JPH07104630A - Cleaning brush - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent residual toner scraped from a photoreceptor from retaining at the root part of brush bristles and to maintain the cleaning performance of a cleaning brush by attaching the brush bristles on a rotary shaft through an elastic body. CONSTITUTION:The cleaning brush is constituted of the rotary shaft 11, the brush bristles 12 and an elastic body layer 13. In such a case, the rotary shaft 11 is a rotating shaft to which driving is transmitted from a motor, and the elastic body layer 13 formed of a material for fixing the brush bristles 12 is uniformly formed on the peripheral surface of the rotary shaft 11. The tips of the brush bristles 12 fixed by the elastic body layer 13 come in contact with the photoreceptor and remove fore-flow toner on the photoreceptor. Therefore, the elastic member by which the brush 4 is fixed is deformed and the root part of the brush bristles 12 is opened, then, the residual toner scraped from the photoreceptor and retaining at the root part of the brush bristles 12 is removed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning brush for cleaning residual toner on a photosensitive member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a cleaning device using a cleaning brush to remove the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive member. This cleaning brush is basically composed of a brush bristle portion and a rotary shaft portion. Specifically, on the rotary shaft provided near the photoconductor,
It is configured by directly fixing the brush bristle portion with an adhesive or the like, or by weaving the brush bristle portion into a woven fabric or the like and adhering and fixing the woven fabric to the shaft portion.

A conventional cleaning brush is rotated in the opposite direction to the photoconductor by a motor (not shown) with the brush bristles in contact with the photoconductor. Then, the toner particles remaining on the photoconductor are scraped off with brush hairs for cleaning. Part of the scraped residual toner enters between the brush bristles of the cleaning brush, but when the brush bristles come into contact with the fixed scraping plate, it is ejected or the cleaning brush rotates. Along with this, the bristles of the brush are bent and are discharged by a reaction.

[0004]

However, in the conventional cleaning brush, since the brush bristle portions are regularly and firmly fixed to the rotary shaft, the root portion between the brush bristle is continuously fixed while cleaning. There is a problem that residual toner enters and stays, and even if the scraping plate or the like tries to remove the stagnant toner, it cannot be sufficiently removed and the cleaning performance of the cleaning brush is deteriorated.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning brush in which the residual toner scraped off does not stay at the root portion of the cleaning brush and the cleaning performance is less deteriorated.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in a cleaning brush for removing residual toner on a photosensitive member, a shaft which is driven by a motor to rotate and which is rotatable is brought into contact with the photosensitive member to remove the residual toner. It is characterized by comprising brush bristles and an elastic member which is provided on the peripheral surface of the shaft and fixes the bristles to the shaft.

Further, the elastic member in the cleaning brush of the present invention is electrically conductive.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the joint portion of the elastic member with the brush bristles has an inclined surface which draws an arc having a radius larger than the particle radius of the residual toner.

Furthermore, the cleaning device for removing the residual toner on the photoconductor to which the present invention is applied includes a shaft that is driven by a motor and is rotatable, and brush bristles that contact the photoconductor to remove the residual toner. And a cleaning brush having an elastic member provided on the peripheral surface of the shaft for fixing the bristles to the shaft, and a scraping member for contacting the cleaning brush and removing the scraped residual toner. It is characterized by that.

[0010]

According to the above construction, the elastic member to which the cleaning brush is fixed is deformed, the root portion of the brush bristles is opened, and the residual toner scraped off from the photosensitive member staying at the root portion of the brush bristles. Are removed.

[0011]

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

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the schematic arrangement of a cleaning device used in a copying machine to which the cleaning brush according to the present invention is applied.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a photosensitive drum for holding an electrostatic latent image, which is rotationally driven by a motor M in a counterclockwise direction in the figure. Reference numeral 2 denotes a cleaning device to which the cleaning brush of the present invention is applied, which is provided in the vicinity of the photoconductor 1 to remove the toner remaining on the photoconductor 1. The cleaning device 2 includes a cleaning brush 4 according to the present invention for removing the residual toner on the photoconductor 1, and a motor m for rotationally driving the cleaning brush 4.
A scraping plate 5 for removing the residual toner scraped off by the cleaning brush 4, a transport coil 6 for transporting the residual toner removed by the scraping plate 5 to a waste toner bottle (not shown), and cleaning. The cleaning blade 3 is provided for removing the residual toner that cannot be scraped off by the brush 4. The cleaning brush 4 is provided close to the photoconductor 1 so as to contact the photoconductor 1 in order to scrape off the residual toner on the photoconductor 1. Further, the cleaning brush 4 is in contact with a scraping plate 5 fixed to a casing 7 forming a conveyance path, and the residual toner scraped from the photoconductor 1 adhering to the cleaning brush 4 is cleaned. Scrape from the brush 4 toward the carrying coil 6. The carrying coil 6 is provided inside the casing 7 forming the carrying path, at a position near the cleaning brush 4 and at a position where the toner scraped off from the cleaning brush 4 can be received. The cleaning blade 3 is a cleaning brush 4
Is provided on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the photoconductor 1, and the tip of the cleaning blade comes into contact with the photoconductor 1 to remove the residual toner on the photoconductor 14 that cannot be completely removed by the cleaning brush 4.

A motor M for rotating the photosensitive member 1
Drives the photoconductor 1 to rotate counterclockwise, and a motor m that drives the cleaning brush 4 to rotate rotates the cleaning brush 4 counterclockwise. In this embodiment, the motor M rotationally drives the photoconductor 1 at 60 rpm, and the motor m
Rotates the cleaning brush 4 at 100 rpm, but it suffices that the cleaning brush 4 and the photosensitive drum 1 have a peripheral speed difference at the contact point.

FIG. 2 shows the cleaning brush 4 of the present invention.
It is a perspective view which shows the structure of.

The cleaning brush 4 comprises a rotary shaft 11, brush bristles 12, and an elastic layer 13. Rotating shaft 1
Reference numeral 1 denotes a shaft that is rotated by receiving drive from a motor m (not shown), and an elastic layer 13 formed of a material described below for fixing the brush bristles 12 on the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 11 is uniformly formed. Has been formed. The tips of the brush bristles 12 fixed by the elastic layer 13 come into contact with the photoconductor 1 and
Remove the upper stream toner. Natural rubber is used for the elastic layer 13 in this embodiment, but urethane, foamed urethane, silicon, fluororubber, synthetic rubber such as SBR (styrene butadiene rubber) and BR (butadiene rubber) are used. You may use it. In addition, hardness 90 degrees (JIS
A) Other than the above, any elastic body having a thickness of 1 mm or more may be used. The brush bristles 12 may be harder than the elastic layer 13 or may have the same hardness as the elastic layer 13. In this embodiment, the rotating shaft 11 has a diameter of 6 mm, the elastic layer 13 has a thickness of 2 mm and is uniformly provided around the rotating shaft 11, and the brush bristles 12 have a length of 5 mm and are fixed to the elastic body 13.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the cleaning brush of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the principal part conceptually showing the state of deformation of the elastic layer when the brush bristles come into contact with the scraping plate. It is a figure.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the cleaning brush 4, the brush bristles 12 are in contact with the photoconductor 1,
It is rotated counterclockwise by a motor m (not shown). Then, the brush bristles 12 come into contact with the photoconductor 1 to scrape off the toner particles remaining on the photoconductor 1 in the direction of the arrow for cleaning. Cleaning brush 4
The residual toner scraped off to the root of the brush bristles 12 is scraped in the direction of the arrow when the brush bristles 12 come into contact with the scraping plate 5, or as shown in FIG. Further, when the cleaning brush rotates, the elastic layer 13 that fixes the bristles 12 is deformed, and when the root portion of the bristles 12 is opened, it is discharged in the arrow direction. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in the conventional cleaning brush, when the brush bristles are laid down by the scraping plate 5, the tips of the bristles are largely laid down, but the brush bristles A ′, As shown by B ′, the roots of the brush bristles A ′ that are not laid down by the scraping plate 5 and the brush bristles B ′ that are laid down by the scraping plate 5 are substantially upright and their intervals are not changed. Therefore, the scraped residual toner remains at the root portion. However, in the cleaning brush 4 of the present invention, when the scraping plate 5 comes into contact with the brush bristles 12 and collapses the bristles 12, first, before the deformation of the bristles 12, the elastic layer 13 that fixes the bristles 12 is fixed. The brush bristles 12 are deformed by the force received from the scraping plate 5. And the brush bristles A and B
6, the root portions of the brush bristles A that are not laid down by the scraping plate 5 and the brush bristles B that are laid down by the scraping plate 5 are compared with the conventional cleaning brush 4 shown in FIG. The toner is largely opened, and the scraped residual toner is easily discharged. Further, the root portion of the brush bristles 12 remains deformed until the brush bristles 12 come off the scraping plate 5, and the cleaning brush 4
As the deformed portion moves along with the rotation, the scraped residual toner is vibrated, and the retained residual toner is easily solidified and discharged.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the essential parts showing the second embodiment.

The second embodiment further includes a cleaning brush 4
In order to improve the cleaning performance, the elastic layer 13 of the first embodiment is replaced by a conductive elastic layer 20. Usually, the elastic body is often an insulator or a high resistance body, but the elastic layer 20 of this embodiment has a hardness of 90 degrees (J
ISA) or less, having a thickness of 1 mm or more, and using an elastic body having conductivity, a voltage can be applied to the cleaning brush 4, and the cleaning performance for residual toner can be improved. The elastic layer 20 of the present embodiment
Is not limited to a conductive elastic body, and may be a conductive elastic body in which conductive particles having a resistance value of 10 ⁹ Ω or less, such as various metal particles and carbon particles, are dispersed to have conductivity. However, the charge control material may be dispersed in the insulating elastic body. Furthermore, the cleaning brush of this embodiment is charged,
It can also be applied to transfer, separation and static elimination brushes.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the essential parts showing the third embodiment. FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of the essential parts of the third embodiment.

In the third embodiment, the cleaning brush 4 is further added.
For improving the cleaning performance of the brush bristles 12, the elastic layer 13 at the base of the brush bristles 12 of the first embodiment is raised along the peripheral surface of the brush bristles 12, and the corners between the brush bristles 12 and the elastic layer 13 are formed. The portion is formed with a curvature having a radius R larger than the particle radius r of the residual toner, and the joint portion between the brush bristles 12 and the elastic body layer 13 is smoothly connected. As a specific method for achieving the above configuration, for example, the brush bristles 1
There is a method of forming the elastic layer 2 and the elastic layer 13 with a material having an affinity. With this configuration, when the brush bristles 12 are fixed at an angle of about 90 degrees in the related art, it is possible to prevent the residual toner, which would be difficult to remove because it bites into the corners, from easily biting into the corners. Can be removed.

Now, a method of manufacturing the cleaning brush of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIG. 10, first, the rotating shaft 11
The elastic body layer 13 is formed by providing an elastic body on the substrate such as by adhering or pouring. Next, the flexible sheet 21 in which the brush bristles 12 are woven is adhered to the formed elastic layer 13 to form the cleaning brush 4.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, an elastic body layer 13 is formed by first providing an elastic body on the substrate such as the rotating shaft 11 by adhesion or pouring. Next, the brush bristles 12 are directly planted on the formed elastic body layer 13 to form the cleaning brush 4.

Further, as shown in FIG. 12, the rotating shaft 1
1. A heat-meltable elastic layer 23 is formed on a substrate such as 1 and a flexible sheet 24 in which the brush bristles 12 are woven is installed on the elastic layer 23, and the substrate is heated by a heating means 25 such as a heater. Is added to melt and bond the elastic layer 23 to form the cleaning brush 4.

When the cleaning brush 4 shown in the first to third embodiments is used, the elastic layer 13 is deformed before the brush bristles 12 are deformed when coming into contact with the photoconductor 1, so that the brush bristles are deformed. 12 also has the effect of improving the durability.

[0028]

As is apparent from the above description, the cleaning brush according to the present invention has a structure in which the brush bristles are attached to the rotating shaft via an elastic body, so that the root portion of the brush bristles is sufficiently opened. As a result, the residual toner scraped off the photoreceptor does not collect at the root of the brush bristles, and the cleaning performance of the cleaning brush can be maintained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a cleaning device to which a cleaning brush according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a first embodiment of a cleaning brush according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the operation of the cleaning brush according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part showing the operation of the cleaning brush according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the operation of the cleaning brush according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the operation of a conventional cleaning brush.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing the configuration of a second embodiment of the cleaning brush according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing the configuration of a third embodiment of the cleaning brush according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of the essential parts showing the configuration of the third embodiment of the cleaning brush according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing a first method of manufacturing a cleaning brush according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing a second manufacturing method of the cleaning brush according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing a third manufacturing method of the cleaning brush according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Photoreceptor 2 Cleaning Device 4 Cleaning Brush 5 Scraping Plate 11 Rotating Shaft 12 Brush Bristles 13 Elastic Layer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning brush for removing residual toner on a photosensitive member, a shaft which is driven by a motor and is rotatable, brush bristles for contacting the photosensitive member and removing the residual toner, and a circumference of the shaft. An elastic member provided on a surface of the cleaning brush, the elastic member fixing the bristles to the shaft. 2. The cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member has conductivity. 3. The cleaning brush according to claim 1, wherein a joint portion of the elastic member with the brush bristles has an inclined surface that draws an arc having a radius larger than a particle radius of the residual toner. 4. A cleaning device for removing residual toner on a photoconductor, a shaft which is driven by a motor and is rotatable, brush bristles for contacting the photoconductor to remove the residual toner, and a periphery of the shaft. A cleaning brush having an elastic member that is provided on a surface and that fixes the bristles to the shaft; and a scraping member that contacts the cleaning brush and removes the scraped residual toner. Cleaning device.