JPH07181835A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an inexpensive entrance seal without waviness in order to prevent toner from being splashed. CONSTITUTION:When the entrance seal 18 is fixed to a cleaning device case 16, tensile stress is left in the longitudinal direction of the abutting part of the seal 18 on a photoreceptor by deforming the seal 18. Thus, the waviness of the seal 18 caused by the deformation of the case 16 or the elongation of the seal 18 is prevented. Besides, since the seal 18 is fixed to the case 16 by adding the tensile stress in the longitudinal direction of the abutting part of the seal 18, the waviness of the seal 18 caused by the deflection of the abutting part at the fixing time of the seal 18 is also prevented. By preventing the waviness of the seal 18, the toner is prevented from being splashed in a copying machine main body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method, and relates to a cleaning device for removing and collecting residual toner on the surface of a photoconductor, and particularly for preventing backflow of the waste toner. Regarding the entrance seal of.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the structure of a laser copying machine using an electrophotographic system.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a laser copying machine main body, and a paper feeding cassette 2 is detachably loaded in the laser copying machine main body 1. The recording paper 4 conveyed from the paper feeding device 3 in the direction of the arrow A is conveyed to the photosensitive drum 6 in synchronization with the registration roller pair 5. The photosensitive drum 6 is rotationally driven in the counterclockwise direction, the surface of the photosensitive drum 6 is charged by the charging charger 7, and the laser beam L from the laser optical system 8 is irradiated to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 6. To do. This electrostatic latent image is visualized by toner as it passes through the developing device 9.

This visible image is transferred by the transfer / separation charger 10 to the recording paper 4 conveyed to the photosensitive drum 6, and the recording paper 4 that is in close contact with the photosensitive drum 6 is electrostatically separated. After that, the visible image on the recording paper 4 is fixed by the fixing device 11 and is discharged to the paper discharge unit 12 in the direction of arrow B.

On the other hand, the photosensitive drum 6 after the visible image transfer is
The cleaning device 13 removes the toner remaining on the surface and uses the toner as waste toner.
Collect in.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the relationship between the cleaning device 13 of the laser copying machine and the photosensitive drum 6 described in FIG.

In the figure, the cleaning blade 14 presses the surface of the photosensitive drum 6 with a constant force to scrape off the residual toner 15 on the photosensitive drum 6, and collects it as waste toner 17 in the case 16 of the cleaning device. An inlet seal 18 is provided on the upstream side of the cleaning blade 14 to prevent backflow of the waste toner 17. The inlet seal 18 is a thin plate-like member (made of a material such as polyethylene terephthalate film) having elasticity, and the seal tip is brought into contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 6.

The inlet seal 18 does not refuse the invasion of the residual toner 15 into the case 16 of the cleaning device, and functions to prevent the waste toner 17 from flowing back from the case 16. Therefore, the inlet seal 18 is required to be in contact with the photosensitive drum 6 without a gap, and the pressure at the abutting portion is required to be as low as possible.

In the above-mentioned cleaning device, as a conventional method for fixing the inlet seal 18 to the case 16, there is a method of fixing it with an adhesive tape on both sides.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, an inlet seal 18 is fixed to a sheet metal 19 having an L-shaped cross section with an adhesive tape on both sides, and
A method has also been devised in which the sheet metal 19 having a V-shaped cross section is fixed to the case 16 by an appropriate means (such as heat caulking to the fitting portion or screwing).

[0011]

In the method of fixing the inlet seal 18 to the case 16 with the above-mentioned double-sided adhesive tape,
Due to the deformation of the case 16 after the inlet seal 18 is attached, the expansion of the inlet seal 18 after the attachment, the deflection of the inlet seal 18 during the attachment, etc., the inlet seal 18 attached to the case 16 is wavy as shown in FIG. It may be struck. If the inlet seal 18 is wavy in this way, a gap is created between the inlet seal 18 and the photosensitive drum 6, and the waste toner 17 flows backward from the cleaning device case 16.
The pressure at the contact portion may be partially increased to scrape off the residual toner 15, which causes scattering of the toner in the copying machine main body 1. Toner scattering is an issue that must be avoided because it hinders laser writing on the photosensitive drum 6, stains the recording paper, and stains the hand during user maintenance.

As a measure against the above-mentioned problem, as shown in FIG. 5, the inlet seal 18 is previously fixed to the sheet metal 19 having an L-shaped cross section by using adhesive tapes on both sides, and the sheet metal 19 is fixed to the case. Has been devised. By using this method, the sheet metal 19 can correct the deformation of the case 16 and is effective in preventing the corrugation of the inlet seal 18, but the cost increases because the number of parts and the number of steps for assembly increase.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device which is inexpensive and has an undulation-free inlet seal for preventing toner from scattering in the main body of the copying machine.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, in a cleaning device for collecting waste toner, when an inlet seal for preventing backflow of the waste toner from the cleaning device case is fixed to the cleaning device case. The inlet seal is characterized in that the inlet seal is deformed and fixed to the case so that tensile stress remains in the longitudinal direction of the contact portion of the inlet seal with the photoconductor.

[0015]

According to the above means, tensile stress remains in the longitudinal direction of the contact portion of the inlet seal with the photosensitive member, so that the seal is wavy due to the deformation of the case and the expansion of the seal after being fixed to the cleaning device case. Can be prevented.
Further, at the time of fixing, since a tensile stress is applied in the longitudinal direction of the contact portion of the inlet seal to fix the inlet seal to the cleaning device case, it is possible to prevent the waving of the inlet seal due to the bending generated at the time of fixing.

[0016]

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

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention (method of FIG. 2 (A)).
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an appearance when the inlet seal 18 is fixed to the cleaning device case 16 by. A specific fixing method will be described with reference to FIG. 2A. Before the fixing, the thin rectangular sheet-like inlet seal 18 is attached to the cleaning device case.
When fixed to the case 16, as shown in the same figure, the central portion in the longitudinal direction is deformed so as to protrude toward the photosensitive drum (not shown), and the entire inlet seal 18 is smoothly curved and fixed to the case. In the present embodiment, initially, the deformation amount in the protruding direction with respect to the inlet seal 18 having the long side of 262 mm was set in the range of 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm.

By using the above method, the inlet seal 18 fixed to the case of the cleaning device has tensile stress remaining in the longitudinal direction at the contact portion with the photosensitive drum. As a result, the corrugation of the seal due to the deformation of the case and the expansion of the seal can be prevented. Further, when the inlet seal 18 is fixed, a tensile stress is applied in the longitudinal direction of the contact portion to fix the inlet seal 18, so that the contact portion of the inlet seal 18 is less likely to bend when fixed, and the corrugation of the seal that causes the deflection is prevented. be able to. When the method of this embodiment is used, the contact portion of the entrance seal 18 with the photosensitive drum is a curved surface.

When the shape of the abutting portion of the inlet seal 18 on the photosensitive drum is the same as the conventional one, the method shown in FIG. 2B is used. In this case, when the inlet seal, which is not shown and is smoothly curved so as to protrude in the opposite direction to the photosensitive drum, is fixed to the cleaning device case, the inlet seal is deformed and fixed so as to have a rectangular shape. As a result, tensile stress remains in the longitudinal direction of the contact portion with the photosensitive drum, and the corrugation of the inlet seal is prevented, which has the same effect as described with reference to FIG.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When fixing the inlet seal to the case of the cleaning device,
By deforming and fixing so that tensile stress remains in the longitudinal direction of the contact portion of the inlet seal with the photosensitive member, it is possible to obtain an inexpensive inlet seal capable of preventing corrugation. As a result, it is possible to provide a cleaning device that prevents the scattering of the toner in the copying machine due to the scraping of the residual toner and the backflow of the waste toner, and does not cause the stains of the respective parts and the deterioration of the image quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance when an inlet seal is fixed to a cleaning device case according to an embodiment (method of FIG. 2A) of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing two methods of modifying the inlet seal when the inlet seal is fixed to the cleaning device case.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a laser copying machine using a conventional electrophotographic method.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the relationship between the cleaning device of the laser copying machine and the photosensitive drum in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method of fixing an inlet seal to a cleaning device case using a sheet metal having an L-shaped cross section.

FIG. 6 is a view showing that the inlet seal is in a wavy state, which is fixed to a cleaning device case by a conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Laser copier body, 2 ... Paper feed cassette, 3 ...
Paper feeding device, 4 ... Recording paper, 5 ... Registration roller pair,
6 ... Photosensitive drum, 7 ... Charging charger, 8 ... Laser optical system, 9 ... Developing device, 10 ... Transfer / separation charger, 11 ... Fixing device, 12 ... Paper ejection unit, 13 ... Cleaning device, 14 ... Cleaning blade, 15 ... Residual toner, 16 ... Cleaning device case, 17 ... Waste toner,
18… Inlet seal, 19… Sheet metal.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device for collecting waste developer (toner) used in an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method, wherein an inlet seal fixed to a cleaning device case is deformed to form an inlet. A cleaning device comprising an inlet seal that allows tensile stress to remain in the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive member contact portion of the seal. 2. The inlet seal is deformed so as to protrude toward the photoconductor when a rectangular shape is initially fixed to the cleaning device case so that tensile stress remains in the longitudinal direction of the photoconductor contact portion. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning device has a smoothly curved shape as a whole. 3. The cleaning device case has a shape in which the inlet seal has a smoothly curved shape so that a tensile stress remains in the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive member contact portion and initially projects in a direction opposite to the photosensitive member direction. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning device is deformed into a rectangular shape when fixed.