JPS60162278A - Electrostatic recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To flow a developer uniformly by providing a cleaning assistant giving means, where magnetic materials different in polarity or magnetic materials and nonmagnetic materials exist alternately, between the area, where a latent image is developed, and a member which controls the quantity of developing materials. CONSTITUTION:A photosensitive drum 1 is turned around a revolving shaft 2 in the direction of an arrow F and is charged electrostatically by a corona discharger 3, and a latent image is formed by an exposure device 4, and a toner image is formed by a developing machine 7. In the developing machine 7, a magnet roll 9 where magnetic poles N and S are arranged alternately is rotated in the direction of an arrow G. A brass sleeve 10 is turned on the outside of the magnet roll 9 in the direction of an arrow H (opposite to the direction of the arrow G). The quantity of developing materials is controlled by a blade 12, and a cleaing assistant layer C is supported by a supporting member 13, and magnetites 13A and aluminium layers 13B are arranged alternately in the supporting member 13. A bias voltage is impressed from a power source 14 to the sleeve 10 to control development conditions. Thus, agitation and tuft of the developer occur effectively to flow the developer uniformly, and cleaning is performed effectively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an electrostatic recording device with improved cleaning properties for toner remaining on an image support, and particularly to a means for applying a cleaning aid to the surface of the image support. The present invention relates to an electrostatic recording device having:

[Prior art]

Conventionally, as a cleaning means for an image support in an electrostatic recording device such as an electrophotographic copying machine, residual toner is removed by rubbing the surface using a cleaning member such as an elastic rubber blade, a web, or a rotating brush. something is known.

However, in reality, the problem is that in addition to the above-mentioned measures, the surface of the image support, which is made of a photoconductive layer sensitive to stimuli such as fatty acid metal salts, is repeatedly rubbed and rubbed by a cleaning member, resulting in damage or deterioration of electrostatic properties. This is to prevent That is, a cleaning aid is interposed on the surface of the image support to alleviate the impact caused by the rubbing of the cleaning member, thereby preventing and protecting the surface of the support from deterioration.

There are two ways to use the cleaning aid in combination: a method of mixing the aid into the developer (the former), and a method of mechanically depositing the aid on the surface of the image support (the latter).

The former method, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 46-12680, involves adding 0.02 to 20% fatty acid metal to the toner in a two-component developer consisting of toner and carrier used in electrophotographic copying machines. It is stated that it contains salt. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 53-94932 discloses that a one-component developer consisting of magnetic toner used in an electrostatic image developing device contains 0.01 to 8% of the toner.
It has been described that zinc stearate is included in the composition.

When a cleaning aid is added to the 3A developer as described above, the cleaning performance is improved and stabilized, but during the flow process of the developer, the aid coats the surface of the developer particles and the developer The original characteristics of begin to change. For example, developer friction M4? IIF coulometric or polarity changes,
There were problems such as a decline in image clarity and image quality.

As for the latter method, for example, US Patent ffi 3,66
No. 4゜300 Mei 1a8 discloses that after the toner image on the selenium drum is transferred to a transfer paper, the remaining toner is cleaned by rubbing with a web coated with or impregnated with a cleaning aid, and an IJ-ning device is used. An electrophotographic copying machine equipped with the following is described.

Mata 9'l Eva elilFifli 56-742831
An electrophotographic reproduction machine has been described which includes a device for scraping and applying a cleaning aid in the form of a powder or boot stick to the surface of an image support with a rotating brush.

When applying the cleaning aid directly to the surface of the image support as described above, the cleaning means and the device for applying the aid are combined, or the device for applying the aid is provided outside the cleaning means. It was necessary to install a new TLC, which resulted in problems such as the device becoming larger or more complex.

In addition, there have been disadvantages such as an excessive amount of cleaning aid attached to the surface of the image support, resulting in a decrease in charging potential and resolution, and damage to the surface of the image support.

Furthermore, during the image forming process, relatively large-diameter auxiliary particles mixed in when the auxiliary agent block is scraped, dust that has entered from the atmosphere, etc. are interposed in the narrow gap between the developer amount regulating means and the sleeve. This sometimes causes problems such as streak-like unevenness in development.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to improve the developing characteristics of the developer, the charging characteristics of the image support, etc. It not only improves the cleaning performance of the image support without causing problems, but also improves the efficiency of uneven development due to adhesion of dust, etc.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic recording device having a cleaning aid application means that can solve the problem.

[Borrowing an invention]

The above-mentioned purpose is to provide a transport member that uses magnetic force to transport the developer to a development area where a latent image formed on the surface of an image support is developed, and a regulation member that regulates the amount of developer transported to the development area. and a means for applying a cleaning aid to the image support, wherein the means for applying the cleaning aid has a developing area for developing the latent image and a developing area for developing the latent image, and a means for applying a cleaning aid to the image support. This is achieved by an electrostatic recording device provided with regions in which different magnetic or non-magnetic materials alternately exist between the regulating means and the regulating means.

That is, according to the present invention, the developer is conveyed by a magnetic roll and a sleeve that moves relative to the magnetic roll, and after the conveyance amount is regulated by a developer amount regulating member, there is a development area where the image support is developed. Before this, the cleaning aid in the form of fine powder is applied to the developer by the cleaning aid applying means according to the present invention.

Here, the cleaning aid applying means preferably applies the cleaning aid to a support member made of a magnetic material disposed with a gap along the sleeve surface, or to an inner surface of a support member having a magnetic material disposed on the outer surface. are provided in layers. When the developer is conveyed between the cleaning aid layer and the sleeve, dense lines of magnetic force are formed between the magnet roll in the sleeve and the magnetic material of the support member, as shown in Figure 2 below. be done.

The action of these magnetic lines of force forms spikes of developer, and these spikes are tilted in the development direction and are arranged between magnetic bodies and magnetic or non-magnetic bodies of different polarity, which are arranged alternately to allow the developer to develop. A magnetic force moves the developer from side to side, making the developer uniform. Furthermore, with the addition of variations in the direction and strength of the magnetic force due to the rotation of the magnet roll, the developer is sufficiently vibrated and agitated to promote uniformity.

Conventionally, when foreign matter was present between the developer amount regulating member and the sleeve, there were problems such as white streaks and the like, and the foreign matter could not be easily removed, but with the present invention, such problems are completely eliminated. be done.

The cleaning aid uniformly distributed near the surface layer of the developer is deposited on the surface of the image support as the developer is transported to the development area of the next step. At this time, unlike the conventional method in which the auxiliary agent 1 is mechanically pressed onto the surface of the image support, the auxiliary agent 1 is applied by gentle contact with the surface of the image support through the developer, so there is no possibility of damaging the image support. do not have. Also, since the developing aid is applied to the developer just before the development area and is applied from the developer to the surface of the image support immediately afterwards, the aid coats the developer particles and improves their properties. It has the advantage of not causing deterioration.

The image support used in the electrostatic recording device of the present invention includes:
Examples include selenium-based photoreceptors doped with tellurium, antimony, etc., amorphous silicon photoreceptors, photoreceptors using organic semiconductors, and cadmium sulfide photoreceptors coated with an insulating layer.

The developing device for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image support is made of aluminum, brass, etc., and is provided with magnet rolls arranged alternately with N and S and is provided around the outer periphery of the magnet rolls and rotates relative to the magnet rolls. It has a non-magnetic sleeve as a developer conveying section.

Further, the developing device has a regulating member that regulates the amount of developer conveyed to the developing area, but the ATDL between the regulating member and the sleeve is not the same in the case of a two-component developer consisting of normal toner and carrier. 0.3 to 6 aoc.

Butterfly, 0.2 in one-component developer consisting of magnetic toner or two-component developer consisting of microscopic carrier and toner.
The range is from 3m to 3m.

The developer restricted by the narrow gap @a- of the regulating member comes into contact with a cleaning aid layer disposed along the sleeve surface apart from the gap d before reaching the development area, and the developer is The agent is scraped off in powder form and applied to the surface of the image support in the development area K'M. The gap d is a gap in which spikes of developer can be formed as described above, and d
It is larger than l and ranges from 0.3 to 10 m.

As the support member for supporting the cleaning aid EJ', the support member itself or a part thereof is made of a magnetic material. Alternatively, a magnetic material may be provided on the outer surface of a non-magnetic support member made of aluminum, brass, alumite, or the like.

The magnetic material included in the support member that supports the cleaning aid layer may be a permanent magnet or a magnetic material that generates magnetism in response to the magnetism of the magnet roll, and whose magnetism changes depending on the direction and strength of the magnetism of the magnet roll. A magnetic material is used.

As such sensitive magnetic materials, for example, ferromagnetic metals such as iron, nickel, and cobalt, alloys, or compounds containing these such as ferrite and magnetite are used.

Manganese-copper-aluminum, manganese-copper- which does not contain ferromagnetic elements but becomes ferromagnetic through heat treatment etc.
Heusler alloys such as tin or chromium dioxide are also used.

Further, the non-magnetic material arranged alternately with the magnetic material may be aluminum, brass, zinc, tin, alumite, plastic, etc., and may be a cutout space.

The cleaning aids used in the present invention include higher alcohols having 8 or more carbon atoms, saturated or unsaturated fatty acids, monohydric or polyhydric alcohol esters of the fatty acids, metal salts of the fatty acids, amides of the fatty acids, etc. .

Among these, fatty acid metal salts are preferably used, such as caprylic acid, pelargonic acid, capric acid, undecanoic acid, lauric acid, tridecanoic acid, myristic acid, pentadecanoic acid, palmitic acid, margaric acid, stearic acid,
Metal salts such as arachidic acid, behenic acid, and cerotic acid are used.

Examples of gold 1 constituting such fatty acid metal salts include sodium, potassium, copper, silver, magnesium, calcium, zinc, strontium, cadmium, aluminum, iron, cobalt, and copper.

In addition, polycaprolactone with a molecular weight of 4.000 or less.

Waxy polytetrafluoroethylene, molecular weight approximately 6,
000 waxy polyethylene glycols, etc., and zinc stearate is particularly prized.

These cleaning aids are in powder form.

Although it may be in any solid form, it is preferable to provide it in a solid state on the inner surface of the auxiliary support member. To make the powdered auxiliary into a solid, it can be melted by heat and molded, or melted with a solvent,
Can be applied, evaporated and molded, or pressure molded.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically explained below based on the drawings.

(Example 1) FIGS. 1 to 5 are diagrams for explaining this example. 1st
The figure is a partial sectional view of a modified U-BlxT copying machine manufactured by Roku Konishi Photo Industry ■, in which the image support is a selenium drum (described later), the blade is an elastic rubber blade, and the developing device is modified to have a cleaning application means. has been done.

21st i! ! I is a cross-sectional view showing the spikes of developer near the cleaning aid applying means, FIG. 3 is a sketch of the cleaning aid support member seen from one direction, and FIG.
, (b) , (cl, (di) respectively show plan views showing examples of changes in the alternating arrangement of magnetic materials and non-magnetic materials with X as the development direction.

1 is a heptalen drum containing 7 atom% tellurium, which rotates in the direction of the arrow with the rotating shaft 2 as the center of rotation. 3 is a corona discharger for applying a uniform electrostatic charge to the surface of the selenium drum; 4
5 is an image-like light device for forming an electrostatic latent image, and 5 is a roll 6.
Transfer electrodes for transferring a toner image, which will be described later, onto the transfer paper P fed by are shown in .degree. C., respectively.

7 is a developing device for developing the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image on the selenium drum. Reference numeral 9 denotes a magnet roll in which magnetic poles N and 8 are arranged alternately, and rotates in the direction of arrow G about the rotating shaft 8. 10 is magnet roll 9
A brass sleeve 11 rotates in the direction of arrow H around the outer periphery of the developer reservoir 11, and a developer reservoir 11 contains a developer, and a hill is a developer amount regulating plate fixed to the side mK of the developer reservoir 11. Between the regulating plate 12 and the surface of the sleeve 10 I! ldl is set to 9.35m5.

13 is a support member that supports the cleaning aid layer C;
3m is the regulation plate 1 via the screw hole 15b with screw 15m.
2, and a part that holds the cleaning aid C on the surface of the FiL side 13b. Further, as shown in FIG. 5(&), the layer 13b has a structure in which linear magnetite layers 13A and aluminum layers 13B are alternately arranged. How to arrange this magnetite 1d @ 5
Figure (a) f) Outside the fifth [1U (bl, (e)
, (d) etc. can take the form of 11 k.

14 is a bias power supply for applying a bias voltage to the sleeve 10 to control the developing conditions; 16 is a selenium drum 1;
The development areas in which the latent images formed in the images are developed are shown in the drawings.

T is a developer made of iron powder-containing magnetic toner with an average particle size of 13μ, Ta is a developer conveyed along the sleeve surface, and T
b is the support member 13b within the area of the cleaning aid applying means.
The developer in which spikes are formed due to the action of the magnetite layer 13A is shown.

C is a cleaning aid layer formed by melt-molding stearic acid blocks on the inner surface of the support member 13b, and the distance between the inner surface of the aid layer C and the surface of the sleeve 10 is set to 711.

In the above configuration, the sleeve rotates 100R, P, M, the magnetic roll rotates 800LP, M, and the selenium drum rotates at the same peripheral speed as the sleeve peripheral speed, and 1300 copies are continuously made at 30°C and 80% high temperature and high humidity. When tested, it was possible to obtain high-quality copy images with high image density. After completing 13,000 copies, the condition of the surface of the selenium drum was observed. Although there were slight scratches caused by the blade, no toner adhesion was observed.

(Example 2) FIGS. 6(al), (b), and (e) show a variation example in which the cleaning aid C is disposed on the inner surface of the cleaning aid support member 13b, and the magnet plate 14 is disposed on the outer surface thereof. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6(b), a magnet 1 extending linearly in the longitudinal direction of the sleeve 10
A cleaning aid applying means is used in which a magnet plate 14 in which 4 pieces of aluminum and non-magnetic aluminum 14B are arranged alternately is arranged on the back side of the support member 13b, and a magnesium stearate block C is arranged on the inner surface. Ta.

An organic photoreceptor drum containing a bisazo compound as a charge-generating substance and a styryl compound as a charge-transporting substance was used as the image support L, and the developer T was composed of microcarriers with an average particle size of 5 μm and toner with an average particle size of 14 μm. A two-component developer was used. 1200 in the same manner as in Example 1 except for the above.
When a 0-copy actual photographic test was conducted, a good quality image was obtained at 8 degrees high, there were few scratches on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, and no toner adhesion was observed.

(Comparative Example 1) Actual copying was carried out in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the stearin attached to the inner surface of the cleaning aid support plate 13b was removed in Example I. Black dot-like spots, thought to be toner adhesion, began to appear on the image. Further, in 3300 copies, the entire image was covered with black spots with a diameter of about 0.5 m, significantly degrading the image quality. Also, many black spots, which were thought to be caused by adhesion of toner, were observed on the photoreceptor drum 1.

(Comparative Example 2) Actual photographing was carried out in the same manner as in Example 2 except that the magnesium stearate layer C attached to the inner surface of the cleaning aid support plate 13b was removed.
Black dots started appearing on the image after 2000 copies.32
00 copies, many black spots (dots) appeared and the image quality deteriorated significantly.

(Comparative Example 3) In Example 1, IJ + coating aid support plate 13
bL = i Jlme makita A ) r4 m s t>
・A live-action test was conducted in the same manner as in Example 1 except that l=1. % l″
*S! ＝'Island statue, IE Telephone Manryoji 1 Bird Hit-Misaki Yasukuni, and many people in Shimei-g own pl-tshi-fu-0'.

〔Effect of the invention〕

By providing the cleaning aid applying device Fi in the electrostatic recording device of the present invention, it is possible to avoid an increase in cost due to the complication or enlargement of the recording device.

Further, the auxiliary agent applying device is provided with the auxiliary agent supporting member or magnetic plate in which magnetic materials having different characteristics or magnetic materials and non-magnetic materials are alternately arranged, and the auxiliary agent applying device is provided with a developer amount regulating member. Since the cleaning aid is disposed between the cleaning aid and the developing area, vibrational disturbance of the spikes of the developer in the aid application device occurs extremely effectively, thereby equalizing the developer flow and reducing the cleaning aid. Scraping by the developer is sufficiently achieved.

Moreover, since the scraped auxiliary agent is applied to the image support at an early stage, it does not cause deterioration of the developer (improvement of cleaning performance can be achieved. It also has the effect of preventing white streaks from occurring even if they are interposed in the regulating member.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a partial sectional view of a modified copying machine, Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the spikes of developer in the cleaning aid application means, and a sketch of the @3jilt cleaning aid support member as seen from the L direction. , FIG. 4 is a diagram explaining the movement of magnetic lines of force of the magnetic support member, No. 51i! ff(s). (b), (e), and (d) respectively show plan views showing examples of changes in the alternating arrangement of magnetic materials and non-magnetic materials. 1... Image support (selenium drum, organic photoreceptor drum)
7... Developing device 9... Magnet roll 10...
- Sleeve 11...Developer reservoir 12...Developer amount regulating member 13...For cleaning aid support member--11-f-i1←...f-771 leaf-448-[
T...Developer C...Cleaning aid layer agent Patent attorney Uchika Noda

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) A conveyance member that conveys developer using magnetic force to a development area where a latent image formed on the surface of an image support is developed, and an amount of developer conveyed to the development area. In an electrostatic recording device having a developing device having a regulating member for regulating, and means for applying a cleaning aid to the surface of the image support,
The means for applying the cleaning aid is provided between the developing area for developing the latent image and the regulating means for regulating the amount of developer, and the means for applying the cleaning aid is at least made of a magnetic material. An electrostatic recording device characterized by providing regions in which one magnetic material and the other magnetic material or non-magnetic material having different characteristics from the one magnetic material exist alternately. (2) The electrostatic recording device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning aid is a fatty acid metal salt. (3) Claim 1, wherein the one magnetic material is a permanent magnet or a magnetically sensitive material. The boundary between the magnetic material and the non-magnetic material as claimed in claim 1, which is an electrostatic recording material or a magnetically sensitive material, is aluminum, brass or space, and the developer is transported by the transporting member. An electrostatic recording device according to claim 1 or claim 5, which is inclined with respect to the direction in which the electrostatic recording device is tilted. (7) The boundaries between magnetic and non-magnetic materials that alternately exist
Claim 1: The magnetic force of the magnetic body in C1d has a component that moves the developer in a direction intersecting the boundary.
The electrostatic recording device according to item 5, item 5 or Fi item 6. (8) The electrostatic recording device according to claim 1 or 5, wherein the conveying member for conveying the developer comprises a magnetic roll and a non-magnetic sleeve covering the outer periphery of the magnetic roll. (9) The cleaning aid applying means includes a cleaning aid layer, a support member that supports the layer, and a magnetic material included in at least a portion of the support member, and the aid layer extends along the sleeve surface. The electrostatic recording device according to claims M1 to 9, wherein the electrostatic recording device is arranged with a gap therebetween.