JPH0572921A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the manufacturing cost of an image forming device and to miniaturize the image forming device. CONSTITUTION:The surface of a cleaning roller 17 is constituted of a material having stickness. When a material to be transferred 15 is delivered in a delivering direction D4, the surface thereof is brought into contact with the roller 17. By the roller 17, paper powder or the like attached on the surface of the material 15 is eliminated. The roller 17 is rotated by being brought into contact with the surface of a transfer roller 14 and the paper powder or the like attached on the surface of the roller 14 is also made to adhere to the roller 17. Thus, the surfaces of the material 15 and the roller 14 can be cleaned by the single roller 17.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a laser printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional image forming apparatus, for example, a predetermined electric field is generated between a photosensitive drum and a transfer roller, and a transfer material such as paper is sandwiched between the photosensitive drum and the transfer roller. While charging, the charged toner on the surface of the photoconductor drum
An image was formed by attaching it to the material to be transferred. Incidentally, when paper powder or the like adheres to the transfer roller, the electric field formed between the photosensitive drum and the transfer roller is disturbed. Then, the dying power acting on the toner is not uniform, which may adversely affect the image quality of the image formed on the transfer material.

In order to avoid such a problem, it is necessary not only to remove the paper dust on the surface of the transfer roller, but also to remove the paper dust on the surface of the material to be transferred in contact with the transfer roller. For this reason, conventionally, a cleaning roller for removing the paper dust and the like adhering to the surface of the transfer roller and a cleaning roller for removing the paper dust and the like adhering to the surface of the material to be transferred are separately provided and attached to each surface The paper dust and the like that had been removed were removed.

[0004]

However, in the conventional image forming apparatus, since the cleaning roller for cleaning the transfer roller and the cleaning roller for cleaning the surface of the material to be transferred are separately arranged, the manufacturing cost is reduced. There is a problem that not only the cost becomes high, but also the size of the device is hindered.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, according to the present invention, in the image forming apparatus, the cleaning of the surface of the transfer roller and the cleaning of the surface of the material to be transferred are performed by a single cleaning means.
It is an object of the invention to reduce the manufacturing cost of the image forming apparatus and to downsize the image forming apparatus.

[0006]

An image forming apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention has a transfer roller for generating a predetermined electric field and attaching charged toner to a transfer material by the predetermined electric field. Cleaning the surface of the transfer roller, and
An image forming apparatus for cleaning the surface of a transfer material, comprising: a single cleaning unit for cleaning the surface of the transfer roller and cleaning the surface of the transfer material. It is a device.

[0007]

In the image forming apparatus according to the invention described in claim 1,
The surface of the transfer roller and the surface of the material to be transferred are cleaned by a single cleaning means. Then, the electric field generated by the transfer roller becomes uniform, and it is possible to prevent deterioration of the image quality of the image formed on the transfer material. Therefore, the cleaning of the surface of the transfer roller and the cleaning of the surface of the material to be transferred are performed by a single cleaning unit.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a part of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The surface of the photosensitive drum 11 is charged to a predetermined potential by the charging roller 12 while rotating in the rotation direction D1. Charged photoconductor drum 1
The surface of 1 is irradiated with an optical image by a laser beam,
A latent electrostatic image is formed. Further, the photoconductor drum 11 continues to rotate, and in the developing device 13, the toner charged to the opposite polarity to the polarity of the electrostatic latent image adheres to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image.

On the other hand, a material 15 to be transferred such as paper is sent from a paper feeding portion (not shown) toward a sliding contact portion between the photosensitive drum 11 and the transfer roller 14. The transfer roller 14 is charged with a polarity opposite to the polarity of the toner by the bias power source, and the toner is transferred to the transfer material 15 by the static electricity.
Excess toner on the surface of the photoconductor drum 11 is scraped off by the cleaner 16, and the surface of the photoconductor drum 11 is charged again by the charging roller 12. The transferred material 15 to which the toner has been transferred is sent out in the sending direction D4, and the toner is fixed by a fixing device (not shown). That is, an image is formed on the transfer material 15.

The image forming apparatus having the above structure is further provided with a cleaning roller 17 as a cleaning means. As shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning roller 17 is located upstream of the transfer roller 14 in the feed direction D4 of the transfer material 15, and at the same time, the transfer roller 14 is
It is arranged in contact with the surface. The cleaning roller 17 has a surface made of an adhesive material and rotates in the rotation direction D3.

The transfer material 15 is fed from the paper feeding portion to the photosensitive drum 1.
When the sheet 1 is delivered to the sliding contact portion between the transfer roller 14 and the transfer roller 14, one surface of the transfer material 15 contacts the surface of the cleaning roller 17. At this time, the paper dust or the like attached to one surface of the transfer material 15 is adsorbed to the surface of the cleaning roller 17 by the adhesive force of the surface of the cleaning roller 17. Accordingly, the paper dust and the like adhering to the surface of the transferred material 15 is almost removed, and the transferred material 15 is delivered to the sliding contact portion between the transfer roller 14 and the photosensitive drum 11. The paper dust or the like remaining on the one surface of the material to be transferred 15 adheres to the transfer roller 14, but the transfer roller 14
The surface of the roller also rotates in contact with the cleaning roller 17, and the paper dust and the like adhering to the surface of the transfer roller 14 is removed. Therefore, the transfer roller 14 and the photosensitive drum 1
The electric field between 1 and 1 is uniform, and it is possible to prevent deterioration of image quality formed on the transfer material 15.

In this way, cleaning the surface of the transferred material 15 and
The cleaning of the surface of the transfer roller 14 is performed by a single cleaning roller 17. Conventionally, the cleaning means, which are separately provided, are also used by the single cleaning roller 17, so that the manufacturing cost of the image forming apparatus can be reduced and the size of the image forming apparatus can be reduced. ..

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a part of an image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment has the same configuration except that the cleaning roller 27 of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment is replaced with the cleaning roller 27. Therefore, the kneading roller 27 will be mainly described, and description of other components and the like will be omitted.

The cleaning roller 27 is the transfer roller 1.
It is arranged at a predetermined interval from the No. 4 and. The bias voltage 271 is applied to the conductive cleaning roller 27, and the surface of the cleaning roller 27 is charged to a voltage substantially equal to the bias voltage 271. Therefore, a static electricity is generated between the transferred material 15 and the surface of the cleaning roller 27, and the paper dust or the like attached to the transferred material 15 is adsorbed by the cleaning roller 27. Since the bias voltage 141 that is lower than the bias voltage 271 is applied to the transfer roller 14, an electric field is generated between the surface of the transfer roller 14 and the cleaning roller 27. Therefore, the paper dust or the like on the surface of the transfer roller 14 is adsorbed to the cleaning roller 27 by the electric power. Therefore, the surface of the transferred material 15 and the surface of the transfer roller 14 are cleaned by the single cleaning roller 27.

The image forming apparatus according to this embodiment is different from the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment in cleaning roller 27.
Is not in contact with the transfer roller 14, the transfer roller 1
4 There is an advantage that the surface is not damaged.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a part of an image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment has a configuration in which the cleaning roller 17 of the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment is replaced with a cleaning roller 37. Since the surface of the cleaning roller 37 is flocked, there is an advantage that the surface of the transfer roller 14 can be prevented from being damaged. Other configurations and effects are the same as those of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment, and therefore description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a part of an image forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment replaces the cleaning roller 17 of the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment with a cleaning roller 47, and further, a blade 48 for scraping off paper dust and the like, and a scraped off paper. Cleaner box 4 for storing powder etc.
9 and 9.

The transfer material 15 and the paper dust or the like adhering to the surface of the transfer roller 14 are attracted to the cleaning roller 47. The paper dust or the like adsorbed on the cleaning roller 47 is scraped off by the blade 47 as it rotates. The scraped off paper dust 50 is a cleaner box 49
Housed in. According to the present embodiment, the surface of the cleaning roller 47 is always cleaned, so that the cleaning roller 47 can prevent the ability to clean the surface of the transfer material 15 and the transfer roller 14 from being lowered.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a part of the image forming apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment has a configuration in which the cleaning roller 57 is in contact with the transport roller 59 and the transfer roller 14.
Conveying rollers 58 and 59 are for feeding the material 15 to be transferred to a transfer roller from a paper feeding unit (not shown).
When the transfer material 15 is delivered by the transport roller 59,
Paper dust or the like on the surface of the transfer material 15 adheres to the transport roller 59. The paper dust or the like attached to the transport roller 59 is adsorbed by the cleaning roller 57. That is, the paper dust or the like attached to the transfer material 15 is removed by the cleaning roller 57 via the transport roller 59. The paper dust and the like adhering to the transfer roller 14 is removed according to the same operation as that of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the image forming apparatus, the cleaning of the surface of the transfer roller and the cleaning of the surface of the material to be transferred are performed by a single cleaning means. The manufacturing cost of the image forming apparatus can be reduced, and the image forming apparatus can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a part of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a part of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a part of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a part of an image forming apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a part of an image forming apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

14 Transfer Roller 15 Transferred Material 17, 27, 37, 47, 57 Cleaning Roller (Cleaning Means) 48 Blade (Cleaning Means) 49 Cleaner Box (Cleaning Means) 271 Bias Voltage (Cleaning Means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transfer roller for generating a predetermined electric field and adhering charged toner to a transfer material by the predetermined electric field, cleaning the surface of the transfer roller, and cleaning the surface of the transfer material. An image forming apparatus for cleaning is provided with a single cleaning means for cleaning the surface of the transfer roller and the surface of the transferred material.