JPS61102677A - Cleaning device for fixing roller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain a satisfactory cleaning effect over a long period of time and to improve image quality by forming grooves on the sliding contact surface of a cleaning member along the axial line direction of a fixing roller. CONSTITUTION:The fixing roller 40 on the driving side of a fixing device 34 contains internally a heating element 42 and the peripheral surface thereof is formed of 'Teflon(R)'. The fixing roller 41 on the driven side is formed of silicone rubber. These fixing rollers 40, 41 have the axial line of rotation in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the figure and the cleaning member 43 is provided above the roller 40. Said member is attached to a frame 45 of a copying machine body via a supporting member 44. The member 43 has plural grooves 46 formed into a comb-teeth shape on the sliding contact surface 43a with the roller 40. These grooves 46 are formed along the axial line direction X-X of the roller 40. The material impregnated with 30-50% silicone oil with, for example, felt, is used for the member 43.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a fixing process for fixing an image recording medium such as copy paper having a transferred image of a developer in an image forming apparatus such as an electronic copying machine. The present invention relates to a cleaning device for rollers.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In a conventional cleaning device of this type, for example, as shown in FIG. There are so-called blade-type devices that scrape off the developer that has adhered to the surface. In the figure, 3
is a driven-side fixing roller that presses against the upper driving-side fixing roller 2 from below, 4, 4 is an ejection roller, and 5 is an ejection tray, on which the transferred recording medium such as copy paper is guided as shown by the broken line. 6, the medium is passed through the nip between the fixing rollers 2 and 3, and heat from the heating element 7 provided at 4-22 is applied to fix the developer on the medium. 2 and 3, and is discharged onto the tray 5 through the discharge rollers 4 and 4 via the peeling member 8 and the guide 9.

The blade-shaped cleaning member 1 is fixed to the lower end of a bracket-shaped support member 10, and the member 10 is configured to be attached to the main body frame 1. The member 1
engages with the circumferential surface of the roller 2 at the upper rear position and performs a cleaning action of scraping off the developer adhering to the circumferential surface of the roller.

However, in such blade-based cleaning, the scraped developer adheres to the periphery of the cleaning member, causing a so-called offset phenomenon that can be expected to have a good cleaning effect over a long period of time, and damaging the recording medium. There were some drawbacks that negatively affected the image quality. Further, there is also the problem that the scraped developer adheres to the fixing roller again and is transferred to the driven roller, causing stains on the back surface of the recording medium.

In contrast, instead of a blade-shaped member, a sliding member made of a felt material with a wide and flat sliding contact surface is brought into sliding contact with the roller, and in addition, silicone oil is automatically lubricated. A so-called felt cleaning type cleaning device has also been developed. However, in this type of apparatus, when the image forming apparatus is left unused and the fuser is opened and stopped for a relatively long period of time, and then it is restarted, oil adheres to the recording medium through the roller surface, causing oil stains. There was a risk that it would cause Further, when the sliding surface is flat, there is a problem that the cleaning effect over a long period of time is not sufficient, similar to the blade method described above.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to maintain a good leaning effect over a long period of time, improve the image quality of the recording medium, and eliminate problems such as backside stains. To provide a roller cleaning device.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is basically characterized in that a groove is formed along the axial direction of the fixing roller on the sliding contact surface of the cleaning member that comes into sliding contact with the circumferential surface of the fixing roller 0. This paper proposes a swinging device that does this.

With the above configuration, the edge portion on the circumferential surface of the fixing roller that scrapes off the developer increases, dramatically improving the scraping effect, and the scraped developer is accumulated in the grooves formed. The objective can be fully achieved.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 of the drawings.

First, with reference to FIG. 2, an electronic copying machine as an image forming apparatus to which the cleaning device of the present invention is applied will be schematically explained.

In the figure, 20 is the main body of the copying machine, 21 is an image carrier drum arranged in the center of the main body 20, 22 is a developing device, and 23
2 is a transfer/peeling device, 24 is a drum cleaning device, and 2 is a drum cleaning device.
5 is a charging device; 26 is a document table that can be moved back and forth on the main body 20; 27 is a light source for irradiating the document placed below the document table 26;
28 is an optical system including a lens for exposing light reflected from the original document emitted from the light source 27 onto the drum 2; 29 is a melon feeding cassette 30 containing copy paper P as a recording medium; a manual grinding unit 3; Paper feed port = 232, pair of carry-in rollers 33
, 33, 34 a fixing device for performing fixing processing, 35, 35 a pair of discharge rollers, 36 a peeling member,
37 and 38 are guides, and 39 is a discharge tray.

Therefore, when the copying operation is started, the document table 26 is moved to the direction indicated by the arrow A.
The drum 2 rotates in the direction of arrow B through an optical system 28 while reciprocating to scan the document with a light source 27 as shown in FIG.
The original image is exposed on the surface of the image. A developer is applied to this in the developing device 22 to visualize it as a so-called toner image, and the copy paper P is fed from the paper feeding device 29 to the drum 21 along the conveyance path indicated by a broken line at a proper timing. The transfer/separation device 23 transfers and peels the copy paper P from the drum surface and sends it to the fixing device 34 .

On the other hand, the developer adhering to the drum 21 is scraped off by the cleaning device 24, and after the drum 21 is returned to its cleaning state, it is charged again by the charging device 25 and returned to its original position for the next copying operation.

The transferred copy paper P passes through a guide 37 and is fixed in a fixing device 34, and then passes along a conveyance path shown by a broken line to a discharge roller J.
, 5K onto the tray 39, and the copying operation is completed.

Next, a cleaning device of the present invention applied to a copying machine as described above will be explained in detail.

As shown in FIG. 1, the fixing device 34 has a fixing roller 40 on the driving side and a fixing roller 4 on the driven side. The peripheral surface is made of Teflon (trade name).

On the other hand, the roller 41 that comes into pressure contact from below has a circumferential surface made of silicone or rubber.
.

The fixing rollers 40 and 41 have rotational axes perpendicular to the paper surface. The cleaning member 43 is positioned above the fixing roller 40 so as to be in sliding contact with the circumferential surface of the roller 40.
is arranged and attached to a frame 45 of the main body of the copying machine via a support member 44.

The cleaning member 43 has a sliding surface 43a1 with the roller 40.
That is, the lower surface portion has a plurality of grooves 46 formed in a comb-tooth shape when viewed in cross section. These grooves 46
As shown in the figure, it is formed along the axial direction XX of the roller 40.

In other words, a plurality of channel-like grooves are formed in parallel on one surface of a member having a rectangular cross section along the longitudinal direction of the member.

The material of the cleaning member 43 is a porous material whose sliding surface 43m can be flexibly deformed by slidingly contacting the roller 40, such as a felt material impregnated with silicone oil having a weight ratio of 30 to 50. For example, silicone oil has a kinematic viscosity of 10,000 to 30,000 centistokes (
C8t) is preferable. In addition, the felt material
For example, it is desirable to use aromatic polyamide fibers with a density of 0.27 to 0.3297 cm.

As shown in FIG. 3, the support member 44 has a rectangular support recess 47 extending along the axial direction XX of the fixing roller and opening downward. The attachment is fixed to the frame 45 by. This member 44 is manufactured by sheet metal processing. This support recess 47
Correspondingly, the mounting member 43 has a supported portion 43e having a rectangular cross section, and is fitted into the support recess 47. The cleaning member 43 is attached to the support member 44 by connecting the upper surface 43b of the cleaning member 43 and the support recess 47.
This is done by adhesive fixing with double-sided tape 49 provided between the bottom surface and the bottom surface.

With the above configuration, during the fixing process, the developer heat-fused from the copy paper can be scraped off onto the fixing roller 40 by the cleaning member 43 having comb teeth. In the case of the present invention, since the groove 46 is formed on the sliding surface 43h, a plurality of edge portions 50 that perform a scraping action are provided along the rotational direction of the roller 40, so that the scraping effect is improved. Significant. In addition, the scraped developer is accumulated in the valley grooves 46 and is actively prevented from adhering to the roller surface again, making it possible to significantly extend the service life of the cleaning member 43.

Silicone oil has the function of preventing the developer from offsetting, but has a small change in viscosity due to temperature, is chemically inert, has a mold release effect, and has a great effect on improving cleaning performance.

Note that the amount of silicone oil applied to the tip of the cleaning member 43 (on the left side in FIG. 1) in the direction of rotation of the fixing roller 40 is more than 5 (applying to 5) prevents oil stains on the copy paper due to silicone oil adhering to the roller circumferential surface. be able to.

Furthermore, since the cleaning member 43 is supported by the rectangular support recess 47, it is reliably held by the left and right vertical walls of the support member forming the support recess 47 against the force exerted by the roller 40.

In addition, as a modification of the above embodiment, the cleaning member may be configured in the shape of a round roller, for example, as shown in FIG.

That is, the cleaning member 6Q is connected to the fixing roller 40.
It has the shape of a round roller rotatably mounted on a rotating shaft 61 parallel to the rotational axis of the rotating shaft 41, and grooves 62 are formed radially on its circumferential surface, so that it has the shape of a spline shaft. The material of the IJ-ning member 60 may be a highly elastic felt material impregnated with silicone oil, as in the previous embodiment.

Then, this cleaning member 60 is attached to the fixing roller 40.
By rotating the fixing roller 400 at a circumferential speed slightly different from that of the fixing roller 400, the sliding circumferential surface of the roller-shaped cleaning member 60 effectively cleans the circumferential surface of the fixing roller 400. In this case as well, the developer scraped off can be stored in the groove 62.

Further, as another modification, the above-mentioned cleaning member is not only arranged above the fixing roller, but also arranged below the fixing roller on the driven side, so as to obtain a higher cleaning effect. obtain.

Furthermore, the cleaning performance can be improved by providing a larger number of grooves in the cleaning member, but the present invention also includes the case where there is only one groove.

Furthermore, the grooves are not necessarily continuous in the form of channels, but also include those in the form of holes or waves.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, by forming grooves on the sliding surface of the cleaning member, the scraping action is increased and the scraped developer can be accumulated in the grooves, which is extremely effective. It has extremely great effects, such as being able to maintain a good leaning effect over a long period of time and contributing to improving image quality.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Section 1 is a sectional view of essential parts of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a copying machine to which the invention is applied, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a support member, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a cleaning member. , FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a main part of a modification of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a main part of a conventional cleaning device. 34... Fixing device, 40.41... Fixing roller, 43
...Cleaning member, 44...Supporting member, 46.
...Groove, 50...Edge part. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 4
, /X Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (8)

[Claims] (1) A fixing roller cleaning device having a cleaning member that comes into sliding contact with the circumferential surface of the fixing roller, wherein a groove is formed on the sliding surface of the cleaning member along the axial direction of the fixing roller. . (2) The fixing roller cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the groove formed in the cleaning member comprises a plurality of grooves parallel to each other. (3) The fixing roller cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning member is in sliding contact with the fixing roller at a position above the fixing roller. (4) The cleaning member has a supported part with a rectangular cross section corresponding to a supporting member having a rectangular supporting recess along the axial direction of the fixing roller, and the supported part is adhesively fixed to the supporting member. A fixing roller cleaning device according to claim 1. (5) The cleaning member contains silicone oil at a weight ratio of 3
2. The fixing roller cleaning device according to claim 1, comprising a felt material impregnated with 0% to 50%. (6) The density of the felt material is 0.27 to 0.32 g/
6. The fixing roller cleaning device according to claim 5, wherein the fixing roller cleaning device has a diameter of cm^3. (7) The fixing roller cleaning device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the felt material is made of aromatic polyamide fiber. (8) The cleaning member has a roller shape that is rotatable around an axis parallel to the axis of the fixing roller, and the grooves are formed radially on the circumferential surface of the roller-shaped cleaning member. The fixing roller cleaning device according to scope 1.