JPS5995775A - Drive guide mechanism of image carrying belt - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the meandering of the image carrying belt in a drive guide mechanism by linking the image carrying belt and a couple of endless belts via an elastic member at a position where at least one opposing pair is attained. CONSTITUTION:Sprocket wheels 10, 11, 12, 13 are provided near both ends of support rollers 5, 6, 7, 8, and the wheels are meshed with an endless chain 14. A flat and long stay 16 is fitted to the chain 14 and an elastic member 18 is fixed to the middle of the stay 16 so as to enclose the surrounding of the stay. Further, the elastic member 18 forms the linking part to form a belt type photosensitive body 9 in the endless form. The stay 16 is fixed to the part near the lower side of the elastic member 18, so as to make the center line in the direction of thickness of the belt 9, the stay 16 and the elastic member 18 coincident with each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to image information 1. which is converted into an electrical signal and which is output from, for example, an electronic calculator, an image reading device, etc. Alternatively, an image carrying belt that reproduces and displays the image information obtained using electrophotography as a visible image, or a low-compatibility belt that transfers the image to transfer paper as necessary after the reproduction and display, or a belt that visualizes the image on the belt. The drive of the image carrying belt used to further transfer the image onto a transfer paper or the like is related to the ID ladder structure.

In general, CRT display devices or liquid crystal display devices, which have been put into practical use as devices for visually displaying image information converted into electrical signals, have a limited number of strokes for small characters, especially kanji, due to the %A image power. There are difficulties in displaying a large number of characters, and for this reason, recent image display devices record image information on an image carrying belt and visualize it as a toner image for use in angular display. (hereinafter referred to as an image display device) has been proposed.

This ii! An il image display device consists of an endless image-bearing belt whose outer surface is coated (or vapor-deposited) with a photosensitive agent, stretched between multiple parallel rollers, and the image-bearing belt rotates completely. For example, a laser installed inside the belt track,
The electrostatic latent image is completely formed using an exposure means such as an LED array, and at the same time as the exposure, development is carried out using toner from outside the belt orbit corresponding to the exposed area, and the electric signal is used to prevent fraud. It has the feature of developing a latent image and making it available for display.Means for forming an active layer include those that use a multi-stylus, and those that form a magnetic latent image.

By the way, the image display device using the above-mentioned 1 m endless image carrying bell has a poor resolution due to the characteristic of M4 structure that the latent image is visualized by toner. Since the belt has a structure in which it is mounted on multiple rollers and rotated, the belt tends to deviate from its initial set position to the end of the rollers over time. is recognized.

Since such belt deviation is not desirable in terms of cherry blossom structure, the inventors of the present invention have repeatedly studied ways to prevent this and have developed a belt drive guide mechanism suitable for the image bearing belt. be.

That is, as a generally known means for preventing the belt from shifting (meandering) in the axial direction of the roller, there is a method in which the center portion of the roller is formed into a drum shape. However, this method is only effective when the belt is elastic and follows the convex surface of the roller, so it is not suitable for image display devices that use transparent endless belts coated with a photosensitive agent on the outer surface. . This is because when an attempt is made to control the meandering of the belt using a drum-shaped roller, a large tension is applied to the center of the belt and the belt itself is stretched, causing a gap between the belt and the photoreceptor coated or vapor-deposited on its outer surface. This is because a difference in expansion/contraction rate is caused, which causes cracks in the photoreceptor, uneven characteristics, and peeling from the belt.

The second belt meandering control means includes a detection member connected to a supporting portion of the roller near the end of the roller, and detects the detection member at the end of the belt when the belt is deflected. Push,
A method is known in which belt meandering is controlled by oscillating rollers in conjunction with this, but in this method, when the test phase and the end of the belt are welded, the belt may be worn out or damaged. There is a problem in that it is not suitable for long-term use because the belt is transparent, and it is not suitable for long-term use. In such an image display device, there are restrictions on the selection and reinforcement of the material of the belt itself, so it is not desirable to utilize the pressing force at the end of the belt.

Furthermore, as a third meandering control method, the belt is detected by a non-contact sensor such as a photo sensor, and the detection signal causes a motor or plunger provided on the roller support to swing the roller. A method of controlling belt meandering is known, but unlike the second method, this method has the advantage of not damaging the belt, but it requires complicated and expensive belt deviation detection and roller swinging means. However, the problem is that the device becomes large.

Based on the above, the present inventors have developed the present invention, which has a structure suitable for use as a drive guide mechanism for an image bearing belt, particularly as a drive guide mechanism designed to prevent meandering, unlike the above-mentioned general belt meandering prevention means. This is what we have come to.

- In addition to the above-described image display device, the image bearing belt drive guide mechanism of the present invention can be similarly applied to an image recording device of a copying machine using this type of belt, and has a good meandering prevention effect. Well, it can wait. In other words, an image recording device such as a copying machine that uses an image-bearing belt is equipped with a latent image forming means based on, for example, electrophotography, and further transfers a developed toner image of this latent image onto a transfer paper or the like, and then fixes it. This is because, although the image carrying belt drive guide mechanism has basically the same structure and features as the image display apparatus, the image carrying belt drive guide mechanism can be said to have the same structure and features as the image display apparatus.

Therefore, the gist of the present invention is to provide an image carrying belt that is stretched and rotated between a plurality of parallel rollers, and a pair of image carrying belts that rotate on tracks along both sides of the image carrying belt in the width direction without width deviation. an endless belt, and the pair of endless belts and the image carrying belt are connected via an elastic member at at least one opposing pair of positions. be.

The present invention will be described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

1 to 3 show the structure of an image display device to which the present invention is applied, in which FIG. 1 is an external perspective view, FIG. 2 is a sectional perspective view, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view.

■ is a vertical vortex housing; 2 is a surface image viewing port formed with a large opening on the front panel of the exterior sieve; 3 is an operation panel with the lower part of the front panel protruding forward; , 4 is a display window stretched over the window hole 2, and 5, 6, and 7-8 are exterior sieves. Four endless belts are arranged parallel to each other in the left and right direction, and are individually rotatably supported on bearings. Photoreceptor (image bearing belt)
Suspended support roller 9 is an endless belt type photoreceptor that is suspended and supported by the four rollers.

The endless belt type photoreceptor 9 (hereinafter simply referred to as belt) has a base layer made of a transparent sheet such as a polyester sheet, and gold J'At is very thinly deposited on the outer surface of the base layer to achieve substantially all the transparency. A photosensitive material layer (photoconductive layer) such as CdS or 'Z is applied to the metal-deposited surface.
It is entirely flexible and is suspended and supported by the above four four-wheelers with the photosensitive material layer side outside the belt track. Among the rollers, roller 5 is used as a driving roller, and the rotational force of a motor M (FIG. 3) is transmitted to this roller, and at least one of the other three driven rollers, for example roller 6, has bearings 19 at both ends.
The entire pressing force is applied to the spring 20 in a certain direction via (
(See Figure 4) acts as a belt tension roller to apply tension to the suspended belt.

Incidentally, all of these four rollers may be used as driven rollers, and the driving force may be transmitted by a rotating chain described later, and this point will be described later.

By being rotationally driven by the drive roller 5 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 2 by the motor M-, the above-mentioned suspension belt 9 rotates in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 3 without waving, slack, or clipping. As the belt rotates, the outer surface of the belt between rows 25 and 8 (the outer surface of the belt on the tension P side) becomes visible through the display image peephole 2 on the outer sieve front plate.
The entire section moves from bottom to top.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a radar beam scanning type image exposure device fixedly disposed inside the orbit of the suspension belt 9, which includes a semiconductor laser oscillator 22, a polygon mirror scanner 23, and an fθ
A horizontally elongated glass is arranged so as to press with an appropriate force on the inner surface of the tensioned belt part between the lens 24, the reflector 25, and the two belt suspension support rollers 7 and 8 at the bottom of the device exterior cylinder. 2
, a transparent plate 26 made of f2 Nutec or the like.

This image exposure device 21 oscillates a Rade intermittent beam L corresponding to time-series electric pixel signals output from an electronic computer, an image reading device, etc. from a semiconductor Rade oscillator 22 toward a polygon mirror scanner 23, and enters the scanner. The laser beam L is swung in the belt width direction and is made incident on the inner surface of the belt portion between the rollers 7 and 8 through the path of fθ lens 24→reflector 25→transparent plate 26, whereby the inner surface of the belt portion is aligned in the belt width direction. is scanned by a laser beam. Then, this laser beam scanning is used as a main scanning, and the rotational movement of the belt 9 is used as a sub-scanning, so that the belt 9 is exposed to an image from the inner surface of the belt by the Rede beam.

Reference numeral 27 denotes a toner developing device disposed on the outer surface side of the belt portion between the rollers 7 and 8.

The transparent plate 26 disposed on the inner surface of the belt portion between the rollers 7 and 8, which serves as the laser beam scanning exposure section described above, is
The common tangent line on the lower side of plate 8 is also disposed with its lower surface slightly protruding downward to bring it into pressure contact with the inner surface of the belt.
The transparent plate 26 is chamfered and rounded so that the belt moves smoothly in contact with the belt, and this transparent plate 26 prevents the belt 90, which is a photoreceptor, from waving or moving up and down due to rotational movement, and also prevents the developing brush of the developing device 27 (from the magnet). It functions to prevent the vertical vibration of the belt 9 caused by contact with the brush-like spikes of the developer that is formed during the process, and to maintain the h light position constant and improve resolution. It is.

When the display start command is entered after setting the required conditions such as calling up the image information and specifying the display position by operating the operation panel 3, the rotation of the motor M causes the belt 9, which is the photoreceptor, to move at a predetermined speed. begins to rotate.

Further, laser beam scanning exposure of designated image information to the belt 9 by the exposure device v21 is started on the inner side surface of the belt between the rollers 7 and 8. A toner developing device 27 is disposed on the outer surface side of the belt in the 1st section 5 light section, and the toner acts on the outer surface of the belt at the same time as exposure, so that a toner image corresponding to the exposed image is sequentially formed on the outer surface of the belt 9. It is formed. As the belt rotates and moves, the toner images sequentially formed on the outer surface of the belt rotate from bottom to top toward the display image viewing window 2 on the front panel of the exterior casing, and move to the window hole range position. - Rotation of the H belt 9 is stopped. As a result, an image is displayed in the window hole 2, and the image is visible through the entire display window glass 4. Next, when the belt is rotated again by the belt re-rotation operation, the next display image moves to the window hole 1-encircle position and the next screen is displayed. As the belt rotates, the toner image on the outer surface of the belt after being displayed is removed by cleaning with a developing brush when it reaches the 27th part of the belt. A new toner image is formed by receiving the toner image.

Now, the characteristic structure of the rod 1 employed in the above-mentioned coffin-shaped image display apparatus to prevent meandering of the belt-type photoreceptor 9 will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5.

That is, near both ends of the support rollers 5, 6, 7.8, as shown in FIG. 2, sprocket wheels 10, 11, 12. chain 14i
It has a lot of fat.

One of the many link plates forming the chain of each chain 14 has a protrusion 15 extending in the direction of the belt 9.
These protrusions 15.15 of the chains 14.14 on both sides are opposed, and the protrusions 15.1 of both
An elongated flat plate stay 16 is attached so as to span the length of the main body 5. The protrusion 15 (!: Nutee 16 is attached using a pin 17, but the attachment hole of the stay 16 is made to have a slightly larger diameter than the pin 17, so that the chain 14 and belt 9
is designed to allow some degrees of freedom in the lateral direction. On the other hand, an elastic member 18 such as a flat plate of rubber is fixed to the middle part of the second chi 16 so as to penetrate the entire circumference of the stay, and as shown in FIG. The front and rear parts 18a in the direction of rotation of the chain 14 are thick by the thickness of the stay.

18b is made thin so that it can exhibit sufficient elasticity.

One of the features of this example is that the elastic member 18 described above is
Connecting portion k that forms the belt-type photoreceptor 9 into an endless shape
The point is that it is fi. That is, the elastic members 18a, 1
The end of the belt-type photoreceptor 9 is adhered to the lower surface of the portion 8b. Note that the stay 16 is fixed to a portion near the lower surface side of the elastic member 18, and includes the belt 9, the stay 16, and the elastic member 18a.

They are arranged so that their center lines in the thickness direction, such as 18b, coincide as much as possible.

In this example, as described above, the belt-type photoreceptor 9 is rotated by the driving force transmitted by the drive roller 5, and therefore each belt type photoreceptor 9 is rotated in approximately the same orbit as the photoreceptor 9. The chain 14 installed on the sprocket wheels is configured to rotate following the rotation of the photoreceptor 9 by making each sprocket wheel rotatable.

That is, the stay 1 integrated into a part of the vaginal light body 9
Since the chain 14 is rotated following the chain 14 via the stay 16, since the trajectory of the chain 14 is always partially covered by the Nupro rocket wheel, the rotation of the belt type photoreceptor 9 is also rotated via the stay 16. It is guided by the connection and meandering is reliably prevented.

In this case, since the chain 14 and the belt-type photoreceptor 9 are connected with an elastic body 18 interposed in the middle, vibrations caused by uneven rotation, pitch unevenness, etc. of the chain are absorbed by the elastic body 18. Also, fine vibrations of the photoreceptor 9 can be well prevented, and the number of images formed can be preferably 1.

Note that instead of the above configuration, each roller may be made rotatable and the driving force may be transmitted from the chain 14 to the belt type photoreceptor 9 via the nut 16.
It goes without saying that meandering of the photoreceptor 9 can be similarly prevented in this case as well.

Note that the configuration of the belt-type photoreceptor described above is not limited to that shown in the illustration. For example, as shown in FIG. shape, and a stay 3 is provided on at least one of the elastic members.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7, the belt-type photoreceptor 33 may be connected by an elastic member 34 (or other connecting means other than the elastic member), and the connection with the chain may be , elastic support arms 35, 35f, r, such as rubber, fixed to both sides of a portion of the photoreceptor 33 may be used.

In short, in order to prevent meandering of the photoreceptor, a chain machine width having a rotating guide function is provided, and the chain of this chain mechanism and the photoreceptor are connected through an elastic member. The purpose is achieved.

FIG. 8 shows yet another embodiment of the connection relationship between the chain and the belt-type photoreceptor, in which the belt-type photoreceptor 3
6 are connected with elastic members 37, 38 etc. to form an endless shape,
Elastic support members such as rubber or springs 39.39...
A plurality of photoconductors are provided in pairs on both sides of the photoconductor and connected to all the chains on the other end.

In this case, for example, by applying a uniform spring force in the lateral direction using both side pair springs, Δ・! Meandering does not occur when the light body rotates, and since drive transmission is performed at multiple locations on the photoconductor, effects such as dispersion of transmission force and meandering correction (regulation) force are achieved, making it even better. It is expected that the belt-type photoreceptor will be able to rotate.

Although we have explained the case of a chain as the drive transmission means, it is worth mentioning that the same effect can be achieved by using a timing belt, a V-belt, or a thin metal flat belt with retaining holes provided at equal pitches. not.

As already mentioned, the image bearing belt drive guide mechanism of the present invention can be directly applied to an image recording device such as a copying machine, and FIG. This figure shows a schematic configuration of an example of application.

To briefly explain the configuration of the copying machine shown in the figure, an original 41 placed on an original platen 40 is illuminated by a flash light source 42, and the light image passes through the entire lens 43 onto the surface of a belt-type photoreceptor 44. projected on top.

This belt-type photoreceptor 44 is suspended and supported by a drive roller 45, a transfer roller 46, a tension roller 47, etc., and its driving force is applied and the meandering control is performed by rotating on a trajectory along both sides of each roller as described above. This is done by a stay 48 attached to a chain (not shown) and an elastic member 49 fixed to the stay 48 and connecting the belt-type photoreceptor 44 endlessly.

On the other hand, the belt-type photoreceptor 44 before entering the exposure area is prepared for electrostatic latent image formation by a cleaning device 50 and a charger 51. Exposure area: C The photoreceptor 44 on which a static latent image has been formed by projecting the original image is made visible by the developing device 52, and after transferring the image to the copy paper 53, it is again prepared for the next image formation. It is supposed to work.

As described above, the image bearing belt drive guide mechanism according to the present invention has the function of forming a latent image, and is extremely effective in preventing meandering of the hematode. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings illustrate an embodiment in which the BA of the present invention is applied to an image display device, and FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the image display device, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the same, and FIG. 4 is a partial plan sectional view showing the relationship between the belt and the drive guide mechanism, FIG. 5 is a side view showing the relationship between the belt and the sprocket wheel, and FIGS. 6 to 8 are FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another example of the belt, and is a diagram showing a schematic configuration when the present invention is applied to a copying machine. l... Blood-packed exterior casing 2... Display image viewing window 3
...Operation panel 4...Display window is RANU 5.6
．． 7.8... Suspended support roller (roller) 9... Endless belt type photoreceptor (image carrier) 10.11, 12.13.
...Sprocket wheel 14...Chain
15... Protrusion 16... Stay 17...
・Pin 18...Elastic member 19...Bearing 20
... Spring 21 ... Image exposure device 22.
・・Semiconductor laser oscillator 23・−・Polygon mirror scanner 24・・Fθ lens 25・−・Anti ai26・・
・Transparent plate 27...Toner developer 28.29
, 33, 36... Photoreceptor 30, 31, 34, 37, 38... Elastic member 32...
・Nutee 35...Elastic support arm 39...Elastic support member 40...Document stand galanu 41...Document 42...Flash light source 43...
Lens 44--Belt type photoreceptor 45...
Drive roller 46... Transfer roller 47... Tension roller 48... Nute 49... Elastic member
50... Cleaning device 51... Charger
52...Developer 53...Copy paper Figure 1 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] It includes an image carrying belt that is stretched and rotated across a plurality of parallel rows 2, and a pair of endless belts that rotate on tracks along both sides of the image carrying belt in the width direction. A driving guide chair for an image carrying belt, characterized in that the pair of endless belts and the image carrying belt are connected via an elastic member at at least one opposing pair of positions.