JPH0530861U - Cleaning device for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] In the cleaning device 2, the gap between the blade holder 9 of the cleaning blade 8 which is brought into pressure contact with the photoconductor 1 and the housing case rear wall 2a is closed better than before. A closing mechanism for closing a gap between the case back wall 2b and the blade holder 9 is provided with a sponge seal 23 fixed to the lower surface of the blade holder 9 with an adhesive or the like and a base end portion on the inner surface of the case back wall 2b. The sealing plate 24 is fixed and is provided so that its tip portion comes into pressure contact with the surface of the sponge seal 23, and is preferably flexible. Since the tip portion of the Mylar seal plate 24 is in pressure contact with the sponge seal 23, the pressure contact portion of the sponge seal 23 is deformed and comes into surface contact with the tip portion of the Mylar seal plate 24, thereby exhibiting sufficient sealing performance. be able to.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a cleaning device for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, or a printer. Specifically, it contains a cleaning blade supporting member that comes into pressure contact with the surface of the image carrier and the toner removed from the surface of the image carrier by the cleaning blade. The present invention relates to a cleaning device having a closing mechanism that closes a gap between the housing case and the housing case.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 An example of a conventional cleaning device of this type will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5A, an image is formed by toner powder on the surface of an image carrier, for example, a drum-shaped photoconductor 1 by an image forming unit (not shown), and is transferred to a transfer paper by a transfer unit (not shown). The residual toner is moved to the position of the cleaning device 2 while being attached. In the cleaning device 2, the toner is removed from the photoconductor 1 by passing through the seal 3 on the inlet side of the cleaning device 2 and being electrically attracted and mechanically rubbed by the fur brush roller 4 for cleaning. Here, as shown in FIG. 5B, the seal 3 is attached to a wall surface of the case bottom wall 2a facing the surface of the photoconductor 1 so as to extend in the drum axis direction of the photoconductor 1. It is fixed to a mounting plate 3a made of a material having extremely high hardness. The fur brush roller 4 is formed by arranging a large number of conductive brushes on a cored bar roller to which a predetermined bias is applied, and is rotationally driven in a predetermined direction by a drive motor (not shown). The toner powder adhering to the fur brush roller 4 is adsorbed by the collecting roller 5 to which a bias voltage is applied at a higher voltage than the fur brush roller 4, and the toner on the collecting roller 5 is mechanically scraped off by the scraper member 6. The scraped toner powder is discharged to a predetermined place such as in the waste toner bottle by the rotation of the discharging member (coil-shaped or roller-shaped) 7. Further, the cleaning blade 8 contacts the photoconductor 1 on the downstream side of the fur brush roller 4 in the rotation direction of the photoconductor 1, and the toner that has passed through the fur brush roller 4 and the background stain due to reattachment from the fur brush roller 4 are formed. The toner powder is removed and dropped onto the upper portion of the fur brush roller 4 below and is conveyed by the fur brush roller 4.

Here, the cleaning blade 8 of this example employs the following support mechanism so that the cleaning blade 8 can be selectively brought into a state of being pressed against the surface of the photoconductor 1 and a state of being separated therefrom. First, the blade holder 9, which is a support member to which the cleaning blade 8 is fixed at the tip, is rotatably attached to the holder bracket 11 at the base end with the stepped screw 10, and the stepped screw 10 is the center. Since the cleaning blade 8 can be rotated to a certain extent, the cleaning blade 8 can be uniformly pressed against the surface of the photoconductor 1 in the longitudinal direction. The holder bracket 11 has a base end fixed to a support shaft 12 rotatably supported on a device side plate, and a plunger of a solenoid 13 for rotating the support bracket 12 counterclockwise around the support shaft 12 at a tip end thereof. It is connected. The tip of the holder bracket 11 extends through the notch in the case back wall 2a to the back side of the case back wall 2b. The pressure spring 14 that applies a clockwise biasing force is locked.

Then, the case bottom wall 2a to which the seal 3 is attached, the case back wall 2b, the cleaning blade 8, the blade holder 9, the surface of the photoconductor 1 and the toner storage space sealed by the case front and rear walls (not shown) are provided. In order to form it, a closing mechanism for closing the gap between the case back wall 2b and the blade holder 9 is provided. The closing mechanism of this example is composed of a flexible mylar seal plate 20 whose base end is fixed to the inner surface of the case back wall 2b and whose leading edge contacts the lower surface of the blade holder 9. Has been done. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5C, the base end portion is fixed to the inner surface of the case back wall 2b and the lower surface of the blade holder 9, and the base end portions are provided so that the front end portions contact each other. It is also known that a flexible mylar seal plate pair 21, 22 constitutes a closing mechanism. A side seal (not shown) is provided to close the gap between the edge of the front and rear walls of the case on the surface of the photoconductor 1 and the surface of the photoconductor 1 and the gap between the inner surface of the front and rear walls of the case and both end faces of the cleaning blade. Members are also provided.

However, in the conventional closing mechanism as described above, since the tip edges of the Mylar seal plates 20, 21 and 22 are only in line contact with the surface of the mating member, sufficient sealing performance is obtained. I can't get it. For this reason, there is a problem in that the toner storage space cannot be hermetically closed, and the toner is scattered outside the cleaning device 2 to contaminate the inside of the device. Further, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when the cleaning device 2 is configured to be detachable from the image forming apparatus main body in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum while the photosensitive member 1 is left in the main body of the apparatus, the cleaning device 2 forms the image. At the beginning of the operation of inserting into the main body of the apparatus, the rear end of the mounting plate 3a made of a relatively high hardness material with the seal 3 on the inlet side of the cleaning apparatus 2 as shown in FIG. There is a problem that the surface of the photoconductor 1 may be hit and damaged. In order to solve this problem, a guide mechanism (not shown) of the cleaning device 2 guides the cleaning device 2 at a position relatively distant from the surface of the photoconductor 1 at the initial stage of the inserting operation into the main body of the image forming apparatus. It is known that the cleaning device 2 is guided until it comes close to the surface of the photoconductor 1 when the cleaning device 2 is inserted almost to a predetermined position in the main body. The problem that the structure of the guide mechanism becomes complicated remains.

[0006]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a first object of the present invention is to accommodate a cleaning blade supporting member which is in pressure contact with the surface of an image carrier and a toner removed from the surface of the image carrier by the cleaning blade. The cleaning device is provided with a closing mechanism that can close the gap between the housing case and the housing case better than before, and the second purpose is to provide an opening portion of the housing case toward the surface of the image carrier. Has a seal member attached to the lower end edge of the image carrier by a mounting member extending in a direction crossing the moving direction of the image carrier surface, and in a direction crossing the moving direction of the image carrier surface with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus. In a cleaning device of an image forming apparatus that is detachably supported, an image carrying unit is set by an end portion of the mounting member at an initial stage of an operation of setting the cleaning device in the main body of the image forming apparatus. The cleaning device can be prevented from damaging the surface is and provide child.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned first object, the invention of claim 1 is to provide a supporting member for a cleaning blade which is brought into pressure contact with the surface of the image carrier and a housing case for containing the toner removed from the surface of the image carrier by the cleaning blade. In a cleaning device of an image forming apparatus having a closing mechanism for closing a gap between the supporting member and the storage case, the closing member is provided with an elastic member fixed to one of the supporting member and the receiving case. It is characterized in that the part is fixed and the tip part is composed of a seal plate extending so as to make surface contact with the elastic member. In order to achieve the above first and second objects, the invention of claim 2 crosses the moving direction of the surface of the image carrier at the lower edge of the opening of the housing case toward the surface of the image carrier. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sealing member attached by a mounting member extending in the direction, and being detachably supported in a direction transverse to the image carrier surface movement direction with respect to the image forming apparatus main body. In the cleaning device described above, at least the end of the mounting member, which is on the downstream side in the mounting direction when mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus, is configured to be curved in a direction away from the surface of the image carrier. To do.

[0008]

[Action]

 According to another aspect of the cleaning device of the present invention, the elastic member is fixed to one of the supporting member of the cleaning blade and the storage case for storing the toner, and the base end is fixed to the other end and the front end is A sheet member extending so as to come into surface contact with the elastic member satisfactorily closes the gap between the support member and the housing case. Further, in the cleaning device of the second aspect, the mounting member for mounting the sealing member on the lower end edge of the opening of the housing case facing the surface of the image carrier is located on the downstream side in the mounting direction when mounted on the image forming apparatus main body. The end on the side is formed in a shape that is curved in a direction away from the surface of the image carrier, so that the end of the mounting member and the image carrier can be formed at the initial stage of the operation of mounting the cleaning device on the main body of the image forming apparatus. It allows the surface to be relatively far away.

[0009]

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1A is a front view showing a schematic configuration of the cleaning device according to this embodiment. The basic configuration of the cleaning device according to this embodiment is the same as that of the conventional cleaning device shown in FIG. That is, a far brush roller 4 and a cleaning blade 8 as a cleaning member, a collecting roller 5 for removing toner from the fur brush roller 4, a scraper member 6, a toner discharging member 7, a case bottom wall 2a, a case back wall 2b, and the like are provided. There is.

In the cleaning device of this example, a closing mechanism for closing the gap between the case back wall 2b and the blade holder 9 is provided with the sponge seal 23 fixed to the lower surface of the blade holder 9 with an adhesive or the like. A base end is fixed to the inner surface of the case back wall 2b, and a tip end is constituted by a seal plate 24 provided so as to come into pressure contact with the surface of the sponge seal 23. The sponge seal 23 is preferably made of foamed polyurethane, and the mylar seal plate 24 is preferably a flexible mylar seal plate made of polyethylene film.

According to the configuration of the closing mechanism described above, since the tip of the mylar seal plate 24 is in pressure contact with the sponge seal 23, the pressure contact portion of the sponge seal 23 is deformed and the tip of the mylar seal plate 24 is They come into surface contact with each other, whereby sufficient sealing performance can be exhibited. Further, while the cleaning blade 8 moves between the pressed state and the retracted state with respect to the photoconductor 1 by turning the solenoid 13 on and off, the sponge seal 23 and the tip of the mylar seal plate 24 maintain the pressed state. It can exhibit sufficient sealing performance. In particular, when the mylar seal plate 24 is made flexible, the sponge seal 23 and the mylar seal plate 24 are kept in pressure contact with each other when the cleaning blade 8 is in any of the above states. The degree of freedom in designing the shape and arrangement of the Mylar seal plate 24 can be increased, and the contact area with the sponge seal 23 can be further expanded. In the illustrated example, the sponge seal 23 is fixed to the lower surface of the blade holder 9 and the base end portion of the mylar seal plate 23 is fixed to the inner surface of the case rear wall 2b. The base end of the plate 23 may be fixed to the lower surface of the blade holder 9, and the sponge seal 23 may be fixed to the inner surface of the case rear wall 2b.

The mounting plate 3a for mounting the seal 3 on the inlet side in this embodiment is formed by bending both ends thereof away from the surface of the photoconductor 1 as shown in FIG. A flexible seal 3 is attached to the surface of the mounting member 3a on the surface side of the photoconductor 1 including both ends thereof with an adhesive or the like. The mounting plate 3a is fixed to the wall surface of the case lower wall 3a facing the surface of the photoconductor 1 by screws (not shown).

According to the structure of the mounting plate 3a for the seal 3, the end portion of the mounting plate 3a on the inner side of the main body is bent in a direction away from the surface of the photoconductor 1, whereby the cleaning device 2 is formed into an image. Since the mounting plate 3a can be mounted in parallel with the drum shaft of the photoconductor 1 in the main body of the apparatus, the mounting plate 3a can be mounted in a state where the end portion on the back side of the main body is relatively distant from the surface of the photoconductor 1. Is less likely to hit the surface of the photoreceptor 1. In addition, in this example, the end of the mounting plate 3a on the front side of the main body is also bent in a direction away from the surface of the photoconductor 1, whereby the cleaning device 2 is moved parallel to the drum shaft of the photoconductor 1 from the main body of the image forming apparatus. When taking out, since the taking-out can be started with the end of the mounting plate 3a on the front side of the main body being relatively distant from the surface of the photoconductor 1, even when the guide mechanism of the cleaning device 2 has some play. The possibility of hitting the end portion with the surface of the photoconductor 1 is small.

Next, a side seal member mounting mechanism suitable for the cleaning device 2 as shown in FIG. 1A will be described. Conventional side seal members for closing the gap between the front and rear walls of the housing case and the surface of the photoconductor 1 and the gap between the inner surface of the case front and rear walls and both end faces of the cleaning blade are It was attached to the inner surfaces of the edges of the front and rear walls of the housing case on the surface side of the photoreceptor 1 by adhesion or the like. However, according to this structure, since the side seal member is always in contact with the surface of the photoconductor 1, when the cleaning device 2 is attached to and detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus as described above, the side seal member and the photoconductor are not exposed. There is a problem that the friction with the surface of the body 1 becomes a resistance to the detaching operation. Further, when a mechanism for swinging the cleaning blade 8 in the drum axis direction of the photoconductor 1 is provided in order to maintain uniform contact of the cleaning blade 8 with the surface of the photoconductor 1, There is also a problem in that the swing causes a gap between the cleaning blade 8 and the side blade member, and the toner is scattered from there. Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, holding portions for the side seal members are formed at both ends of the holder bracket 11, and the side seal members are provided at the holding portions.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show an example in which such a side seal member mounting mechanism is applied to the cleaning device shown in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 3A shows its outline. FIG. 3B is a front view showing the configuration, and FIG. 3B is a perspective view of the mounting mechanism. Note that, also in FIG. 3A, the side wall of the housing case is not shown. In the attachment mechanism of the side seal member of this example, the front and rear ends of the holder bracket 11 are bent downward to form the side seal holding portion 30. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, a separate member having a predetermined shape may be attached to each of the front and rear ends of the holder bracket 11 with a screw or the like to form the side seal holding portion 30. The side seal holding portion 30 is formed so that the inner surface faces the end surface of the cleaning blade 8 and the end portion on the surface side of the photoconductor 1 is close to the surface of the photoconductor 1. On the inner surface of the side seal holding portion 30, a side seal member 31 made of, for example, urethane foam is provided with a gap between the edge of the side seal holding portion 30 on the surface side of the photosensitive member 1 and the surface of the photosensitive member 1 and the side seal holding portion. It is fixed by adhesion or the like so as to close the gap between the inner surface of the portion 30 and the end surface of the cleaning blade.

The cleaning blade 9 of this example is configured to swing the cleaning blade 9 by swinging the support shaft 12 to which the bracket holder 11 is fixed in the longitudinal direction. As a mechanism for this swinging, a surface cam 40 is provided on the rear side of the support shaft 12 in the apparatus, and a roller 41 that contacts the cam surface of the surface cam 40 is rotated at the end of the support shaft 12 on the rear side of the apparatus. It is movably attached. The support shaft 12 in this example is constantly urged by a splint or the like so that the roller 41 contacts the cam surface of the surface cam 40. FIGS. 3A and 3B are left side views showing the vicinity of the surface cam 40 in an enlarged manner, and show a state in which the rotational positions of the surface cams 40 differ from each other by 90 degrees. Reference numeral 42 in the figure denotes a side plate for rotatably supporting the support shaft 12 on the rear side of the apparatus. Further, reference numeral 40 a is a gear for integrally inputting the rotational force, which is integrally formed with the surface cam 40. Alternatively, the holder bracket 11 may be rotatably attached to the support shaft 12, and the position of the holder bracket 11 in the longitudinal direction of the support shaft 12 may be fixed by a stopper.

In the above configuration, since the side seal members 31 are in contact with both end surfaces of the cleaning blade 8, the toner scraped off the surface of the photosensitive member 1 by the cleaning blade 8 causes air flow and the like near the surface of the photosensitive member 1. Even when it soars up, it can be prevented from leaking to the downstream side in the moving direction of the photoreceptor 1. Further, when the cleaning device 2 is attached to or detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus, the holder bracket 11 is moved around the support shaft 12 more than in the state of FIG. 2A in order to retract the cleaning blade 8. The side seal members 31 fixed to the side seal holding portions 30 formed at both ends of the holder bracket 11 are also retracted from the surface of the photosensitive member 1 together with the cleaning blade 8 by rotating in the clockwise direction. Therefore, when the cleaning device 2 is detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus, the side seal member 31 is automatically retracted from the surface of the photoconductor 1 and both sides rub against each other to become a resistance to the detaching operation. Can be prevented. Further, when the cleaning blade 8 is removed, the contact between the side seal member 31 and the surface of the photosensitive member 1 is also released. Therefore, when the side seal member 31 is made of an elastic material, the elasticity of the side seal member 31 is always maintained. It does not deteriorate as compared with the case where it is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor 1, and therefore, a good sealing performance can be exhibited for a relatively long period. Further, even when the cleaning blade is swung by the swinging mechanism of the cleaning blade 8 described above, the cleaning blade 8 and the side seal member 31 swing together with the holder bracket 11 while keeping their contact state. It is also possible to prevent the toner from scattering from the gap due to the gap.

[0018]

[Effect of the device]

 According to the inventions of claims 1 and 2, the elastic member having the closing mechanism for closing the gap between the supporting member of the cleaning blade and the containing case containing the toner fixed to one of the supporting member and the containing case. And a seal member having a base end fixed to the other end and a tip end extending in surface contact with the elastic member, whereby the elastic member and the seal member end are in surface contact. Therefore, there is an excellent effect that the above-mentioned gap can be closed better than the conventional one in which the tip edge of the seal member is in line contact with the lower surface of the support member. Further, according to the invention of claim 2, the mounting member for mounting the seal member on the lower end edge of the opening of the housing case facing the surface of the image carrier is located on the downstream side in the mounting direction when mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus. The end portion on the side is formed in a shape curved so as to be away from the surface of the image carrier, so that the end portion of the mounting member and the image carrier can be formed at the initial stage of the operation of mounting the cleaning device on the main body of the image forming apparatus. Since the surface of the image forming apparatus can be relatively separated from the surface of the image forming apparatus, it is possible to prevent the surface of the image bearing member from being damaged by the end of the mounting member at the initial stage of the operation of setting the cleaning device in the main body of the image forming apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a cleaning device according to an embodiment, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of an inlet seal and its mounting member of the cleaning device.

FIG. 2A is a front view for explaining a side seal holding portion of the cleaning device, and FIG. 2B is a perspective view of the side seal holding portion.

3A and 3B are explanatory views for explaining a cleaning blade swing mechanism of the cleaning device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another configuration example of the side seal holding portion of the cleaning device.

5A is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a cleaning device according to a conventional example, FIG. 5B is a perspective view of an inlet seal and its mounting member of the cleaning device, and FIG. 5C is related to another conventional example. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a holder of a cleaning blade of the cleaning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photoconductor, 2 Cleaning device 2a Case lower wall, 2b Case rear wall 3 Seal, 3a Mounting plate 4 Fur brush roller, 8 Cleaning blade 9 Blade holder, 11 Holder bracket 12 Spindle, 13 Solenoid 14 Pressure spring, 23 Sponge Seal 24 Mylar Seal Plate

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An image forming apparatus having a closing mechanism for closing a gap between a supporting member of a cleaning blade that is pressed against the surface of an image bearing member and a housing case that stores toner removed from the surface of the image bearing member by the cleaning blade. In the cleaning device, the closing mechanism is configured such that an elastic member fixed to one of the support member and the housing case and a base end portion fixed to the other end, and a distal end portion of the closing member comes into surface contact with the elastic member. A cleaning device for an image forming apparatus, comprising: an extending seal member. 2. A sealing member attached to a lower end edge of an opening of the housing case facing the surface of the image carrier by a mounting member extending in a direction transverse to a moving direction of the surface of the image carrier, and The cleaning device for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning device is detachably supported in a direction transverse to a surface moving direction of the image carrier with respect to the image forming apparatus main body. The cleaning device for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the end portion on the downstream side is formed in a shape curved in a direction away from the surface of the image carrier.