JPH08320641A - Cleaning device, process cartridge and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To stably obtain a lubricating action between an electrophotographic photoreceptor and an elastic blade over a long term by coating the edge part of the elastic blade with underfind shape particles and coating the surface of the photoreceptor with spherical particles. CONSTITUTION: A supporting plate metal 11d provided with the elastic cleaning blade 11a on the tip is fitted to a cleaning frame body so that the blade 11a is made to press-contact with the surface of a photoreceptor drum 7. Then, the edge part of the blade 11a is coated with lubricant 20 whose particle shape is undefined and the surface of the drum 7 is coated with lubricant 21 whose particle shape is spherical. That means, since there is possibility that unnatural noise is generated at the initial using time of a process cartridge if only the edge part is coated with the lubricant 20 of the undefined shape particles, the surface of the drum 7 is previously coated with the lubricant 21 of the spherical particles whose lubricity is extremely high. Thus, the unnatural noise is prevented from being generated at the initial action time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus in which the process cartridge can be mounted.

Here, the image forming apparatus includes, for example, an electrophotographic copying machine, an electrophotographic printer (for example, an LED printer, a laser beam printer, etc.), an electrophotographic facsimile machine, an electrophotographic word processor and the like.

As the process cartridge, at least the cleaning means and the electrophotographic photosensitive member are integrally formed into a cartridge, and the cartridge can be attached to and detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic image forming process, an electrophotographic photosensitive member and process means acting on the electrophotographic photosensitive member are integrally formed into a cartridge, and the cartridge is formed into an image forming apparatus. A process cartridge system that can be attached to and detached from the main body is adopted. According to this process cartridge system, the maintenance of the apparatus can be performed by the user himself without resorting to a serviceman, so that the operability can be markedly improved. Therefore, this process cartridge system is
It is widely used in image forming apparatuses.

In the above process cartridge, the toner image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive member is transferred to a recording medium, and then the toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member is removed by a cleaning device. The structure generally used as this cleaning device is to press an elastic blade made of a chip-shaped rubber member against the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member to scrape off the toner remaining on the photosensitive member as the electrophotographic photosensitive member rotates. I try to remove it.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a further development of the above-mentioned cleaning device. The object of the present invention is to stabilize the lubricating action between the electrophotographic photosensitive member and the elastic blade for a long period from the beginning of use. The present invention provides a cleaning device or the like that can be obtained.

[0007]

A typical construction according to the present invention for achieving the above object is to remove the toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member by pressing the edge of an elastic blade against the electrophotographic photosensitive member. In the cleaning device, irregular-shaped particles are applied to the edge portion of the elastic blade, and spherical particles are applied to the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member.

As another construction, in a cleaning device for removing the toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member by pressing the edge of the elastic blade against the electrophotographic photosensitive member,
Provide a sheet member arranged in contact with the electrophotographic photosensitive member on the upstream side of the elastic blade in the rotation direction of the electrophotographic photosensitive member, apply amorphous particles to the edge portion of the elastic blade, It is characterized in that spherical particles are applied to the contact portion with the electrophotographic photosensitive member.

[0009]

In the above construction, the spherical particles provide a lubricating effect between the elastic blade and the electrophotographic photosensitive member in the initial stage of use and by the amorphous particles for a long period of time. Therefore, when an image is formed by a process cartridge or an image forming apparatus using this cleaning device, there is no possibility that noise may occur due to friction between the elastic blade and the electrophotographic photosensitive member, or the elastic blade may be turned over. Absent.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] In the first embodiment, a process cartridge using the cleaning device according to the present invention and an image forming apparatus to which the cartridge can be attached will be described as an example. Here, as the order of description, the overall configuration of the process cartridge and the image forming apparatus using the process cartridge will be described first, and then the configuration of the cleaning device will be described.

{Overall Configuration} This electrophotographic image forming apparatus (laser beam printer) A has a structure as shown in FIG.
Information light based on image information is emitted from the optical system 1 to a drum-shaped electrophotographic photosensitive member to form a latent image on the photosensitive member, and the latent image is developed to form a toner image. Then, the recording medium 2 is fed to the paper feed cassette 3a in synchronization with the formation of the toner image.
From the pick-up roller 3b and the pressure-contact member 3c in pressure contact with the pick-up roller 3b to separate and feed the sheets one by one.
d, recording is performed by applying a voltage to the transfer roller 4 as a transfer means, which conveys the toner image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive member cartridged as the process cartridge B by being conveyed by the conveying means 3 including the pair of registration rollers 3e. The recording medium 2 is transferred onto the medium 2, and the recording medium 2 is conveyed to the fixing unit 5 by the conveying belt 3f. The fixing means 5 has a driving roller 5a and a heater 5b built therein and also has a support 5c.
The fixing rotation 5d is composed of a cylindrical sheet rotatably supported by, and heat and pressure are applied to the passing recording medium 2 to fix the transferred toner image. Then, the recording medium 2 is conveyed by the pair of discharge rollers 3g and 3h, and is discharged to the discharge unit 6 through the reverse transport path. The image forming apparatus A can also be manually fed by the manual feed tray 3i and the rollers 3j.

On the other hand, the process cartridge B is provided with at least an electrophotographic photosensitive member and a cleaning means for cleaning the toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member. Here, as the process means acting on the electrophotographic photoreceptor, in addition to the cleaning means, there are a charging means for charging the electrophotographic photoreceptor, a developing means for developing a latent image formed on the electrophotographic photoreceptor, and the like. The process cartridge B of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
A photosensitive drum 7 which is an electrophotographic photosensitive member having a photosensitive layer is rotated, and a voltage is applied to a charging roller 8 which is a charging means to uniformly charge the surface of the photosensitive drum 7, and the charged photosensitive drum 7, the light image from the optical system 1 is exposed through the opening 9 to form a latent image, and the latent image is developed by a developing unit.
It is configured to develop by 10.

The developing means 10 is a rotatable first toner feeding member which is a feeding means for feeding the toner in the toner storage portion 10a.
10b1 and the second toner feeding member 10b2 feed the fixed magnet
The developing roller 10d, which is a developing member having a built-in 10c, is rotated, and at the same time, a toner layer to which a triboelectric charge is applied by the developing blade 10e is formed on the surface of the developing roller 10d. By transferring the toner image to No. 7, a toner image is formed and visualized.

Then, after a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner image is applied to the transfer roller 4 to transfer the toner image to the recording medium 2, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 7 is scraped off by a cleaning means 11 which will be described later. Remove this.

Each member such as the photosensitive drum 7 is housed and supported in a cartridge frame body in which a toner developing frame body 12 which is a first frame body and a cleaning frame body 13 which is a second frame body are housed and supported to form a cartridge. And is detachably attached to the apparatus body 14.

When the opening / closing member 15 is opened around the shaft 15a (see FIG. 4), the cartridge mounting means is, as shown in FIG. A guide rail 16 formed into a curved shape (in this embodiment, a substantially arc shape) is provided substantially symmetrically (only one side is shown in FIG. 6), and a guide member is provided above it.
17 is attached.

On the other hand, guide portions which are guided along the guide rails 16 are formed on both outer side surfaces of the process cartridge B in the longitudinal direction corresponding to the guide rails 16.
The guide portion is configured so as to project from substantially symmetrical positions on both outer side surfaces in the longitudinal direction of the cartridge frame, and as shown in FIG. 5, the boss 18 and the rib 19 are integrally formed. . The boss 18 and the rib 19 are formed integrally with the cleaning frame body 13 to which the photosensitive drum 7 is attached, the boss 18 is located on the extension line of the rotation axis of the photosensitive drum 7, and the rib 19 is the boss. A curved shape (in this embodiment, a substantially circular arc shape) is bulged downward in accordance with the shape of the guide rail 16 continuously behind the process cartridge B in the insertion direction of the process cartridge B.

In the above structure, when the process cartridge B is mounted, the opening / closing member 15 is opened so that the boss 18 and the rib 19 are guided along the guide rail 16 so that the tip of the cartridge goes under the optical means 1 of the apparatus. To insert.
The guide rail 16 is formed in a substantially arc shape, and the guide member 17 above the guide rail 16 also has a shape following this, and the rib 19 is also in a substantially arc shape. The cartridge B becomes substantially horizontal. When you push the cartridge B further, the boss 18 will
It falls into the receiving recess 16a formed at the end of 16. As a result, a drum gear (not shown) fixed to the side end of the photosensitive drum 7 meshes with a drive gear (not shown) on the apparatus main body 14 side, and the driving force can be transmitted to the process cartridge B. Conversely, the process cartridge can be removed by removing the boss 18 from the recess 16a and pulling it out along the guide rail 16.

{Structure of Cleaning Means} Next, the structure of the cleaning means 11, which is a cleaning device for removing the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 7, will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the cleaning means 11 according to the present embodiment mounts a supporting sheet metal 11d having an elastic cleaning blade 11a at its tip on the cleaning frame 13, and the elastic cleaning blade 11a is a photosensitive drum. The surface of 7 is pressed. Further, a squeeze sheet 11b, which is a sheet member, is provided upstream of the elastic cleaning blade 11a in the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 7.
Are attached so as to contact the surface of the photosensitive drum 7. As a result, when the photosensitive drum 7 rotates, the toner remaining on the drum 7 is scraped off by the elastic cleaning blade 11a, scooped up by the squeeze sheet 11b, and collected in the waste toner storage portion 11c.

The elastic cleaning blade 11a is made of, for example, chip-shaped rubber, and is made of urethane rubber, silicon rubber or the like. Also, the above-mentioned squi sheet 11b
Is attached by attaching a resin sheet such as polyethylene terephthalate to the cleaning frame 13 with a double-sided tape or the like.

Thus, the elastic cleaning blade 11a
In the cleaning configuration in which the photosensitive drum 7 is pressed against the photosensitive drum 7, a lubricating effect due to the recovered material cannot be expected when there is almost no recovered material such as toner in the pressed portion, so that the frictional force when the cleaning means 11 starts to be used. Is likely to be the highest. For this reason, there is a possibility that the rotational torque of the photosensitive drum 7 may be increased or that the noise may change. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the elastic cleaning blade 11a is coated with a lubricant 20 having an irregular particle shape on the edge portion as shown in FIGS. Also, on the surface of the photosensitive drum 7,
A lubricant 21 having a spherical particle shape is applied.

In addition, in the application state of the lubricants 20 and 21, the irregular lubricant 20 adheres densely, whereas the spherical lubricant 21 adheres only sparsely. This is because the irregular lubricant 20 has poor fluidity because the irregular shapes of the particle surface are intertwined with each other, and is difficult to peel off from the place when applied, whereas the spherical lubricant 21 has less entanglement of the particles. This is because the adhesive force is weak and it easily peels off. However, the spherical lubricant 21 has a very smooth fluid surface as compared with the irregular lubricant 20, and therefore has a very high fluidity and a very high lubricity.

Amorphous lubricant 20 having the above characteristics
By coating and the spherical lubricant 21 with each other, it is possible to maintain the lubricating performance between the cleaning blade 11a and the photoconductor drum 7 for a long period from the initial use of the process cartridge B.

That is, if the lubricant 20 of amorphous particles is applied only to the edge portion of the cleaning blade 11a, noise may be generated at the beginning of use of the process cartridge. This is because the lubrication effect is still low only with the lubricant of irregular particles, and the frictional force between the cleaning blade 11a and the photosensitive drum 7 is large, so that the entire blade vibrates. This phenomenon is more likely to occur in a high temperature environment. It is considered that this is because the hardness of the blade 11a decreases due to the high temperature, the nip of the pressure contact portion increases, and the frictional force increases. It should be noted that this abnormal sound generally disappears when the number of image forming sheets is approximately ten. It is considered that this is because the powder and toner of the photosensitive layer scraped by the rubbing with the cleaning blade 11a are accumulated in the contact portion between the cleaning blade 11a and the photosensitive drum 7 and start to act as a lubricant. Therefore, by coating the surface of the photoconductor drum 7 with the lubricant 21 of spherical particles having an extremely high lubricity in advance, it is possible to collect the scraping powder and toner in the photosensitive layer of the photoconductor drum 7 in the initial stage of operation. It is possible to prevent the abnormal sound.

However, since the spherical particles of the lubricant 21 have a weak adhesive force, they are immediately peeled off from the photosensitive drum 7 and collected in the waste toner storage portion 11c, so that the lubricating effect does not last long. Therefore, if only the lubricant 21 of spherical particles is applied, after the lubricant 21 is peeled off, it depends only on the lubrication effect of the scraped powder of the photosensitive layer and the collected material such as toner. However, the lubrication effect of the collected material changes depending on the collected state, the collected amount is extremely reduced, and if there is a place where the collected material of the blade edge part is blown away due to vibration etc., there is a large frictional force there. Therefore, the edge portion of the cleaning blade may be worn or missing. However, this phenomenon occurs only in a high-temperature environment where the apparatus environment is 30 ° C or higher. It is considered that this is because the rubber hardness of the blade is lowered by the high temperature, the nip of the pressure contact portion is increased, the frictional force is excessively increased, and the condition becomes severe. Therefore, if the lubricant of amorphous particles that are difficult to peel off as in this example is applied to the blade edge portion, the lubricant is present in the edge portion for a long period of time, and in order to maintain a certain degree of lubricating action, the edge It is possible to prevent the blade edge from being turned over even if the amount of collected material in the portion decreases.

Next, the lubricant that is preferably used will be described. First, as a specific example of the lubricant 20 of amorphous particles, for example, fluororesins such as tetrafluoroethylene and vinylidene fluoride, titanium oxide, strontium titanate, graphite fluoride, zinc stearate, etc. having an average particle size of 0.5. What is crushed to about 10 μm is used. To apply this to the cleaning blade 11a, for example, a dispersion liquid in which powder is dispersed in a volatile organic solvent is used.

Specific organic solvents include methanol,
Alcohols such as ethanol and isopropanol, ketones such as acetone, methyl ethyl ketone and cyclohexane, amides such as N, N-dimethylformamide and N, N-dimethylacetamide, sulfoxides such as dimethyl sulfoxide, tetrahydrofuran, dioxane and ethylene glycol. Ethers such as monomethyl ether,
Esters such as methyl acetate and ethyl acetate, aliphatic halogenated hydrocarbons such as chloroform, methylene chloride, dichloroethylene, carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethylene, or benzene, toluene, xylene, ligroin, monochlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene. It is possible to use aromatic hydrocarbons and the like.

A brush or a brush may be used as a method for applying the dispersion liquid, but an automatic coating machine (for example, a coating unit capable of sucking in and discharging a predetermined amount of the dispersion liquid, and a movable coating unit which can be moved by a program or the like). Robot consisting of departments)
It is more preferable to use since it is possible to control the liquid amount and the coating area.

If the particle size of the lubricant is too small, the cohesiveness becomes too high, and the aggregated particles of the secondary or higher order increase, and the dispersion in the solvent deteriorates, making it difficult to handle. Further, if the particle size is too large, it becomes difficult to aggregate and the adhesion to the blade becomes weak, or if particles having a large particle size with respect to the toner are present at the blade edge part, the toner may slip through. Also becomes.

As a specific example of the spherical particle lubricant 21, for example, silicon resin, acrylic resin, ethylene acrylic resin or the like is made into fine particles by a manufacturing method such as a polymerization method, and the average particle diameter is about 0.5 to 10 μm. What is done is used. As a method of applying this to the surface of the photoconductor drum 7, a method of directly applying the powder itself by using a brush, a roller or the like with a dust or the like is used. The reason for the appropriate particle size range of the lubricant is the same as in the case of the lubricant having irregular particles as described above.

Next, classification of irregular particles and spherical particles will be described with reference to FIG. In this example, the irregular particles and the spherical particles are classified by the following shape factors. Incidentally, FIG. 3 shows the shape of particles, and the parameters in the following equations are shown in FIG. Here, when the particle perimeter is a and the particle projected area is b, the shape factor K is: K = 100 a ² / 4πb (when the shape factor is 100, a true sphere).

The parameter measuring method is, for example, using a scanning electron microscope, randomly sampling 30 images of the lubricant magnified 1000 times, and transmitting the image information to an image analyzer through an interface. Introduce and analyze to obtain.

Actually, the shape factor of the spherical lubricant of silicon resin having an average particle diameter of 2 μm was about 120. Therefore, in this embodiment, in consideration of variations, particles having a shape factor of 130 or less are defined as spherical particles, and particles having a shape coefficient exceeding 130 are defined as amorphous particles.

{Experimental Results} Next, in the case where an image is formed by using a cleaning device coated with a lubricant of irregular particles and spherical particles as in the above-mentioned embodiment, and when an image is formed by using another cleaning device. The results of comparative experiments with

(Common condition) Under an environment of temperature 32.5 ° C. and humidity 85%, images with a printing ratio of 3% are continuously passed as a durability mode, and lubricant, toner, etc. at the edge of the cleaning blade easily drop. To create the condition, a person vibrates the image forming apparatus every 250 sheets of paper.

Comparative Example 1 Carbon fluoride fine particles (average particle diameter 2 μm) as an irregular lubricant on the blade edge portion
Was applied in a width of 1 mm with a dispersion having a concentration of 10 wt% with respect to isopropyl ether.

(Comparative Example 2) Silicon resin fine particles as a spherical lubricant (average particle diameter 0.8 μm) on the blade edge portion.
Was applied in a width of 1 mm with a dispersion having a concentration of 10 wt% with respect to isopropyl ether.

(Embodiment 1) Carbon fluoride fine particles (average 2 μm) as an irregular lubricant were applied to the blade edge portion in a width of 1 mm with a dispersion having a concentration of 10 wt% with respect to isopropyl ether, and exposed. Silicone resin particles (average particle size 0.8 μm) as spherical lubricant applied to the surface of the body drum (brushed with a brush).

(Results) In Comparative Example 1, noise was generated from the 2nd sheet to the 8th sheet in the initial stage of operation, and the durability was 60.
There was nothing wrong with passing 00 sheets. Further, in Comparative Example 2, there is no noise at the beginning of the operation, but at the time of the endurance number 1800,
The blade has turned over.

On the other hand, in the cleaning device according to this embodiment, there was no noise at the beginning of the operation, and there was no abnormality in durability after 6,000 sheets were passed.

As described above, by applying the lubricant of the irregular particles to the edge portion of the cleaning blade 11a and the lubricant of the spherical particles to the photosensitive drum 7, it is possible to eliminate the noise in the initial stage of operation, and It is possible to prevent the cleaning blade from being turned over.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Incidentally, FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the cleaning device, and since the configuration is basically the same as that of the above-described first embodiment, the same members are designated by the same reference numerals and duplicate description is omitted. The process cartridge using this cleaning device and the image forming apparatus in which the cartridge is mounted are the same as in the first embodiment.

In the first embodiment described above, the lubricant of irregular particles was applied to the edge portion of the cleaning blade 11a, and the lubricant of spherical particles was applied to the surface of the photosensitive drum 7. The example is the same in that the lubricant 20 of irregular particles is applied to the edge portion of the cleaning blade 11a, but the lubricant 21 of spherical particles is applied to the drum 7 instead of being applied to the surface thereof. It is different in that it is applied to the contact portion of the squi sheet 11b that contacts.

The spherical particle lubricant 21 applied to the squi sheet 11b gradually transfers to the surface of the photoconductor drum 7 as the photoconductor drum 7 rotates, and produces a lubricating effect. The spherical particle lubricant used in this example
21 is the same as that described in the first embodiment, and the coating method is such that it is dispersed in the organic solvent described in the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the above-mentioned first embodiment is used.
The method for applying the spherical particle lubricant is simpler than that of the embodiment. That is, when the powder is applied to the photosensitive drum 7 as it is with a brush or the like, it takes time for uniform application, and the powder is easily scattered. However, when the solvent is dispersed and applied to the squeeze sheet 11b, the squeeze sheet 11b can be applied uniformly, so that the amount of the lubricant transferred from there to the surface of the photosensitive drum 7 is also uniform. Therefore, the handling becomes much easier if the solvent is properly managed.

{Experimental Results} An image was formed by the image forming apparatus using the cleaning device shown in FIG. 7 and the cleaning effect was confirmed. The experimental conditions were the same as those described in the first embodiment, and the lubricant application conditions were as follows: Concentrated fluorinated carbon fine particles (average particle size 2 μm) as an irregular particle lubricant at the blade edge with respect to isopropyl ether. A 10
Dispersion solution of 1% width applied with a dispersion liquid of wt% and silicon resin fine particles (average particle diameter 0.8 μm) as spherical lubricants at the edge of the squeeze sheet at a concentration of 10 wt% with respect to isopropyl ether. It was applied with a width of 1 mm. As a result, there was no noise at the beginning of the operation, and no abnormality was found in durability after 6,000 sheets were passed.

As described above, the cleaning blade 11a
By applying a lubricant of irregular particles to the edge part of the and a lubricant of spherical particles to the drum contact part of the squeeze sheet 11b, it is possible to eliminate the noise at the beginning of operation and prevent the cleaning blade from turning up. You can do it.

Another Embodiment Next, another example of each part of the process cartridge B and the image forming apparatus according to the above-described embodiment will be described.

Although the process cartridge B described above is for forming a monochromatic image, the process cartridge is not limited to the case of forming a monochromatic image, but a plurality of developing means are provided and a multicolor image (for example, two colors is provided). It can also be suitably applied to a cartridge that forms an image, a three-color image, a full-color image, or the like.

As the developing method, various known developing methods such as a two-component magnetic brush developing method, a cascade developing method, a touchdown developing method and a cloud developing method can be used.

Further, the electrophotographic photosensitive member is not limited to the above-mentioned photosensitive drum, and includes, for example, the following. First, a photoconductor is used as the photoconductor, and examples of the photoconductor include amorphous silicon, amorphous selenium, zinc oxide, titanium oxide, and an organic photoconductor (OP).
C) etc. are included. The shape on which the photoconductor is mounted includes, for example, a drum-shaped, belt-shaped rotating body, a sheet-shaped body, and the like. Generally, a drum-shaped or belt-shaped one is used. For example, in the case of a drum type photoconductor, a photoconductor is vapor-deposited or coated on a cylinder of aluminum alloy or the like. Is.

As for the constitution of the charging means, the so-called contact charging method was used in the above-mentioned first embodiment, but a tungsten wire which has been conventionally used as another constitution is provided with a metal shield such as aluminum around the three sides. It goes without saying that a configuration may be used in which positive or negative ions generated by applying a high voltage to the tungsten wire are moved to the surface of the photosensitive drum to uniformly charge the surface of the drum.

The charging means may be of a blade type (charging blade), a pad type, a block type, a rod type, a wire type or the like, other than the roller type.

The process cartridge according to the present invention comprises at least an electrophotographic photosensitive member and a current cleaning means. Therefore, as a typical mode thereof, the cleaning means, the electrophotographic photosensitive member, the charging means and the developing means are integrally made into a cartridge, which can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. Further, the cleaning means, the electrophotographic photosensitive member, and the charging means or the developing means are integrally made into a cartridge, which can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. Further, there is one in which the cleaning means and the electrophotographic photosensitive member are integrally made into a cartridge, which can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body.

In the above-described embodiment, the photosensitive drum and the developing roller are made into a cartridge, and the apparatus for forming the image by mounting this process cartridge is exemplified. However, these photosensitive drum, the developing roller and the cleaning means are made into a cartridge. Even if the image forming apparatus is directly attached to the apparatus main body, the same effect can be obtained by using the cleaning apparatus for removing the toner remaining on the photoconductor drum of the above-described embodiment. .

Further, although the laser beam printer has been illustrated as the image forming apparatus in the above-mentioned embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and other examples such as an LED printer, an electrophotographic copying machine, a facsimile machine, a word processor, etc. Of course, it can be used in an image forming apparatus.

[0059]

According to the present invention, since the cleaning device is constructed as described above, the spherical blade is provided in the initial stage of use, and the amorphous particle is provided for a long period of time to provide the lubricating action between the elastic blade and the electrophotographic photosensitive member. To be Therefore, when an image is formed by a process cartridge or an image forming apparatus using this cleaning device,
It is possible to prevent the occurrence of noise due to friction between the elastic blade and the electrophotographic photosensitive member and the risk of the elastic blade being turned over.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a cleaning device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic enlarged explanatory view of a pressure contact portion between a cleaning blade and a photosensitive drum.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram illustrating a particle shape.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of an image forming apparatus in which a process cartridge is mounted.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a process cartridge having a cleaning device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a mounting configuration of a process cartridge.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a cleaning device according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

A ... Image forming apparatus, B ... Process cartridge, 1 ... Optical means, 2 ... Recording medium, 3 ... Conveying means, 3a ... Cassette, 3b ... Pickup roller, 3c ... Pressing member, 3d
... conveying rollers, 3e ... registration rollers, 3f ... conveying belts, 3g, 3h ... discharging rollers, 3j ... rollers, 3i ... manual feeding tray, 4 ... transfer roller, 5 ... fixing means, 5a ... driving roller, 5b ... heater, 5c ... Support 5d ... Fixing rotator, 6 ... Ejecting section, 7 ... Photosensitive drum, 8 ... Charging roller, 9 ... Exposure opening, 10 ... Developing means, 10a ... Toner storage section, 10b1, 10b2 ... Toner feeding member , 10c ... Magnet, 10d ...
Developing roller, 10e ... Developing blade, 11 ... Cleaning means, 11a ... Cleaning blade, 11b ... Squeeze sheet, 11c ... Waste toner storage section, 11d ... Support sheet metal, 12 ... Toner developing frame body, 13 ... Cleaning frame body, 14 ... Device Body, 15
... Opening / closing member, 15a ... Shaft, 16 ... Guide rail, 16a ... Recess, 17 ... Guide member, 18 ... Boss, 19 ... Rib, 20 ... Amorphous particle lubricant, 21 ... Spherical particle lubricant

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Satoshi Inami 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Atsushi Suzuki, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Atsutoshi Ando 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device for removing the toner remaining on an electrophotographic photosensitive member by pressing the edge of the elastic blade against the electrophotographic photosensitive member, wherein irregular-shaped particles are applied to the edge portion of the elastic blade, A cleaning device in which spherical particles are applied to the surface of a photoconductor. 2. A cleaning device for removing the toner remaining on an electrophotographic photosensitive member by bringing the edge of the elastic blade into pressure contact with the electrophotographic photosensitive member, wherein the electron is provided upstream of the elastic blade in the rotational direction of the electrophotographic photosensitive member. A sheet member provided in contact with the photographic photoreceptor is provided, amorphous particles are applied to the edge portion of the elastic blade, and spherical particles are applied to the contact portion of the sheet member with the electrophotographic photoreceptor. A characteristic cleaning device. Wherein the amorphous particles and spherical particles, the particle perimeter a, the grain projected area b, the shape factor K = 100 a ^2/4
If πb, K particles of 130 or less are spherical particles,
The cleaning device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein particles having a K value exceeding 130 are irregularly shaped particles. 4. A process cartridge attachable to and detachable from an image forming apparatus main body, comprising: an electrophotographic photosensitive member; and a cleaning unit that removes toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member, wherein the cleaning unit is the cleaning unit. Alternatively, a process cartridge using the cleaning device according to claim 2. 5. An image forming apparatus capable of detaching a process cartridge and forming an image on a recording medium, wherein a mounting means for detachably mounting the process cartridge according to claim 4 and a recording medium are conveyed. An image forming apparatus, comprising: 6. An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium, an electrophotographic photoreceptor, developing means for developing a latent image formed on the electrophotographic photoreceptor, and the electrophotographic photoreceptor. 3. A transfer unit for transferring an image onto a recording medium, and a cleaning unit for removing toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member after transfer, wherein the cleaning unit is the cleaning unit according to claim 1 or 2. An image forming apparatus using a cleaning device. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming apparatus is an electrophotographic copying machine, a laser beam printer, or a facsimile apparatus.