JPS60218683A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the damage of a photosensitive body by providing a storage space part for a toner or the like and a guide plate which supplies the toner or the like to a cleaning roll. CONSTITUTION:In a cleaning device, a rubbing guide plate 7 is so provided that its free end reaches a position near the part where a photosensitive body 1 and a cleaning roll 4 are pressed to each other. One end of the guide plate 7 is softly brought into contact with the surface of the cleaning roll 4. Thus, the toner stored in a space part S is guided by the guide plate 7 according as the quantity of this toner is increased, and the toner is stuck to the surface of the guide plate 7 little by little in accordance with turning of the cleaning roll and is discharged from the space part S, and therefore, the toner is not scattered to the outside of the cleaning device. Since the quantity of the toner which passes through a scraper 5 and is dropped into the space part S is small, a degree of contacting of the guide plate 7 with the cleaning roll 4 is determined as a proper value to balance the discharged toner approximately.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Object of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a printer, and particularly to a cleaning apparatus therefor.

Cleaning blades made of elastic materials such as rubber have been widely used in well-known image forming apparatuses in which the process of cleaning residual toner remaining on a transferable toner carrier formed on the surface of a moving image carrier has been widely used. has been done. However, it is difficult for the cleaning blade to remove fine paper particles generated from the transfer paper, precipitates from the transfer paper such as rosin and talc, or corona products generated due to the high pressure section inside the image forming device. However, these foreign substances absorb moisture from the surrounding area and lower the resistance, which may disturb the electrostatic latent image and cause deterioration of copy image quality.

In order to avoid such drawbacks, a method has already been proposed in which an elastic cleaning roller made of silicone rubber or the like is pressed against and rubbed on the surface of the image carrier to remove foreign substances such as the corona products.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a case where such a leaning device is applied to a copying machine, in which a photoconductive layer on the surface of a cylindrical photoreceptor rotating in the direction of arrow A is uniformly charged by a charger 8. After that, not shown / 7 + 1 hundred words 07?
-h V 烙糾 7beats い ぎ 連 嶺面萌; Inserted. Toner is supplied to this electrostatic latent image by a developing device 10, and the latent image becomes a transferable toner image. On the other hand, the transfer material supplied from the force set etc. passes through the passage 11 and transfers to the transfer charger 1.
2, the toner image is approached to the toner image on the photoconductor, and is then separated from the photoconductor by the action of the separation charger 2, separation roller 13, etc., and transferred to a fixing site (not shown). leading to.

On the other hand, at the transfer site, residual toner that does not contribute to the transfer and remains on the surface of the photoreceptor reaches the cleaning device 2 as the photoreceptor rotates, and is scraped off by the cleaning blade 3.

Inside the cleaning device 2, a cleaning roller 4 made of an elastic phase such as silicone rubber is disposed upstream of the cleaning blade 3, and this roller 4 presses against and slides against the surface of the photoreceptor to remove the aforementioned corona products and the like. Remove foreign objects.

These foreign substances or the above-mentioned scraped toner are conveyed by the rotation of the cleaning roller 4 in the direction of the arrow, scraped off by the scraper 5, and further discharged to the outside by the screw conveyor 6 as necessary. shall be carried out.

In such a configuration, the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 3 is prevented from escaping to the outside by pressing the cleaning roller 4 against the photoreceptor 1; It is practically impossible to reliably and completely remove the toner etc. from the surface of 4, and the toner that could not be removed by the scraper passes through this and gradually accumulates in the space S, and eventually accumulates in the gap at one end. There was also a risk that the liquid would fall from the portion P and stain various parts, resulting in deterioration of image quality.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned situation, and is configured to remove the toner adhered and conveyed along the cleaning roller with a scraper that is pressed against the openings, as described above. The toner that has not been removed by the scraper but has passed through it and is accumulated in the cleaning device is again supplied in an appropriate amount to the surface of the cleaning roller, and the roller is caused to rub against the surface of the image carrier, thereby acting as a lubricant. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device which prevents damage to an image bearing member and prevents toner that passes through a screen and accumulates therein from being frozen indefinitely and eventually scattering outside the cleaning device. be.

(2) Structure of the Invention In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention includes an elastic cleaning roller that comes into contact with and slides against a moving image bearing member, and a screen that removes toner, etc. attached to the cleaning roller. The toner is removed and guided to a predetermined storage portion, and the toner is configured so that the toner that has passed through without being removed by the scraper can be sequentially supplied to the pressure contact area between the image carrier and the cleaning roller. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

This is an embodiment showing a case where the cleaning device 2 is applied to a copying machine equipped with a photoconductor 1, in which a cleaning device 2 is disposed close to a photoconductor 1 that extends perpendicularly to the plane of the paper and is mounted in a copying machine main body (not shown). It is.

The cleaning device is equipped with a cleaning blade 3 whose free end abuts against the photoreceptor to remove residual toner adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor as it rotates in the direction of arrow A.

As is well known, around the photoreceptor 10,
Although means necessary for image formation, such as a charger, an electrostatic latent image forming portion, a developing device, and a transfer charger, are arranged, these are not directly related to the present invention, and therefore, a description thereof will be omitted.

An elastic cleaning roller 4 made of an elastic material such as silicone rubber is arranged on the upstream side of the cleaning blade 3 when viewed in the traveling direction of the photoreceptor, and this cleaning roller rotates while being pressed against the photoreceptor. It is driven and rubs against the surface of the photoreceptor to remove deposits, corona products, etc. To the illustration, the inner layer 4b is made of silicone sponge, and the outer layer 4a is made of solid silicone rubber to provide bending elasticity. It is assumed that the

Furthermore, since the scraper 5 is in contact with the cleaning roller 4, the toner and foreign matter scraped off by the cleaning row 24 and the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 3 are all removed as the cleaning roller rotates. The waste toner is then transported and guided to a waste toner storage section within the cleaning device. This waste toner is further
It shall be discharged to the outside of the cleaning device by the screw conveyor 6 as necessary.

In the leaning device as described above, the present invention is further characterized in that, as shown in the drawing, a sliding guide plate 7 is provided so that the free edge reaches near the area where the photoreceptor 1 and the cleaning roller 4 are pressed against each other. It is.

Toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 3, toner rubbed off by the cleaning roller,
As mentioned above, foreign matter is scraped off by the scraper 5, but it is actually difficult to remove all of it reliably, and some of the toner passes through the scraper 5 and flows downward in the figure. It will fall and accumulate in the empty space indicated by the symbol S. Due to long-term use, a large amount of toner gradually accumulates in the empty space S, and some of it spills out of the cleaning device and scatters inside the copying machine, causing contamination.
This may adversely affect image quality.

Therefore, as shown in the figure, a guide plate 7 is provided so that one edge of the guide plate 7 is in close contact with the surface of the cleaning roller 4.

As a result, the toner accumulated in the space S is guided by the guide plate 7 as its force increases, and as the cleaning roller rotates, the toner adheres little by little to the surface of the cleaning roller and is discharged from the space S. 9. There is no risk of it dissipating outside the cleaning device.

Since the amount of toner that passes through the scraper 5 and falls into the space S is small, the amount of contact between the guide plate 7 and the cleaning roller 4 is set to an appropriate amount to separate the toner that enters the space S and the toner that is discharged. It is relatively easy to achieve a balance.

The material for the guide plate is preferably a material with a certain degree of strength, such as Mylar or SnS.

(3) Effects of the invention Since the present invention has the structure and operation described above,
In a cleaning device used for an image forming device,
Not only residual toner on the surface of the image carrier, but also precipitates and corona products from transfer papers such as Merck and Rosin can be sufficiently removed. This arrangement makes it possible to reliably prevent removed toner and the like from escaping from the cleaning device.

Further, the toner supplied to the cleaning roller by the guide plate has a lubricating effect, thereby preventing damage to the surface of the image carrier.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the main parts of a copying machine equipped with a known cleaning device, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing an embodiment of the cleaning device according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Photoreceptor, 2...Cleaning device, 3...Cleaning blade, 4...Elastic cleaning device, 5
... Scraper, 7... Rubbing guide plate. Applicant Canon Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Akira Irie

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A cleaning device comprising: an elastic cleaning roller that presses against and slides against a moving image carrier; and a scraper that presses against the cleaning roller and removes removed toner, etc. from the surface of the roller. A cleaning device comprising a cavity for storing toner, etc. that has passed through a scraper, and a guide plate for supplying the toner stored in the cavity to the cleaning roller.