JPH0943965A - Developing sleeve reproducing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a developing sleeve reproducing method by which a developing sleeve can be re-utilized at low costs without damaging the original dimensions, shape and surface condition of the cylindrical base material of the developing sleeve. SOLUTION: After an electrically conductive coat layer 3 is removed by applying excimer laser irradiation to the electrically conductive coat layer 3 formed on the outer circumference of the cylindrical base material 2 of a developing sleeve 1, the electrically conductive coat layer 3 is formed again on the outer circumference of the cylindrical base material 2 from which the electrically conductive coat layer 3 is removed to reproduce a developing sleeve 1'. The electrically conductive coat layer 3 formed on the outer circumference of the cylindrical base material 2 of the used developing sleeve 1 can be easily and surely removed by the excimer laser, and the developing sleeve 1 can be re-utilized at low costs without damaging the original dimensions, shape and surface condition of the cylindrical base material 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for recycling a developing sleeve of a developing device used in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer forms a desired image by using a so-called electrophotographic process.

That is, after a positive or negative charge is charged on the photosensitive drum by the primary charger, light such as a laser beam is irradiated to draw an image on the photosensitive drum. Then
The electric charge disappears in the portion of the photosensitive drum where the light is irradiated, and the electric charge remains in the portion where the light is not irradiated. As a result, a potential difference corresponding to the shape of the image is generated on the photosensitive drum to form an electrostatic latent image. In the developing device, a toner having a charge opposite to the charge on the photosensitive drum is attached to the electrostatic latent image through a developing sleeve to form a visible image. Then, after transferring this visible image to a transfer material such as paper, the transfer material is conveyed to a fixing device, and the toner is fused to the transfer material by heat and pressure by a fixing roller to fix the visible image to the transfer material. By doing so, a permanent image is obtained.

By the way, in recent years, with the downsizing or personalization of such an image forming apparatus, a charger, a photosensitive drum, a developing sleeve and the like are integrated into a cartridge to facilitate replacement during maintenance. Therefore, the cartridge is a consumable item that is regularly discarded.

However, in recent years, as the social demand for the environment has increased, the developing sleeve and the like constituting the cartridge have come to be collected and recycled from the viewpoint of environmental protection.

Conventionally, as a method of reproducing the developing sleeve,
Generally, the conductive coat layer formed on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical base material made of an aluminum tube is scraped off by cutting, and the conductive coat layer is cut off on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical base material. Is formed again to reuse the developing sleeve.

[0007]

However, the aluminum tube as the cylindrical base material of the developing sleeve is originally required to have very high dimensional accuracy (outer diameter, inner diameter and straightness), and the surface roughness is also narrow. Limited to range values,
The conventional regenerating method of cutting the outer peripheral surface of the aluminum tube has problems such as thinning of the aluminum tube and difficulty of repeated cutting.

As another regenerating method, a method of dissolving the conductive coating layer formed on the outer peripheral surface of the aluminum tube with a chemical agent, a solvent, etc. and peeling it off from the aluminum tube is also used. In this case, there were problems such as the dissolution damage of the aluminum tube surface and the disposal of waste chemicals and solvents. Further, from the viewpoint of resource reuse, since aluminum pipes are mixed and melted without being sorted according to alloys at the time of recycling, they can only be reused as low-grade products.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reuse a cylindrical base material of a developing sleeve at a low cost without deteriorating the original size and surface condition. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for remanufacturing a developing sleeve that can perform

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 irradiates an excimer laser on a conductive coat layer formed on the outer periphery of a cylindrical base material of a developing sleeve. After the conductive coat layer is removed, the conductive coat layer is formed again on the outer periphery of the cylindrical substrate from which the conductive coat layer has been removed. Therefore, according to the invention of claim 1, the conductive coat layer formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical substrate of the used developing sleeve can be easily and surely removed by the excimer laser. The cylindrical base material of the developing sleeve can be reused at a low cost without impairing the original size and shape and the surface condition.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the conductive coat layer formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical base material of the developing sleeve is irradiated with excimer laser to leave a part of the conductive coat layer. After partially removing it by a predetermined thickness,
It is characterized in that a conductive coat layer is newly formed on the conductive coat layer left on the cylindrical substrate.

Therefore, according to the invention of claim 2, a part of the conductive coat layer formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical base material of the used developing sleeve is removed and remains on the cylindrical base material. Since the conductive coat layer is newly formed on the conductive coat layer, the removal time of the conductive coat layer by the excimer laser is shortened and the coating amount of the coating agent when forming the new conductive coat layer is reduced. The cost can be reduced because the number is small. Note that the excimer laser can accurately control the thickness of the conductive coat layer to be removed.

[0013]

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

FIG. 1 (a) is a cross-sectional view of the developing sleeve 1. The developing sleeve 1 has a cylindrical base member 2 made of an aluminum tube and has a conductive coat layer 3 having a thickness t = 6 to 10 .mu.m on the outer peripheral surface thereof. Is formed. The conductive coat layer 3 is made of, for example, a phenol resin mixed with carbon and graphite.

In the method of the present invention, the conductive coat layer 3 of the developing sleeve 1 is wholly or partially removed by the maximer laser. A schematic structure of an apparatus for that purpose is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, 11 is an excimer laser oscillator, 12 is a mirror, 13 is a cylindrical lens, and 14 is a cylindrical lens.
Is a condenser lens, and the used developing sleeve 1 which is a workpiece is horizontally set with its end supported by a rotating device 15 as shown in the figure.

Thus, the maximer laser light L oscillated by the excimer laser oscillator 11 is reflected at a right angle by the mirror 12, spread by the cylindrical lens 13 into a band, and the cylindrical lens of the developing sleeve 1 is condensed by the condensing lens 14. The conductive coating layer 3 (see FIG. 1A) on the material 2 is focused in the form of a line beam.

On the other hand, the developing sleeve 1, which is the workpiece, is rotationally driven at a predetermined rotational speed by the rotating device 15,
When the conductive coat layer 3 of the developing sleeve 1 is irradiated with the maxima laser light L at a right angle, the carbon bond of the resin of the conductive coat layer 3 is cut by the energy of the maxima laser light L, and the conductive coat layer 3 is cut. 3 is separated and removed from the cylindrical substrate 2.

The relationship between the removal amount of the conductive coating layer having a thickness of 10 μm and the number of oscillation pulses of the maximer laser is shown in FIG. 4 with the power density of the maxima laser of 1 J / cm ² and 3 J / cm ² as parameters. Note that the excimer laser can accurately control the thickness of the conductive coat layer to be removed.

Therefore, in the method of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
The conductive coat layer 3 of the developing sleeve 1 shown in FIG.
1 is completely removed by a maximer laser using the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 to obtain the cylindrical substrate 2 shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), the developing sleeve 1 ′ can be regenerated by forming the conductive coat layer 3 ′ having the thickness t again on the outer periphery of the cylindrical base material 2, and the cylindrical base material 2 is repeated. Can be used. Even if the conductive coat layer 3 is completely removed from the cylindrical base material 2 by irradiation of the maxima laser as described above, the dimensional shape and surface state of the cylindrical base material 1 should be kept as they are. Was confirmed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the conductive coat layer 3 formed on the outer circumference of the cylindrical substrate 2 of the used developing sleeve 1 can be easily and surely removed by the excimer laser. And the cylindrical substrate 2 of the developing sleeve 1
Without impairing the original dimensions and shape and surface condition, and
It can be reused at low cost.

Further, in the method of the present invention, the conductive coating layer 3 of the used developing roller 1 shown in FIG. 2A is partially cut by a maxima laser using the apparatus shown in FIG.
1 is partially removed by a predetermined thickness t ₂ (see FIG. 2).
(B)), as shown in FIG. 2 (c), the thickness t is left on the conductive coat layer 3-1 having a thickness t ₁ left on the cylindrical substrate 2.
_The developing sleeve 1'is also regenerated by newly forming the _second conductive coat layer 3-2, and the cylindrical substrate 2 can be repeatedly used also by this method. Further, according to this method, the time for removing the conductive coat layer 3 by the excimer laser is shortened, and the coating amount of the coating agent when forming the new conductive coat layer 3-2 is small. Cost reduction can be achieved. As described above, according to the excimer laser, it is possible to accurately control the thickness of the conductive coat layer to be removed, and for example, the conductive coat layer may have a thickness of about half the original thickness (for example, Three
To 5 μm) is partially removed.

Next, concrete examples of the present invention will be shown.

[0024]

[Embodiment] KrF laser (wavelength 2
As a result of processing the developing sleeve (diameter φ16 mm) by using the apparatus shown in FIG. 3 with the use of 48 nm), the conductive coat on the surface could be completely removed.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the power density of the laser and the amount of removal of the conductive coat layer when processed using a KrF laser (wavelength 248 nm). The processing conditions are as follows.

Processing conditions: Laser oscillation frequency: 200 Hz Development sleeve rotation speed: 2000 rpm Processing time: 10 seconds Laser beam shape: Line beam (650 μm × 20 cm) As a result of processing under the above conditions, laser power density 0.8 J
/ Cm ² the conductive coat layer was completely removed, and at a power density of 3.5 J / cm ² , the aluminum of the underlying cylindrical substrate was damaged.

Further, FIG. 6 shows a KrF laser (wavelength 248n
The relationship between the number of rotations of the developing sleeve and the amount of removal of the conductive coat layer when processed using m) is shown. The processing conditions are as follows.

Processing conditions: Laser oscillation frequency: 200 Hz Laser power density: ² J / cm ² Processing time: 10 seconds Laser beam shape: Line beam (650 μm × 20 cm) As a result of processing under the above conditions, the number of rotations of the developing sleeve was 3000.
The conductive coat layer was completely removed at rpm or less, and the aluminum of the underlying cylindrical substrate was damaged at the developing sleeve rotation speed of 500 rpm or less.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, claim 1
According to the invention described above, after removing the conductive coat layer by irradiating the conductive coat layer formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical base material of the developing sleeve with an excimer laser, the conductive coat layer is removed. Since the conductive coat layer is formed again on the outer periphery of the cylindrical base material, the conductive coat layer formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical base material of the used developing roller can be easily and by an excimer laser, and The effect is that it can be reliably removed, and the cylindrical base material of the developing sleeve can be reused at low cost without impairing the original dimensions and surface condition.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the conductive coat layer formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical base material of the developing sleeve is irradiated with an excimer laser to partially cover the conductive coat layer. The conductive coating layer is newly formed on the conductive coating layer remaining on the cylindrical base material after partially removing the conductive coating layer by a predetermined thickness.
In addition to the effects of the invention described, the time for removing the conductive coat layer by the excimer laser is shortened, and the cost is reduced because the coating amount of the coating agent when forming a new conductive coat layer is small. The effect is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a developing sleeve showing a procedure of a method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a developing sleeve showing another procedure of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a processing apparatus used in the method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the amount of removal of a conductive coat layer and the number of oscillation pulses of a maxima laser, using the power density of the maxima laser as a parameter.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the power density of the maximer laser and the removal amount of the conductive coat layer.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the rotation speed of the developing sleeve and the amount of removal of the conductive coat layer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1'Development sleeve 2 Cylindrical base material 3,3 'Conductive coat layer 3-1 Remaining conductive coat layer 3-2 Newly formed conductive coat layer 11 Excimer laser oscillator 12 Reflection mirror 13 Cylindrical Lens 14 Condensing lens 15 Rotating device L Maxima laser light

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cylinder from which a conductive coat layer is removed by irradiating the conductive coat layer formed on the outer periphery of a cylindrical base material of a developing sleeve with an excimer laser to remove the conductive coat layer. A method for reclaiming a developing sleeve, characterized in that a conductive coat layer is formed again on the outer periphery of the base material. 2. The conductive coat layer formed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical base material of the developing sleeve is irradiated with excimer laser to partially leave the conductive coat layer by a predetermined thickness. A method for reclaiming a developing sleeve, characterized in that a conductive coat layer is newly formed on the conductive coat layer left on the cylindrical substrate after the removal.