JPH06114353A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a cleaning device for cleaning a conductive supporting body for use to form thereon an electronic photosensitive material having an excellent image characteristic. CONSTITUTION:A cleaning device adapted to fill a predetermined amt. of warm pure water in a cleaning tank 1 as a cleaning liq. 6 in order to immerse and clean a conductive supporting body in the cleaning liq. 6 before forming a photosensitive layer of an electronic photosensitive material on the conductive supporting body is characterized by a lid or cover 5 having a heat source and provided at the upper part of the cleaning tank 1 extending peripherally above the surface of the cleaning liq. 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for a conductive support used for an electrophotographic photoreceptor having excellent image characteristics.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electrophotographic photosensitive member has a structure in which a photosensitive layer is vacuum-deposited or coated on a conductive support and is used in copying machines, printers and the like. The support used for the electrophotographic photosensitive member may be any one as long as it has conductivity, but the most commonly used one is a metal drum (hereinafter referred to as a blank tube). The raw tube is made of aluminum and aluminum alloy into a drum shape by impact molding, extrusion processing, drawing processing, or the like, and the surface may be further subjected to ironing processing or cutting processing. On the surface of such a raw pipe, metal powder generated in the process of raw pipe processing, dust and dust from the surrounding environment, oil used during processing, rust prevention of the surface when storing the raw pipe after processing The oil etc. applied to is adhered. Since these deposits adversely affect the image characteristics and electrophotographic properties of the electrophotographic photoreceptor after forming the photosensitive layer on the tube, it is necessary to remove these deposits in the manufacturing process of the electrophotographic photoreceptor. The tube is being cleaned. As the method for cleaning the raw pipe, there are a jet cleaning method, an ultrasonic cleaning method, an immersion cleaning method, a steam cleaning method, and the like, and the cleaning liquid used for cleaning is methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, 1,3-
Butadiol, methylene chloride, Freon 113, Freon 2
Organic solvents such as 25 and non-organic solvents such as water, weakly alkaline aqueous solutions and aqueous solutions containing a surfactant are used.
Among them, the immersion cleaning method using warm pure water is
It is excellent in terms of environment. However, the current situation is that the cleaning liquid adheres to the base pipe when the base pipe is pulled up after being immersed in warm pure water, and water marks are generated. further,
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-78476 discloses a device for pulling from hot water as a substrate cleaning device and promoting drying with a UV lamp. In order to accelerate drying of the entire surface of a UV lamp, the entire surface of the substrate is irradiated. Therefore, it is necessary to rotate it.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a cleaning device for a conductive support used for an electrophotographic photoreceptor having excellent image characteristics.

[0004]

A characteristic of a cleaning apparatus for a conductive support according to the present invention is that a lid or a cover provided with a heat source is arranged on the upper part of a cleaning tank to cover the upper surface of the cleaning liquid. That is. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an apparatus showing an outline of the present invention. A certain amount of warm pure water 6 as a cleaning liquid is put in the cleaning tank 1, and the cleaning liquid is supplied from the bottom of the cleaning tank to the pipe 2
Through the pump P, is filtered through the filter 3, is returned to the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank, and is forcibly circulated. The tube is immersed in the axial direction at right angles to the liquid surface of the cleaning tank, and then pulled out in the direction opposite to the immersion direction. When pulling out the raw pipe, the raw pipe passes through a layer of water vapor generated from warm pure water. When passing through the water vapor layer, the cleaning liquid adheres to the tube, causing image noise called "water marks" in the image characteristics. Therefore, the lid or cover 5 which covers the upper part of the surface of the cleaning liquid on the upper part of the cleaning tank and which is provided with a heat source 5
By arranging, the steam layer is warmed and the blank tube after cleaning is quickly dried. Therefore, cleaning can be performed without leaving water marks on the raw pipe. In the present invention,
The heat source applied to the lid or the cover may be any one as long as it generates radiant heat, such as an infrared lamp and a nichrome wire.

In the present invention, the conductive support is an aluminum-based tube (hereinafter referred to as an alumite tube) having a water-based anodic oxide film formed on its surface. To form an aqueous anodic oxide film on the surface of an aluminum tube, completely remove the dust, dust, oil, etc. adhering to the tube, and then conduct the conductivity in an aqueous solution of oxalic acid, sulfuric acid, etc. A method in which electrolysis is performed using a transparent support (aluminum-based tube) as an anode. As a result, an anodic oxide film is formed on the surface of the aluminum-based tube, and an alumite tube can be obtained. A water-soluble liquid is used to form the anodic oxide film, so no oily substance will adhere to the surface of the alumite tube, and the surface of the alumite tube does not rust unlike the aluminum tube. Therefore, it is not necessary to apply oil for rust prevention on the surface. Therefore, after the alumite tube is processed, the substance that adheres to the surface of the alumite tube until the formation of the photosensitive layer is dust, dust, or a water-soluble substance. Because of the above and the fact that the surface of the alumite tube is an oxide film, the alumite tube can be washed with warm pure water.

In the present invention, warm pure water is 30 to 90.
Pure water heated to ℃, preferably 50 to 80 ℃. It is preferable that the warm pure water is kept at an electric conductivity of 3 μS / cm or less by passing through an ion exchange resin-based tank while being sufficiently filtered. The warm pure water may be pure water that has undergone a regeneration process by the reverse osmosis membrane method, a bacterial process by ultraviolet rays, or the like. Before washing with warm pure water, washing may be performed with warm water containing a surfactant or an aqueous solution containing 60% by weight or less of a solvent in warm water. The non-contact cleaning method or the contact cleaning method may be used for cleaning the alumite tube. Further, these two washing methods may be performed simultaneously or in combination.

The photosensitive layer is formed after washing the alumite tube with warm pure water. Examples of the charge generating agent used in the photosensitive layer include phthalocyanine pigments such as metal phthalocyanine and metal-free phthalocyanine, monoazo dyes and disazo dyes. Azo dyes, indigo pigments,
Quinacridone-based pigments, indanthrene-based pigments, xanthene-based dyes, benzimidazole-based pigments, perylene-based pigments, dyes and pigments such as squaric menane dyes, eutectic complexes formed from pyrylium salt dyes and polycarbonate resins, polyvinylcarbazole, etc. Examples thereof include a charge transfer complex composed of an electron-donating substance and an electron-accepting substance such as TNF, and it is particularly preferable to use a phthalocyanine pigment. Examples of the charge transport agent used in the photosensitive layer include hydrazone compounds, styryl compounds, pyrazoline compounds, oxazole compounds, thiazole compounds, and particularly one or more hydrazone compounds and styryl compounds. It is preferable to use. The photosensitive layer according to the invention may contain a known sensitizer. In addition, if necessary, a surfactant, a plasticizer, an antioxidant,
An ultraviolet absorber, a dispersion aid, an anti-settling agent and the like can also be used appropriately.

Further, the photoconductor of the present invention has a structure in which a charge generating agent and a charge transporting agent are provided on the alumite tube in the same layer, which is usually referred to as a single layer type photoconductor, or mainly comprises a charge generating agent. It is possible to obtain a structure commonly referred to as a laminated type photoreceptor, which is formed by laminating two layers of the first layer containing and the second layer mainly containing the charge transfer agent on the alumite tube. In the case of a laminated type photoreceptor, which of the charge generation layer and the charge transport layer is to be the upper layer is determined by whether the chargeability is positive or negative. In general, when negatively charged, it is advantageous in terms of characteristics that the charge transport layer is an upper layer. Next, the present invention will be described with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the following examples. Hereinafter, in the examples, "parts" in the examples means parts by weight.

EXAMPLE A cleaning apparatus shown in FIG.
C., 3 parts of .tau.-type metal-free phthalocyanine as a charge generating agent in an anodized aluminum tube washed with pure water having an electric conductivity of 1.5 .mu.S / cm, a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer resin (trade name of Union Carbide Co.). A coating solution prepared by dispersing 3 parts of VMCH) with 94 parts of tetrahydrofuran in a ball mill for 2 hours was applied and dried at 100 ° C. for 2 hours to form a 0.25 μm charge generation layer. Next, 1-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline-6-as a charge transport agent
Carboxaldehyde-1 ', 1'-diphenylhydrazone 10 parts, polyester resin (TOYOBO, trade name Byron 200) 10 parts in methylene chloride 100 parts was applied on the charge generation layer, dried, and 15 μm charge transport. Layers were formed. When the electrophotographic photosensitive drum was visually observed, coating cissing did not occur. Next, this photoconductor was attached to an electrophotographic copying machine having a corona charger, an exposure part, a transfer charging part, a charge removal exposure part and a cleaner. When the dark area potential of this copying machine was set to -650V and the light area potential was set to -150V, the obtained image was evaluated and it was an excellent image without black spots and streaks.

[0009]

[Comparative Example] A lid provided with a heat source is not disposed on the upper part of the cleaning layer, and other configurations are the same as those of the example after cleaning with the same warm pure water as the example using the same cleaning device as in FIG. A photoconductor was manufactured. When this electrophotographic photosensitive drum was visually observed, coating cissing occurred. Next, when the same image evaluation as that of the example was performed, it was an image with a black spot.

[0010]

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION Providing a photosensitive layer on a conductive support. Before forming a photosensitive layer of an electrophotographic photosensitive member, a cleaning tank is filled with a predetermined amount of warm pure water as a cleaning liquid, and the conductive support is immersed in the cleaning liquid. In an apparatus for cleaning, an electrophotographic photosensitive member having excellent image characteristics could be obtained by disposing a lid provided with a heat source on the upper portion of the cleaning tank to cover the upper surface of the cleaning liquid.

[0011]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the outline of an apparatus according to the present invention. Reference numerals in the figure indicate 1-cleaning tank, 2-circulation pipe, 3-filter, 4-element pipe, 5-lid or cover with infrared lamp, 6-washing liquid, 7-element pipe The liquid level of the cleaning tank and the P-pump are shown respectively.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Nobuhiro Fuse 2-3-13 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Within Toyo Inki Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Ryuichiro Kurata 2-3-13 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Toyo Inki Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Saeko Shimojima 2-3-13 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Toyo Inki Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Forming a photosensitive layer on a conductive support. Before forming a photosensitive layer on an electrophotographic photosensitive member, a predetermined amount of warm pure water as a cleaning liquid is put in a cleaning tank, and the conductive support is immersed and washed in the cleaning liquid. In the apparatus for performing, the cleaning apparatus is characterized in that an upper part of the surface of the cleaning liquid is covered with an upper part of the cleaning tank, and a lid or a cover to which a heat source is applied is arranged.