JPH08220953A - Toner image removing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent the inside and out side of a device from being soiled again by toner removed from an image carrier, by disposing a fan capable of fulfilling the function for sending unidirectional wind on the concentric shaft a the cleaning member. CONSTITUTION: A brush roller 50 in a belt cleaning device of the toner removing device is provided with the rotary shaft 1 and the brush part as the cleaning part composed of numberless fiber flocked on the shaft 1 so as to radially extend. Then, the brush roller 50 is provided with feather members (fan) 3(a) and 3(b) for sending the window from the cleaning part 2 the brush roller 50 to both shaft outside ends. Moreover, fans 3a and 3b is composed of plural feather in parallel to the axial direction radially extending from the shaft 1 of the brush roller 50. As a result, since the fans 3a and 3b is rotated corresponding to rotation of the brush roller 50, the toner removal from a transfer belt surface and the sending wind is simultaneously performed by only making the shaft 1 rotated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to image formation from an image carrier on which an image is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile or a printer, and the image forming material is removed from the image carrier. The present invention relates to a substance removing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a toner image removing device for removing an image forming substance such as toner from a sheet as a recorded image holding member, for example, a device shown in FIG. 1 has been proposed.

In the example of the toner image removing device shown in FIG.
A sheet feeding unit 20 that separates and feeds, one by one, the sheet of transfer paper 10 as an image carrier on which the toner images are formed, which are stored in a stacked state, and the sheet of transfer paper 1 sent from the sheet feeding unit 20.
0, a peeling liquid supply unit 30 for supplying a peeling liquid, a toner peeling unit 40 as a peeling means for peeling the toner from the transfer paper 10 to which the peeling liquid is supplied, and a drying process for drying the transfer paper 10 from which the toner has been peeled off. The unit 60 and the paper receiving unit 70 that receives the transfer paper 10 discharged from the drying unit 60 are provided.

In the toner image removing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the toner on the transfer paper 10 on which the toner image is formed is separated from the transfer paper 10 as follows when passing through the toner separating unit 40. To be done. That is, the transfer paper 10 sent from the paper supply unit 20 is uniformly supplied with the peeling liquid on the surface on which the toner image is formed by the peeling liquid supply unit 30 (hereinafter, referred to as a toner image surface), and the toner peeling unit. Sent to 40. Then, the toner peeling unit 40
The toner adhered to the transfer paper 10 is removed by the heating roller 4
5 and the release material support 46 soften and adhere to the surface of the transfer belt 44, which is a toner release material. Then, the separation roller 43 in FIG.
When the sheets 4 and 4 are separated, the toner attached to the surface of the transfer belt 44 is separated from the transfer paper 10.

Further, the toner adhered to the surface of the transfer belt 44 is removed by pressing the transfer belt 44 by 5 kgf to 50 k.
It is performed by a cleaning brush roller (hereinafter referred to as a brush roller) 50 that is pressed against gf and rotates at a rotation speed of 100 rpm to 500 rpm. The removed toner is supplied to the unit casing 52 that surrounds the brush roller 50.
To be housed.

[0006]

However, in the cleaning device for removing the toner adhering to the surface of the transfer belt, the fine toner particles removed from the transfer belt by the rubbing of the brush roller are discharged from the opening of the cleaning device. There is a problem in that it scatters to the outside and contaminates the area around the apparatus or even the area around the toner removing apparatus. here,
The cleaning device opening is provided in the casing of the cleaning device to allow the cleaning member to contact the transfer belt.

The scattering of such toner fine powder to the outside of the cleaning device makes it easy for the toner to scatter into the air with a particle size of several microns to several tens of microns, and during toner removal,
Rotation speed of the brush roller is 100rp in the cleaning device.
It occurs because of high speed rotation at m to 500 rpm.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to prevent re-contamination of the inside and outside of the apparatus with toner after being removed from the image carrier. It is to provide a device.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 provides a release material capable of exerting an adhesive force to an image-forming substance attached to the surface of an image carrier. And a peeling means for separating the image holding body and the peeling material to peel the image forming material from the surface of the image holding body after contacting with the image forming substance on the surface of the image holding body. A toner image removing device having a cleaning means provided with a cleaning member that rotates by a shaft for removing an image forming substance attached to a peeling material, the fan exhibiting a blowing function in one direction coaxially with the cleaning member. Is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the toner image removing apparatus according to the first aspect, the fan is housed in an air passage provided outside a casing that houses the cleaning means, and an exhaust port is provided in the casing. The air passage is provided with an intake portion, a communication portion with a casing exhaust port, and an exhaust portion having a dust collecting means, and the air passage is passed through the throttle portion after an air flow generated by a fan passes through the communication portion. It is characterized in that it passes through the vicinity of the casing exhaust port and is exhausted from the exhaust unit.

[0011]

According to the research conducted by the inventor of the present invention, the toner fine powder which is removed from the transfer belt by the rubbing of the brush roller in the cleaning device and is falling, and the toner fine powder accumulated in the device are discharged from the casing opening portion. It has been found that the scattering to the outside of the device can be reduced by generating an air flow from the opening into the casing. Therefore, in the toner image removing apparatus of the present invention, a fan is attached coaxially with the rotation axis of the cleaning member to generate an airflow flowing into the casing of the cleaning apparatus from the opening as the cleaning member rotates. . The generation of this airflow prevents the toner fine powder from scattering from the casing opening to the outside of the apparatus and recontaminating the surroundings.

Further, the fan is provided separately from the casing, and an air intake portion and an air exhaust portion are provided in a space in which the fan is provided to generate an air flow from the air intake part to the air exhaust part. By passing the vicinity of the exhaust port provided in the casing, a negative pressure is generated near the exhaust port, and a venturi effect causes an air flow in one direction from the casing opening to the exhaust port. Then, the scattered toner is collected by the dust collecting means provided in the exhaust unit.

[0013]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention removes a toner image for electrophotography (hereinafter referred to as a toner) as an image forming substance from a transfer paper as an image carrier on which an image is formed by a transfer type electrophotographic copying machine. An example applied to the apparatus will be described. Here, the configuration other than the configuration of the characteristic part of the present invention will be described with reference to the schematic configuration diagram of the conventional toner image removing device shown in FIG.

First, an outline of an example of a toner image removing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied will be described. In FIG.
This toner image removing device includes a sheet feeding unit 20 that separates and feeds, one by one, the transfer sheets 10 on which the toner images stored in the stacked state are formed, and the transfer sheet 10 that is sent from the sheet feeding unit 20. A liquid supply unit 30 for supplying the liquid, a toner peeling unit 40 as a peeling unit for peeling the toner from the transfer paper 10 to which the liquid is supplied, a drying unit 60 for drying the transfer paper 10 from which the toner is removed, and a drying unit. The sheet receiving unit 70 receives the transfer sheet 10 discharged from the unit 60.

The paper feeding unit 20 feeds the transfer paper 10 stacked on the paper feeding table 21 with the toner image surface facing downward by the paper feeding roller 22 from the lowermost one, and the separation roller pair 23.
The multi-feeding paper is separated by and only one transfer paper 10 is sent out by the pair of paper feeding and conveying rollers 24. The specific configuration and operation are the same as those of the paper feeding mechanism in the electrophotographic copying machine, and therefore detailed description will be omitted.

The liquid supply unit 30 supplies the transfer paper 10 with a liquid 31 such as water or an aqueous solution containing a surfactant in order to improve the permeability of the transfer paper 10. In the illustrated example, a liquid container 32 for containing the liquid, and a coating roller provided so as to be partially submerged in the liquid in the liquid container 32 and pumping the liquid by rotation to supply it to the toner image surface of the transfer paper 10. 33, and a regulation roller 34 as a paper regulation member provided so as to face the coating roller 33 with the paper conveyance path interposed therebetween. This coating roller 33
As the material, a material having a liquid retaining property, for example, a roller made of a hydrophilic porous material, sponge, or a roller made of an elastic body such as rubber or a rigid body such as metal can be used.

In addition, the liquid supply unit 30 guides the transfer paper 10 sent from the paper supply unit 20 to a facing portion (hereinafter, referred to as a liquid supply unit) between the application roller 33 and the regulation roller 34. A paper guide mechanism 35 and a second paper guide mechanism 36 for guiding the transfer paper 10 that has passed through the liquid supply unit to the toner peeling unit 40 side are provided.

The toner peeling unit 40 is provided with a transfer belt 44 as a peeling member wound around a plurality of belt supporting rollers 41, 42 and 43, and heating provided so as to be in pressure contact with each other with the transfer belt 44 interposed therebetween. A heating roller 45 with a built-in lamp 45a, a backup member 46 with a built-in heating lamp 46a, and a belt cleaning device 47 for removing toner from the surface of the transfer belt 44 are provided. At least the surface of the transfer belt 44 is formed of a material having an adhesive force to the softened toner that is larger than the adhesive force between the surface of the transfer paper 10 and the toner. For example, the belt itself is made of a metal material such as an aluminum-based material, a copper-based material, a nickel-based material, or a polymer-based material such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in which titanium oxide is dispersed. Further, the upper and lower heating rollers 45, 46 are softening members of a softening means for bringing the toner image of the transfer paper 10 into close contact with the transfer belt 44 and softening the toner on the transfer paper 10, and are heated by the heating lamps 45a, 46a. It is also an object to be heated. The heat of the upper and lower heating rollers 45 and 46 is transferred to the transfer belt 4.
By being transmitted to the toner on the transfer paper 10 via the transfer sheet 4 and the transfer paper 10, the toner on the transfer paper 10 is heated and softened.

Of the supporting rollers that support the transfer belt 44, the portion of the transfer belt that has passed through a pressing portion (hereinafter referred to as a nip area) that presses the transfer paper 10 by the heating roller 45 and the backup member 46 is wound. The supporting roller (hereinafter referred to as a separation roller) 43 attached to the transfer roller 44 changes the moving direction of the transfer belt 44 rapidly around the supporting roller 43.
Curvature separation of the transfer paper 10 from the transfer belt 44 is performed. Further, a tension roller 49 for increasing the change in the moving direction of the transfer belt 44 is also provided. The transfer belt 44 is driven by the support roller 42 so that the surface of the transfer belt 44 moves endlessly.

The belt cleaning device 47 is also provided.
Is a rotating brush roller 50 as a cleaning member that applies an intermittent scratching force to the peripheral surface of the transfer belt 44 to remove the adhered toner, and contacts the peripheral surface of the belt on the downstream side of the rotating brush roller 50 in the belt moving direction. A pad 51 for removing the adhered toner by scrubbing by frictional force is provided, and the toner removed from the peripheral surface of the belt is accommodated in the unit casing 52 by these.

Further, the toner peeling unit 40 includes
The transfer belt 44 passes through the nip area and is separated by the separation roller 43.
Also provided is a guide member 54 for guiding the transfer paper 10 separated by the curvature to the drying unit 60 side.

The drying unit 60 is, for example, the transfer paper 1.
The transfer paper 10 is dried so that the liquid holding amount of 0 is 10% or less of the paper weight. A paper pressing belt 63 that moves endlessly while being wound around the peripheral surface of the heating drum 61 at a constant angle.
It consists of and. In the illustrated example, one support roller 62 also serves as a tension roller. As the material of the paper pressing belt 63, a material having heat resistance and air permeability, for example, cloth such as canvas cloth, cotton cloth, and Tetoron cloth can be used.

Further, the drying unit 60 includes a guide member 64 for guiding the transfer paper 10 that has left the holding region between the heating drum and the paper pressing belt, and a paper receiving unit for the transfer paper 10 guided by the guide member 64. A paper discharge roller pair 65 for discharging paper is provided on the paper receiving surface of 70.

In the above structure, the transfer paper 10 sent from the paper supply unit 20 is supplied with the liquid uniformly on the toner image surface by the liquid supply unit 30, and the toner peeling unit 4 is provided.
Sent to 0. In the toner peeling unit 40, the toner adhered to the transfer paper 10 is softened by heating from the heating rollers 45 and 46 and adheres to the surface of the transfer belt 44. Then, around the separation roller 43, the transfer paper 10 and the transfer belt 44
When separated from the transfer belt 44, the toner adhering to the surface of the transfer belt 44 is separated from the transfer paper 10, whereby the toner is removed from the transfer paper 10. Transfer paper 10 from which toner has been removed
Is dried by the drying unit 60 and discharged to the paper receiving unit 70.

According to the above construction, the liquid is supplied to the transfer paper 10 to which the toner adheres, and the toner is peeled off while the liquid permeates the interface between the transfer paper 10 and the toner, so that the paper fiber is damaged. The toner can be removed without

Next, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the belt cleaning device according to the embodiment of the present invention does not recontaminate the surroundings by the toner accumulated in the unit casing after being removed from the transfer belt surface by the belt cleaning device. Will be explained. Here, the brush roller 50 shown in the belt cleaning device of the toner removing device shown in FIG. 1 serves as a cleaning unit composed of a rotating shaft 1 and a myriad of fibers that are planted so as to extend radially on the shaft 1. It has a brush section. Then, the brush roller 50 of the present invention shown in FIG.
Includes a blade member (hereinafter referred to as a fan) 3 for blowing air to both shaft ends of the brush roller 50 outside the cleaning unit 2.
a and 3B are provided. Each of the fans 3a and 3b is composed of a plurality of blades that extend in a radial direction from the shaft 1 of the brush roller 50 and that are parallel to the axis, and each of the blades has a surface facing in the rotational direction A as shown in FIG. Curved to be concave. With the above configuration, the brush roller 50
Since the fans 3a and 3b also rotate with the rotation of the brush roller (hereinafter referred to as a fan), the toner can be removed from the transfer belt surface and the air can be blown at the same time only by rotating the shaft 1.

FIG. 3 shows the belt cleaning device equipped with the brush roller 50 with the fan. On the transfer belt insertion side of the unit casing 6 provided so as to surround the apparatus, an opening 7 for fitting the support roller is provided, as in FIG. And in FIG.
An air passage is created in the unit casing 6 by providing the exhaust portion 4 with the filter 5 mounted on the side opposite to the opening portion 7 with respect to the brush roller 50 with fan. By creating this airway, the wind generated in the lower part of the fan becomes an air flow (B in FIG. 3) flowing from the lower part of the unit casing opening 7 to the exhaust part 4. Due to this air flow B, the transfer belt 4
The toner fine powder that is removed from the unit 4 and is falling or the toner fine powder that is easily scattered and accumulated in the unit casing 6 is sent to the exhaust unit 4 along with the air flow and adheres to the filter, so that the toner is removed from the opening 7. Prevents scattering from the bottom out of the device. Here, the emphasis is placed on preventing the toner fine powder from scattering only from the lower portion of the unit casing opening 7, the lower portion being closer to the toner fine powder accumulated at the bottom of the unit casing 6 than the upper portion, and the brush Roller 5
When the axis 1 of 0 is set to rotate in the direction of (a), the lower portion is close to the dropping path of the toner fine particles removed from the transfer belt 44, so that the toner fine particles are more likely to be scattered than the upper portion of the opening. From the above reason, it is effective to prevent the toner from scattering from the lower portion of the opening 7 to the outside of the apparatus in order to prevent the toner from scattering to the outside of the apparatus.

In order to reduce the toner scattered from the upper part of the unit casing opening 7 to the outside of the apparatus, a member for simply closing the opening is provided on the upper part of the opening 7 in addition to the toner scattering prevention structure. It may be provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the brush roller 50
An embodiment in which the toner scattering can be more effectively prevented by providing an air flow path separately from the space for removing the toner from the transfer belt surface will be described. In this embodiment, instead of the unit casing 6 described above, the inner wall 8 serving as a casing is cleaned via the cleaning section 2 of the brush roller 50 with a fan and the transfer belt 44 entering from the opening of the inner wall 8 to the cleaning section 2. Surrounds only a portion (hereinafter, a cleaning zone) including the support roller 41 facing the
The shaft portion of the brush roller 50 with fan penetrates the wall surface and is provided so as to project to the outside. An exhaust port is formed by the flow path plates 8a and 8b on the side of the inner wall 8 facing the opening. Further, the fans 3a and 3b provided at both ends of the shaft portion 1 protruding from the inner wall 8 of the brush roller 50 with fan.
And a support portion that rotatably supports the shaft portion 1, intake ports 9a and 9b that take in the airflow generated by the rotation of the fans 3a and 3b from the side, and an exhaust port formed in the inner wall 8. Communication space with the outside of the vehicle, and an exhaust unit 4 equipped with a filter provided on the downstream side of the communication space.
The outer wall 9 is provided so as to have This inner wall 8 and outer wall 9
The space formed between and becomes the flow path of the air flow generated by the fans 3a and 3b.

According to the above configuration, as shown in FIG.
The airflow taken from the intake ports 9a and 9b by the rotation of the fans 3a and 3b during the belt cleaning passes through the air passage formed between the inner wall 8 and the outer wall 9 and flows toward the exhaust unit 4. Since this air flow is guided to the exhaust unit 4 while hazeing the exhaust port of the container 8, the generation of negative pressure is promoted in the vicinity of the exhaust port of the cleaning zone. As a result, an air flow toward the exhaust port is generated in the cleaning zone, so that the air can be positively prevented from being scattered from the openings by taking in air from all the openings of the inner wall 8 that cause the toner scattering except the exhaust port. The air containing the scattered toner can be discarded from the exhaust port to collect dust.

Further, if the air passages formed between the inner wall 8 and the outer wall 9 are formed in the shape of the passage plates 8a, 8b and the outer wall 9 so as to form a narrowed portion which becomes narrower toward the exhaust portion 4, The velocity of the air flow that grazes the exhaust port of the container 8 is increased, and a negative pressure can be more effectively generated near the exhaust port.
Effective for toner scattering.

[0032]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, an airflow flowing into the casing from the casing opening is generated in the casing of the cleaning device for removing the toner adhering to the transfer belt. It is excellent in that it is possible to prevent recontamination of the surroundings due to scattering of toner fine powder which is removed from the transfer belt by rubbing and is falling and toner fine powder accumulated in the casing of the device from the opening to the outside of the device. There is an effect.

In particular, according to the invention of claim 1, a fan is attached to a cleaning member in the cleaning device for removing the toner adhering to the transfer belt, coaxially with the rotation axis of the member, so that a cleaning function and a blowing function are provided. Since it is an integrated structure, a new blower device and drive electric circuit,
There is an excellent effect that it is not necessary to add electric power and the airflow can be generated in the cleaning device with a simple configuration.

Further, according to the second aspect of the invention, since the airflow is generated in one direction from the casing opening to the exhaust portion in the entire casing by the Venturi effect, when the fan is provided in the casing. In comparison with the above, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of turbulent airflow in the casing, and it is possible to more reliably prevent recontamination of the surroundings due to the toner removed from the transfer belt scattering from the opening to the outside of the apparatus. There is an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional toner image removing device.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cleaning brush roller with a fan according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a modified example of the cleaning device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of another modification of the cleaning device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a fan-driving mechanism.

[0035]

[Explanation of symbols]

 3a, 3b Fan 4 Exhaust part 6 Casing 7 Opening 8 Inner wall 9 Outer wall 10 Transfer paper 20 Paper feeding unit 30 Liquid applying unit 40 Toner peeling unit 44 Transfer belt 47 Belt cleaning device 50 Cleaning brush roller 52 Toner container 60 Drying unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image holding member after a release material capable of exerting an adhesive force to an image forming substance attached to the surface of the image holding member is brought into contact with the image forming substance on the surface of the image holding member. A peeling means for separating the image forming substance from the surface of the image carrier by separating the peeling material and the peeling material; and a cleaning member rotated by an axis for removing the image forming substance attached to the peeling material by the peeling means. A toner image removing device having a cleaning means, wherein a fan exhibiting a blowing function in one direction is provided coaxially with the cleaning member. 2. The fan is housed in an air flow passage provided outside a casing that houses the cleaning means, an exhaust port is provided in the casing, and the air flow passage communicates with an intake section and a casing exhaust port. Section and an exhaust section having a dust collecting means are provided, and after the air flow generated by the fan passes through the throttle section through the air flow path, the communicating section passes near the casing exhaust port and is exhausted from the exhaust section. The toner image removing device according to claim 1, wherein the toner image removing device is configured as described above.