JPH11305567A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the banding by a driving force transmitting means for transmitting a driving force to a surface treatment means by providing the surface treatment means for receiving the driving force through the driving force transmitting member collided to the rotating circumferential surface of an intermediate transfer body and treating the surface of the intermediate body after transfer to a transfer material. SOLUTION: This device comprises a cleaning device 16 for treating the surface of an intermediate transfer belt 10 after transfer to a transfer material through a driving roller 110 collided to the rotating circumferential surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10. When a solenoid is excited after the cleaning of the intermediate transfer belt 10 is ended, one end of a lever 111 is pulled in direction C and rotated around a rotating central shaft 112, and the brush roller 109, drive roller 110 and cleaning blade 16A of the cleaning device 16 are separated from the pressure contact state with the intermediate transfer belt 10 and laid in waiting state. Accordingly, the banding caused by transmission of the fluctuation of contact frequency of gears to the intermediate transfer belt 10 can be effectively prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using an intermediate transfer member such as a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, etc., and more particularly, to a method in which a toner image formed on an intermediate transfer member is transferred to a transfer material. The present invention relates to the surface treatment of the intermediate transfer member later.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to perform a surface treatment of an intermediate transfer member after being transferred onto a transfer material, a driving force is obtained from a member other than the intermediate transfer member, and the driving force is transmitted through a driving force transmitting means. The information is transmitted to surface treatment means, for example, a cleaning device for cleaning the surface of the intermediate transfer member.

[0003]

However, when a driving force is obtained from a member other than the intermediate transfer member and transmitted to the surface treatment means using the driving force transmitting means as described above, the periodic force generated by the driving force transmitting means is not sufficient. Fluctuations, for example, fluctuations of the gear meshing frequency at a constant period are transmitted to the intermediate transfer member, and may appear as banding-like unevenness on an image called banding. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to transfer a toner image formed on an intermediate transfer member to a transfer material, and then to treat the surface of the intermediate transfer member with a surface. An object of the present invention is to prevent banding from being generated by a driving force transmitting unit that transmits a driving force to a processing unit.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a toner image formed on an image carrier is transferred to an intermediate transfer member, and the toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer member. An image forming apparatus that transfers the transferred toner image to a transfer material,
Surface treatment means for taking a driving force via a driving force transmitting member that contacts a rotating peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer body and treating the surface of the intermediate transfer body after the transfer to the transfer material is provided. Is what you do.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, the surface treatment means is a lubricant applying means for applying a lubricant on the intermediate transfer member.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, the surface treatment means is a residual toner removing means for removing toner remaining on the intermediate transfer member. It is.

In the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the surface of the intermediate transfer member after the transfer to the transfer material is processed by taking the driving force via the driving force transmitting member which contacts the rotating peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer member. By providing the surface treatment means, the driving force of the surface treatment means is directly taken from the peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer member.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, the driving force transmitting member is fixedly provided coaxially with a rotating member for processing a surface of the intermediate transfer member, It is characterized by being a rotating body that rotates by contact with the surface of the transfer body.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the driving force transmitting member is a rotating member provided coaxially with a rotating member for processing the surface of the intermediate transfer member, and the driving force transmitting member abuts on the surface of the intermediate transfer member to generate a frictional force. Rotate by.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, the driving force transmitting member abuts on an outer side of an image forming area on a surface of the intermediate transfer body.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the rotating member abuts on the outer side of the image forming area on the surface of the intermediate transfer body, and does not enter the image forming area on the surface of the intermediate transfer body.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a full-color printer (hereinafter, referred to as a printer) as an image forming apparatus will be described below. First, a schematic configuration and operation of the entire printer according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a belt-shaped photoreceptor 1 (hereinafter, referred to as a “photoreceptor belt”) as a latent image carrier is provided between support rollers 2 and 3, and driven by the support rollers 2 and 3 in a direction indicated by an arrow A in FIG. Clockwise). Around the photoreceptor belt 1, a charger 4 as a charging unit for uniformly charging the surface of the photoreceptor belt, a laser writing unit 5 as an exposure device for forming an electrostatic latent image, yellow, magenta, and cyan A rotary type color developing unit (hereinafter referred to as a "developing unit") 6, which is a rotary type developing device integrally provided with three developing units 6Y, 6M, and 6C each containing the color developer of The developing unit 6
A black developing device 7 and the like as a developing device accommodating a separate black developer are provided. As the photoreceptor belt 1, for example, an organic photosensitive layer (O
PC) can be used.

The laser writing unit 5 includes a semiconductor laser (not shown), a polygon mirror 5B rotated by a drive motor 5A, an f-θ lens 5C, and a mirror 5D housed in a unit case 5E as a holding housing. Built into the bottom of the body. A bottom plate (not shown) is provided between the paper feed cassette 17 and the laser writing unit 5. The laser writing unit 5 is incorporated on the bottom plate, and side plates (not shown) of the apparatus main body provided on the left and right (rear side and near side in FIG. 1) in the roller axis direction to support each unit are the bottom plate. Has been assembled.

The charging position by the charging charger 4, the irradiation position of the light beam L from the laser writing unit 5, and the cleaning position by the photosensitive member cleaning blade 15A are lower than the two supporting rollers 2, 3. Is set at a portion where the photoreceptor belt 1 is wound around the support roller 2 on the side. Developing unit 6 and black developing device 7
Includes a developing roller as a developer carrier that comes close to or in contact with the photoreceptor belt 1 at a predetermined position, and visualizes the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor belt 1 by non-contact development or contact development. Has a function. The developing unit 6 is rotated about a rotation axis perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1 so that any one of the developing units 6Y, 6M, and 6C synchronizes with the development timing of the corresponding color and moves to a developable position. Is controlled. 120 of this developing unit 6
The rotation of the degree switches the developing device facing the developing position. When the developing unit 6 is operated, the rotation of the cam 45 is controlled so that the black developing device 7 moves to a position separated from the photosensitive belt 1.

The upper support roller 3 of the photosensitive belt 1
An intermediate transfer belt 10 as an image carrier is provided so as to come into contact with the wrapped portion. The intermediate transfer belt 10 is installed between the support rollers 11 and 12 so as to be inclined. The intermediate transfer belt 10 is rotated and conveyed in the direction of arrow B (counterclockwise) in the figure by driving the support rollers 11 and 12. Of the two stretched portions between the support rollers of the inclined intermediate transfer belt 10, the stretched portion on the photosensitive belt 1 side (lower left side in the figure) is supported by the upper support roller 3 of the photosensitive belt 1. Supported part (part wrapped around support roller 3)
Is in contact with

The first toner image on the photoreceptor belt 1 is transferred to a conductive bias brush 13 as a primary transfer member which is a component of a charge applying means provided inside the intermediate transfer belt 10. Is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 10 (primary transfer). A predetermined bias voltage is applied to the bias brush 13 from a primary transfer power source (not shown), which is another component of the charge applying unit, and the tip of the bias brush 13 contacts the back surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10 under a predetermined condition. I have. A transfer roller 14 as a transfer opposing member (secondary transfer charge applying means) is provided so as to come into contact with and separate from the intermediate transfer belt 10 at a portion where the intermediate transfer belt 10 is wound around the support roller 11. ing. The transfer roller 14 is provided with a not-shown 2
A predetermined bias voltage is applied from the next transfer power supply. The image superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 10 is transferred onto a transfer paper as a sheet-like transfer material by a transfer electric field formed at a contact facing portion between the transfer roller 14 and the intermediate transfer belt 10 (2). Next transfer). Here, the distance on the intermediate transfer belt 10 from the primary transfer position to the secondary transfer position is set to be equal to or longer than the maximum image output length.

Cleaning device 15 for photoreceptor belt
Is a cleaning blade 15A that constantly contacts the photoconductor belt 1 and cleans the toner on the photoconductor belt 1;
A waste toner collecting container 15B and the like are provided. Further, the cleaning device 16 for the intermediate transfer belt is provided with a surface treatment unit for treating the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10, specifically, a drive roller 110 as a lubricant application unit for applying a lubricant to the intermediate transfer belt 10, and It includes a brush roller, a cleaning blade 16A for cleaning the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10, and an auger 16B for conveying toner. In addition, an electrical component / control unit 100 is housed on the left side of the apparatus main body in FIG. Above it is a fan 70
Are provided, and air is exhausted to prevent the temperature inside the apparatus from rising excessively. In addition, a relatively small-sized paper feeding device 80 is provided on the right side of the apparatus main body in FIG.

In the printer having the above configuration, the photosensitive belt 1 is uniformly charged by the charging charger 4 and then scanned by the laser light (laser beam) L modulated on the basis of image information by the laser writing unit 5. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface. Here, the image information used for the exposure is monochromatic image information obtained by decomposing a desired full-color image into yellow, magenta, cyan, and black color information. Laser light L generated by a semiconductor laser (not shown) based on this image information is rotationally scanned by a polygon mirror 5B driven at high speed by a drive motor 5A, passes through an f-.theta.
The optical path is adjusted by D.

The electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor belt 1 is developed by a developing unit 6 with a predetermined yellow toner, a magenta toner and a cyan toner, respectively. The electrostatic latent image formed based on the black color information is developed by the black developing device 7 with black toner. In this manner, the cleaning, latent image formation, and development of the photosensitive belt 1 are repeated, and respective images (toner images) are sequentially formed on the photosensitive belt 1. Each single-color image (toner image) formed on the photoreceptor belt 1 rotating in the direction of the arrow A is converted into a single color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black by a predetermined transfer bias applied to the bias brush 13.
The images are sequentially transferred to the same position on the intermediate transfer belt 10 rotating in the direction of arrow B in synchronization with the photosensitive belt 1.

The yellow, magenta, cyan, and black color toner images superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 10 are fed from a paper feed table (paper feed cassette) 17 to a paper feed roller 18.
Conveyance roller pair 19A, 19B, registration roller pair 20
After passing through A and 20B, the image is conveyed to the secondary transfer unit at a timing such that the position of the image on the transfer paper becomes a regular position. On the transfer paper 17A conveyed to the secondary transfer section,
The images superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 10 are collectively transferred by the transfer roller 14. After the transfer, the image is fixed by the fixing device 50 to complete a full-color image. The transfer paper 17A on which the full-color image has been formed is discharged to a discharge stack 52 via a discharge roller pair 51.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of an intermediate transfer belt, a cleaning device, and the like. FIG. 3 shows an intermediate transfer belt,
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a contact state between a driving roller and a brush roller. As shown in FIG. 2, on one side of the rotating roller 11,
Above the rotating roller 3, an L-shaped support plate 101 is fixed to the main body, and the support plate 101 has a bottom 101a,
A bent portion 101 that is bent substantially perpendicularly to the bottom portion 101a
b. A pressure spring 102 is fixedly mounted on the upper portion of the bottom portion 101a so as to be inclined toward the rotary roller 11 side. An L-shaped support plate 10 is provided at the tip of the pressure spring 102.
3 is fixed, and the support plate 103 has a bottom 103a.
And a bent portion 1 that is bent substantially perpendicularly to the bottom portion 103a.
03b. A cleaning blade 16A as a toner removing unit for cleaning the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10 is fixed to the bent portion 103b. The tip of the cleaning blade 16A is pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 10 to remove residual toner and the like on the belt. Further, a case 104 opened to the rotating roller 11 side is fixed to the bottom 103a of the support plate 103.
The case 104 includes substantially parallel bottom plate portions 104a and upper plate portions 104b, and these bottom plate portions 104a and upper plate portions 104b.
The upper part is substantially perpendicular to the upper plate part 104a, and from the central part to the lower part,
A rear plate portion 104c projecting toward the vertical portion 101b side of the support plate 101, and the upper plate portion 104a and the rear plate portion 10
4c and a pair of side plates (not shown) connected at both longitudinal ends of the bottom plate 104b.
An L-shaped seal support plate 10 is provided on the open side of the upper plate portion 104a.
5 is fixed so as to cover the open portion.
An entrance seal 106 is fixed to 5. The seal 106 prevents toner from scattering from the cleaning device 16. A space 108 for the lubricant 107 is provided between the upper portion of the case 104 and the support plate 105, and regulates the movement of the lubricant 107 in the left-right direction.

A brush roller 109 as a lubricant applying means is rotatably supported on the side plate portion of the case 104 substantially in parallel with the rotating roller 11. The roller 110 is coaxially fixed (see FIG. 3). The width of the brush roller 109 in the axial direction is slightly larger than the width of the image forming area of the intermediate transfer belt 10. The driving roller 110 comes into contact with an end of the intermediate transfer belt 10 outside the image forming area, and rotates with the rotation of the intermediate transfer belt 10 by frictional force. The drive roller 110 can be made of rubber, resin or other material as long as it has a large friction coefficient with the intermediate transfer belt 10. Further, the lubricant 107 is placed on the brush roller 109 in the space 108 so as to abut by its own weight. By applying the lubricant 107 to the intermediate transfer belt 10, the intermediate transfer belt 1
By reducing the friction coefficient of the surface of No. 0, the wear of the cleaning blade 16A is reduced, the cleaning performance is improved, and the transfer performance of the image onto the transfer paper by the transfer roller 14 is improved.

On the other hand, one end of a lever 111 as a releasing means rotatable about a rotation center shaft 112 is fixed to the bottom plate portion 104a of the case 104.
The other end of 11 is connected to a solenoid (not shown). With the excitation of the solenoid, the end of the lever 111 is indicated by an arrow C
The case 104 is moved in a direction from the contact position in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 10 to the standby position by the rotation of the lever 111. . Thereby, the driving roller 11
0, brush roller 109 and cleaning blade 16
A is separated from the intermediate transfer belt 10 and waits. In addition, the cleaning blade 16A is placed on the intermediate transfer belt 10 from above.
The waste toner scraped off by this is transported by the toner transport auger 16B toward the front of the apparatus, and is transported to the waste toner collector 15B by a transport unit (not shown). When a predetermined amount or more of the waste toner is stored in the waste toner collector 15B, the container is appropriately replaced. As described above, in the present embodiment, the cleaning device 16 includes the brush roller 109 and the driving roller 11 serving as a lubricant applying unit.
0, cleaning blade 1 as toner removing means
6A are integrally formed in the same case 14.

The operation of the cleaning device according to the present embodiment based on the above configuration will be described. When the excitation of the solenoid is stopped while the intermediate transfer belt 10 is rotating, the cleaning device 16 is inclined toward the rotating roller 11 by the restoring force of the spring 102, and the brush roller 109 and the driving roller 110 The cleaning blade 16A is pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 10. In this state, the brush roller 109, the rotating roller 110, and the cleaning blade 16A of the cleaning device 16 are pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 10 about the rotation center shaft 112 by the pressure spring 102 at a predetermined pressure. The end is pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 10 and bends by a predetermined amount, and the brush roller 109 bites into the intermediate transfer belt 10 by a predetermined amount. Subsequently, as the intermediate transfer belt 10 rotates, the driving roller 1
10 rotates as the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10 rotates, the brush roller 109 also rotates, and the lubricant 107 rotates.
And a lubricant 107 is applied on the intermediate transfer belt 10. Next, the cleaning blade 16A scrapes off residual toner and the like on the intermediate transfer belt 10 and ends the cleaning.

When the cleaning of the intermediate transfer belt 10 is completed, when the solenoid is excited, one end of the lever 112 is pulled in the direction C to rotate about the rotation center shaft 112, and the brush roller 109 of the cleaning device 16 and the drive are driven. The roller 110 and the cleaning blade 16A are separated from the state of being pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 10 and are in a standby state (the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2). As described above, the cleaning device 16 in the present embodiment has a simple configuration,
When a driving force transmitting means such as a gear is used, a change in the meshing frequency of the gear is transmitted to the intermediate transfer belt 10 to effectively prevent the occurrence of banding. In the above embodiment, only the case where the surface treatment unit is the lubricant application unit has been described. However, the surface treatment unit may be rotated by a fur brush or the like that receives rotation from the surface of the intermediate transfer body. May be a cleaning means for cleaning the surface.

Next, a more specific example of the full-color printer according to the above embodiment will be described. The driving roller 110 has a diameter of 10.6 made of a rubber material.
mm roller was used. As the brush roller 109, a brush roller having a diameter of 12 mm was used. The cleaning device 16 is pressurized by a pressure spring 102 about a rotation center shaft 112 so that the driving roller 110 can be rotated by a frictional force with the surface of the intermediate transfer body 10.
The setting was such that a force of [N] was applied.

[0027]

According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, the surface of the intermediate transfer body after receiving the driving force via the driving force transmitting member that contacts the rotating peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer body and transferring the intermediate transfer body to the transfer material. Is provided so that the driving force of the surface processing unit is directly taken from the peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer body, so that the driving force for transmitting the driving force from components other than the intermediate transfer body to the surface processing unit is provided. There is an effect that banding by the transmission means does not occur.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the driving force transmitting member is a rotary member provided coaxially with a rotary member for processing the surface of the intermediate transfer member, and is brought into contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer member to generate a frictional force. As a result, banding does not occur due to the driving force transmitting means for transmitting the driving force from other than the intermediate transfer body to the surface processing means, and there is no play or the like by the driving force transmitting means, and the surface processing means moves relative to the intermediate transfer body. There is an effect that positioning is ensured.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the rotating member abuts outside the image forming area on the surface of the intermediate transfer body and does not enter the image forming area on the surface of the intermediate transfer body. There is an effect that the image formed on the transfer member is not disturbed and that the rotation member is prevented from slipping due to the toner.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a color image forming apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the intermediate transfer belt, a cleaning device, and the like.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a contact state between the intermediate transfer belt, a driving roller, and a brush roller.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 photoreceptor belt 2 rotating roller 3 rotating roller 4 charging device 5 laser writing unit 6 multicolor developing device 7 single color developing device 10 intermediate transfer belt 11 rotating roller 12 rotating roller 14 transfer roller 16 cleaning device 16A cleaning blade 50 fixing device 101 support Plate 102 Pressure spring 103 Support plate 104 Case 105 Support plate 107 Lubricant 106 Seal 108 Space 109 Brush roller 110 Driving roller 111 Lever 112 Rotation center axis

Claims (5)

[Claims] An image forming apparatus for transferring a toner image formed on an image carrier to an intermediate transfer member and transferring the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer member to a transfer material, An image forming apparatus comprising: a surface processing unit that receives a driving force via a driving force transmitting member that contacts a rotating peripheral surface and processes the surface of the intermediate transfer body after the transfer to the transfer material. 2. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said surface treatment means is a lubricant applying means for applying a lubricant on said intermediate transfer member. 3. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said surface treatment means is a residual toner removing means for removing toner remaining on said intermediate transfer member. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving force transmitting member is fixed to be coaxial with a rotating member that processes a surface of the intermediate transfer body, and is fixed to a surface of the intermediate transfer body. An image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus is a rotating body that is rotated by contact with the image forming apparatus. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving force transmitting member abuts on an outer side of an image forming area on a surface of the intermediate transfer body.