JPS5866981A - Fur brush cleaner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit controlling of the rotating speed of a fur brush according to rotating pressure and maintaining the cleaning performance of the fur brush at high performance at all times by providing a detecting means which detects the rotating pressure of the fur brush in the position where said means can contact with the fur brush. CONSTITUTION:A fur brush rotates at an initial rotating speed in the normal stage. On progression of use, the pressing force of the brush hair 8a onto the surface of a photoreceptor decreases as the abrasion of the brush hair 8a and the deterioration owing to its deformation such as lying habits arise. This decrease leads simultaneously to a decrease in the rotating pressure detected by a pressure sensitive element 9 which feeds a detection signal immediately to a control unit 10. The unit increases the driving force of a motor 11 to increase the rotating speed until the normal rotating pressure is restored, whereby always the normal cleaning performance is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fur brush cleaning device that performs cleaning by rubbing the surface of a toner carrier on which toner particles are formed. This invention relates to a suitable fur brush cleaning device for cleaning and removing fur brushes.

Conventionally, in electrophotographic copying machines, etc., a toner image is formed by ejecting electromagnetic latent material formed on the surface of a photoreceptor, and after the toner image is transferred to transfer paper, all toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor is cleaned. A fur brush cleaning device is used that uses a fur brush to clean the fur. A fur brush is usually constructed of a large number of brush capillary tubes standing upright on the circumferential surface of a P-ra, and is rotated in the same direction as the photoreceptor drum so that both surfaces of the brush hair and the photoreceptor drum are exposed at the contact surface of the oil. The remaining toner is swept away by rubbing in the opposite direction. Therefore.

As the fur brush is used for a long time, it becomes photoreceptor.

And 7. Due to the friction with the cover, deterioration such as curling of the brush bristles occurs during wear, reducing the biting amount or pressing force against the photoreceptor surface, reducing the cleaning effectiveness of the toner, and deteriorating the image quality. . As a measure to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, the distance between the fur brush and the photoreceptor surface is made variable,
A method is known in which the amount of biting or pressing force is supplemented by bringing the fur brush closer to the surface of the photoreceptor depending on the degree of deterioration of the fur brush. However, this method acts in a direction that promotes the curling of the brush bristles, and it does not necessarily mean that the cleaning effect is restored, but that the position of the rotating shaft etc. is adjusted to move the entire cleaning device. 9. It is necessary and the mounting @O mechanism is complicated. This results in the inconvenience of increased equipment costs.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned disadvantages.
To provide a fur brush cleaning device 1 which has a simple configuration, eliminates cleaning defects, greatly extends the life of a fur brush as a component, and is advantageous in terms of maintenance.
purpose.

In the amii fur brush cleaning device of the present invention, a detection means for detecting the rotational pressure of the fur brush is provided at a position where it can come into contact with the fur brush, and the fur brush rotation speed can be controlled according to the rotational pressure. At the point.

Here, a commercially available pressure-sensitive element can be used as the rotational pressure O1 detection means, and a known control unit tube is used for K to change the rotational speed according to the rotational pressure, and n rotational speed is 60.
G-It is steplessly variable up to 1,500 rpm.

First of all, as an initial state, the fur brush o
The amount of blowing to the surface of the carrier, that is, the distance between the two, is set, and the rotational pressure at this time is stored in the control unit as a normal reference value, and the rotation pressure is If the pressure decreases, the rotation speed of the fur brush is increased by that amount to raise the bristles and return the rotation/pressure tube to the reference value. However, when the rotational speed is increased to 1.60 rpm and the rotational pressure does not return to the reference value, it is determined that the life of the fur brush Q has expired, and the fur brush is replaced. The cleaning/cleaning performance of the fur brush is determined by the biting force or pressing force of the fur brush bristles on the surface of the image carrier. When provided on the circumference of a circle whose radius is the distance to the body surface, the rotational pressure detected by the pressure-sensitive element is Q, which is equivalent to the pressing force, making it easy to control the rotational speed. However, the position of the pressure-sensitive element is not fixed to the above-mentioned position, but can be placed at any position where it can come into contact with the fur brush, and the normal rotational pressure at that position can be controlled. As mentioned above, deformation of the brush bristles such as wear and deformation can be considered as the deterioration of the fur brush that provides the above-mentioned effect.1j1. Since deformation actually occurs more frequently, the idea of the present invention is to raise the brush capillary by increasing the centrifugal force acting on the brush bristles rather than by increasing the rotational speed.

It can be said that it is highly effective in maintaining good cleaning properties.

Next, one F! The application of i4 to an electrophotographic copying machine will be explained with reference to the attached drawings.

In FIG. 1, a photoreceptor drum 1 having a photoreceptor provided on its circumferential surface is rotatably supported in the direction indicated by arrow A. As shown in FIG. As the drum rotates 10 times, the photoreceptor on the drum surface becomes charged -2
The exposure device 3 charges the original *#
The electrostatic charge is selectively erased by the electrostatic latent 11I
is formed. This electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 4 to form a toner image. The toner image is then transferred onto transfer paper 6 by transfer device 5.

On the other hand, the toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor is neutralized by a static eliminator 7, and finally swept away from the surface of the photoreceptor by a fur brush cleaner.

The tour brush free-running device 8 is rotatably supported by a casing 8dK with brush bristles 8a that make contact with the surface of the photoreceptor, and a brush roller 8bY that supports the bristles 8a. Furthermore, the flicker bar 8 is cut at the position where the brush bristles 8 come into sliding contact with each other, and the flicker is removed from the surface of the photoreceptor. ! After removing the toner, the toner remaining on the brush bristles is blown out into the air by the cover 8CK and discharged in the direction of arrow B. Here, according to the present invention, the pressure sensitive elements 9 are installed on the same circumference with the radius of the rotation wheel of the brush roller 8b as the center and the distance to the surface of the photosensitive drum l, and are connected to the control unit (IOK). The control unit 10 is made of fur,
It is connected to a brush drive DC motor 11.

Next, the operation of the apparatus of the present invention will be explained. The fur brush normally rotates at the above-mentioned initial rotational speed of 6αOrpxm″e, but as it is used, the above-mentioned brush bristles 8&
Brush bristles 8 may deteriorate due to wear or deformation such as sleeping.
The pressure applied to the surface of the photoconductor a decreases, and this simultaneously causes a decrease in the rotational pressure detected by the pressure sensitive element 9, which immediately sends a detection signal to the Kw controller and enit 10. The control unit IO sends this detection signal to the DC motor 11 to maintain the stored normal rotational pressure, and increases the motor driving force to increase the rotational speed until the rotational pressure returns to normal rotational pressure. Therefore, a normal pressing force can be obtained, and a normal leaning performance can always be obtained. Here, the rotational speed of the fur brush may be changed by a stepless speed gear.

Next, a sensitivity test with a conventional device conducted by the present inventor will be explained. First, when a conventional fur brush cleaning device was installed in an electrophotographic close-up machine and copying operations were performed continuously, when the number of copies reached 60,000, dirt appeared on the background due to poor cleaning. Next, in the case of the above-mentioned method in which the cleaning device is brought closer to the photoreceptor, no background stains occurred until the number of copies was 200,000, but mechanical problems occurred twice during the process, and the fur brush was removed after repair. It was extremely difficult to adjust the distance between the body and the sensory body. However, in the case of the rotation speed control method according to the present invention,
From about the 180,000th to 190,000th copy, some background staining due to poor cleaning was observed, but even after copying 2Q million copies, the background staining did not occur to the extent that it was practically inconvenient. Also, there have never been any mechanical problems.

As explained above, one shot #! According to AK, the cleaning performance of the fur brush can always be maintained at a high level with a simple configuration, and the fur brush O can be used for a long period of time. Furthermore, even if the rotational speed is increased to the maximum of 1.50 rpm, the rare brush must be replaced at the point when the rotational pressure does not return to the above-mentioned normal value, so it becomes clear when to replace the far brush. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned specific embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made within the technical scope of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 shows the case 01 when the present invention is applied to electrophotographic copying IIK.
Explanation # showing examples! J, FIG. 2 #: Detailed explanatory diagram of the t7 Arzolashi cleaning device. (Explanation of symbols) 8: Fur brush cleaning device 8a: Brush bristles 8b Two brush rollers 9: Pressure sensitive element lO: Control unit 11: DC motor Figure 1 - Figure 2 9 - - - - 1 Hibiki 9 1 1 ■ ν 8d ' 8Q ' \ sb ' 1, and), 1 k.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A fur brush that is rotatably supported and capable of sliding against the surface of a toner carrier, a rotational drive means for the fur brush, and a detection device that detects rotational pressure by touching the fur brush. A fur brush cleaning device comprising: means for controlling said rotation drive means; and a control means for receiving a signal tube from said detecting means and controlling said rotation driving means. 1 In the above item at, the detection means is a pressure-sensitive element p, and the contact surface of the pressure-sensitive bare hand that contacts the fur brush, the center axis of one rotation of the fur brush, and the distance O1'& 110 are from the surface of the toner carrier. All of the pressure sensitive elements are arranged so as to be equal to the distance between them and the fur brush rotation center axis.
Features a fur brush cleaning device.