JPS59210461A - Dry development system image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the toner contamination of respective equipments in a machine and deterioration in picture quality due to toner contamination by arranging electrode members which collect a scattered developer in the machine at proper places in the machine. CONSTITUTION:The electrode members 10-12 are arranged so as to collect the scattered developer (toner) in the machine positively, and those are applied with a voltage having the polarity opposite to that of toner from a power source 13. The scattered toner near a conveying device 7 is attracted and collected by the electrode member 10 and the scattered toner near a transfer material separation part and a cleaner 9 is collected. Therefore, the toner contamination of respective equipments in the machine is prevented and the deterioration in picture quality due to the toner contamination is also prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a dry development type image forming apparatus, and an object of the present invention is to prevent staining inside the machine and deterioration of image quality due to floating developer inside the machine.

A dry development type image forming apparatus is a type of apparatus that uses dry powder as a developer for a latent image formed on an image carrier or as a material for directly forming a visible image on an image carrier. Various known principles such as electrophotography, electrostatic recording, magnetic recording, etc. are applied to image carriers such as photoreceptors, insulators, and magnetic materials that utilize materials.
A latent image such as an electrostatic latent image, a potential latent image, or a magnetic latent image is formed in the process, and this is developed with a dry powder developer.The developed image is corrected and transferred to a transfer material, and then image fixing processing is performed to form an image. A visible image is formed by selectively adhering dry powder to the surface of an image carrier using other principle I processes such as controlling the flow of charged particles without creating a latent image on the image carrier. There are various methods such as a method in which a formed image is directly transferred to an image carrier or transferred to a transfer material and then fixed to obtain an image formed product.

In such a dry development type image forming apparatus,
One of the problems with conventional printers is that floating developer inside the machine causes dirt inside the machine and deterioration of image quality.

This is caused by dry developer (hereinafter referred to as toner) that leaks and scatters from the developing section as the image forming apparatus operates, in the process of separating the transfer agent from the image carrier in transfer type image forming apparatuses, and in the process of cleaning the image carrier. Scattered toner generated by unfixed toner images formed on the image carrier, some of which is detached from the image carrier due to its rotational movement and conveyance movement, floats and scatters inside the machine, contaminating process equipment in various parts of the machine. . This toner contamination of the process equipment causes, for example, back contamination on the image forming object from the transfer section to the fixing section, impairing the quality. When chargers for latent image formation, transfer, etc. are contaminated with toner, it causes uneven charge and discharge, resulting in a decrease in image quality.

Toner leakage and scattering from the developing section, cleaning section, etc. has been devised and designed to suppress the scattering into the machine as much as possible using sealing means and suction removal means, but it is not perfect and some leakage and scattering still occurs. be. Conventionally, no measures have been taken to collect toner that has been scattered and floated inside the machine.

Therefore, over time, toner contamination progresses in various parts of the machine due to scattered toner generated from the developing section, cleaning section, etc., as described in section 2, and scattered toner due to other causes.

If charging devices and the like are not regularly cleaned and maintained, problems such as deterioration of image quality will occur.

The present invention substantially solves the above-mentioned problems caused by the scattered and floating toner by actively collecting the toner that has been scattered and floated inside the machine. The gist is that an electrode member for collection is provided.

Based on one embodiment shown in the figure below, the detailed illustration shows the general configuration of a dry developing/transfer type electrophotographic apparatus according to the Carlson process as an example of an image forming apparatus.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a Drano-type xerographic photoreceptor (hereinafter abbreviated as drum) as an image bearing member which is rotated around a shaft 2 in the direction of the arrow; 3 the drum surface is uniformly charged positively or negatively; The charger 4 is an exposure section, and an optical system (not shown) exposes the charged surface of the drum to an original image, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the drum surface. 5 is a dry developing device for developing the latent image, 6 is a transfer charger, and a transfer material is synchronously conveyed between this charger and the drum 1 from a paper feed section not shown in the figure.
The toner image on the drum 1 side is transferred to the transfer material. The transfer material is then sequentially separated from the surface of the drum 1, introduced into the fixing device 8 by the conveying device 7, subjected to image fixation, and discharged outside the machine as an image-formed product. Reference numeral 9 denotes a cleaner for removing untransferred toner from the surface of the drum after image transfer.

Reference numerals 10-11 and 12 are first, second, and third electrode members disposed above the conveyance device 7, near the transfer material separation section, and on the bottom surface of the outer box of the cleaner 9, respectively, to collect floating toner inside the machine. can be,
A voltage with a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied to these by a power source 13.

The floating M toner in the vicinity of the transport device 7 is actively and intensively attracted to the member 10 by the first electrode member 10 due to the electrical dust collection action of the electrode member, and is adhered and captured.

The second electrode member 11 captures the floating toner near the transfer material separating section and the cleaner 9 in the a-pole in the same manner as described above.

The third electrode member 12 has the same function as the second electrode member 11, but has an advantageous arrangement when the arrangement like the second electrode member 11 is not possible due to space constraints.

The number and location of electrode members to be provided are not limited to those mentioned above, but can be set arbitrarily.

In this way, even if scattered toner is generated inside the machine, the toner is actively and intensively captured by the electrode members and removed from the air inside the machine before it spreads to various parts of the machine and deposits on the process equipment in each part. Therefore, toner contamination of various internal devices, the inner surface of the device exterior casing, the chassis surface, etc., is prevented over a long period of time, and problems with image quality deterioration due to this toner contamination are also prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of a dry developing type image forming apparatus equipped with an electrode member for collecting floating toner inside the machine. 1 is a photosensitive drum, 3 is a charger, 4 is an exposure section, 5 is a dry developing device, 6 is a transfer charger, 7 is a conveyance device, 8 is a fixing device,
10, 11, and 12 are toner collecting electrode members, and 13 is a voltage applying power source.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A dry development type image forming apparatus characterized in that an electrode member for collecting floating developer inside the machine is disposed at a proper place inside the machine.