JPH05273862A - Electrophotographic printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the electrophotographic printer where a toner cartridge and a concentrated cartridge provided in a developing means are integrated, spots of connection with the printer main body are reduced, and the control of parts is facilitated. CONSTITUTION:This printer is provided with a photosensitive drum, a means to form a latent image based on printed information on the photosensitive drum, a developing means where the latent image on the photosensitive drum is developed by wet type toner, an intermediate transfer drum which is brought into contact with the photosensitive drum and where a toner image on the photosensitive drum is transferred and a means to carry in and out a recording medium where the toner image on this intermediate transfer drum is transferred against the intermediate transfer drum. The developing means has a toner cartridge 26 provided to be freely attached and detached and the toner cartridge 26 is provided with a top tank TCT containing wet type toner for replenishing and a bottom tank TLT where the wet type toner for replenishing is fed from the top tank when the concentration of the wet type toner is reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wet type electrophotographic printer for developing an electrostatic latent image with liquid toner,
More specifically, the present invention relates to an electrophotographic printer having a two-tank structure in which the developing means contains a liquid toner and a concentrated toner and which is equipped with a detachable toner cartridge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A wet type electrophotographic printer develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductor with liquid toner and heats the toner image on a recording medium such as paper by a transfer means such as a heating roll. The toner is fixed by applying pressure, and since fine toner particles of submicron order can be used, it has an advantage that a sharp image with high resolution can be obtained as compared with the dry type.

When a color image is formed in this wet type electrophotographic printer, for example, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to a red hue is formed on a photoconductor and the electrostatic latent image is magenta (red). ), The magenta toner image is transferred to an intermediate transfer unit, for example, an intermediate transfer drum, which is pressed against the photoconductor. In the same manner, cyan (blue) and yellow (yellow) toner images are sequentially layered and transferred to the intermediate transfer drum. Then, the heating roll is pressed against the intermediate transfer drum, and the toner images laminated and transferred onto the intermediate transfer drum are transferred and fixed on a recording medium such as paper to form a color image.

As described above, in the wet type electrophotographic printer, since the electrostatic latent images are sequentially developed with the liquid toners of different colors, the developing means is composed of a plurality of developing units, and each developing unit is detachable. Liquid toners of different colors are supplied from freely arranged toner cartridges to develop the electrostatic latent image. Then, in each of the developing units, a contact cartridge containing a contact toner having a concentration higher than that of the liquid toner accommodated in each toner cartridge is separately detachably arranged, and the concentration of the liquid toner is increased by developing the electrostatic latent image. When it is lowered, the contact toner is supplied from the contact cartridge to the corresponding toner cartridge, and the stable developing property is maintained.

[0005]

If the toner cartridge and the contact cartridge are provided for different colors, the electrophotographic printer has more connection points between the toner cartridge and the contact cartridge and the printer main body, and the electrophotographic printer is increased. However, there is a problem that the degree of freedom in designing is reduced.

There is also a problem in that two types of toner cartridges and two contact cartridges are required for each color, which complicates parts management. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides an electrophotographic printer in which the toner cartridge and the conc cartridge provided in the developing unit are integrated, the number of connection points with the printer body is reduced, and the parts management is easy. The purpose is to

[0007]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a photosensitive drum, a means for forming a latent image based on print information on the photosensitive drum, and a latent image on the photosensitive drum are provided. Developing means for developing a toner image by developing with a wet toner, an intermediate transfer drum which is in contact with the photosensitive drum and on which the toner image on the photosensitive drum is transferred, and a recording medium on which the toner image on the intermediate transfer drum is transferred And a means for loading and unloading the intermediate transfer drum to and from the intermediate transfer drum, wherein the developing means has a detachable toner cartridge, and the toner cartridge includes a replenishing wet toner. An upper tank to be stored and a lower tank to store the wet toner to be used for development and replenish the wet toner from the upper tank when the concentration of the wet toner is lowered are provided. In which was formed.

Preferably, the developing means has a plurality of developing units corresponding to different colors, and a toner cartridge is detachably provided in each developing unit.

[0009]

When the toner cartridge has the upper and lower two tank structure in which the liquid toner tank and the contact toner tank are integrated, the number of required cartridges can be halved. Further, by providing the means for supplying the concentrated toner from the contact toner tank to the liquid toner tank in the cartridge, the number of connecting points between the toner cartridge and the printer main body can be reduced to one.

Further, if the developing means is composed of a plurality of developing units, not only single color printing but also color image printing becomes possible.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of an electrophotographic printer of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the overall configuration of the electrophotographic printer according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The electrophotographic printer 1 includes a photosensitive unit 10, a developing unit 20, an intermediate transfer unit 30, a cleaning unit 40, a transfer unit 50, and an auxiliary squeeze. It is provided with a roller 60, a paper feeding device 70, and an exposure system (not shown) for irradiating exposure light from the direction of arrow A, and each arrow shown in the drawing indicates the rotation direction of each member.

The electrophotographic printer 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a front view. In the following description, the side shown in FIG. 1 is called the front side, and the back side in FIG. The photosensitive unit 10 includes the photosensitive drum 11 and the photosensitive drum 11.
Neutralizer 12 and photosensitive drum 11 for removing residual electric charge of
Has a charging device 13 for uniformly charging the surface of the battery, and the surface of the cleaning device 40 is cleaned by the cleaning means 40 prior to removing the residual charges. These cleaning means 40, static eliminator 1
2 and the charger 13 include an intermediate transfer unit 30 and a developing unit 2.
0 and 0 are arranged in this order along the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 11.

The photosensitive drum 11 has a photosensitive layer made of an organic photoelectric material (OPC) formed on the surface of a cylindrical drum. The material for the photosensitive layer is O
Other than PC, for example, selenium (Se) system, amorphous silicon (α-Si), or the like can be used. The static eliminator 12 is an LED
An array or a small incandescent lamp irradiates the surface of the photoconductor 11 with light to erase the residual latent image. The charger 13 uniformly charges the photosensitive drum 11 with the ions generated by the corona discharge.

Here, the exposure system forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 11, has a laser light source, a liquid crystal shutter, etc., and is based on print information corresponding to each hue of a color original. To irradiate the photosensitive drum 11 with laser light in the direction of arrow A to form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to print information on the surface. Also, print information is transferred to the photosensitive drum 11.
An LED array may be used as the exposing means for irradiating the upper part.

The developing means 20 includes the first developing units 21 to 21.
Driving means 25 for horizontally moving the fourth developing unit 24 and the developing units 21 to 24 horizontally in the drawing.
Further, a toner cartridge 26 which is arranged in each of the developing units 21 to 24 and is detachably attached to the housing 210 is provided. The drive means 25 has a ball screw 25a and a drive motor 25b. The first developing unit 21 has a liquid tank 211 of liquid toner formed in an upper portion of a housing 210, and a toner cartridge 26 containing liquid toner of each hue in a lower portion thereof. The liquid tank 211 includes a developing roller 212. And squeeze roller 213 are arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval.

The developing means 20 includes each developing unit 21.
To 24 are provided with toner cartridges 26 containing yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (Bk) liquid toners, respectively. It is arranged on the right side of the drum 11. At the time of development, the driving unit 25 sequentially moves the developing unit 21, the developing unit 22, the developing unit 23, and the developing unit 24 to the photosensitive unit 10 side in this order, and each static image formed corresponding to each hue. The latent images are sequentially developed. As the liquid toner, a liquid carrier in which toner particles such as yellow, magenta, and cyan are dispersed is used.

Although the details of each developing unit will be described later, since each developing unit has the same structure, the other developing units are given the same reference numerals as the corresponding portions in the drawing. Description is omitted. The intermediate transfer unit 30 includes an intermediate transfer drum 31 and a charger 32 arranged along the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer drum 31, and the toner images sequentially developed by the developing unit 20 are transferred onto the intermediate transfer drum 31. Are sequentially transferred in layers.

The intermediate transfer drum 31 is formed by forming a thin silicon layer on the surface of a cylindrical metal drum. The intermediate transfer drum 31 is pressed against the photosensitive drum 11 and each time the developing means 20 develops a toner image of each hue, The toner images are sequentially layered and transferred. The intermediate transfer drum 31 may have an appropriate diameter depending on the size of the recording medium. In this embodiment, the intermediate transfer drum 31 has the same diameter as the photosensitive drum 11, but in the case of a large recording medium, the photosensitive drum 11 is used. Larger in diameter.

The charger 32 is the charger 13 of the photosensitive means 10.
The intermediate transfer drum 31 is charged according to the same principle as described above, and the influence of the previous toner image is canceled at the same time as the effect of the previous toner image is canceled so that the next toner image having a different hue transferred from the photosensitive drum 11 is easily transferred. The toner image transferred onto 31 is prevented from returning onto the photosensitive drum 11.

Then, in the intermediate transfer means 30, the toner images developed on the photosensitive drum 11 are sequentially layered and transferred onto the intermediate transfer drum 31 while being charged by the charger 32. At the time of this transfer, a small amount of toner image or liquid toner not transferred to the intermediate transfer drum 31 remains on the photosensitive drum 11, but these are cleaned by the cleaning means 40.

The cleaning means 40 is provided with a non-woven fabric and a cleaning blade in the cartridge. When the cleaning means 40 is mounted on the electrophotographic printer 1, the cleaning blade contacts the photosensitive drum 11. This cleaning means 40
After the transfer to the intermediate transfer drum 31, the photosensitive drum 11
The remaining toner image and the liquid toner residue are scraped by the cleaning blade and wiped with the non-woven fabric for cleaning. The details of the configuration of the cleaning unit 40 will be described later.

The transfer means 50 has a heating roll 51 having a heater (not shown) built therein and a pressing mechanism which will be described later. The heating roll 51 is pressed by the intermediate transfer drum 3 by the pressing mechanism.
The color toner images, which are pressed into contact with No. 1 and stacked and transferred to the intermediate transfer drum 31, are heated and pressed to be fixed on the transfer paper P. Here, the pressing mechanism separates the heating roll 51 from the intermediate transfer drum 31 when the toner image is transferred from the photosensitive drum 11 to the intermediate transfer drum 31. Then, by the time when the final toner image transferred portion of the four types of toner images arrives, the heating roll 5 is pressed by the pressing mechanism.
1 is pressed against the intermediate transfer drum 31 with a predetermined pressing force. As a result, the heating roll 51 moves to the intermediate transfer drum 3
The color toner images that have been layer-transferred to 1 are pressed and heated to be transferred and fixed on the transfer paper P supplied from the paper supply device 70.

The auxiliary squeeze roller 60 is the photosensitive drum 1
1 and, for example, an excess of liquid toner exceeding the distance from the photosensitive drum 11 on which the toner image is developed, which is disposed between the developing unit 20 and the intermediate transfer unit 30 with a distance of 30 μm being retained, in particular, Remove liquid carrier. The same effect can be obtained by using a squeeze corona using a charger instead of the auxiliary squeeze roller 60.

The paper feeding device 70 supplies the transfer paper P between the intermediate transfer drum 31 and the heating roll 50 when fixing the toner images formed on the intermediate transfer drum 31 in layers.
The electrophotographic printer 1 of the present invention is configured as described above and forms a color image as follows. First, residual charges are removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 cleaned by the cleaning unit 40 by the static eliminator 12 and uniformly charged by the charger 13.

Next, as shown by arrow A in the figure, laser light is irradiated to sequentially form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to print information on the surface of the photosensitive drum 11. The electrostatic latent image formed by the irradiation of the laser light is formed four times in total corresponding to the hues of yellow, magenta, cyan and black. Then, the ball screw 25a is rotated by the drive motor 25b, the developing means 20 arranged on the right side of the photosensitive drum 11 in the drawing is horizontally moved to the photosensitive drum 11 side, and the first developing unit 21 is moved.
The yellow toner image, the magenta toner image in the second developing unit 22, and the cyan and black toner images are sequentially developed in the same manner. In this way, the toner images developed by the developing units are sequentially transferred to the intermediate transfer drum 31, and the toner images of four colors are stacked and formed on the intermediate transfer drum 31.

In parallel with the transfer of the toner image developed by the fourth developing unit 24 to the intermediate transfer drum 31,
The pressing mechanism causes the heating roll 51 to move to the intermediate transfer drum 3
The four-color toner images that have been pressed against 1 and stacked and transferred onto the intermediate transfer drum 31 are heated and pressed to be fixed on the transfer paper P, and one step of forming a color image is completed. Next, the developing unit 21, the driving unit 25, and the toner cartridge 26 of the developing unit 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 11.

In the first developing unit 21, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, the liquid tank 211 is divided into a developing tank B _D and a discharging tank B _E, and a support arranged in the central longitudinal direction. The developing roller 212 is provided in the developing tank B _D defined by the member 214, the partition plate 215 erected on the supporting member 214, and the side walls 211a, 211b, and 211c.
discharge tank B _E defined by d, 211e and 211f
The squeeze rollers 213 are arranged respectively.

As shown in FIG. 5, the support member 214 is fixed to a recess 211g formed in the bottom wall of the liquid tank 211, and a plurality of small holes (not shown) communicating with the discharge tank B _E are provided at a plurality of positions. ing. Further, the support member 214 is provided with a plastic film F for scraping off the liquid toner on the rollers by attaching the upper end to the rollers 212, 213 on both sides. The film F may be made of metal. The liquid toner overflowing the partition plate 215 from the developing tank B _D flows into the discharging tank B _E through the small holes of the supporting member 214.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, the side walls 211e and 211f are respectively formed with concave grooves 211h having a narrow upper portion, and bearings 216 are attached to the concave grooves 211h, respectively. ing. Each bearing 216
The rotary shafts 212a and 213a of the rollers 212 and 213 are supported, and are held in the concave grooves 211h so as to be slightly movable up and down. And, between each bearing 216 and the liquid tank 211,
Torsion coil springs 217 are respectively interposed, and each bearing 2
16 is biased upward. Here, each bearing 216 is
Since the upper portion of the concave groove 211h is formed narrow, it does not come off.

On the other hand, concave grooves 211j having the same width are formed on the side walls 211b and 211c as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and bearings 218 are attached to the concave grooves 211j so as to be vertically movable. Has been. Each bearing 218
Supports the rotary shaft 212a of the developing roller 212 in a liquid-tight manner so that the liquid toner does not flow out from the developing tank B _D to the discharge tank B _E side.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the liquid tank 211 is provided with a discharge port 211k for discharging the liquid toner to the toner cartridge 26 so as to project downward on the bottom surface of the discharge tank B _E , and the lower surface thereof. A guide 211m that extends in a tapered shape toward the side wall 211e is provided at a position adjacent to the discharge port 211k.
Are formed. The guide 211m guides the toner cartridge 26 attached to the developing unit 21 and positions it with respect to the discharge port 211k. Further, the rotary shaft 21 positioned on the side wall 211f side of the developing roller 212
Immediately below 2a is an inlet 211n for liquid toner supplied from the toner cartridge 26.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the developing roller 212 and the squeeze roller 213 are provided with spacer rollers 219 at both ends of the rotary shaft 212a and the rotary shaft 213a, respectively. 213b are attached. Each spacer roller 219 supports the rotary shaft 212a, 213a of each roller 212, 213 via a bearing 219a, and has an outer diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of each roller 212, 213. As a result, the spacer roller 21
When the photosensitive drum 11 is slidably contacted with both ends of the photosensitive drum 11, the developing roller 212, the squeeze roller 213, and the photosensitive drum 1
A predetermined gap is formed between the two. In the electrophotographic printer 1 of the present embodiment, for example, the gap between the photosensitive drum 11 and the developing roller 212 is set to 100 μm, and the gap between the photosensitive drum 11 and the squeeze roller 213 is set to 50 μm.

Further, both rollers 212 and 213 are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the upper ends of the electrode plates E _P1 and E _P2 are pressed against the end faces of the rotary shafts 212a and 213a on the side wall 211e side, and the lower ends of the electrode plates E _P1 and E _P2 are respectively connected to a power source for voltage application. It is connected to the controller E _C. One of the electrode plates E _P1 applies a developing bias voltage to the developing roller 212 to increase the bias voltage from the white background area side to the printing area side when switching the developing unit for developing the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 11. Let That is, the developing roller 212
As shown in FIG. 6, normally, the developing bias voltage V _B
(About -300 ~-500 V) is applied, the surface potential of the photosensitive drum V _BW is about -500-700 V of white area A _W, the surface potential of the photosensitive drum V _BP of the printing area A _P of about -100 V Is set. At this time, when the developing unit is switched, the bias voltage applied to the developing roller 212 is increased in the positive direction from the white background area side to the printing area side. As a result, the excess liquid toner is removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum 11, the squeeze property of the liquid toner is improved, and the excess liquid toner is transferred to the intermediate transfer drum 31.
In particular, the liquid carrier is prevented from adhering.

Then, as shown in FIG.
Each of the gears 212b and 213b attached to
The rotation of the drive motor 20c is transmitted by a timing belt 20b wound around a plurality of transmission members 20a including an intermediate gear and a timing pulley together with the gears of the other developing units 22 to 24 provided on the back side of the electrophotographic printer 1. It As a result, in the developing units 21 to 24, the developing roller 212 is driven to rotate in the opposite direction to the photosensitive drum 11, and the squeeze roller 213 is driven to rotate in the same direction as the photosensitive drum 11, as shown by the arrow in FIG.

At this time, the rotational speeds of the developing roller and the squeeze roller of each developing unit are controlled by the plurality of transmission members 20.
By adjusting the number of teeth of a, for example, the developing roller is set to 5 times the photosensitive drum 11, and the squeeze roller is set to 3 times the photosensitive drum 11. When the rotation speeds of the rollers are set in this way, the balance between the supply of the liquid toner to the photosensitive drum 11 and the squeeze of the liquid toner applied to the photosensitive drum 11 becomes good, and the optimal developing property of the electrostatic latent image is obtained. Is achieved.

Therefore, in the first developing unit 21,
The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 11 is transferred to the developing roller 2
12 is developed with the liquid toner supplied to the photosensitive drum 11, and the squeeze roller 213 is used to develop the photosensitive drum 11.
The liquid toner excessively adhered to is squeezed, and the developed toner image is transferred to the intermediate transfer drum 31.
This situation also applies to the other developing units 22-24. At this time, in the liquid tank 211, the liquid toner sent from the toner cartridge 26 is supplied to the inflow port 211.
The liquid toner supplied from n to the developing tank B _D and overflowing the partition plate 215 and the liquid toner flowing down the film F in contact with the squeeze roller 213 are discharged through the small holes provided in the supporting member 214. It flows into the tank B _E and flows back from the outlet 211k to the toner cartridge 26.

Next, the driving means 25 for integrally moving the developing units 21 to 24 in the left-right direction will be described with reference to FIG. The drive means 25 includes a ball screw 25a and a drive motor 25b for rotating the ball screw 25a.
The housing 210 is rotatably supported by 5c and 25c.
Support members 21 that also function as nuts provided at the bottom of the
It is screwed with 0a. The ball screw 25a is rotationally driven by a belt 28 wound around a pulley 25d attached to one end and a pulley 25e of a drive motor 25b. Thereby, the developing unit 2 of the developing means 20
1 to 24 are integrally moved in the left-right direction.

When the developing units 21 to 24 move to the left, the first developing unit 21 first comes into contact with the photosensitive drum 11. At this time, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the developing roller 212 and the squeeze roller 213 are supported by the bearings 216 held in the concave grooves 211h of the liquid tank 211 so as to be slightly vertically movable. Is urged upward by a torsion coil spring 217, and a spacer roller 219 is attached to the rotary shafts 212a and 213a.

Therefore, regarding the developing roller 212, first, the spacer rollers 219 attached to the rotary shaft 212a are brought into sliding contact with both ends of the photosensitive drum 11. When the first developing unit 21 moves further leftward from this state,
A pressing force that presses the developing roller 212 downward is exerted via each spacer roller 219. Then, the developing roller 2
The bearing 216 supporting the rotary shaft 212a of the 12 moves slightly downward in the concave groove 211h, and the developing roller 212
Passes the photosensitive drum 11 while maintaining a predetermined gap between the spacer roller 219 and the photosensitive drum 11. As a result, the first developing unit 21 causes the photosensitive drum 11 between the developing roller 212 and the squeeze roller 213.
Is moved to the developing position where is located.

Further, the squeeze roller 213 operates in the same manner as the developing roller 212 and avoids the photosensitive drum 11 when the developing unit 21 moves to the left and the developing unit 21 is switched to the developing unit 22. Also,
When switching the development unit to another development unit,
After the rotation of the developing roller is stopped, the developing units 21 to 24 are integrally moved leftward by the driving unit 25.
With this configuration, when the developing unit 21 that has developed the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 11 is switched to the next developing unit 22, the developing roller 212 is stopped and the liquid toner is not supplied to the photosensitive drum 11. Excessive excess liquid toner is not supplied to the photosensitive drum 11.
For this reason, although there is a squeeze effect of the liquid toner by the squeeze roller 213 that comes closer to the developing roller 212, excess liquid toner does not adhere to the photosensitive drum 11, and the liquid toner is removed from the photosensitive drum 11. The squeeze property is further improved, liquid toner does not mix between adjacent developing units, and contamination between liquid toners is prevented.

As described above, in the developing means 20, when the developing units 21 to 24 are switched or returned to the initial position, the entire developing unit is moved in one lateral direction tangential to the photosensitive drum 11. Therefore, it is not necessary to make a complicated movement such as moving the entire developing unit in the vertical direction in order to avoid the photosensitive drum 11, and the photosensitive drum 11 and the developing units 21 to 24
Is advantageous in that the structure of the driving means 25 can be simplified and the mixing of the liquid toner between the developing units 21 to 24 can be prevented.

Next, the toner cartridge 26 will be described with reference to FIGS. Toner cartridge 2
6, rectangular body shape of the tank body 260 has a partition wall 261 and the cover plate 262 for partitioning the tank body 260 up and down, concentrated toner tank T _CT for accommodating a concentrated toner at the top, for developing the lower A liquid toner tank _TLT for containing liquid toner is formed, and is a disposable type cartridge that can be detachably attached to the housing of each developing unit.

The tank body 260 is provided with a handle 260a on its front surface, and has a support member 2 having at its bottom portion three support pieces radially radiating from a center for rotatably supporting the magnetic rotor 263.
The magnetic rotor 263 is provided with 60b at three positions.
Are rotatably driven by drive units 27 installed at opposite positions of the housing 210. The drive unit 27 generates a rotating magnetic field by the applied alternating current, rotates the magnetic rotor 263, and _agitates the liquid toner in the liquid toner tank T _LT . Further, the tank body 260 is provided with a support bracket 260c on the upper portion of the rear wall.
An L-shaped lever 260d is rotatably attached to 60c. The lever 260d is bent at a right angle and has a pressing portion on one side and a bifurcated portion on the other side so that the plug 26 will be described later.
A lift portion that engages 5 is formed, and the pressing portion is rotated to rotate to lift the plug 265. further,
At the bottom of the tank 260 below the support bracket 260d,
A delivery port 260e for delivering the liquid toner to the upper liquid tank is provided. A valve body 260f is provided at the delivery port 260e.
And a spring are arranged, and the valve element 260f is closed by this spring to close the delivery port 260e. Outlet 26
When the toner cartridge 26 is attached to the housing of each developing unit, the valve 0e is fitted into a receiving port (not shown) formed on the housing side, and the valve element 260f is opened against the spring force. As a result, the liquid toner is discharged from the delivery port 260.
It is discharged from e to the pump 29 described later.

The partition wall 261 has a cylindrical receiving portion 26 at the center.
1a is formed in the up-down direction, and an outlet 261b is provided on the support bracket 260d side to let out the contact toner in the contact toner tank T _CT to the liquid toner tank T _LT . The cover plate 262 is formed with a reflux cylinder 262a which communicates with the receiving portion 261a at the center in the vertical direction, and the communication cylinder 262a.
A valve chamber 262b accommodating a valve body 264 is formed in the center of the valve body 264, and the valve body 264 is pushed up by a spring and closed. The valve body 264 is provided in the developing unit 2 as the toner cartridge 26 is inserted into the housing 210.
The guide 211 provided in the first liquid tank 211 and extending in a tapered shape
It is pushed downward by m to open the flow path from the discharge port 211k to the opening 262c. Also, the lid plate 262
Has a recess 262e formed on the support bracket 260d side, and an insertion hole 262f is formed in the recess 262e. A plug 265 is fitted in the insertion hole 262f.

The upper portion of the plug 265 is pressed by a leaf spring 266 attached to the peripheral edge of the recess 262e, and is pulled up by rotating the lever 260d. Further, a valve element 267 is slidably fitted into the plug 265 in a nested shape. This valve body 267 has a spring 2
It is urged downward by 68 to close the outlet 261b formed in the partition wall 261.

The liquid toner is supplied from each toner cartridge 26 to each developing unit only when the electrophotographic printer 1 is used. Normally, the liquid toner is contained in the liquid tank of each developing unit. Absent. Also,
The magnetic rotor 263 is rotated by the drive unit 27 to stir the liquid toner when the electrophotographic printer 1 is powered on, for example, to stir the liquid toner and uniformly disperse the settled toner particles in the liquid carrier. ..

Therefore, in the toner cartridge 26 set at the predetermined position of the housing 210, the liquid toner in the liquid toner tank T _LT is pumped by the pump 2 as shown in FIG.
It is sent from the delivery port 260e to the developing unit 21 located above by 9 and is supplied from the inflow port 211n into the liquid tank 211. Then, the liquid toner whose concentration has decreased after finishing the development in each developing unit is discharged from the discharge port 211 of the liquid tank 211.
From the k through the recirculation port 262c to the liquid toner tank T _LT .

At this time, the concentration of the liquid toner supplied into the liquid tank 211 is detected by the toner concentration detector S disposed in the middle, and when the concentration is low, the control unit (ECU) C
_A command is sent from _U. By this command signal, the electromagnetic solenoid S _EM is energized for a short time, and the electromagnetic solenoid S _EM operates to operate the lever 260 provided on the toner cartridge 26.
d is pressed, and the plug 265 is pulled up together with the valve body 267 against the pressing force of the leaf spring 266 only during energization.

As a result, the high-concentration contact toner in the contact toner tank T _CT flows from the outlet 262b into the liquid toner tank T _CT .
The concentration of the liquid toner that flows into the _LT and is supplied to the developing unit 21 increases. The operation of supplying conc. Toner is repeated until the concentration of the liquid toner supplied to the developing unit 21 rises to a predetermined value. In this way, the liquid toner having a predetermined concentration is supplied from the toner cartridge 26 to each developing unit. When the contact toner in the contact toner tank T _CT is consumed, the toner cartridge 26 is pulled out from the housing 210 and discarded, and a new toner cartridge 26 is replaced.

Here, since the toner cartridge 26 is provided with only the magnetic rotor 263 inside and the drive portion 27 is provided on the housing 210 side, it can be disposable, and the liquid toner tank T _LT and the contact toner tank can be used. Since T _CT is integrated, it is not necessary to separately connect the liquid toner tank T _LT and the contact toner tank T _CT to the electrophotographic printer 1. Therefore, the number of connection points between the toner cartridge 26 and the electrophotographic printer 1 can be reduced, the structure of the electrophotographic printer 1 can be simplified, and the number of components can be reduced.

Further, the developing means 20 includes a photosensitive drum 11
Squeeze means are provided for removing excess liquid toner from the. This squeeze means will be described below with reference to FIGS. The squeeze means 80 is a squeeze blade 81 arranged in each developing unit,
Support shaft 82, drive rack 83, rotary solenoid 8
4 and a guide member 85.

As shown in FIGS. 12 and 15, the squeeze blade 81 has a support shaft 82 and mounting plates 82a and 82b.
And is normally tilted so as not to contact the photosensitive drum 11, as shown in the figure. Support shaft 82
Is installed in the liquid tank 211 of the developing means 20 adjacent to each squeeze roller along the longitudinal direction of the squeeze roller. As shown in FIGS.
A pinion 82c is attached to an end portion protruding from the front surface of 1.

The drive rack 83 is horizontally arranged in the left-right direction along the developing units 21 to 24 on the front surface of the liquid tank 211, and is a long hole that engages with a plurality of guide shafts S _G provided on the side surface of the liquid tank 211. A plurality of shaped guide holes 83a are provided.
A rack 83b is provided at the upper end of the drive rack 83 and meshes with a pinion 82c attached to each support shaft 82. Further, a rack 83c is provided on one side of the lower end of the drive rack 83.

The rotary solenoid 84 is, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, a housing 210 of the developing means 20.
A pinion 84b is attached to the tip of the drive shaft 84a by being supported by a mounting plate 86 provided on the. The drive shaft 84 a projects toward the front side from a support bracket 87 attached to the housing 210 on the rear side of the drive rack 83 near the attachment plate 86, and the pinion 84 b meshes with the rack 83 c of the drive rack 83.

A guide member 85 is attached to the upper portion of the support bracket 87 at a position directly above the rotary solenoid 84. The guide member 85 is a bobbin-shaped member having an annular groove 85a on the outer periphery, and is a drive rack 8.
The drive rack 83 that moves along the liquid tank 211 is guided by the rotary solenoid 84 that accommodates the upper end of the liquid tank 3. The squeeze means 80 operates as follows when changing the developing unit.

First, when the rotary solenoid 84 is energized, the drive shaft 84a rotates together with the pinion 84b by a predetermined angle in the clockwise direction in FIG. Then, the drive rack 83 moves rightward by a predetermined distance by the rotation of the pinion 84b. At this time, the drive rack 83 has the long holes 83a.
It moves in the horizontal direction while being guided by the guide shaft S _G and the guide member 85 which are engaged with.

By the movement of the drive rack 83, each pinion 82c meshing with the rack 83b is moved to the support shaft 82.
At the same time, it rotates counterclockwise as indicated by the arrow in the figure.
As a result, the squeeze blade 81 attached to each of the support shafts 82 rises as shown in FIG. 15, and abuts on the surface located below the photosensitive drum 11. When the developing unit is moved to the left in FIG. 15 in this state, the squeeze blade 81 removes excess liquid toner on the photosensitive drum 11. Therefore, when the developing unit is switched, liquid toner does not mix between adjacent liquid tanks,
Contamination between liquid toners is prevented, and the color image produced becomes clearer. Further, in this way, the photosensitive drum 1
By removing the excess liquid toner on 1, the adhesion of the excess liquid toner to the intermediate transfer drum 31, especially the liquid carrier in which the toner particles are dispersed, is avoided, and the toner image on the transfer paper P by the heating roll is avoided. At the time of transfer, the discharge amount of the vaporized gas of the liquid carrier discharged to the outside of the electrophotographic printer 1 can be suppressed to a low level.

Next, the detailed structure of the cleaning means 40 will be described with reference to FIG. Cleaning means 40
Is a winding roller 43 wound with a nonwoven fabric 42, a winding roller 44, a plurality of intermediate rollers 45 for guiding the nonwoven fabric 42 from the winding roller 43 to the winding roller 44, and a cleaning blade 46. Are arranged. The cleaning unit 40 is a toner image or liquid toner (a toner image and a liquid toner developed on the photosensitive drum 11) slightly remaining on the photosensitive drum 11 when the toner image is transferred from the photosensitive drum 11 to the intermediate transfer drum 31. (A few% of the inside) is collected by a cleaning blade 46 and sucked by the non-woven fabric 42 for cleaning.

The non-woven fabric 42 is wound around the winding roller 44 from the winding roller 43 through a plurality of intermediate rollers 45. The intermediate roller 45 includes a contact roller 45a and a guide roller 45b, and the contact roller 45a is intermittently contacted with the photosensitive drum 11 by an unillustrated contact means. The take-up roller 44 is intermittently rotated by a driving unit (not shown) to wipe off the toner image on the photosensitive drum 11 and the liquid toner residue. The cleaning blade 46 is a blade made of urethane rubber and is attached to the tip of the arm 48 that rotates about the shaft 48 a. Normally, the base end of the arm 48 is pulled down by a spring 49, and the cleaning drum 46 is removed from the photosensitive drum 11. Separated. This arm 48 uses the cleaning means 40 as the electrophotographic printer 1.
When it is mounted on, the base end side is slightly pushed up by the tapered guide projection G provided on the electrophotographic printer 1 side.
As a result, the tip of the cleaning blade 46 is pressed against the photosensitive drum 11 with a relatively weak pressing force as shown in the figure.

When development in each developing unit is started and the photosensitive drum 11 starts rotating, the electromagnetic solenoid 47 provided on the electrophotographic printer 1 side is energized, and the base end of the arm 48 is further pulled up. As a result, the cleaning blade 46 causes the tip of the photosensitive drum 1 to have a stronger pressing force.
The surface of the photosensitive drum 11 is cleaned by scraping off the toner image and the liquid toner residue transferred to the intermediate transfer drum 31 by being pressed against the surface of the photosensitive drum 11. The toner image and the liquid toner residue scraped off in this manner are wiped with the nonwoven fabric 42 and removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum 11. Cleaning means 4
No. 0 cleans the photosensitive drum 11 by intermittent rotation of the take-up roller 44 in this way, but when the nonwoven fabric 42 is consumed, the housing 41 is integrally removed from the electrophotographic printer 1 and discarded, and a new cleaning is performed. Means 40
Replace with.

Therefore, by providing the cleaning means 40, the photosensitive drum 11 is prevented from being contaminated by the toner image and the residue of the liquid toner, and the developing property at the time of developing a new electrostatic latent image is improved. Further, since the cleaning blade 46 is pressed with a strong pressing force only when the photosensitive drum 11 is rotated, deterioration of the photosensitive drum 11 is reduced and the life is extended as compared with the case where cleaning is performed by constantly pressing the photosensitive drum 11. Further, since the cleaning blade 46 is always in contact with the photosensitive drum 11 and plays a role of a seal,
A residue such as a toner image which is not wiped by the non-woven fabric 42 does not flow out on the photosensitive drum 11 to the charge eliminator 12 side and does not stain the toner image formed by the developing unit 20.

Next, the pressing mechanism 52 of the transfer means 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18. The pressing mechanism 52 includes a heating roll 51, a gear 54, and a drive motor 55 that are supported by a support substrate 53 that is swingably attached to the intermediate transfer drum 31 on the main body 1 a of the electrophotographic printer 1.
And a bearing 56 and the like. Heating roll 51
Are supported on one side of the support substrate 53, and are pressed against the intermediate transfer drum 31 by swinging the support substrate 53. Support substrate 5
3, a substantially center obliquely above the intermediate transfer drum 31 is supported swingably by a shaft S _H, one end body 1a
Further, the other end is urged toward the intermediate transfer drum 31 side by the springs 57 that are respectively locked to one side of the substrate 53. The gear 54 is rotatably supported by the shaft S _H together with the pulley 54 a provided integrally with the heating roll 51.
Of the shaft 51a meshes with a gear 51b attached to one end of the shaft 51a. The drive motor 55 rotates the heating roll 51 by the belt 58 wound around the pulley 55a fixed to the rotating shaft and the pulley 54a of the gear 54. Further, the bearing 56 is pivotally supported on the other side of the supporting substrate 53, is pressed by the eccentric cam 2 mounted on the main body 1a, is rotated clockwise the support substrate 53 around the shaft S _H, the heating roll 51 is separated from the intermediate transfer drum 31. The eccentric cam 2 is rotated by a drive motor 3 provided on the main body 1a side via a gear system (not shown).

The pressing mechanism 52 thus constructed develops the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 11 on the side of the developing units 21 to 24, and while the toner image is being layer-transferred onto the intermediate transfer drum 31, the eccentric cam is formed. 2 presses the bearing 56, and FIG.
7, the intermediate transfer drum 31 to the heating roll 5
1 is separated. At this time, the supporting substrate 53, as shown by the arrows in FIG. 17, the spring force that tries to rotate in the counterclockwise direction around the shaft S _H is acting by a spring 57. Then, when the transfer of the final toner image to the intermediate transfer drum 31 is started, the drive motor 3 is rotated in parallel with this transfer to rotate the eccentric cam 2 to the bearing 5
Separate from 6.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 18, the heating roll 51 supported by the support substrate 53 is pressed against the intermediate transfer drum 31 by the spring force of the spring 57, and the final toner image is transferred onto the intermediate transfer drum 31. In parallel with the transfer, the transfer paper P is nipped between the intermediate transfer drum 31 and the heating roll 51. As a result, the four-color toner images transferred in layers on the intermediate transfer drum 31 are heated and pressed to be fixed on the transfer paper P to form a color image.

The intermediate transfer drum 31 has a support shaft 33 at its upper end.
Support plate 3 rotatably attached to the main body 1a via a
3 is rotatably supported substantially at the center, and one end of the main body 1a is
The springs 34, the other ends of which are respectively locked to the lower ends of the support plates 33,
Is pressed against the photosensitive drum 11 with a predetermined pressing force. The intermediate transfer drum 31 is connected to the support plate 3
Locking pin 3 provided under the locking shaft 33b provided in FIG.
By rotating the attaching / detaching lever 35 that locks 3b, the operation of separating / contacting the photosensitive drum 11 is performed.

The intermediate transfer drum 31 and the heating roll 51 are arranged so that when the intermediate transfer drum 31 is pressed against the photosensitive drum 11, the rotary shafts 11a of the drums 11 and 31 are rotated.
And an axis line L _a passing through the centers of the rotating shaft 31a and the axis line L _b passing through the centers of these rotating shafts 51a and 31a are orthogonal to each other when the heating roll 51 is pressed against the intermediate transfer drum 31. Has been done. That is, the photosensitive drum 1
1. The intermediate transfer drum 31 and the heating roll 51 have an axis L connecting the photosensitive drum 11 and the intermediate transfer drum 31.
and _a, the axis L _b connecting the intermediate transfer drum 31 and the heating roll 51 is arranged to be orthogonal or substantially orthogonal.

As a result, when the heating roll 51 is pressed against the intermediate transfer drum 31, the component force of the pressing force acting in the direction of the axis L _{b in the} direction of the axis L _a becomes zero, and the heating roll 5
The stress that changes the pressing force of the intermediate transfer drum 31 pressed against the photosensitive drum 11 due to the pressure contact of No. 1 does not act on the intermediate transfer drum 31. Therefore, the intermediate transfer drum 31 is constantly pressed against the photosensitive drum 11 with a constant pressing force, and there is no influence on the transfer of the toner image developed on the photosensitive drum 11 to the intermediate transfer drum 31. Absent.

[0068] Here, the axis L _a connecting the photosensitive drum 11 and the intermediate transfer drum 31, and the axis L _b connecting the intermediate transfer drum 31 and the heating roll 51, have to be orthogonal necessarily strictly Instead, it suffices that they are substantially orthogonal to each other within a range in which a fixed image transferred onto a recording medium can be clearly obtained within an allowable range. In the electrophotographic printer of the present invention, needless to say, if the print information is reflected light from a color original, it can be used as a color copying machine. It can be created.

Although paper is used as the recording medium in the above embodiment, it can be transferred to various recording media such as other plastic films such as PPC, metal plates and cans.

[0070]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the electrophotographic printer of the present invention, the developing means has the toner cartridge which is detachably provided, and the toner cartridge accommodates the replenishing wet toner. Since the upper tank is provided with a wet toner to be used for development, and the lower tank is replenished with the wet toner from the upper tank when the concentration of the wet toner is lowered, it is referred to as a toner cartridge and a conc cartridge. It is not necessary to use two kinds of cartridges, the parts management is easy, and the connecting point with the printer main body is sufficient at one place.

Further, if the developing means has a structure having a plurality of developing units, not only single color printing but also color image printing becomes possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an electrophotographic printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a developing roller and a squeeze roller arranged in a developing unit.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the developing means of FIG. 2 taken along line III-III.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the developing unit in FIG. 2 as viewed from the right side.

5 is a cross-sectional view of the developing means of FIG. 2 taken along line VV.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between photosensitive drum surface potentials.

FIG. 7 is a rear view of the electrophotographic printer of FIG. 1 viewed from the rear side.

8 is a front view showing a driving unit that integrally moves a developing unit of the electrophotographic printer of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a toner cartridge of a developing unit.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a magnetic rotor provided in the toner cartridge.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a mechanism for adjusting the density of liquid toner that is pressure-fed from a toner cartridge to a developing unit.

FIG. 12 is a front view showing an essential part of squeeze means provided in the electrophotographic printer.

13 is a side view of the squeeze means shown in FIG. 12 viewed from the right side.

FIG. 14 is a side view showing a cross section of a main part of the squeeze means.

FIG. 15 is a front view showing a cross section of a main part of a squeeze means.

FIG. 16 is a front view showing a cleaning unit of the electrophotographic printer in section.

FIG. 17 is an overall configuration diagram showing a pressing mechanism of a transfer unit in a state where a heating roll is separated from an intermediate transfer drum.

FIG. 18 is an overall configuration diagram showing a state where a heating roll is pressed against an intermediate transfer drum.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electrophotographic printer 10 Photosensitive means 11 Photosensitive drum 12 Static eliminator 13 Charging device 20 Developing means 21-24 Developing unit 25 Driving means 26 Toner cartridge 30 Intermediate transfer means 31 Intermediate transfer drum 32 Charging device 40 Cleaning means 50 Transfer means 51 Heating roll 60 Auxiliary squeeze roller 70 Paper feeder

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display area G03G 15/10 114 6605-2H

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A photosensitive drum, means for forming a latent image based on print information on the photosensitive drum, developing means for developing the latent image on the photosensitive drum with a wet toner to form a toner image, and the photosensitive member. An intermediate transfer drum, which is in contact with the drum and on which the toner image on the photosensitive drum is transferred, and means for loading and unloading the recording medium on which the toner image on the intermediate transfer drum is transferred, to and from the intermediate transfer drum In the electrophotographic printer, the developing means has a detachably provided toner cartridge, and the toner cartridge contains an upper tank for containing a replenishing wet toner and a wet toner for developing. An electrophotographic printer, comprising: a lower tank to which the wet toner is replenished from the upper tank when the concentration of the wet toner decreases. 2. The electrophotographic printer according to claim 1, wherein the developing means has a plurality of developing units corresponding to different colors, and a toner cartridge is detachably attached to each developing unit.