JPS5937582Y2 - heat pipe roller - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a heat pipe roller used, for example, as a fixing roller in an electrophotographic apparatus.

The heat transfer medium sealed in the reduced pressure space absorbs latent heat sound in the evaporator section, evaporates, releases all of this latent heat of vaporization in the condensation section, liquefies, and flows back to the evaporator section.The cycle is repeated to produce a heat transfer effect. Heat pipes have come to be widely used in various fields because they have excellent thermal properties4.

The heat pipe roller shown in Fig. 1 is used in heat fixing devices of electrophotographic devices such as copying machines. An outer cylinder 2 integrated at both ends, and these inner and outer cylinders 1 and 2
It consists of a heat transfer medium and a working fluid 4 which is sealed after depressurization in the space formed between the two.

By the way, the amount of working fluid in the heat pipe is normally sealed in a very small amount in order to increase the effective condensation area 4 and improve heat uniformity 4.

For this reason, in the above-mentioned device, the working fluid 4 condenses on the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 2, and only the dripped amount can be supplied to the inner cylinder 1, and the inner cylinder 1 becomes empty. Since almost no heat is transferred and received, not only is thermal conductivity, which is essential for a fixing device, impaired, but there is also the risk of a burnout accident 4 due to heating of the inner cylinder 1.

The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional device, and to provide a heat pipe roller with a biased structure such that working fluid is always supplied to the inner cylinder.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on detailed drawings.

Figures 2 and 3 are examples of the present invention.
Reference numeral 10 in the figure is a heat pipe roller (outer cylinder) made of ordinary steel or stainless steel, and a coating 10a is applied to the surface of the roller to prevent toner seizure.

11 is an inner cylinder with a heater inside, and its material is stainless steel or painted or plated ordinary steel.

Reference numeral 12 designates end caps welded to both ends of the cylinders 10 and 11, thereby keeping the spaces inside the cylinders 10 and 11 airtight.

Reference numeral 13 designates a nozzle provided on one side of the end cap 12. After filling the space with 14-karat gold working fluid such as naphthalene, quinoline, diphenyl, Dowsum A, etc., the nozzle is sealed with 13-karat gold. Pour the nozzle holder made of solder or resin into the nozzle 13.
The airtightness of the internal space due to the external structure is destroyed.

A wick 16 coats the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 11 and the inner surface of the end cap 12 with gold, and is composed of two to three layers of wire mesh.

Reference numeral 17 is a pumping member made of public funds, which is a characteristic feature of the present invention, and a T-shaped steel member as shown in Fig. 3 is used.
7a is attached to the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 10 by suitable means such as welding.

Further, a slight gap 10b is formed between the longitudinal end of this liquid pumping member 17 and the inner surface of the end cap 12, and when the roller is stopped, the inner surface of the outer cylinder 10 The working fluid 14 condensed on the circumferential surface gathers at the inner bottom of this partial sound path 9, and the edge of the wick 16 in the housing forms the outer cylinder 1.
The above-mentioned structure [
[1] When the heat pipe roller rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. It releases gold at the top of 11.

For this reason, the surface of the inner cylinder 11 holding the heating source metal is covered with this member 17.
The working fluid 14 is constantly supplied to perform a predetermined evaporation action.

After the working fluid 14 has been supplied to the surface of the inner cylinder 11, the working fluid 14a condensed on the inner circumferential surface of the outer cylinder 10 flows into the back surface of this member 17, and returns to the inner bottom surface of the outer cylinder 10 again.

In addition, in this embodiment, the end seam outer cylinder 10 of the wick 16
Since the working fluid 1 is exposed to the inner circumferential surface of the outer cylinder 10, even when the rotor is stopped, the working fluid 1 is drawn from the inner bottom surface of the outer cylinder 10 by capillary action.
It is supplied to the 4-karat gold inner cylinder.

It should be noted that the shape of the pumping member 17 is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and may be formed into an appropriate shape such as a bowl shape.

As described above, according to the present invention, the wick is provided on the entire outer circumference of the inner cylinder, and the pumping member 4 for the working fluid is provided on the inner surface of the outer cylinder, so that the pumping member 4 moves as the fixing roller rotates. The pumped working fluid is dripped widely and evenly on at least the first half of the rotational direction of the inner cylinder, and the gold wick makes it possible to uniformly supply this to the entire circumferential surface of the cylinder,
Empty metal in the inner cylinder is completely prevented, and the gap formed between the inner cylinder and the pumping member allows the sound of the vaporized working fluid on the inner cylinder to move freely and spread throughout the outer cylinder. Hardware can be heated.

Moreover, since the inner cylinder metal can be configured as a simple cylindrical body with the heat source metal biased, it is possible to easily wrap the wick metal around the entire circumference of the inner cylinder, which significantly reduces the manufacturing cost of this type of heat pipe roller. be able to.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional heat pipe roller, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are a side view and a front view of a metal heat pipe roller according to an embodiment of the present invention. . 10... Outer cylinder, 11... Inner cylinder, 14.
... Working fluid, 16 ... Wick, 17
・・・・・・Pumping member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a heat pipe roller in which a working fluid is sealed between an inner cylinder with a heat source metal biased inside and an outer cylinder integrated with the inner cylinder at both ends, the entire outer periphery of the inner cylinder is covered with a gold wick, and A heat pipe roller characterized in that a plurality of pumping members are integrally attached to the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder to pump up the liquid working fluid on the inner bottom surface of the outer cylinder.