JPS58196570A - Blade cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the life of a cleaning blade and to convey and recover surely the cleaned toner, by oscillating a trough for conveying the toner and oscillating the cleaning blade integrally therewith. CONSTITUTION:A part of a support member 4 is connected to an excitation means 6. The means 6 is constituted of a rotating member 9 such as a cam and a lever 10 which converts the rotating motion of said member 9 to linear forward and backward motion. A trough 5 for conveying a toner is fixed integrally to the member 4, and the toner, etc. removed by a cleaning blade 3 are conveyed in a prescribed direction. Since the trough 5 is thus oscillated also by the excitation means, the frequency of the means 6 is higher than the frequency of conventional system which oscillates the cleaning blade and even if the pressurizing force on the blade 3 is made smaller than the force in the prior art, and even if the thickness of the blade 3 is reduced, the cleaning effect is equivalent to said effect in the prior art or better and the life of the blade is improved remarkably.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a flade cleaning device for electrophotographic machines, electrostatic recording devices, and the like.

Many people are aware of the cleaning method for removing residual toner after transfer onto the Seikamesen fW carrier.
Although the blade cleaning method has the drawback that the surface to be cleaned and the blade are easily worn, it is a method that is often used even when dust is removed because of the advantage that cleaning is reliable. The present invention relates to cleaning using such a linear blade.

In the blade cleaning/cleaning method, toner removed by the cleaning blade may accumulate between the surface to be cleaned and the cleaning blade, or may adhere to the cleaning blade, resulting in reduced cleaning efficiency. Furthermore, as described above, the surface to be cleaned and the blade are prone to wear, so if a part of the blade becomes tangled, the cleaning of that part will be insufficient, which will adversely affect image creation. Solving such an open plane? What I came up with when trying to clean the area was to vibrate the cleaning blade in its longitudinal direction. However, this Flede vibration method, which was previously considered,
The vibration frequency is very low at I Hz to 10 Hz, and the pressure contact force of the cleaning blade is set to be quite high, just like in the case of ordinary cleaning equipment. There was not much improvement in abrasion, and even though a vibration device was added, the cleaning effect was not as high as that of Sowa.

Further, conventionally, the toner that has not been removed by the cleaning blade is collected in a toner collection container, and transported out of the cleaning device by a rotating coil or the like disposed inside the container. When such a toner collection device is constructed, there is a risk that mechanical force is applied to the toner, which may change its physical properties or create a cavity in the container that prevents the toner from being transported by the rotating coil. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a blade cleaning device that enhances the cleaning effect and reliably collects and carries out toner.

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

Figure 3.1 is a sectional view of a blade cleaning device showing an embodiment of the present invention. The photoreceptor drum 1 is driven by a drive device (not shown) in the direction of the arrow at a constant speed. Although not shown, a charging device, an image device, and a transfer device are arranged in this order. The electrostatic latent image of step 1 is formed on the photoreceptor, and then this electrostatic latent image is visualized and the toner image is transferred to transfer paper.After transfer, there is no transfer on the photoreceptor drum 1. 7jL [iI
To form an image, the residual toner must be removed.

A blade cleaning device 2 is disposed at a portion where the surface of the photoreceptor drum l moves upward. The flade cleaning device 2 includes a cleaning blade 3 whose tip end is pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor drum l, a support member 4 holding the blade 3, and an integral structure with the support member 4. The toner 1 is composed of a conveyance side 5 and a vibrating means 6 for vibrating the support member 4. The cleaning blade 3 is made of an elastic material such as polyurethane rubber, and its tip is directed in the direction of the moving force on the surface of the photoreceptor drum L using a so-called trailing method. Press it against the ℃・ru. The cleaning blade 3 extends parallel to the axis of the photoreceptor drum. The cleaning blade 3 is supported by a supporting member. The supporting member 4 is supported movably on a shaft 7 extending parallel to the axis of the photoreceptor drum 1. A spring 8 is suspended between the arm 4a, which is a part of the member 4, and the main body of the cleaning device 2, and applies a force to rotate the support member 4 counterclockwise with the shaft 7 centered and closed. There is.

By kneading, the photoreceptor drum 1 of the cleaning blade 3
The pressing force is determined. A part of the support member 4 is connected to a vibrating means 6, and the vibrating means 6 includes a rotating member 9 such as a cam, and a lever that converts the rotational motion of the rotating member 90 into linear reciprocating motion. ]0 and J]. In addition, as a means of excitation.

It is not limited to this actual sleeve example, and other suitable sleeves can be used.

Incidentally, although the toner conveying gutter 5 fJ'' is fixedly fixed to the support member 4 as an integral part, it may be integrally molded.

The toner conveying gutter 5 is arranged so that the toner and the like that have not been removed by the cleaning plate 3 fall downward, but the toner and the like that fall can be received and collected in a 1.f-th direction. This toner transport gutter is 1 in 5! The collected toner is transported in a predetermined direction by the method described above. This toner transport) Fa5 has been described above.

Because it is not integrally constructed with the support member 4,
The toner conveying gutter 5 is also vibrated by the vibration excitation means 6.
) f. The vibration excitation means 6 is experimentally designed to give vibration suitable for toner conveyance to the toner conveyance gutter 5.For example, in the case of a 111y anchor or 2-
When the frequency was set to Hz to 50 Hz, the toner feeding of the toner conveying gutter 5 was poor. In addition to simply vibrating, it is also necessary to transport the toner in the toner transport gutter 5 in one direction.

In order to do this, for example, the speed or acceleration of the forward and backward vibrations must be changed appropriately so that the impact force is generated in only one direction. 112- of vibration excitation means 6
As is clear from the above explanation, the number of cleaning blades is the same as that of conventional cleaning blades. The frequency is higher than that of the vibration method. Due to the stiffness, even if the pressing force of the cleaning blade 3 is reduced compared to the conventional one, or the thickness of the blade is made thinner, the results are the same or better than that of the cleaning blade 3, and good results are not achieved. Due to stiffness, the crease/glade can be straddled.
The problem of abrasion of the photoreceptor is reduced, and the life of the cleaning blade can be dramatically improved.

Figures 3 and 2 show another embodiment of the present invention. This laugh second 1
Then, the tip of the cleaning blade 11 was directed in the direction opposite to the direction of movement of the surface of the photoreceptor drum.

This is a one-way cleaning system known as a one-way counter system. The cleaning blade 11 is held freely by a support member 12. A cage 13. is provided between the arm 12a, which is a part of the support member 12, and the main body of the cleaning device 2. , has a suspension tongue, and the supporting member]2
is rotated counterclockwise around axis 14. As a result, the cleaning plate 1 is pressed against the surface of the emitter drum 1 with a predetermined pressure. Incidentally, the support member 12 is movably pivoted on a grinding shaft 14 parallel to the axis of the photoreceptor drum 2.1. This support member 12 is vibrated in the direction of the force of the shaft 14 by a vibrating means (not shown), but the vibrating means shown in Fig. J.1 can be used.

By the way, the toner conveying gutter 15 is integrated with the supporting member 12.
As shown in the figure, a toner conveying gutter 5 is used to clean the toner, etc. that was not removed by the cleaning blade 11 on the upper surface of the cleaning blade 11 installed diagonally in the lower right corner. However, the toner conveying gutter 15 is tilted to receive the toner.

By the way, the platform where the photoreceptor drum rotates 10 times is high.
In the counter type, there is a high possibility that the toner removed by the cleaning plate IJ will scatter in the form of smoke, so the toner conveying gutter J5 and the cleaning blade 1
A shield part 1 material 6 for preventing toner scattering is attached so as to extend around the contact area between the photoreceptor drum 1 and the photoreceptor drum 1.

The toner transported by the toner transport @J5 is collected in a toner collection container (not shown) or reused in the equalizing section; first, the toner is collected in a ring device.

Although the above-mentioned embodiments have been described with respect to a plate base whose cleaning surface is a photoreceptor, the present invention can be similarly applied to an electrostatic recording body or a current-visiting body on which an electrostatic latent image is directly formed.

As described above, according to the present invention, in order to convey the cleaned toner, the toner conveying gutter is vibrated and the cleaning blade is also vibrated integrally, so the cleaning effect is enhanced compared to the conventional method, and the cleaning blade is also vibrated. Since there is no need to increase the contact force of the cleaning blade to hlr' = 8, the life of the cleaning blade is greatly improved.
Nito is made.

It is possible to reliably transport and collect toner that has been cleaned, and the advantage of 4n- is that transport is relatively simple.
J “ru.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 3.1 is a cross-sectional view of a blade cleaning device a-, which shows one embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 shows a blade cleaning device a-, which has a counter-type cleaning blade and another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. l... Photosensitive drum, 2... Blade cleaning device, 3.11... Cleaning blade, 4.12
...Supporting member, 5.15...Toner conveying gutter, 6...
・Vibration means, 7.14...axis

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a blade cleaning device for removing toner remaining on the electrostatic latent image carrier with an IJ-2/G blade and recovering the removed toner, cleaning is carried out without being brought into pressure contact with the static latent image carrier. a blade, a support member for supporting the cleaner/precod; a toner conveying gutter which is integrally fixed to the support member and receives toner removed by the cleaning blade; A blade cleaning device that is constructed with a vibrating means that vibrates in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the surface of an electrostatic image carrier.