JPS60179775A - Toner recovering and reusing device of electrophotographic copying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a drop in the toner separating efficiency of a cyclone filter and to improve the durability of the filter even if the filter is used for a long period, by installing a low- surface energy material layer to the outer peripheral surface of a rotary valve. CONSTITUTION:A low-surface energy material layer is formed on the outer peripheral surface 19' and both side faces 19'' and 19'' of a rotary valve 19 by coating the surface 19' and faces 19'' and 19'' with a low-surface energy material, such as fluorocarbon resin, etc. The thickness of the low-surface energy material layer is set to about 20-100mum to maintain the elasticity of the rotary valve 19. The rotary valve 19 is made of an elastic material, such as urethane rubber, millable type urethane rubber, chloroprene rubber, etc., and its outer peripheral surface 19' and both side faces 19'' and 19'' are elastically contacted with the cylindrical inner wall 2a and both side inner walls 2b and 2b of a dust collecting chamber 2 so as to improve the airtightness of the chamber. Therefore, the outer peripheral surface 19' and both side faces 19'' and 19'' are not worn out and the airtightness of the chamber 2 does not drop even if the rotary valve 19 is used for a long period, because the frictional resistance between the outer peripheral surface 19' and both side faces 19'' and 19'' of the rotary valve 19 and the cylindrical inner surface 2a and both side inner walls 2b and 2b of the dust collecting chamber 2 is reduced in such a way.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner collection and reuse device for collecting toner remaining on a photoreceptor of an electrophotographic copying machine and transporting the toner to a developing device for reuse.

PRIOR ART Conventional electrophotographic copying machines use a rotating drum as the photoreceptor, and in order to perform repeated copying, it is necessary to clean the toner remaining on the photoreceptor drum due to insufficient transfer. There must be.

As this cleaning means, there is a method using a brush. In Jin's brush cleaning device, a rotating brush is brought into contact with the surface of a rotating photoreceptor drum, and the toner remaining on the photoreceptor drum is scraped off with the bristles of the brush, and then pulled out by air flow. The drawn toner is collected in the cyclone filter dust collection section, but it is not possible to automatically and continuously carry out the collected toner while the cyclone filter is in operation and supply it to the developer toner box as recycled toner. Ta. The reason for this is that the inside of the cyclone filter's dust collection section is at a negative pressure of about 100 to SOO' mAq, and if an ejection path is provided to automatically and continuously collect the collected toner from the dust collection section, This is because the air flows into the dust collecting section and the separation efficiency of the cyclone filter is significantly reduced.

In order to solve this problem, a method of taking out the collected toner using a rotary valve has already been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-95624). Specifically, a rotary pulp with multiple blades is installed at the bottom of the cyclone filter, and the toner collected in the cyclone filter is sequentially taken out by rotating the same valve, and then continuously transported by an auger, which is a screw set conveyor. It is used to supply the toner box of the developing device.

However, with the above-mentioned device, the outer circumferential surface and side surfaces of the rotary pulp wear out over a long period of use, which reduces airtightness and allows air to flow in. This significantly reduces the toner separation efficiency of the cyclone filter. This has the disadvantage of resulting in a toner collection and reuse device with poor durability.

Purpose of the Invention The airtightness of the rotary valve part does not deteriorate even after long-term use, and the toner separation efficiency of the cyclone filter does not deteriorate even after long-term use.
The purpose is to enable improvement.

Structure of the Invention A low surface energy material layer is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the rotary valve, which is provided to rotate while in airtight sliding contact with the dust collection part of the cyclone filter, to reduce the sliding resistance between the rotary valve and the dust collection part. A rotary valve that prevents wear even after long-term use.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic layout diagram of a toner collection and reuse device for an electrophotographic copying machine according to the present invention. That is, on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 60, which rotates in the direction of the arrow and has a photoconductive semiconductor such as selenium attached, there is a charger (not shown) arranged around the outer periphery of the photoreceptor drum 6, and an image exposure slit (not shown) K. Thus, an electrostatic latent image is formed. Thereafter, this electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing device 7, and transferred onto plain paper by a transfer device (not shown) to obtain a copy. At the same time, the charge remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor drum after transfer is removed. After the toner is roughly erased by the corotron 8 and the static elimination lamp 9 and the residual toner is removed by the cleaning device 10, the next electrostatic latent image forming step is started again.

At this time, when the toner collected by the cleaning device 1o is to be reused in the developing device 7, a brush cleaning device as shown in the figure is generally used. The reason is primarily that the brush cleaning method does not require various additives to the toner. The brush cleaning device 1o accommodates two brush rolls 12 and 13 in a seven-frame frame 11 so as to rotate in sliding contact with each other. Place it in a position where the surface can be wiped. Further, a suction duct 14 is provided at the center of the back surface of the frame 11 in parallel to the rotating shafts of the brush rolls 12 and 13, and a slit 15 is opened at the connection portion with the back surface of the seven frames 11. Further, 7 rollers 16 and 11 are provided along both sides of the slit 15 on the inner surface of the frame 11, and the 7 rollers 16 and 17 are K-shaped so that they can come into elastic contact with the brush rolls 12 and 13, and are polarized respectively. Different voltages are added in stages.

Further, above the toner box 7a of the developing device 7, a cyclone filter 1B is disposed.

As described above, the cyclone filter 18 is equipped with a rotary valve 19 and an auger 2o for toner conveyance connected to the rotary valve 19, and a pipe 21 of the auger 2o for toner conveyance is connected to the rotary valve 19, and the pipe 21 of the auger 2o for toner conveyance is connected to the rotary valve 19. The box 7a is arranged so as to be inserted above the box 7a in parallel to the axis of the photosensitive drum 6.

The cyclone filter 1 and the suction duct 14 are connected to the duct 22 via a blower (not shown).
This connection forms a circulation path for collecting and reusing toner.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cyclone filter 18 is provided with a rotary valve 19 that rotates in sliding contact with the inside of a dust collection section 2 integrally formed in the lower part of the housing 1. Vibrator 21 of auger 20 at the bottom of 2
The rotary valve 19 is the boss 19.
a and a plurality of fins 19'b, the hole 3 of the boss 19a
A shaft 4 is fitted into and fixed to the dust collecting section 2 so that the outer peripheral surface and both side surfaces are in sliding contact with the circular inner wall 2a and both inner walls 2b to 12h of the dust collecting section 2 so as to rotate.

Because of this, by rotating the rotary valve 19, the toner separated by the cyclone filter 18 can be transported by falling into the auger 20 while maintaining airtightness between the housing 1 and the dust collection part 2, and the toner can be separated. Toner can be continuously machined without reducing efficiency.

When the outer circumferential surface and both side surfaces of the rotary valve 19 are worn, the airtightness described above is reduced, and the atmosphere is allowed to flow into the housing 1, resulting in a reduction in toner separation efficiency.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the outer peripheral surface 19' and both side surfaces 19', 19' of the rotary valve 19 are coated with a low surface energy material such as fluororesin (for example, TIFJ IP) to form a low surface energy material layer. It is formed.

Note that the film thickness of the low surface energy material layer is determined by rotating the rotary gun (
In order to maintain the elasticity of the lube 19, the thickness is approximately 20 to 100 μm.

The knob and rotary valve 19 are made of an elastic material such as urethane rubber, millable type urethane rubber, or chloroprene rubber.
is in elastic contact with the circular inner wall 2a and the inner walls 2°C and 2b on both sides to improve airtightness.

As described above, the outer peripheral surface 19 of the rotary valve 19
', both side surfaces 19', 19' and the inner wall 2a of the dust collecting section 2,
The outer circumferential surface 19' and both side surfaces 19 of the rotary valve 19 can be easily maintained even after long-term use because the sliding resistance between the inner walls 2b and 2b is reduced.
Since ', 19' do not wear out and the airtightness does not deteriorate, the cyclone filter 18 can be used for a long period of time without reducing its toner separation efficiency, and its durability can be improved.

In addition, since the driving load on the rotary valve 19 is also reduced,
Power consumption for driving the rotary valve 19 can be reduced.

Effects of the Invention The outer circumferential surface of the rotary valve 19 does not wear out even after long-term use, and its airtightness does not deteriorate, so the toner separation efficiency of the cyclone filter 18 can be used for a long time without decreasing, resulting in excellent durability. It can be used as a toner collection and reuse device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic layout of a toner recovery and reuse device, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a portion of the cyclone filter, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line m-■ in FIG. 2. , 4th
The figure is a perspective view of the rotary/lube. 2 is a dust collection section, 6 is a photoreceptor, 7 is a developing device, 18 is a cyclone filter 19 is a rotary valve, and a 20-piece auger. Applicant: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney: Masaaki Yonehara Patent Attorney: Tadashi Flood Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cleaning device for cleaning toner remaining on the photoreceptor 6 and a cyclone filter 18 are connected by a duct, and a rotary valve 19 is placed in the dust collection section 2 of the cyclone filter 18 in airtight sliding contact with the dust collection section 2. At the same time, an auger 2o for conveying toner is provided on the discharge side of the rotary valve 19, and the auger 20
In the toner collection and reuse device connected to the developing device 7,
A toner recovery and reuse device for an electrophotographic copying machine, characterized in that a low surface energy material layer is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the rotary valve 19.