JPH07325521A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stabilize cleaning by providing a rotary shaft rotated to have a specified rotational diameter, and a carrying member moving back and forth with the rotation of the rotary shaft so that toner scraped by a scraping member may be carried to the inner part of a recovering container. CONSTITUTION:When the toner 44 on the surface of a photoreceptor 14 is scraped by the scraping member 32, the toner 44 is carried to the inner part of the recovering container 28 by carrying surfaces 46a to 46d formed on the carrying member 38. Since the carrying member 38 is lifted when it moves back, the toner 44 is not pressed back. An interval between the carrying surfaces is set smaller than the rotational diameter of the rotary shaft 34, and the toner 44 carried by the carrying surface 46a when the member 38 moves forth for the first time is carried by the carrying surface 46b when the member 38 moves forth for the second time and carried by the carrying surface 46c when the member 38 moves forth for the third time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device, and more particularly to an electrostatic printer based on the principle of electrophotography,
The present invention relates to a cleaning device applied to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a facsimile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus of this type, a toner image formed on the surface of a photoconductor by a process such as charging, exposing and developing is transferred onto a transfer material such as paper in a transfer process. The toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor after the transfer process is
Since it interferes with the next image forming process, it needs to be removed. Therefore, conventionally, a rubber blade is brought into contact with the surface of the photoconductor, the residual toner is scraped off by the rubber blade, and the scraped off toner includes a conveying means including a screw-shaped rotating body or a plate-shaped rotating body. It was arranged to collect it in the collection container by using a conveying means or the like.

[0003]

According to the prior art, since the scraped toner is collected in the collecting container by the conveying means, it is possible to prevent the toner from accumulating and solidifying in the vicinity of the rubber blade. However, in the conventional technique using the transporting means including the screw-shaped rotating body, it is necessary to form the groove-shaped delivery path for enhancing the toner transporting effect, and thus the device becomes complicated and large in size. There was a point. On the other hand, the conventional technique using the transporting means including the plate-shaped rotating body has a problem that the toner is solidified around the rotating region of the rotating body and the stable cleaning effect cannot be maintained for a long period of time.

Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device which can maintain a stable cleaning effect for a long period of time without causing the device to be complicated and large.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a cleaning device for removing toner remaining on the surface of a photoconductor after transferring a toner image formed on the surface of the photoconductor to a transfer material. A scraping member that abuts on the photoconductor and scrapes off the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor, a collection container that collects the toner scraped off by the scraping member,
A rotary shaft provided above the scraping member and rotated at a predetermined rotation diameter, and reciprocating as the rotary shaft rotates so as to convey the toner scraped by the scraping member to the inner part of the collection container. A cleaning device comprising a transport member that is moved.

[0006]

The toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor is scraped off by the scraping member. The scraped toner is
When the transport member is reciprocated along with the rotation of the rotary shaft, the transport member is transported to the inner part of the collection container. If at least two conveying surfaces extending in the direction parallel to the rotation axis are formed on the conveying member and the distance between the conveying surfaces is set to be smaller than the rotation diameter of the rotating shaft, the toner is sequentially collected on each conveying surface at the inner part of the container. The toner can be efficiently transported. Further, if the rotary shaft is provided above the contact portion between the photoconductor and the scraping member, the forward movement of the transport member can be started from above the contact portion where the toner is most likely to be deposited, so that the toner is accumulated and solidified. Can be reliably prevented. Furthermore, by driving the photoconductor and the rotary shaft by the same driving means, it is possible to prevent an increase in the number of parts and an increase in the size of the device.

[0007]

According to the present invention, it is possible to maintain a stable cleaning effect for a long period of time without causing the apparatus to become complicated and upsized. The above-mentioned objects, other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the drawings.

[0008]

EXAMPLE FIG. 1 shows a cleaning device 10 of this example.
It is an illustration figure which shows the state which applied to the electrostatic printer 12. However, the cleaning device 10 can be applied to other image forming devices such as a copying machine and a facsimile. The electrostatic printer 12 includes a substantially cylindrical photoconductor 14 that is rotated in the direction of the arrow by a motor (not shown). Around the photoconductor 14, the charging device 16 and the laser scanning exposure device 18 from the upstream side in the rotation direction. , Toner developing device 2
0, the transfer device 22, and the cleaning device 10 are arranged in this order.

When the laser scanning exposure device 18 irradiates a light image on the surface of the photoconductor 14 that is uniformly charged by the charging device 16, the surface of the photoconductor 14 is electrostatically charged according to its photoconductive characteristics. A latent image is formed. Then, the electrostatic latent image is toner-developed by the toner developing device 20. The toner image thus formed on the surface of the photoconductor 14 is transferred by the transfer device 22 onto a transfer material 24 such as paper supplied from a paper supply device (not shown). The transfer material 24 onto which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed to the toner fixing device 26, where the toner image is fixed, and then sent to the outside. Of the toner image formed on the surface of the photoconductor 14, the weight ratio of the toner transferred onto the transfer material 24 is determined by the transfer device 2
Although it depends on the performance of No. 2, it is usually about 80% to 95%. Therefore, the remaining 5% to 20% of the toner remains on the surface of the photoconductor 14. In the cleaning process, the residual toner is removed by the cleaning device 10.

The cleaning device 10 includes a toner recovery container 28 disposed above the photoconductor 14. Collection container 2
An opening 30 is formed at a position facing the photoconductor 14 on the bottom of the photoconductor 8, and one end of the opening 30 is in contact with the surface of the photoconductor 14 at a predetermined pressure at a downstream side of the photoconductor 14 in the rotation direction. A blade-shaped scraping member 32 made of urethane rubber or the like is attached so that it can be removed. A crank-shaped rotary shaft 34 extending in the axial direction of the photoconductor 14 is provided above the contact portion between the photoconductor 14 and the scraping member 32 in the collection container 28, and the rotary part 36 of the rotary shaft 34 is provided. A grid-shaped transport member 38 is rotatably connected to (FIG. 6).

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the transport member 38 includes support members 40a and 40b extending in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the photoconductor 14, and the support members 40a and 40b are plural. It is connected via the connecting members 42a to 42d and the like. The connecting members 42a to 42d are formed in a triangular shape in cross section in order to reduce the thickness of the tip end portion thereof and to secure a wider area for taking in the toner 44 (FIGS. 7 to 10). The members 42a to 42d include
Conveying surfaces 46a to 46d for conveying the toner 44 are formed. The distance d between the transport surfaces is as shown in FIG.
It is set to be smaller than the rotation diameter D of the rotation shaft 34. A bearing 48 is provided at one end of the transport member 38, and the transport member 38 and the rotary shaft 34 are rotatably connected via the bearing 48.

As shown in FIG. 5, a drive gear 50 is attached to the end of the rotary shaft 34, and the drive gear 50 meshes with a drive gear 52 that drives the photosensitive member 14. Since the rotational force from the motor (not shown) is transmitted to the drive gear 52, the rotational force is transmitted to the rotary shaft 34 via the drive gear 50, and as the rotary shaft 34 rotates, the conveying member 38 The photoconductor 14 is reciprocated in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis. Here, since the rotary shaft 34 is rotated in the direction opposite to the photoconductor 14, the transport member 38 is moved backward along the bottom of the recovery container 28.

The cleaning device 10 as described above is integrally unitized with the photoconductor 14 so that the photoconductor 14 can be replaced at the same time when the photoconductor 14 is replaced. Therefore, the capacity of the collection container 28 is set so that the amount of collected toner becomes almost 100% when the life of the photoconductor 14 is reached. Further, in order to ensure such a capacity without increasing the size of the apparatus, the recovery container 28 is provided with the laser scanning exposure apparatus 1
It is flattened by extending to the 8 side.

The operation of the cleaning device 10 will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 7, when the toner 44 remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 14 is scraped off by the scraping member 32, the scraping member 32 shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG.
The toner 44 is conveyed to the inner portion of the collection container 28 by the elements 46d. When the conveying member 38 is returned, the conveying member 38 is lifted as shown in FIG.
The problem of being pushed back does not occur. Since the distance d between the transport surfaces is set to be smaller than the rotation diameter D of the rotary shaft 34 (FIG. 5), the toner 44 transported by the transport surface 46a during the first forward movement of the transport member 38.
Are transported by the transport surface 46b during the second forward movement, and are transported by the transport surface 46c during the third forward movement. In this way, the transport surfaces 46a to 46d
The toner 44 is sequentially and efficiently conveyed to the inner portion of the collection container 28.

According to this embodiment, the toner 44 can be efficiently transported only by providing the rotary shaft 34 and the transport member 38 in the recovery container 28. Therefore, it is possible to maintain a stable cleaning effect for a long period of time without causing the apparatus to be complicated and upsized. In addition, the photoconductor 14 and the rotating shaft 3
Since 4 and 4 are rotated by the same motor, it is not necessary to separately provide a driving means for driving the conveying member 38.

In the above-described embodiment, the conveying member 38 is reciprocated by the crank-shaped rotating shaft 34. However, as shown in FIG. 11, the drive gear 5 is used.
The straight rotary shaft 54 is eccentric to 0,
The conveying member 38 may be reciprocated by the rotating shaft 54.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an illustrative view showing a usage state of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a transport member.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a conveying member.

4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative view showing a state in which a conveying member is attached to a rotating shaft.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which a conveying member, a driving gear, and the like are attached to a rotating shaft.

FIG. 7 is an illustrative view showing a state in which residual toner is scraped off by a scraping member.

FIG. 8 is an illustrative view showing a state where toner is conveyed by a conveying member.

FIG. 9 is an illustrative view showing a state where toner is conveyed by a conveying member.

FIG. 10 is an illustrative view showing a state when the transport member is returning.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a state where a straight rotary shaft is attached to a drive gear.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Cleaning device 12 ... Electrostatic printer 14 ... Photosensitive body 28 ... Toner collection container 30 ... Opening 32 ... Scraping member 34, 54 ... Rotating shaft 38 ... Conveying members 40a, 40b ... Supporting members 42a-42d ... Coupling member 46a- 46d ... Transport surface

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device for removing the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor after transferring a toner image formed on the surface of the photoconductor to a transfer material, the device being in contact with the photoconductor. A scraping member for scraping off the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor, a collection container for collecting the toner scraped off by the scraping member, provided above the scraping member, and having a predetermined rotation diameter. A cleaning device comprising: a rotating shaft that is rotated; and a conveying member that is reciprocally moved as the rotating shaft rotates so as to convey the toner scraped off by the scraping member to the inner part of the collection container. 2. The conveying member has at least two conveying surfaces that extend in a direction parallel to the rotation axis and that conveys the toner, and the distance between the conveying surfaces is smaller than the rotation diameter. The cleaning device according to claim 1. 3. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the rotary shaft is provided above a contact portion between the photoconductor and the scraping member. 4. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive member and the rotary shaft are driven by the same driving means.