JPS5868776A - Cleaning device for electrophotographic printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the maintenance etc. of cleaning blades easy by prolonging a life in total even if the life of one piece of the blade is not changed, by providing >=2 cleaning blades. CONSTITUTION:The plural number of cleaning blades 2 are provided to a shaft 4 with urethane rubber etc. molded on a spring plate material such as a phosphor bronze plate. Contaminants in remaining toner are removed by an edge 2a of the cleaning blade 2 by rotation of a photoreceptor 6. When a page counter showing a prescribed printing amount is reached a prescribed number, the shaft 4 is rotated and a new cleaning web 2 is arranged to be brought into contact with a photoreceptor 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning the surface of a photoreceptor of an electrophotographic printing device.

Conventionally, as a cleaning device of this type, for example, the first
As shown in the figure, a cleaning blade 2 made of an elastic material such as polyurethane is brought into contact with the photoconductor surface 1, and the toner adhering to the photoconductor surface 1 is scraped off and cleaned by the rotation of the photoconductor 3, and the collected toner is cleaned. Either the conveying means 3 provided at the bottom of the blade 2 is used to send it into the developing device, or
A blade cleaning device is known that is designed to be recycled for disposal.

However, with this structure, foreign matter such as paper dust from the paper 10 or fibers entering from the outside may be present on the photoreceptor surface 1, or the edge 2a of the cleaning blade 2 may be caused by the IVC on the photoreceptor surface or the attached carrier (iron powder). 't? There was a problem in that the cleaning blade 2 was damaged and caused poor cleaning, and it was necessary to regularly replace the cleaning blade 2. This conversion work is usually carried out by maintenance personnel, so if a cleaning problem occurs, the operator of the device needs to call maintenance personnel each time.

Alternatively, the device manufacturer had set up a periodic replacement time fairly early and had maintenance personnel replace it at that time, so the lifespan of the actual cleaning blade was short.

The present invention provides two or more cleaning blades, so that even if the life of one cleaning blade does not change, the combined life is extended, and the equipment operator does not need the help of a maintenance person. An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device for an electrophotographic printing device that can use a new cleaning blade.

The invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 2 and subsequent figures.

The cleaning blade 2 is made of urethane rubber or the like molded onto a spring plate material such as a phosphor bronze plate, and is fixed to the shaft 4. The shaft 4 can be rotated as desired and fixed at position M, where the edge 2a of the cleaning blade 2 contacts the photoreceptor surface 1 with an appropriate pressure. The conveyance means 3 includes a feed screw 3a and is provided below the cleaning blade 2 within the cleaning device 5. 8 is a transfer device, and 9 is a developer.

The cleaning blade 2 is provided with windows 7 at intervals in the axial direction of the photoreceptor 6, as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation will be explained. After the transfer is completed by the transfer device 8, residual toner and foreign matter adhere to the surface 1 of the photoreceptor. Then, as the photoreceptor 6 rotates, the remaining toner and foreign matter are scraped away by the edge 2a of the cleaning blade 2 and cleaned. The cleaned toner is sent out from the window 7 to the feed screw 3a of the conveying means 3 without being deposited on the cleaning blade 2. The toner sent out to the feed screw 3a is sent to the developing device 9 along a path not shown, or is collected in a collection box not shown, and is put out of business. This glaze printing device is equipped with a page counter that indicates the number of pages printed, and when a certain number of printed pages is reached, the device maintainer or operator rotates the shaft 4 and applies a new cleaning web 2 to the photoreceptor. The surface should be in contact with l. In this way, the operator of the electrophotographic printing device can easily replace the cleaning blade 2, which has a short lifespan, with a new one, and there is no need to call maintenance personnel for printing defects caused by brushing off the cleaning blade. can also be prevented. That is, in Figure 2, @
Since four cleaning blades 2 are attached to the cleaning blade 2, the actual life span of the cleaning blade 2 can be quadrupled.

When all four cleaning blades 2 have been used, a maintenance person may be called and all four cleaning blades 2 may be replaced.

As explained above, the present invention has a structure in which at least two cleaning blades are attached and can be easily replaced, thereby improving the overall lifespan of the cleaning blades and reducing maintenance time and costs. It has the effect of

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a conventional cleaning device h-;
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a cleaning blade according to the invention. 1...Photoconductor surface, 2...Cleaning blade, 2a...Edge of cleaning blade, 3...
. . . conveyance means, 4 . . 1) shaft to which cleaning blade is attached, 5 .
・Sense 5- Light body, 7...Cleaning blade hole, 8...
・Transfer device, 9...Developer, 10...Paper. 61

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cleaning device for an electrophotographic printing apparatus, which is provided with a cleaning blade on the surface of the photoconductor and a conveying means 3 for the collected toner below the cleaning blade, characterized in that at least two or more of the cleaning blades are provided. Cleaning device for electrophotographic printing equipment.