JPH0557137A - Ozone removing filter for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an ozone removing filter which can efficiently remove ozone generated by corona discharge of a charging apparatus, a transferring charger, etc., of an image forming apparatus. CONSTITUTION:A wind controlling plate 14 to turn the flowing direction of ozone wind flowing in an ozone removing filter toward oblique direction. A plurality of filters 12 in which that kind of a wind controlling plate 14 is installed may be set in the flowing direction of the ozone wind. The wind controlling plate may have a wavy form and form a wavy flowing route.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ozone of an image forming apparatus in which air containing ozone generated by a charger or a static eliminator is sucked by a fan and the air from which ozone is removed is discharged to the outside of the machine through an ozone removal filter. For removal filters.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various types of image forming apparatuses such as copiers, printers, and facsimiles have been developed and put into practical use as the amount of information increases. In an image forming apparatus using the Carlson process, charging of a photoconductor as an image carrier, transfer of a developer image (toner image) to a transfer material, peeling of the transfer material from the photoconductor, cleaning of residual toner from the photoconductor Corona discharge means is generally used in each process such as.

One of the problems when using corona discharge means
One is that the substance generated by corona discharge deteriorates the photoconductor, or the substance adheres to the photoconductor to reduce the surface resistance of the photoconductor, resulting in blurring of the copy image. The generating substances are mainly ozone and ozone products (for example, NOx).

The mechanism of image blur caused by the deterioration of the photoconductor due to ozone and ozone products and the adhesion to the photoconductor will be described below with reference to the electronic copying machine shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, around a drum-shaped photosensitive member 1 as an image bearing member, a charging device 2, an exposure device 3, a developing device 4, a transfer charger 5, a peeling charger 6, a cleaning device 7 are arranged in a rotation direction thereof. The static elimination lamps 8 are sequentially arranged. Reference numeral 9 is a conveyance path for the sheet P formed between the photoconductor 1 and the transfer charger 5, 10 is an exhaust fan, and 11 is an exposure lamp.

Among the above-mentioned devices, the charging device 2, the transfer charger 5 and the peeling charger 6 are corona discharge means, and in these devices, ozone atmospheres (a), (b) and (c) are caused by corona discharge. Occurs. Excessive ozone causes deterioration of the photoconductor 1, and when the photoconductor 1 is stopped, ozone products adhere to portions A and B on the outer periphery of the photoconductor 1, particularly when the copying machine is left at a high temperature. Water adheres to the adhered matter as a nucleus, causing a partial decrease in the surface resistance of the photoconductor, which causes image blurring.

[0007]

Therefore, conventionally, as a countermeasure against these problems, the exhaust fan 10 is rotated to discharge the ozone product staying around the photoconductor 1, that is, the ozone odor, to the outside of the machine. ing. However, if the ozone odor is directly discharged to the outside of the machine, it will have a great adverse effect on the human body. For example, feeling sick, causing nausea, and irritating the eyes. For this, an ozone removal filter 12 is provided between the exhaust fan 10 and the side plate of the machine.
Is installed to suppress the ozone concentration emitted outside the machine. Figure 2
As shown in FIG.
It is composed of FIG. 2 shows an ozone removing filter according to the present invention, but since the external appearance is the same as the conventional one, the conventional ozone removing filter will be described using this.

Conventionally used ozone removing filters are made of activated carbon type or catalytic type. Since these ozone removing filters are contact reaction with ozone wind, the diameter of each cell 13 of the ozone removing filter is different. It has been proposed to increase the ozone removal rate by making it smaller, and thus increasing the number of filter meshes to increase the contact surface area (see Figure 7). However, with this method, the pressure loss in the filter becomes high (see FIG. 8), and a part of the ozone wind that cannot pass through the filter surface flows back to the photoreceptor side, causing image blurring. If the diameter of each cell 13 is increased, the pressure loss can be eliminated. In other words, the reverse flow of ozone wind to the photoconductor can be prevented, but the ozone removal rate in the filter decreases. However, there is a drawback that untreated ozone is discharged to the outside of the machine and adversely affects the human body.

An object of the present invention is to propose an ozone removing filter which eliminates these drawbacks.

[0010]

From the above, the function required for the ozone removal filter is that the pressure loss is small and the ozone removal rate is high. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, since the ozone removal rate is also related to the wind speed, the present inventor has recognized that slowing the wind speed to increase the ozone removal rate is also one means. The above problems have been solved by the following means.

That is, the ozone removal filter of the type described in the field of industrial application has a wind control plate that diverts the inflow direction of the inflowing ozone wind.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention proposes to arrange a plurality of filters provided with the wind control plate side by side in the flow direction of ozone wind.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention proposes that the wind control plate has a corrugated shape to form a corrugated flow path.

[0014]

In the ozone removing filter according to the first aspect of the present invention, the ozone adsorbing reaction flow path is lengthened by controlling the ozone wind so that the ozone wind turns obliquely, and the wind speed becomes slow due to the generation of the air vortex. ..

In the ozone removing filter according to the second aspect, by combining a plurality of the same filter parts, the flow path of ozone wind becomes long and each filter part can be easily replaced.

In the ozone removing filter according to the third aspect of the present invention, since the corrugated flow path is provided, the probability of contact between ozone and the filter can be increased, so that the length of the filter can be reduced.

[0017]

EXAMPLE In the ozone removal filter 12 shown in FIG. 2, ozone wind flows into the filter 12 in the direction of arrow P,
It flows out in the direction of arrow Q. As can be seen from the cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 3, the filter 12 is slanted parallel to each other on the filter 12.
4 are provided.

Therefore, the ozone flowing in the direction of the arrow P along with the ozone wind collides with the wind control plate 14 to cause an adsorption reaction, and further the collision causes an vortex of the air flow. The adsorption reaction between the and the filter is promoted, and the wind speed of ozone wind can be slowed.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of the filters shown in FIG. 3 are combined as the respective filter portions f ₁ , f ₂ , f ₃ and f ₄ to form one ozone removing filter 15. In that case, the inclinations of the wind control plates 14 of the respective filter parts adjacent to each other are configured to be symmetrical in the combination plane. In this embodiment, ozone and the wind control plate 14 are used.
A large number of collisions with eddies and generation of vortices occur, and the ozone removal rate can be increased.

The relationship between the length of the ozone removal filter and the ozone removal rate is that the longer the filter is, the higher the ozone removal rate is, as shown in FIG. This is because the contact rate of ozone wind increases as the filter lengthens. Therefore, according to the present invention, when the ozone removing filter is formed such that a plurality of filter portions provided with the wind control plate are combined and the wind control plates are symmetrical in the combination plane, the flow path of ozone wind becomes long. The contact rate is improved. Therefore, the ozone removal filter according to the present invention configured as described above is
If the contact ratio is the same, it can be made thinner than an ozone removal filter having a straight flow path without a wind control plate.

Further, clogging of the filter due to dust, dust or toner is likely to occur mainly on the inflow surface of ozone wind. When such clogging occurs, it is common to replace the conventional filters even if the filters still have the ozone removal capability. However, in the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4, it is not necessary to replace all the filters, only the filter part f ₁ located on the inflow surface needs to be replaced, and the maintenance cost of the ozone removing filter is low.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, one ozone removal filter 16 is also formed by combining a plurality of filter parts.
In this case, the inclinations of the wind control plates 14 of the respective filter parts are not symmetrical with respect to the combination plane, and all the wind control plates are parallel to each other, but they appear to be offset on the combination plane. It is located in. In this embodiment, there is a feature that the contact probability between the ozone wind and the filter is increased due to the deviation of the combination surface, and the setting of the combination of the respective filter parts is rough.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, in each cell 13 'of the ozone removing filter 17, the wind control plate 14' has a saw-tooth shape, and the ozone flow path 18 also has a saw-tooth shape.
When the ozone wind flows into the ozone removal filter 17 in the direction of the arrow P, the ozone collides with the S portion of the wind control plate of each cell to cause an adsorption reaction, and this collision causes a swirl of the air flow to generate ozone wind. The wind speed becomes slow. Due to the generation of the vortex, the adsorption reaction in the S portion is continued, and a part of ozone hits the T portion, and the same adsorption reaction as in the S portion occurs.
Ozone is removed by sequentially advancing this process to the U part and the V part.

[0024]

In the ozone removing filter according to the first aspect of the present invention, the ozone adsorbing reaction flow path is long and the air velocity becomes slow due to the generation of the air vortex, so that the ozone removing rate is improved. Therefore, the length of the filter can be shortened and high performance can be achieved.

The ozone removing filter according to claim 2 is
Only the inflow side filter part, which is easily clogged, can be replaced, so the maintenance cost is low.

The ozone removing filter according to claim 3 is
Since the ozone passage forms a corrugated flow passage, the length of the ozone passage can be further shortened and the performance can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an ozone removing filter according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the filter shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of yet another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of yet another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the cell diameter of an ozone removal filter and the ozone removal rate.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing the relationship between cell diameter and pressure loss of an ozone removal filter.

FIG. 9 is a graph showing the relationship between the wind velocity of ozone wind and the ozone removal rate.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing the relationship between filter length and ozone removal rate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Charging Device 5 Exposure Device 6 Transfer Charger 12, 15, 16, 17 Ozone Removal Filter 14, 14 'Wind Control Plate 18 Ozone Flow Path

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus in which ozone-containing air generated by a charger or a static eliminator is sucked by a fan and the ozone-removed air is exhausted through an ozone removal filter to the outside of the apparatus. An ozone removing filter having a wind control plate that turns the direction obliquely. 2. The ozone removing filter according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of filters having the wind control plate are arranged in parallel in a flow direction of ozone wind. 3. The ozone removing filter according to claim 1, wherein the wind control plate has a corrugated shape and forms a corrugated flow path. 4. The ozone removing filter according to claim 3, wherein an inflow direction of ozone wind is a traveling direction of the corrugated flow path.