JPH0772772A - Decolorizing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a lightened and compact decolorizing device constituted so that toner which can be photochemically decolorized can be efficiently decolorized and a decolorizing time per one sheet is short. CONSTITUTION:The decolorizing device 101 is constituted of a cylindrical heating roller 110 consisting of a light transmitting material such as glass, a pressing roller 111 for pressing a sheet body to the roller 110, a light source 112 such as a halogen lamp generating near infrared rays or heat, reflecting mirrors 113 and 114 provided on the outside of the roller 110 so as to be faced to a pressing part P and having a partially cylindrical surface, guide members 140, 141, 116 and 117, ejection rollers 122 and 123 or the like.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an erasing device for erasing a photochemically erasable toner fixed on a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, the reuse and recycling of used papers and plastics has been reviewed for the protection of global resources. However, regarding the reuse of recorded documents, an external recycling company should be consulted. Some requests have been made, but most of them are incinerated or crushed.

[0003]

In order to solve such a problem, the color of ink or toner fixed on the recording medium is erased while maintaining the shape of the recording medium.
Toner that can be reproduced as a plain recording medium,
It is proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-277725. When electrostatic copying is performed using such a toner, a recorded image such as a copy sheet or the like recorded on a sheet or a recorded image such as a print can be erased by irradiating near infrared rays. Therefore, the recording medium can be easily reused.

However, there has been a problem that a decoloring device capable of decolorizing a photochemically decolorable toner efficiently and quickly has not been developed so far.

An object of the present invention is to provide a light and compact erasing apparatus which can efficiently erasing a photochemically erasable toner and which has a short erasing time per sheet. is there.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a heating means for heating a photochemically decolorizable toner fixed on a sheet member to at least the glass transition temperature of the binder resin of the toner. And a light source for irradiating the toner with near-infrared rays, the heating means presses the cylindrical heating roller made of a translucent material and the sheet body against the heating roller. And a light source arranged inside the heating roller.

Further, the present invention is characterized by comprising a condensing means for condensing near-infrared rays emitted from the light source on a pressing portion between the heating roller and the pressing roller.

The present invention is also characterized in that a plurality of light sources are arranged inside the heating roller.

Further, according to the present invention, inside the pressing roller,
A second heating means is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, the heating roller has a side tube portion made of transparent or light selective transmissive glass, and a bearing portion made of metal or glass integrally formed with the side tube portion. Is characterized by.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the first gear connected to the heating roller and the second gear connected to the pressing roller mesh with each other.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the heating means can heat and melt the unfixed toner on the sheet body and fix it on the sheet body.

[0013]

According to the present invention, by providing a heating means for heating the photochemically decolorizable toner fixed on the sheet body to at least the glass transition temperature of the binder resin of the toner. The thermal momentum of the molecules of the binder resin increases, and the decolorization chemical reaction is promoted. Further, the heating means is composed of a cylindrical heating roller made of a translucent material and a pressing roller for pressing the sheet body against the heating roller, and for irradiating the toner with near infrared rays. Since the light source is arranged inside the heating roller, the heat emitted from the light source is efficiently conducted to the heating roller, and the near infrared rays emitted from the light source are also efficiently applied to the sheet body through the heating roller. To be done. Therefore, the energy use efficiency of the light source is improved, and the heat treatment and the near-infrared irradiation treatment on the sheet can be efficiently performed. Also, since the light source for irradiating near infrared rays is integrated with the heating means,
The exclusive space in the device can be reduced.

Further, by providing the condensing means for condensing the near infrared rays emitted from the light source on the pressing portion between the heating roller and the pressing roller, the light irradiation efficiency to the sheet body is improved.

By disposing a plurality of light sources inside the heating roller, it becomes possible to significantly increase the light irradiation amount and the heating amount to the sheet body.

Further, since the second heating means is provided inside the pressing roller, heating is performed from both sides of the sheet body, and the temperature difference between the both sides of the sheet body is reduced, so that the sheet body curls or wrinkles. Can be prevented as much as possible.

Further, since the heating roller has the side tube portion made of transparent or light selective transmissive glass and the bearing portion made of metal or glass integrally formed with the side tube portion, low cost is achieved. Thus, a heating roller with good dimensional accuracy can be obtained. In particular, since light selective transmissive glass is used for the side tube portion and only the near infrared rays that match the wavelength dependency of the toner can be irradiated to the toner, the decoloring efficiency can be improved.

Further, since the first gear connected to the heating roller and the second gear connected to the pressing roller mesh with each other, the pressing force on the sheet is reduced in order to reduce the stress on the sheet. Even in such a case, since the slip between the two rollers is eliminated, stable sheet body conveyance can be realized.

Further, since the heating means can heat and fuse the unfixed toner on the sheet body and fix it on the sheet body, the erasing apparatus according to the present invention also serves as a fixing apparatus for the electrophotographic apparatus. Therefore, the electrophotographic apparatus having the erasing function can be realized in a lightweight and compact form.

[0020]

EXAMPLES First, the toner used in the present invention will be described. The toner is a photochemically decolorizable toner, in particular, a decoloring toner that decolorizes by absorbing near-infrared rays, and examples of a large number of composition examples and other components constituting the toner such as a sensitizer, The details of the decoloring action of the toner of each composition example and the like are described in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-277725. Therefore, in the following examples, several examples of decolorizable toner will be shown. The present invention is not limited to the example of this embodiment, but includes a wide variety of modifications in accordance with the spirit of the present invention.

Such an erasable toner is, for example, constituted by dispersing a dye and an organic boron ammonium salt in a styrene resin. The dye is represented by, for example, the following (Chemical formula 1) or (Chemical formula 2).

[0022]

[Chemical 1]

[0023]

[Chemical 2]

The styrene resin is widely used as a binder resin for toner. The above (Chemical formula 1) and (Chemical formula 2)
The dye represented by is one of the cyanine dyes and has a wavelength of 820 when coexisted with an organic boron ammonium salt.
Irradiation with near-infrared rays in the vicinity of nm absorbs the near-infrared rays to cause an irreversible reaction, and the blue color disappears to become colorless. As the organic boron ammonium salt, for example, tetrabutylammonium nbutyltriphenylboron shown in the following (Chemical Formula 3) is used.

[0025]

[Chemical 3]

Next, the erasing device according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows an erasing device 101 which is an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a front view which shows the internal structure of. For ease of understanding, the heating roller 110 and the reflecting mirrors 113 and 114 are shown in a cross-sectional view. The erasing device 101 includes a cylindrical heating roller 110 made of a translucent material such as glass,
A pressing roller 111 for pressing a sheet body such as a paper or a plastic sheet, which is carried in from the carry-in port 109a and horizontally conveyed along a dashed line in the figure, and a near infrared ray are emitted. And a rod-shaped light source 112 such as a halogen lamp for generating heat, and reflecting mirrors 113, 114 having a partial cylindrical surface provided outside the heating roller 110 and facing the pressing portion P.
And a guide member 140 for smoothly guiding the sheet body,
141, 116, 117, discharge rollers 122, 123 for continuously conveying the sheet body, a bottom plate 104, a top plate 108, a front plate 109b for accommodating these, and
It is configured by a box body made of 109c or the like. In order to maintain compatibility with the conventional fixing device, it is preferable that the ratio of height to width of the erasing device 101 shown in FIG. 1, that is, the aspect ratio is in the range of 0.7 to 1.6.

The light source 112 is incorporated in the axial center portion of the heating roller 110. When the light source 112 is energized, light having a wide wavelength distribution is radially emitted and
All energy that was not converted to light is converted to heat. A part of the light from the light source 112 reaches the pressing portion P directly through the side cylindrical portion of the heating roller 110. Also light source 1
A part of the light from 12 travels toward the reflecting mirrors 113 and 114, passes through the side cylindrical portion of the heating roller 110, and the reflecting mirror 1
13 and 114, the light is reflected there, and this time the traveling direction is changed toward the pressing portion P, and again the heating roller 110
It passes through the side cylinder part of 2 times and reaches the pressing part P. In order to efficiently collect the light emitted from the light source 112 on the pressing portion P, the cross-sectional shapes of the reflecting mirrors 113 and 114 are such that the position of the light source 112 is the first focal point and the position of the pressing portion P is the second focal point. It is preferable to match a part of the ellipse.

On the other hand, the heat generated by the light source 112 heats the air inside the heating roller 110, and further the heating roller 11
It means that the side cylinder portion of 0 is heated. Therefore, when the heating roller 110 rotates and the sheet body passes through the pressing portion P, the side cylinder portion in the high temperature state is contacted and heated, and at the same time,
The light from the light source 112 is condensed on the sheet body.

The pressing roller 111 is a roller made of a metal such as aluminum whose surface is coated with a thick silicone rubber, and is urged by a predetermined pressure against the heating roller 110. The silicone rubber is elastically deformed along the outer peripheral shape to secure a predetermined contact area.

From the carry-in port 109a formed in the front plates 109b and 109c, the sheet body to which the photochemically decolorizable toner as described above is fixed is conveyed along the one-dot chain line in FIG. When the front end of the sheet body reaches the pressing portion P through the space between the guide members 140 and 141, the sheet body is conveyed while being sandwiched by the heating roller 110 and the pressing roller 111 that rotate at a predetermined rotation speed. Thus, the toner on the sheet body is heated to the glass transition temperature of the binder resin or higher, and at the same time, the light including the near infrared rays emitted from the light source 112 is efficiently collected by the reflecting mirrors 113 and 114 and the like. Expose the toner on top. In this way
When the sheet body once recorded with the erasable toner passes through the pressing portion P, the heating process and the light irradiation process are simultaneously performed, and the erasing process with high energy utilization efficiency and quickness is performed.

The cleaning rollers 120 and 121 are in contact with the heating roller 110 and the pressing roller 111, respectively. By cleaning the surfaces of the heating roller 110 and the pressing roller 111, the toner fixed on the sheet is removed. Prevents adhesion and winding of the sheet body. Further, the heating roller 110 and the pressing roller 1
Separation claws 124 and 125 are in contact with the vicinity of the discharge side of 11 respectively, and even when the sheet body is in close contact with the heating roller 110 or the pressing roller 111, the separation claws 124 and 1
The tip of 25 allows the sheet body to be peeled off, preventing the sheet body from being wrapped.

A sheet body detection sensor 1 such as a photocoupler or a micro switch is provided at each position of the sheet conveyance path (chain line in FIG. 1), for example, on the unloading side of the unloading rollers 122 and 123.
52 is installed as needed, and timing control, jam occurrence detection, etc. can be performed. In addition, each position of the sheet conveying path and each position of each roller, for example, the pressing roller 1
Static elimination brushes 156 and 157 are provided on the surface of 11 and on the discharge side of discharge rollers 122 and 123, respectively, to prevent jamming due to electrostatic attraction of the sheet body.

A temperature sensor 153 such as a bimetal or thermistor is provided on the surface of the heating roller 110 to control the temperature of the heating roller 110. further,
A temperature fuse 154 is provided on a portion where the temperature rises significantly, for example, on the surface of the heating roller 110, to prevent occurrence of an abnormally high temperature.

Discharging rollers 122 and 123, guide member 11
The opening / closing unit 170 accommodating 6, 117, etc.
It is mounted so that it can be angularly displaced around 1. When the sheet body is jammed in the subsequent stage of the heating roller 110, that is, when a so-called jam occurs, the locking member 172 provided on the upper part of the opening / closing unit 170 is manually moved to move the claw 173 of the locking member 172 and the ceiling. The engagement with the hole 174 formed in the plate 108 is released. Then, by tilting the opening / closing unit 170 outward, the heating roller 110
Since a large space is formed on the discharge side of the paper, the user can safely and easily perform the jam removal operation.

When the jam removing work is completed, the opening / closing unit 170 is pushed into the main body of the apparatus, so that the locking member 1 is released.
The engagement between the claw 72 and the hole 174 of the top plate 108 is easily restored. By opening and closing the opening / closing unit 170 in this way, the jam removal work is simplified. The opening / closing unit 170 may be a mechanism that moves horizontally by a linear guide means such as a rail, or may be detachable from the erasing apparatus main body by adopting a detachable pivot shaft as the shaft 171.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing an example of the heating roller 110 shown in FIG. The heating roller 110 is composed of a cylindrical side tubular portion 1 and bearing portions 2 and 3 attached so as to be fitted into openings at both ends of the side tubular portion 1. The side tube portion 1 is made of transparent glass and has an optical property that the transmission loss of light from the light source 112 provided in the shaft center portion Q, particularly near infrared rays, is reduced as much as possible.
The bearings 2 and 3 are made of a metal material such as aluminum or stainless steel, and have the same coefficient of thermal expansion as that of the material of the side tube portion 1 so that the fitting with the side tube portion 1 is not adversely affected by the temperature cycle. It is preferable to use the metal material.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing another example of the heating roller 110 shown in FIG. Heating roller 110 of FIG.
In, the cylindrical side tube portion 1 and the bearing portions 2 and 3 are integrally formed of a transparent material such as glass, and thermal deformation caused by different materials can be prevented. The material of the side tube portion 1 of the heating roller 110 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is a material having selective light transmission, and in particular, a wavelength filter characteristic that allows only near infrared rays that match the wavelength dependence of the decolorizable toner to pass therethrough. By using the material shown, the erasing efficiency can be improved.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the erasing device 101 shown in FIG. An electrode 110c is provided for holding and energizing a light source 112 such as a halogen lamp provided at the axial center of the heating roller 110, and a gear 110d for transmitting the rotation of the heating roller 110 includes a gear 143 and a gear. It meshes with 142b. Shaft 111 of pressing roller 111
a and the bearing 111b, the lever 111c pulled by the pulling spring 111d locked to the side plate 106b,
It is biased against the heating roller 110. Gear 142
A driving force is supplied to a from an external drive system (not shown), and a gear 142b integrated with the gear 142a is connected to the gear 120d of the cleaning roller 120 and the heating roller 1.
10 gears 110d are being driven. Also, the gear 110
d and the gear 143 mesh with each other, and the gear 143 and the gear 144b
And the gear 14 that meshes with the gear 144b.
4a and the gear 123c of the discharge roller 123 mesh with each other, so that the discharge rollers 122 and 123 are driven at a predetermined rotation speed. A pull-out hole 190 for pulling out the electric cable is provided in the lower portion of the side plate 106b.

FIG. 5 shows A- of the erasing apparatus 101 shown in FIG.
It is a fragmentary sectional view which followed the A line and the BB line. The heating roller 110, the pressing roller 111, and the cleaning rollers 120 and 121 are provided on the side plate 106 b and the auxiliary side plate 10.
It is rotatably supported with respect to 7, and a light source 112 such as a halogen lamp is held by an electrode 110c at the axis of the heating roller 110. Therefore, when replacing each roller 110, 111, 120, 121,
The auxiliary side plate 10 can be formed without disassembling the entire box body including the side plates 106a and 106b, the top plate 108, the bottom plate 104, and the like.
Maintenance workability is improved because it is sufficient to remove only 7.

As shown in the broken central portion of FIG. 5, a plurality of discharge rollers 122 and 123 are provided on the shafts 122a and 123b at predetermined intervals along the width direction of the sheet body. Similarly, the tips of the separating claws 124 and 125 provided at a predetermined interval along the width direction of the sheet body are the heating rollers 110.
And the coil springs 124a, 125 so as to come into contact with the respective surfaces of the pressing roller 111 while being biased by a predetermined pressure.
a is attached. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the guide member 116 is configured by extending one end of the coil spring 124a for urging the separation claw 124 to the shaft 122a of the discharge roller 122 and bending it into a smooth curve. There is.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the internal structure of an erasing machine 200 incorporating the erasing apparatus 101 according to the present invention. The decoloring machine 200 includes a heating roller 110 and a pressing roller 11.
1, a erasing device 101 including a light source 112, reflecting mirrors 113 and 114, discharge rollers 122 and 123, and a sheet feeding cassette 202 for accommodating the sheet body on which the photochemically erasable toner is fixed. , Paper feed cassette 2
Paper feed roller 2 for taking out the sheet bodies one by one from 02
31 and 232 and conveyance rollers 234, 235, 238 and 239 for conveying the sheet body along the one-dot chain line in the figure.
And a guide member 233 for smoothly guiding the sheet body.
236 and 237, and a discharge tray 203 that receives the sheet body that has been subjected to the color erasing process.

In the vicinity of the upper part of the conveying path of the guide member 236,
A sheet body detection sensor 251 is installed for timing control, jam occurrence detection, and the like. In addition, the erasing device 10
1 is fixed to the bottom of the erasing machine 200 by screwing or the like.

Since the erasing device 101 for performing the heat treatment and the near-infrared treatment is small in size and integrated in a box shape, the erasing device 200 incorporating the same is also small and compact. Can be realized as

FIG. 7 is a front view showing the internal structure of the erasing device 101a according to another embodiment of the present invention. For ease of understanding, the heating roller 110 and the reflecting mirror 113,
114 is shown in cross-section. This erasing device 101a
Has the same configuration as that shown in FIG. 1, but a plurality of (two in FIG. 7) light sources 112 are provided inside the heating roller 110.
The difference is that a and 112b are installed. As the light source 112a such as a halogen lamp, a light source emitting a large amount of near infrared rays, that is, a wavelength with which the wavelength dependence of the decoloring toner is matched. On the other hand, a light source 11 such as a halogen lamp
2b is used because it emits a large amount of heat and irradiates a large amount of infrared to far infrared wavelengths that are easily absorbed by the side cylinder of the heating roller 110. As described above, by combining the light source 112a for exposing the toner and the light source 112b for heating, the light irradiation density and the heating amount to the sheet can be significantly increased.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing the internal structure of the erasing apparatus 101b which is another embodiment of the present invention. For ease of understanding, the heating roller 110 and the reflecting mirrors 113 and 114
The pressing roller 111 is shown in a cross-sectional view. The erasing device 101b has the same structure as that shown in FIG. 1, but the pressing roller 111 is a hollow cylindrical roller, and a rod-shaped light source 115 is installed at the axial center thereof. Be different. The light source 115 such as a halogen lamp generates a large amount of heat, and due to radiant heat or heat conduction of internal air,
The side cylinder of the pressure roller 111 made of an opaque rubber material or the like is heated. In this way, the pressing roller 111 is also heated by the heating roller 11.
When heated to a temperature close to 0, the temperature difference between both sides of the sheet body sandwiched between the heating roller 110 and the pressing roller 111 is reduced, curling or wrinkling of the sheet body is reduced, and the sheet body The number of reuses can be increased.

FIG. 9 is a rear view showing an erasing device 101c which is another embodiment of the present invention. This erasing device 101c
1 has the same structure as that shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, except that a gear 110k connected to the heating roller 110 shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 is provided, and a pressing roller 111 shown in FIGS. The difference is that the connected gear 111k is provided, and the gear 110k and the gear 111k mesh with each other. As a result, slippage between the heating roller 110 and the pressing roller 111 can be prevented, and the rotational speeds of the both can be always made equal. Further, in order to reduce the stress on the sheet body as much as possible, the synchronous rotation of the heating roller 110 and the pressing roller 111 can be stably maintained even when the pressing force on the sheet body is reduced.

[0047]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, since the energy utilization efficiency is high and the heating efficiency and the light irradiation efficiency of the sheet body can be improved, the toner decoloring treatment can be efficiently performed. It is possible to provide a color erasing device that is small in size and light in weight as well as can be performed quickly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an internal configuration of a color erasing apparatus 101 that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing an example of a heating roller 110 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing another example of the heating roller 110 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the erasing device 101 shown in FIG.

5 is a line AA and a line B of the erasing apparatus 101 shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line B.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the internal configuration of a color erasing machine 200 incorporating the color erasing device 101 according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing an internal configuration of a color erasing apparatus 101a which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing the internal configuration of a color erasing apparatus 101b which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a rear view showing an erasing device 101c which is another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101, 101a, 101b, 101c Decoloring device 110 Heating roller 111 Pressing roller 112, 112a, 112b Light source 113, 114 Reflecting mirror 115 Light source 116, 117, 140, 141 Guide member 120, 121 Cleaning roller 122, 123 Discharging roller 124, 125 Separation claw 170 Opening / closing unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor's view Yasunori 3-15-15 Meiwadori, Hyogo-ku, Hyogo Prefecture Bando Kagaku Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Katsumi Murofushi 5-1 Ogimachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kanagawa Prefecture No. Showa Denko Chemicals Laboratory (72) Inventor Kiichi Hosoda 5-1 Ogimachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Showa Denko Chemicals Laboratory

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A heating unit for heating a photochemically decolorizable toner fixed on a sheet member to at least a glass transition temperature of a binder resin of the toner, and a near infrared ray to the toner. In a decoloring device including a light source for irradiating, the heating means is composed of a cylindrical heating roller made of a translucent material, and a pressing roller for pressing the sheet body against the heating roller. And the light source is disposed inside the heating roller. 2. The extinction device according to claim 1, further comprising a condensing unit for condensing near infrared rays emitted from the light source on a pressing portion between the heating roller and the pressing roller. Color device. 3. The erasing device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of light sources are arranged inside the heating roller. 4. The erasing device according to claim 1, wherein a second heating unit is provided inside the pressing roller. 5. The heating roller has a side tube portion made of transparent or light selective transmissive glass, and a bearing portion made of metal or glass integrally formed with the side tube portion. The erasing device according to claim 1. 6. The erasing device according to claim 1, wherein a first gear connected to the heating roller and a second gear connected to the pressing roller mesh with each other. 7. The erasing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating unit is capable of heating and melting the unfixed toner on the sheet body and fixing it on the sheet body.