JPH0627851A - Image forming device, fixing roller and coating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image forming device capable of detecting the faults of the respective means installed in a fixing device and the device. CONSTITUTION:The surface of a cleaning web 26 after rubbing on the surface of a fixing roller 24 is set to be positioned on an original platen glass 1, and the surface of the web 26 after cleaning is read by an illuminating lamp 2 for reading an original, mirrors 3, 4 and 5, a lens 6 and a photodetector 7, etc. Since a specified pattern or locus on which the state of the surface of the roller 24 is reflected is drawn on the surface, the occurrence of offset, the scratch of the surface of the roller 24, and the fault of the peripheral member of the roller 24 are detected from the state of the surface.

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 utilizing an electrophotographic process. In particular, it relates to a fixing device.

The present invention also relates to a liquid coating device for a flat surface or a curved surface, for example, for offset prevention liquid coating for roller fixing, surf fixing, and thermal endless belt fixing in an image forming apparatus adopting an electrophotographic method. It is used.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a so-called heat roller fixing system has been widely used in a fixing device of an electrophotographic copying machine. This is because a heating element such as an infrared light bulb is provided on one or both shaft portions of a roller coated with a non-adhesive substance such as tetrafluoroethylene resin, silicone rubber, or fluorocarbon resin on the surface thereof. The shaft portion between both rollers is rotatably supported by applying an appropriate pressure between them,
A recording material having unfixed thermoplastic powder (hereinafter referred to as toner) is allowed to pass between the rollers.

That is, the conventional contact heating fixing device is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a heating roller c having a non-adhesive coating b on the surface of a metal core a and a pressure roller f formed by winding a heat resistant elastic body e around a metal shaft d are provided.
A heating element g is provided inside the heating roller c. The rollers c and f cooperate with each other by a mechanism (not shown) to contact the recording material h supporting the toner image i while applying pressure thereto, and separate during the waiting time.

When the recording material h passes between the rollers c and f, the unfixed toner image i becomes a fixed image j.
Further, k in FIG. 7 is an element for detecting the temperature of the heating roller c, and a heating element is provided so that the temperature of the heating roller c becomes constant by a control circuit (not shown) based on the temperature detected by the element k. It controls the input to g.

This heater roller fixing system has the advantages that it operates at a relatively low power and there is no danger of fire, but on the other hand, both rollers c, which provide good fixing,
The relationship among f, temperature, pressure, paper feed speed, etc. is limited,
If it is removed, problems such as so-called offset adhesion of toner to the heat roller and unfixed toner are likely to occur. To prevent this, highly accurate temperature control is required. Further, this system requires a cleaning device for offset toner. As this cleaning device, a web cleaning device in which a heat resistant nonwoven fabric is impregnated with silicone oil is generally used.

Further, in order to prevent offset to the surface of the fixing roller, a web is placed on the surface of sponge,
There is a device in which an application roller made by applying oil to a sponge is rotated on the surface of a fixing roller. Further, there is also an apparatus that has an oil storage unit inside the application roller and gradually exudes oil from a hole provided in the storage unit to extend the life.

[0008]

However, according to each of the above conventional examples, there are the following problems. First, according to the conventional example shown in FIG. 7, not only the occurrence of offset, but also a number of failures such as scratches on the rollers, defective operation of the cleaning device, and defective contact between the separating claw and the thermistor may occur. Since the failure could not be detected, there was a problem that fixing failure and accidents occurred.

When a fluorine resin is used as the surface layer of the fixing roller, the strength of the fluorine resin is not sufficient between 150 ° C. and 230 ° C. which is a general fixing temperature. There is a problem that it is worn by rubbing against the material, and is worn by rubbing against the cleaner or the separating claw. Further, since the fluororesin generally has low thermal conductivity, it is difficult to form the fluororesin layer thickly, and it is usually used in a thickness of 20 μm to 50 μm, but such a thickness is also sufficient. For fixing, the temperature of the surface of the fixing roller is 20 to 20% higher than the required fixing temperature.
Since the temperature must be set higher by 40 ° C., there are problems that energy is lost and the temperature of the image forming apparatus main body rises too much.

Further, in the above liquid coating device, when the amount of oil to be impregnated is large, there is a problem that the amount of oil supplied is large at the initial stage of use of the coating roller, resulting in excessive coating. As a result, in some cases, oil may drip onto the copy to cause spots, stains, and stickiness. On the other hand, if the amount of impregnated oil or the amount of stored oil is reduced in order to avoid excessive application, there is a problem that the supply period of the required amount of oil is shortened, the frequency of application roller replacement is increased, and the running cost is increased. Further, since these devices do not have a means for controlling the amount of oil supply, they cannot supply a constant amount of oil, and the storage amount of oil gradually decreases even after being left for a long period of time. There was a problem of stickiness.

A first object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide an image forming apparatus capable of detecting the failure of each means and apparatus provided in the fixing device.

A second object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a fixing roller having a release layer which is excellent in abrasion resistance and thermal conductivity.

A third object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to make the liquid amount on the surface of the rotating body constant at the time of applying the liquid, and to keep the amount of liquid on the surface of the rotating body after the rotating body is stopped for a long time. Another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid application device capable of avoiding excessive supply of the liquid and further providing a tank for storing a large volume of liquid inside the rotating body.

[0014]

According to the first invention of the present application,
The first purpose is to provide a fixing roller pair for fixing and fixing an unfixed image on the recording material by nip-conveying the recording material, and heating and pressing, and at least one roller of the fixing roller pair. An image forming apparatus having a contact member which is disposed so as to contact the roller and cleans the roller surface or applies a release agent to the surface, and detects the surface state of the contact member optically. Means and means for judging the surface condition of the roller or the malfunction of the peripheral member contacting the roller based on the condition of the surface of the contact member detected by the detecting means. It

Further, according to the second invention of the present application, the above-mentioned second object is achieved by forming the surface release layer of the fixing roller by a plating layer composed of at least a fluororesin and a metal.

Further, according to the third invention of the present application, the third object is to provide a liquid coating apparatus having a rotating body in which a coating layer of the liquid is formed around a liquid storage section for storing the liquid. A liquid lead-out hole that is formed at a predetermined position in the storage unit and supplies a liquid to the coating layer of the rotating body, and the rotating body so that the liquid lead-out hole is located above and away from the liquid in the liquid storage unit. It is achieved by providing a means for stopping.

[0017]

In the first invention of the present application, at least one of the pair of fixing rollers is provided with an abutting member such as cleaning means so as to rub against the roller surface. A predetermined pattern or locus reflecting the state of the roller surface is drawn. Therefore, by optically detecting the state of the surface of the contact member by the detection means, it is possible to judge from the state of the surface that the roller surface is scratched or offset, or the peripheral member that contacts the roller surface is broken. However, prevent fixing failure or accidents.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, by using the release layer formed by simultaneously plating the fluororesin and the metal on the surface layer of the fixing roller, excellent wear resistance and thermal conductivity can be obtained. An excellent fixing roller can be obtained.

Further, according to the third invention of the present application, when the rotating body is rotating, the liquid is supplied from the liquid outlet to the coating layer, and the necessary amount of the liquid is constantly supplied to the coating layer. To be done. Further, when the rotating body is stopped, the liquid lead-out hole is located above and away from the liquid, so that the supply of the liquid is stopped, and when the rotating body is stopped, the liquid permeates due to the permeation phenomenon. It does not excessively seep into. In addition, a liquid storage unit is provided inside the rotating body to store a large amount of liquid, thereby extending the life of the device.

[0020]

Embodiments 1 to 9 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, by detecting the dirt state of the cleaning web, the offset and the movement of the separation claw, the roller scratches, and the like are detected.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of the apparatus of this embodiment. In FIG. 1, 1 is a platen glass on which a document or the like is placed, 2 is an illumination lamp (exposure lamp) that illuminates the document,
3, 4 and 5 are scanning reflection mirrors (scanning mirrors) for changing the optical path of the reflected light of the original, 6 is a lens for focusing, and 7 is a lens.
Is a light receiving element, and the light receiving element 7 is for converting an original image into an electric signal. Reference numeral 8 is a photosensitive drum, 9 is a developing device, 10 is a transfer charger, 11 is a separation charger, and 12 is a cleaning device. Further, 13 is a primary charger, 14 is a laser exposure system, and 15 is a folding mirror thereof. 16
Is an upper paper cassette, and 17 is a lower paper cassette. 1
Reference numerals 8 and 18 'are paper pickup rollers, reference numerals 19 and 19' are paper feed rollers, and reference numerals 20 and 20 'are retard rollers. Two
Reference numerals 1 and 22 denote transport belts, which have suction fans inside. Reference numeral 23 is a fixing entrance guide. 24 is a heating roller, 25 is a pressure roller, 26 is a cleaning web, 2
7, 28 are separation claws. Reference numeral 29 is a document feeder and a paper discharge tray.

In the apparatus of this embodiment as described above, the light receiving element 7 reads the original image on the original table glass 1 by the moving optical system and converts it into an electric signal. After performing various kinds of signal processing on this electric signal, a drive signal is sent to the laser of the scanning laser exposure system 14 based on this signal to form a latent image on the photosensitive drum 8. This latent image is developed by the developing device 9 to form an image on the photosensitive drum 8. On the other hand, the paper is carried from the upper paper cassette 16 onto the transfer charger 10,
The toner image on the photosensitive drum 8 is transferred onto the paper. Next, the paper is separated from the photosensitive drum 8 by passing through the charge-eliminating corona of the separation charger 11 and sent by the conveyor belt 21.
Then, the paper is carried upward while being sucked by the vertical conveyor belt 22, passes through the nip portion of the heating roller 24 and the pressure roller 25 along the entrance guide 23, and is fixed.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the fixing unit of the image forming apparatus. As shown in FIG. 2, the heating roller 24 has a silicone rubber layer 24-2 on the aluminum core metal 24-1.
About 0 μm is provided, and the release layer 24-3 is provided thereon as a thin layer. Further, the pressure roller 25 has a silicone rubber layer 25-2 of about 5 mm provided on a core metal 25-1, and a release layer 25-3 is further coated thereon. Further, halogen heaters 29 and 30 are arranged in the heating roller 24. Further, the pressure roller 25 is driven to rotate by the rotation in the direction of the arrow by the driving means (not shown). Separation claw 27,2
8 is a heat-resistant resin coated with a material having a good mold release property, for example, a fluororesin. Also, FIG.
In the figure, 31 and 32 are discharge rollers. Reference numeral 33 is a temperature sensitive element for detecting the surface temperature of the heating roller. The web 26 is pressed against the heating roller 24 by the web pressing roller 34 to apply oil and perform cleaning. Then, the web winding shaft 3 passes through the relay rollers 35 and 36.
It is wound up by 7. The toner indicated by T is the toner adhered to the web after cleaning, and when the offset toner is large, the adhered toner is large. The cleaning web is a heat-resistant non-woven cloth. Even if it is sufficiently thin, it has sufficient strength, and the presence or absence of toner can be observed even when the non-woven cloth is observed from the back.

FIG. 3 is a view of the separating claw 28 seen from the direction of arrow A in FIG. (A) is a diagram in which the separation claw 28 is located at the left end, and (b) is a diagram in which the separation claw 28 is located at the right end. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 38 denotes a metal plate to which the separation claw 28 and the claw holder 28a are attached.
Slowly reciprocate left and right with 9. As a result, wear of the rollers 24 due to the claws is reduced, and the life of the rollers 24 is extended.

FIG. 4 shows a state where the soiled state of the web 24 is observed. The zigzag patterns shown in (a) and (b) indicate that the separating nail is reciprocating. That is, the offset toner on the heating roller 24 is scraped by the separation claw 28, and the cleaning web is not contaminated at the part where the separation claw 28 is present. And the separation claw 2
When 8 is normally reciprocating, a zigzag pattern is formed. The portions indicated by (c) and (d) in FIG. 4 (a) show a state in which the reciprocating operation has stopped.
Further, the portion indicated by (e) indicates that the paper size has become smaller and the width of stains has become narrower.

Next, the portion indicated by (f) in FIG.
It shows that the release layer of the surface layer of the heating roller was peeled off by the separation claw. That is, it indicates that the release layer peeled off, the offset toner on the roller increased, and the web was rapidly soiled. Further, in FIG. 4 (c), the web is severely soiled at the portion (g), but in such a case, the web is not fed normally, and when the web stops, such a phenomenon occurs. Alternatively, such a rapid contamination occurs even when the pressure is insufficient or the temperature is lowered for some reason.
In addition, the mark (H) at the end is a mark for detecting the web feeding state, and if the web drive is performed while detecting this mark, failures such as web stop can be prevented and the web drive Can be distinguished from an increase in offset due to some cause.

In this way, by observing the soiling state of the web, it is possible to determine a considerable portion of the failure in the fixing portion. In the present invention, a normal fixing unit is arranged upside down so that the fixing web can be observed from the original table portion, and the web is detected by a light receiving element for reading the original.

The detection of the dirt state of the web can be performed by, for example,
The scanning optical system groups 2, 3, 4, and 5 move under the web for every 2000 copies to read the web portion. The read image information is recorded in the memory. The abnormality is detected while comparing this image information with a predetermined reference pattern. This can be easily achieved by using, for example, the image processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-64855, so that the details of the configuration and the method will be omitted.

By detecting this zigzag pattern, normal or abnormal nail reciprocating operation is detected. When a black streak of about the width of the nail is detected within the nail reciprocating range, this is detected as a roller scratch. Further, when the difference from the reference pattern is obtained within the paper passing area in the central portion, if the black image is dark over a certain width, it is detected as fixing and offset abnormality. When observing the dirt condition of the web,
Originally, it is desirable to observe the web stain immediately after leaving the web pressure roller. Therefore, at the time of observation, the take-up roller 37 once takes up the web so that the web located in the nip portion between the web pressure roller 34 and the heating roller 24 comes to the original table. Then, after the exposure scanning system operation for observing the web surface, the web feed roller 26 side is reversed again to rewind the web. In this way, it is possible to detect a failure of the fixing device without a time delay.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The same parts as those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the first embodiment, the fixing unit is mounted on the platen to detect the web stain, but in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the web stain detecting device is independently attached. . The parts indicated by 24-37 in FIG. 5 are the same as those in the apparatus of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Also, the position where this fixing device is arranged is
There is no limitation on the position where the document is placed instead of on the document table shown in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment, since the temperature becomes high around the upper cleaning web 26 of the heating roller 24, a method of observing the web surface using glass fiber is adopted. In FIG. 5, reference numerals 38 and 39 denote optical fiber bundles made of glass. The light from the lamp 40 is collected by the condensing reflection plate 41, the direction is changed by the reflection plate 42, and is diffused by the diffusion plate 43. A uniform light is applied to each fiber.
The optical fibers 38 are aligned in one or two rows in the lengthwise direction of the roller at the portion 45 to uniformly illuminate the web in the lengthwise direction. The reflected light from the web illuminated by the optical fiber array of 45 is guided from the optical fiber array of 46 to the light receiving element array (CCD line sensor) 47. As a result, it is possible to detect the dirt of the toner on the web surface. Reference numeral 44 denotes a rotation shaft for changing the direction of the fiber row, which can be rotated by a rotation driving means (not shown), and the heating roller surface can be observed in addition to the web surface. Reference numeral 47 is a standard white plate for correcting variations in the transmittance of the optical fiber, the sensitivity of the line sensor and the like, and for uniforming the detection sensitivity in the longitudinal direction.

In order to detect dirt on this web surface,
First, an encoder (not shown) for detecting the rotation angle is attached to the web pressing roller, and the lamp 40 emits light based on the signal of the rotation angle.
Then, the standard white plate 47 detects the stain on the web.
By recording this as one line in the memory, it is possible to record as an image of a dirty state of the web as in the first embodiment. Based on this image, reciprocal defects and fixing defects are detected in the same manner as in the first embodiment. In addition, the roller surface is directly observed to detect density unevenness on the roller surface in the longitudinal direction, and to detect roller scratches and roller stains.

<Third Embodiment> Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The same parts as those of the first and second embodiments are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the above-described embodiment, the fixing device using the web cleaning is shown as an example. However, even a fixing device using a felt roller, a cleaning rubber roller or the like detects the abnormality and estimates the cause. It is possible. FIG. 6 shows an example in which a felt roller is used for cleaning. In FIG. 6, a felt roller 50 has a structure in which a core metal is coated with a silicone sponge layer impregnated with silicone oil, and a heat-resistant felt layer is coated thereon. Applying oil and cleaning. When the fixing conditions are bad, the felt easily becomes dirty and oil discharge becomes worse. Further, when this felt roller cleaning system is used, since the cleaning ability is inferior to that of the web, the heating roller 24 is easily soiled, and when the soiling of the roller is deteriorated, paper wrapping may occur at the fixing portion. Therefore, a graph of stains on the felt roller and the number of durable sheets is created, and if the stain on the felt roller is equal to or larger than a reference value after a certain number of sheets, it is determined as abnormal. Further, by detecting the color change due to the adhesion of the toner on the surface of the heating roller, it is possible to prompt the replacement or cleaning of the roller before the paper wraps.

In addition, in a low-cost machine using a felt roller, one optical fiber and a light receiving element mechanically scan the optical fiber slowly in the longitudinal direction of the roller without using the optical fiber array. You can take the method.

<Fourth Embodiment> Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the device of this embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 201 denotes an original placing table made of a transparent member such as glass, which reciprocates in the direction of arrow a to scan the original. A short-focus small-diameter image-forming element array 202 is arranged immediately below the original document table 201, and the original image placed on the original document table 201 is illuminated by an illumination lamp 203, and the reflected light image is the array described above. Two
02, the slit exposure is performed on the photosensitive drum 204. The photosensitive drum 204 rotates in the direction of arrow b. Reference numeral 205 denotes a charger, which uniformly charges the photosensitive drum 204 coated with, for example, a zinc oxide photosensitive layer or an organic semiconductor photosensitive layer. The photosensitive drum 204 uniformly charged by the charger 205 is the array 2
02 forms an electrostatic image subjected to image exposure. This electrostatic image (electrostatic latent image) is visualized by the developing device 206 using powder toner made of resin or the like that is softened and melted by heating. On the other hand, a recording material P such as a recording paper housed in the cassette S is rotated in pressure contact in the vertical direction at a timing so as to be synchronized with the image on the feeding roller 207 and the photosensitive drum 204. It is fed onto the photosensitive drum 204 by the transport roller 208. Then, the transfer discharger 209 transfers the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 204 onto the recording material P. After that, the recording material P separated from the photosensitive drum 204 by the known separating means is guided to the fixing device 211 by the conveyance guide 210 and subjected to heat fixing processing, and then the tray 222.
Discharged on top. After transferring the toner image, the photosensitive drum 2
The residual toner on 04 is removed by the cleaner 223.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of the fixing device 211. In FIG. 2, the toner 219 on the recording material P is nipped and conveyed by a fixing roller 212 and a pressure roller 217 which are rotationally driven in the direction of an arrow by a driving device (not shown), and is fixed on the recording material P at the nip portion. At this time, the fixing roller turns on the halogen lamp 213 by the electric power supplied from the power source (not shown) and keeps it at a predetermined temperature. 215
Is a temperature detecting element such as a thermistor and controls the electric power through a control circuit (not shown) by a signal from this element. A cleaner device 214 removes the offset toner on the fixing roller and supplies a releasing agent such as silicone oil to the fixing roller. A separation claw 216 prevents the recording material P from being wound around the fixing roller 212.

FIG. 10 shows the surface release layer structure of the fixing roller 212 according to the present invention. In this embodiment, PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) and nickel having a thickness of 7 μm are electrolessly plated on the outer peripheral surface of an iron pipe core metal having a diameter of 30 mm and a thickness of 0.5 mm. At this time, the PTFE content in the surface release layer was 7%, but the pure water contact angle was 105 ° C., and sufficient separability was obtained.

When the durability of the fixing device using the above fixing roller and the fixing device using the fixing roller coated with normal PTFE of 30 μm were compared, the following results were obtained.

[0042]

[Table 1]

That is, the abrasion resistance was tripled or more, and the resistance against the scratches by the separating claw was remarkably strong. Further, even if the fixing temperature is lowered by 15 ° C., it becomes possible to obtain the fixing property equivalent to that of PTFE. Further, since the resistance value on the surface of the fixing roller is lowered, it is possible to eliminate the offset phenomenon caused by the charging of the roller surface.

In the present embodiment, a surface release layer having a thickness of 7 μm was obtained by combining PTFE and nickel. However, it is also possible to combine it with another fluororesin or another metal, and the particle size of the fluororesin (preferably Is 0.1-5μ
The thickness and fluororesin content can be easily changed by changing m), the molecular weight, and the plating conditions.

<Fifth Embodiment> Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the description of the common points with the fourth embodiment will be omitted.

In this embodiment, PFA (tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer resin) having an average particle diameter of 3 μm and nickel are plated on a core metal, and then 400
The PFA resin was melted by the above heat treatment, and the releasability was further improved.

<Sixth Embodiment> Next, a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the description of the common points with the fourth embodiment will be omitted.

In this embodiment, a core metal is plated with PTFE and nickel, and then PTFE is further coated to a thickness of 5 μm. In this case, it is possible to obtain a fixing roller which does not require the primer treatment required for ordinary PTFE coating and has excellent heat conduction and excellent adhesion of the cored bar.

<Seventh Embodiment> Next, a seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 16 are sectional views showing a schematic configuration of the liquid coating apparatus of this embodiment. In FIG. 13, reference numeral 301 denotes a roller-shaped liquid storage portion, and a liquid supply portion 302 is provided with a lead-out hole 302 as a liquid supply means at a predetermined position.
Further, a liquid guide layer 303 and a coating layer 305 are provided around the liquid storage section 301, and these are integrated to form a coating roller 310. That is, the liquid storage unit 301, the liquid guide layer 303, and the coating layer 305 are configured so as to be integrally rotatable about the rotation shaft 306, and the offset prevention liquid 304 contained in the liquid storage unit 301 is covered. It is adapted to be applied on the fixing roller 309 which is the application surface. .

On the other hand, a detection claw 307 is arranged at a predetermined position on the rotary shaft 306 as shown in FIG.
It is adapted to engage with a control claw 308 rotatably arranged. Therefore, when the control claw 308 is in the engaged state with the detection claw 307, the application roller 310 is in the stopped state, and the position of the lead-out hole 302 with respect to the offset prevention liquid 304 at that time is as shown in FIG. That is, when the rotation of the coating roller 310 is stopped, the lead-out hole 302 is located above the offset prevention liquid 304, and the offset prevention liquid 304 is not supplied onto the fixing roller 309.

When the control claw 308 is moved to the position 308 'shown in FIG. 14, the coating roller 310 is in a rotatable state and the lead-out hole 302 is at the position shown in FIG. The offset prevention liquid 304 is supplied. Moreover, the supply amount is controlled to a predetermined amount by the outlet hole 302.

<Embodiment 8> Next, an embodiment 8 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, the same parts as those of the seventh embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

When the lead-out hole is formed at a predetermined position as in the first embodiment, the liquid may be supplied from the lead-out hole in a biased manner toward the lead-out hole side.
The liquid-conducting layer 331 on 01 is made of a material having a high liquid permeability, and the liquid permeates the peripheral surface of the liquid storage unit 301 uniformly.

Further, in order to prevent the liquid from penetrating into the coating layer 305 excessively on the liquid guiding layer 331, the liquid guiding layer 33 made of a material having low liquid permeability.
2,333 are provided. In particular, for the liquid guiding layer 332 on the side of the lead-out hole 302, by selecting a material having a lower liquid permeability than the liquid guiding layers 331 and 333, the liquid 304 supplied from the lead-out hole 302 rotates. It is designed to be uniformly supplied to the body surface within a short time. For example, the permeability of each liquid guide layer is liquid guide layer 331> liquid guide layer 333>
The material, length, density or the like of the fibers of the liquid conducting layer may be selected so as to form the liquid conducting layer 332.

<Ninth Embodiment> Next, a ninth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, the same parts as those of the seventh embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 19 shows a liquid coating method according to the present invention,
It is an example comparing how the application amount of the liquid changes with the durable number of copies in the conventional application method, using an oil application device for heat roller fixing as shown in FIG. FIG. 19
The horizontal axis indicates the number of sheets passed through the fixing device in FIG.
The vertical axis is a value obtained by measuring the oil application amount of the oil application roller. If the amount of oil applied to the surface of the fixing roller is 5/100 cc or more per sheet, the oil will be excessive.
Oil stains and stickiness occur on copy paper. Also,
If it is 5/1000 cc or less, the oil becomes insufficient and the offset toner increases.

FIG. 20 shows a conventional oil applying roller, which is a sponge layer 303 in which the core metal 311 is impregnated with oil.
And the oil is applied onto the fixing roller from the surface layer 305 of the heat resistant fiber. In this example, a coating roller having an outer diameter of 25 mm was prepared, and a sponge layer was impregnated with 20 cc of oil to perform a fixing test. FIG. 19 is a graph showing the amount of oil applied in this case, and an oil shortage occurred when the number of sheets passed was about 40,000.

Next, FIG. 19 is a graph when the fixing test was conducted with the oil amount increased to 30 cc, and the life was extended due to the increase in the oil amount, but it was not preferable because excess oil occurred in the initial stage.

Next, the sponge layer is thickened to make the roller diameter 30.
FIG. 19 shows a graph in which oil is impregnated with about 25 cc in mm, and the life can be extended to about 50,000 sheets, but a roller having a large diameter is not preferable.

FIG. 19 shows an example using the present invention of FIG. 17, which is a line showing the oil application amount of an oil application roller having an outer diameter of 25 mm and 50 cc of oil in an oil tank. The amount of oil applied did not decrease to the number of sheets.

[0061]

As described above, according to the first invention of the present application, the cause of the failure of the fixing device is quickly estimated and detected by detecting the surface condition of the contact member such as the cleaning device or the oil applying device. can do.

Further, according to the second invention of the present application, durability can be further improved by using a metal cored bar of the fixing roller, which is plated with a mixture of a fluororesin and a metal, as a release layer. It is possible to reduce the fixing temperature and eliminate the offset due to static electricity.

Further, according to the third invention of the present application, since the liquid outlet is provided at a predetermined position in the liquid storage portion inside the rotating body, a constant liquid supply can be obtained during the rotation and the liquid can be led out during the stop. By holding the holes so that they are above the liquid level in the storage unit, the supply of the liquid was cut off, and a liquid application device with a long life and low running cost was realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a fixing device in the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the vicinity of a separation claw mounting portion in the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between a dirty state of a web and a failure state of each means in the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an apparatus of Example 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional fixing device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a device of Example 4 of the present invention.

9 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a fixing device used in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of a release layer of a fixing roller of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of a release layer of a fixing roller according to a fifth exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a structure of a release layer of a fixing roller in Example 6 of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a device according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining a control mechanism of a rotating body of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a state of the liquid storage unit when the rotating body is stopped in the apparatus shown in FIG. 13;

16 is a diagram showing a state of the liquid storage unit when the rotating body is rotated in the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a device according to Example 8 of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view of the device of Example 8 of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram comparing the present invention with a conventional example in Example 9 of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 24 Heating Roller (Fixing Roller) 25 Pressure Roller (Fixing Roller) 26 Cleaning Web (Abutting Member) 212 Fixing Roller 301 Liquid Storage Section 302 Liquid Outlet Hole 305 Coating Layer 310 Rotating Body

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical indication location G03G 21/00 111 (72) Inventor Noriyuki Ishihara 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tanaka, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Shinji Hanada, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A fixing roller pair for fixing an unfixed image on the recording material by nip-conveying the recording material, and heating and pressing the recording material, and at least one roller of the fixing roller pair. An image forming apparatus having an abutting member for cleaning the roller surface or applying a release agent to the roller, and a detecting means for optically detecting the surface state of the abutting member. An image which has a means for judging a surface condition of the roller or a malfunction of a peripheral member contacting the roller based on a surface condition of the contact member detected by the detecting means. Forming equipment. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the contact member is a web cleaning device. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit is a light receiving element for reading an original image. 4. A fixing roller, wherein the surface release layer of the fixing roller is formed of a plating layer made of at least a fluororesin and a metal. 5. The fixing roller according to claim 4, wherein the fluororesin is PTFE or PFA. 6. The fixing roller according to claim 4, wherein the metal is nickel. 7. A liquid applying apparatus having a rotating body having a liquid coating layer formed around a liquid storing section for storing a liquid, wherein the liquid applying section is formed at a predetermined position of the liquid storing section and applies the rotating body. A liquid application apparatus comprising: a liquid outlet for supplying a liquid to the layer; and means for stopping the rotating body so that the liquid outlet is located above and away from the liquid in the liquid storage section. . 8. The liquid coating apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a liquid guiding layer is formed between the liquid outlet and the coating layer. 9. The liquid application apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a multi-layered liquid-conducting layer is formed, and the amount of movement of the liquid is reduced toward the surface of the application roller.