JPH11249423A - Developing device, manufacture thereof, and image forming mechanism utilizing these - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a developer not firmly stick on controlling means or the developer carrier, in the course of storing or handling in unusedstate excluding inspection. SOLUTION: The manufacturing method of the developing device A includes an inspecting process by driving a developing device A, and a processing stage after the inspecting process, for removing a developer 15 on a developer carrier 11 at least, between a controlling means 12. As a result of manufacturing in such a manner or the like while, holding the developer 15 on at least, a part of the developer carrier 11 in a nursed state, the developer 15 is not allowed to exist in a butting part F of the developer carrier 11 on the controlling means 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing device, a method of manufacturing the same, and a copier, a printer,
The present invention relates to an image forming mechanism used for a facsimile, a microfilm printer, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a developing apparatus using a one-component developer, a supplied developer is carried by a developing roller, and is conveyed while forming a thin layer by regulating the layer thickness by a regulating blade in contact with the developing roller. Then, the latent image on the opposing photosensitive member is developed to form an image. The toner adheres to the contact portion of the regulating blade with the developing roller with time. Particularly when non-magnetic toner is used or when the peripheral speed of the developing roller is high, the toner is easily fixed. As the toner adheres, the toner adhering portion of the regulating blade makes the amount of toner passing therethrough smaller than other portions, so that the developed image partially lacks density and becomes image noise. Further, the toner fixing portion prevents toner passing therethrough from contacting the regulating blade. Therefore, in the developing method in which the regulating blade contacts and charges the toner, the toner is partially insufficiently charged, which also causes image noise.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 05-307317 discloses that when a developing device is mounted on an image forming apparatus main body and used, the developing roller is reversed after the developing operation, and the regulating blade is in contact with the developing roller. A technique for removing a portion of toner is disclosed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-118779 discloses a technique for preventing toner from sticking due to wear of the regulating blade itself before the toner sticks to the regulating blade.

On the other hand, after the assembling work at the time of manufacturing the developing device,
Or, after a recycling operation for recycling, an inspection is generally performed to check the function and performance using the stored toner in the toner storage unit or the toner stored for inspection. For example, when the developing roller is driven to rotate and a thin layer of toner is regulated on the developing roller by the regulation of the regulating blade, and it is checked whether the formed thin layer has noise or when the developing device is driven. Is measured to determine whether the torque is within an appropriate range.

[0005]

However, in the developing device whose function and performance have been confirmed as described above, the above-described image noise sometimes occurs when the developing device is started to be used by end users. This is because, when the developing device is driven and inspected to guarantee its function and performance, toner remains between the developing roller and the regulating blade. It is considered that the interposed toner adheres to the regulating blade or the developer carrier due to the influence of the temperature, the pressing force of the regulating blade, or the like when the toner is exposed to the toner or when the storage is performed for a long time. Such a thing, a developer carrying member that carries and transports various kinds of developer,
This can similarly occur between various types of regulating means that regulates the developer by contacting the developer carrier, but it is not solved even by the developing device having the function disclosed in the above-mentioned publication.

Such a situation often occurs during a test operation by a service engineer or the like who has delivered a developing device, a partial image forming mechanism equipped with the developing device, or an image forming mechanism as an entire image forming apparatus to an end user. Being discovered,
Can be addressed. However, it takes time and is troublesome. In the case of a distribution system in which the developing device is provided alone or in combination with another image forming device such as a photoreceptor, a partial image forming mechanism is provided as a disposable cartridge, and the end user himself wears and uses it. I can't deal with it, which is a particular problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a developing apparatus, a method of manufacturing the same, which prevents developer from sticking to regulating means or a developer carrier during storage and handling in an unused state other than inspection. To provide an image forming apparatus using the same.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a developing device of the present invention and a partial image forming mechanism provided with an image forming device for forming an image by development by the developing device are provided. Alternatively, the image forming mechanism of the entire image forming apparatus includes a developer storage unit that stores the developer, a developer carrier that carries and transports the developer supplied from the developer storage unit, and a developer carrier that carries the developer. Regulating means for regulating the developer conveyed in contact with the developer carrying means, and regulating the developer carrier while holding the developer on at least a part of the developer carrier in an unused state other than inspection. One feature is that the developer is not interposed in the contact portion with the developer.

As described above, a developing device for regulating the layer thickness by the regulating means and carrying out the development while carrying and transporting the developer by the developer carrying member, or a partial image forming mechanism employing the developing device, In the image forming mechanism as the entire forming apparatus, the developing device holds the developer on at least a part of the developer carrier in an unused state other than inspection, and therefore,
Even in the state where the developer is carried on the developer carrying member by being driven in the presence of the developer, since the developer is not interposed in the contact portion of the developer carrying member with the restricting means, the developer is not used after the inspection. Even if the developer is exposed to high temperatures during storage or handling, or if a long period of time has passed, the developer does not adhere to the regulating means or the developer carrier, and the developer is regulated at the beginning of use by the end user. It is possible to avoid problems such as image noise due to sticking to the means and the developer carrying member, and to assemble the developing device and the image forming mechanism including the same after the assembling work and the regenerating work in the developer carrying body. It is effective to perform the inspection involving the carrying of the developer and to guarantee the function.

In the manufacture of such a developing device, Step 1: Inspection process while operating the developing device Step 2: Step of removing the developer between at least the regulating means on the developer carrier.

Is obtained by including Although the process of Step 2: can be performed manually, it is preferable that the process can be automatically performed using a dedicated device or the like.

[0012] Further objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and drawings.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, typical embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The present embodiment relates to a developing device A as one of image forming apparatuses used for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, a microfilm printer, and the like, and an entire image forming apparatus using the same. This is an example of a case where a non-magnetic one-component developer is used as a developer in an image forming mechanism. As shown in FIG. 1, a developing roller 11 serving as a developer carrying member for carrying and developing the developer and a layer 15 of toner 15 carried by the developing roller 11 are regulated and charged. A regulating member unit 12 and a housing 13 to which these members are fixed are provided. The housing 13 has a toner accommodating portion 17 as a developer accommodating portion for accommodating a toner 15 supplied to the developing roller 11. A stirring member 18 for supplying the toner 15 to the developing roller 11 and a toner supply roller 19 are provided.
The mechanism for supplying the toner 15 in the toner storage section 17 to the developing roller 11 may be replaced with other various mechanisms.

The restricting member unit 12 includes a restricting member 12a made of an elastic material such as a rubber blade or a metal plate, and a reinforcing member for reinforcing the restricting member 12a on its base side and fixing the restricting member 12a to the housing 13. Member 1
2b. Tip 12a of regulating member 12a
1 is a cylindrical developing roller 1 supported by a housing 13
1 is in contact with the surface that is the developer carrying surface. The developing roller 11 is rotatably driven in the direction of the arrow, so that the toner 15 supplied from the toner storage unit 17 is carried on the surface and conveyed in the rotating direction. The toner 15 conveyed on the developing roller 11 is regulated by the regulating member 12a to have a predetermined thickness, and is charged to a predetermined charge by friction with the regulating member 12a.

The developing device A is mounted on the main body of an image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. When driven, the toner 15 which has been thinned and charged as described above, when opposed to an image carrier such as the photoconductor 1, develops a latent image carried by the toner.

The photoreceptor 1 is subjected to image exposure by image data light 3 on the surface uniformly charged by the charger 2 to form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to an original image or image data. Receive. The developed image developed by this development is moved by the rotation of the photoconductor 1 in the direction of the arrow, and is transferred at a position facing the transfer unit 4 by a charger or the like in synchronization with the developed image. It is transferred to the material 8. The transfer material 8 after the transfer is separated from the photoreceptor 1 by a separator 5 such as a charger and conveyed to a fixing device (not shown), where the fixing is performed by heating or / and pressing. The transfer material 8 after the fixing process is discharged to a discharge tray (not shown) provided outside the apparatus or the like, thereby completing the image formation. After transfer, the surface of the photoconductor 1 is cleaned by a cleaning unit 6 to remove residual toner, and further, an eraser lamp 7 is used to remove residual charges to prepare for the next image formation.

The transfer material 8 is various kinds of paper or OHP sheets. The photoreceptor 1 may be a drum type as shown or a belt type not shown. The developed image after development may be transferred to a drum type or belt type intermediate transfer member (not shown), and the image may be formed by being re-transferred from the intermediate transfer member to a transfer material.

As one embodiment of the developing device A, the regulating member 12a is almost uniformly pressed against the developing roller 11 with a linear pressure of about 2 to 7 g / mm. The driving torque of the developing roller 11 is normally 2 to 3 due to the influence of the restricting member 12a and the toner seal 16 for preventing toner leakage.
It becomes about kg · cm. Therefore, the developing roller 11 of the developing device manufactured and regenerated under such condition setting is used.
Are not easily rotated.

Incidentally, the cartridge type developing device A includes, in particular, a case where the developing device A is used alone or a partial image forming mechanism combined with another image forming device such as the photosensitive member 1 or the cleaning means 6. The toner storage 17 is provided with the toner 15 stored in advance. Therefore, after the assembling operation for manufacturing the developing device A and after the regenerating operation, the above-described actual inspection for confirming the function and the performance using the stored toner 15 of the toner storing unit 17 is performed. However, the type without the stored toner 15 is the inspection toner 1
5 may be input.

Next, a method of inspection performed in the final manufacturing process of the developing device A will be described with reference to FIG. When the developing roller 11 is driven to rotate, the toner 15 is supplied to the surface of the developing roller 11 and pressed. The toner 15 pressed against the developing roller 11 is conveyed with the rotation of the developing roller 11, and becomes a thin layer of the toner 15 having a predetermined adhesion amount at a portion where the regulating member 12 a is in contact with the developing roller 11. As described above, and is charged to a predetermined charge.

An image carrier 10 is provided opposite to the developing roller 11 and driven to rotate in synchronization with the developing roller 11. The image carrier 10 is grounded 21, and a predetermined bias 22 is applied to the developing roller 11. As a result, the toner 15 conveyed to the portion facing the image carrier 10 by the rotation of the developing roller 11 moves to the image carrier 10 side, and performs one-side solid development on one surface.

Here, the state of the solid developed toner 15 on the image carrier 10 is visually observed or read by a CCD sensor, so that the developing roller 11 and the regulating member 1 are controlled.
2a can be detected.

As other inspection methods, the developing device A alone is driven to directly observe the layer of the toner 15 on the developing roller 11, or the driving torque of the developing device A is measured to determine whether or not it is within a predetermined range. Sometimes.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, a developing device B having a configuration in which the toner 15 in the toner storage section 17 is cut off from the toner supply roller 19 and the developing roller 11 by the peel seal 31 in an unused state after the inspection. There is. In such a developing device B, the toner 15 cannot be supplied to the developing roller 11 for inspection by itself. Therefore, an inspection jig developing device C shown in FIG. 3 is used. As in the case of the inspection method shown in FIG. 2, the jig developing device C has its developing roller 11 opposed to the image carrier 10 and supplies toner 15 to the image carrier 10 from above the developing roller 11 to perform solid development. I do.

The developing roller 11 of the developing device B to be inspected is also opposed to the image carrier 10, and a layer of the toner 15 on which the photosensitive member 10 is solid-developed by the jig developing device C is applied, and a bias 34 is applied to the developing roller 11. By applying the voltage, it is shifted to the side of the developing roller 11 of the developing device B to be inspected. In the developing device B to be inspected, the toner 15 transferred to the developing roller 11 is regulated by the regulating member 12a which is in contact with the toner, and therefore the toner 15 reflected on the developing roller 11 reflects noise of the regulating member 12a and the developing roller 11. Make layers.

Then, the bias 34 is switched to the reverse polarity, and the thin layer of the toner 15 on the developing roller 11 is transferred to the image carrier 10.
And observe the toner 15 layer.

The inspection jig developing device C and the developing device B to be inspected can be attached to and detached from the image carrier 10, and when one of the developing devices is driven, the other one is used. Are separated from each other, and the image carrier 10
Disturbing the upper toner 15 is prevented. Also,
When the developing roller 11 of the developing device B to be inspected is driven, at least the agitating member 18 is prevented from rotating interlockingly. Alternatively, a gear for driving the stirring member 18 is
By attaching after the inspection, the stirring member 18
Does not rotate interlockingly.

When the above inspection is performed, the developing roller 1
The toner 15 intervenes in a contact portion between the first member 1 and the regulating member 12a, and thereafter remains as it is. For this reason, if the toner is exposed to a high temperature or is stored for a long period of time during storage or handling before use by an end user after the inspection, the toner 15 in the contact portion is restricted by the regulating member 12a.
Or to the developing roller 11, which causes image noise.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, after the above-described inspection is performed on the developed or remanufactured developing device, the toner 15 interposed in the contact portion between the developing roller 11 and the regulating member 12a is removed. Although this can be performed manually, it is preferable that the image forming apparatus is automatically and automatically removed by a dedicated device in order to easily and surely remove the image forming apparatus without damaging it.

Referring to FIG. 4, the removing step is performed following the inspection step after the operation of manufacturing and regenerating the developing device A. As an apparatus for this removing step, an image carrier 20 that is driven to rotate opposite to the developing roller 11 such as the developing device A after inspection is used. If the image carrier 20 is combined with the developing device A to form a cartridge type partial image forming mechanism, the photoconductor of the image carrier can be used for inspection.

When the toner 15 is conveyed while being regulated by the regulating member 12a with the rotation of the developing roller 11, the toner is carried to the position D where the image carrier 20 is opposed.
At this time, a predetermined bias 35 is applied to the developing roller 11, and all the toner 15 on the developing roller 11 is moved to the image carrier 20 side. After performing this operation for a predetermined time, the rotation drive of the developing roller 11 and the image carrier 20 is stopped. Then, the developing roller 11 starts at a position D facing the image carrier 20 and starts at a starting position E at which the developing roller 11 contacts the toner seal 16.
In the area DE up to this point, the toner 15 does not exist. Next, the developing roller 11 and the image carrier 20 are driven to rotate in a direction opposite to the above operation, and the area DE is moved to the contact portion F of the regulating member 12a. At this time, a predetermined bias 36 is applied to the regulating member 12a so that the toner 15 on the developing roller 11 does not adhere to the regulating member 12a. By the above series of operations, the developing device A is driven in the presence of the toner 15 for inspection, and the toner 1 is supplied to the developing roller 11.
5, while the toner 15 is not present in the regulating portion F by the regulating member 12a.

As another cleaning method of the toner 15, as shown in FIG. 5, a predetermined bias 35 is applied to the developing roller 11, and the developing roller 11 is driven to rotate clockwise to solidify the toner 15 on the grounded image carrier 20. The developing is performed so that the toner 15 does not exist on the developing roller 11. The rotation of the developing roller 11 and the image carrier 20 is stopped where the portion contacts the regulating portion F. As a result, the toner 1
It is possible to create a state where 5 does not exist.

At the time of this operation, a predetermined bias 36 is applied to the regulating member 12a as in FIG. The toner to be used may be a magnetic toner or any other toner as long as it can be applied to a developing method in which the developer is carried on a developer carrier and transported while regulating the layer pressure by a regulating means and used for development.

[0035]

According to the developing device of the present invention and the image forming mechanism using the developing device partially or as an entire image forming apparatus, the developing device is not used and at least a part of the developer carrying member is used. Therefore, even when the developer is driven in the presence of the developer and the developer is carried on the developer carrier, the developer intervenes in the contact portion of the developer carrier with the regulating means. Because it is not exposed to high temperature during storage and handling in an unused state after inspection, even if a long time has passed, the developer does not adhere to the regulating means and the developer carrier, It is possible to avoid the occurrence of troubles such as image noise due to the developer regulating means and sticking to the developer carrier at the start of use by the end user, and assembling work in the production of the developing device and the image forming mechanism including the same. Developer or after recycling work It is effective to perform the function assured by performing the test with the bearing of the developer to the body.

In addition, such a developing device has a simple manufacturing process including a test step of operating the developing device and a step of removing the developer between at least the regulating means on the developer carrier. Obtained by the method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main configuration diagram of a developing device showing a typical embodiment of the present invention and an image forming mechanism as an entire image forming apparatus using the same.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing one inspection method of the developing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing one inspection method of another type of developing device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing one method of a step of removing the developer of the developing device after inspection in the developing device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another method of removing the developer of the developing device after the inspection.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 10, 20 Image carrier 2 Charger 3 Image data light 4 Transfer device 5 Separator 6 Cleaning means 7 Eraser lamp 8 Transfer material 11 Developing roller 12a Restriction member 15 Toner 16 Toner seal 17 Toner storage part 21, 37 Ground 22 , 34, 35, 36 Bias A, B Developing device C Jig developing device for inspection F Contact part

Claims (3)

[Claims] A developer accommodating portion for accommodating a developer; a developer carrying member for carrying and carrying the developer supplied from the developer accommodating portion; Regulating means for regulating the developer, wherein the developer is held in at least a part of the developer carrier in an unused state other than the inspection, and the developer is contacted with the regulating means of the developer carrier at a contact portion with the regulating means. Wherein the developing device is not interposed. 2. A developer accommodating section for accommodating a developer, a developer carrier for carrying and transporting a developer supplied from the developer accommodating section, and a developer conveyed in contact with the developer carrier. A method for manufacturing a developing device having a regulating means for regulating the developer includes the following steps. Step 1: Inspection step by driving the developing device Step 2: After the inspection step, a step of removing the developer between at least the regulating means on the developer carrier. 3. A developer accommodating section for accommodating a developer, a developer carrier for carrying and transporting a developer supplied from the developer accommodating section, and a developer conveyed in contact with the developer carrier. Regulating means for regulating the developer, and in an unused state except for the inspection, while the developer is held on at least a part of the developer carrying member, the developer contacts the regulating means of the developer carrying member with the developer. An image forming mechanism comprising: a developing device that is not interposed; and another image forming device that forms an image by developing with a developer carried and conveyed by a developer carrier of the developing device.