is set so that the cleaning tool rotates about 4 times faster. In the case of the cleaning tool shown in Figure 3(b), the maximum wind speed is ff10.2m37m when it is alone.
Connect to a fan of about 1N to exhaust air.

To give a specific example, if there is no cleaning device 20 and after copying 3000 to 4000 sheets of A-4 size copy paper and leaving it for 6 to 7 hours, a band-shaped image will appear on the opposite surface of the θ charging corona discharger. In addition to the phenomenon that occurs when white areas are removed,
Image deletion occurs at high humidity of 80-85%.

However, with the present invention, the removal effect is large, and in the case of the cleaning tool shown in FIG. 3(a), there is no practical problem with 10,000 sheets;
With the cleaning tool shown in Figure (b), no problems occurred even after copying 20,000 sheets.

This experiment was also conducted on an N-type photoreceptor in which an a-SiHH photosensitive layer was laminated to a thickness of about 40 μm on a conductive support, and almost the same results were obtained, but the characters were slightly thicker. and some signs of image smearing occurred. This image blurring was easily recovered by heating from the cleaning member side.

Example 3 Knoop hardness 1500-2000 kg/0PC photoreceptor
■■2, A-C with a film thickness of 7500: 8 layers plasma CV
The photoreceptor 1 laminated by method D is mounted on an experimental laser beam printer.

As shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), the cleaning device 20 uses a LOW rod-shaped heater 33 as a heat source, and has a specific surface area of 7 on a hard aluminum cylinder with a thickness of 1.
00g+2/g, weight long/■2 felt-like activated carbon fiber (Fine Guard Felt PE-200),
Next, a cleaning member 2 made of woven activated carbon fiber Fine Guard fabric F11210) with a specific surface area of 700 m' and 7 g was used.
Consists of 3.

The cleaning device 2 is moved so that the cleaning member 23 is in contact with the photoreceptor.
Although the contact pressure is set to 0, the contact pressure may be light and may be sufficient to bring the activated carbon fibers into uniform contact. The cleaning tool of the cleaning device should rotate in the same direction as the photoconductor, and the linear velocity ratio of both rotating bodies should be staggered.
The corona product removal effect is greater when the amount is increased by about 10 times.

Constant cleaning greatly improves the resistance to image blurring, reaching a level that poses no problem in practical use, but it is possible to operate a built-in cleaning heater as an auxiliary measure when the cleaning effect deteriorates.

This built-in heater is particularly susceptible to rapid humidity changes when using the OPC photoreceptor with the a-C:8 protective layer shown in this example, or the a-5t photoreceptor. This method is particularly effective against white spots that occur on surfaces, but other advantages include keeping the cleaning member dry at all times and being advantageous in terms of space.

Although there is a nonwoven fabric made of ultrafine polyester fibers that is highly effective as a cleaning member, in this case it was extremely poor and had almost no effect. The timing of heating the photoreceptor may be when the cleaning effect has slightly decreased, but
It is preferable to operate from the beginning, and it is preferable to operate at the same time as the main switch is turned on. The photoreceptor is heated to about 40 to 45°C.

If there is no cleaning device shown in this example, 3000 to 4
If the image is left for 6 to 7 hours after copying 1,000 sheets, a band-shaped blank area will appear on the opposite surface of the θ charging corona discharger, and the image will be washed out at high humidity of 80 to 5% RH. However, in the method shown in the example, such a phenomenon did not occur, and sufficient effects were shown even after 20,000 copies were made.

Example 4 Knoop hardness 800-12 on OPC photoreceptor of φ80mm
A photoreceptor in which 8 layers of AC: 00 kg/gem2 and a film thickness of 8,500 to 10,000 layers were laminated by the plasma CVD method was mounted on an experimental laser beam printer (10 pp-).

The cleaning member 21 shown in FIG. 8 has a specific surface area of 700 m'.
7g, felt-like activated carbon fiber with weight toOg/intestine 2 (
A Japanese paper-like nonwoven fabric processed from polyester with a fiber diameter of 2 to 4 μm was layered on top of Fine Guard Felt FE-200) and wound four times on a support 22 having a diameter of 20++v. The surface of the support is roughened to about 240 grit sandpaper.

This cleaning member 21 is the toner cleaning device 7 in FIG.
It is installed in the cleaning device 20 between the charging discharge device 2 and the charging discharge device 2. The linear velocity ratio of the rotation of the cleaning member was set to three times that of the photoreceptor.

The laser beam printer set up like this is 64~
Images were checked at the start and end of each copying process over a total of 10 days at a rate of 3000 copies/day in an environment of 70% KH and 21 to 25°C.

For comparison, the case where the cleaning device 20 was removed was also evaluated.

If there is no cleaning device 20, 6000 sheets are completed - After leaving it overnight, there will be a phenomenon of striped white areas on the opposite surface of the corona discharger for e-charging, and image fading will occur at high humidity of 80 to 85%. Occur.

However, in the method shown in the example, such a phenomenon did not occur even in a confirmation experiment lasting 10 days. Further, almost no decrease in film thickness was observed.

Example 5 A corrugated plastic product (peak and valley dimensions are approximately 311 mm) was attached to an aluminum plate with a thickness of 5 sv, and the activated carbon fiber felt shown in Example 4 was folded in four over the top of the plastic product. Similarly, the nonwoven fabric was folded in half and held with a stopper to produce the cleaning member shown in FIG. 4. This was attached to the same experimental laser beam printer as in Example 4, and image evaluation was performed over a total of 10 days.

As a result, no deterioration in image quality was observed, and the decrease in film thickness of the photoreceptor remained within a practically negligible range. Further, although no damage to the nonwoven fabric was observed, wear was observed at the peaks of the activated carbon fibers on the support. However, it did not reach the point of replacing it.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, by cleaning the photoreceptor while constantly contacting the photoreceptor with a cleaning member mainly made of activated carbon fibers, corona products adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor are removed by the cleaning member mainly made of activated carbon fibers. Cleaning with can remove scratches more efficiently.

As a result, the degree of contamination of the photoreceptor is reduced, and good image quality can be maintained over a long period of time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of an image forming apparatus equipped with a cleaning device according to an embodiment, FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of a cleaning member according to an embodiment, and FIG. 3(a)
and FIG. 3(b) is a diagram showing another embodiment, FIG. 4(a)
4(b) is a diagram showing still another embodiment, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a cleaning device of another embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the cleaning member used in FIG. 5. FIG. 7 illustrates another cleaning member, FIG. 7(a) is a perspective view, FIG. 7(b) is a sectional view, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view. FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the cleaning member, and FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image forming apparatus. ■... Photoreceptor, 2... Charging corona discharger (charging charger), 3
... Exposure section, 4... Developing device, 5... Transfer corona discharger (transfer charger), 6
...Separation corona discharger (separation charger), 7.
... Toner cleaning device, 8 ... Static elimination lamp, 9
... Copy paper, 10 ... Fixing device, 20 ... Cleaning device, 21.24 ... Cleaning tool, 22.25
...Support, 23.26...Cleaning member, 27...
Presser metal fitting, 28...Brush, 29.30...Vent hole, 31...Vibe, 32...Corona product absorption member, 33...Heater, 34...Heater lead wire.

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) A cleaning device used in an image forming apparatus and installed so as to come into contact with a photoreceptor, the cleaning device being characterized in that the cleaning member used is mainly made of activated carbon fiber. (2) Claim (1) that includes a toner cleaning device
Cleaning device as described. (3) The cleaning device according to claim (1), wherein the cleaning member is constructed by covering activated carbon fibers with an activated carbon fiber protective material. (4) The cleaning device according to claim (1), wherein the cleaning member is constituted by a roller formed by winding a member electrodeposited with activated carbon fibers into a loop shape. (5) Claim (
1) The cleaning device described.