JPS6358481A - Cleaning blade - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the damage of a surface to be cleaned and the soil of a developer due to the stick slip of a cleaning blade by forming a part abutting on the surface to be cleaned coarsely. CONSTITUTION:A rigid supporting body 2 made of metal, resin or ceramic is set to molding dies (x) and (y). A liquid polyurethane rubber material is mixingly poured from an pouring port 4, and by heating said material, the both dies are bridged. If at least the part abutting on the surface to be cleaned in the molding die (y) is made coarse, the cleaning blade 1, whose part B abutting on the surface to be cleaned of the surface on the side abutting on the surface to be cleaned is made coarse, can be obtained. The contacting area of the coarse surface obtained in such a manner is smaller than a smoothing surface, and can minimize contacting force or friction force to the surface to be cleaned if same contact pressure is given. As a result the damage of a photosensitive body and the wearing of the blade can be reduced, and the inversion of the blade or its stick slip is hardly generated. Besides, the fusion of toner by heating, can be avoided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cleaning blade used in image forming apparatuses such as copying machines and laser beam printers.

(Prior art and its problems) Conventionally, the cleaning blade used in this type of device used an edge of rubber, etc. This rubber has various shapes and support methods as shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 (a) is
A plate-shaped rubber blade 1 is sandwiched between a support member 2, and the rubber blade 1 is often cut after press molding or centrifugal molding. The surface A that came into contact with the surface to be cleaned 3 was a smooth surface. Figure 3(b)
Figure 3 (C) is a thin metal plate (elastic body) molded with rubber, and Figure 3 (C) is a rigid body made of rubber, and the edge forming surface A of each was a smooth surface.

Smooth surfaces have good adhesion, but the frictional force between the surface to be cleaned and the contact surface A increases due to the increase in the actual adhesive area due to such close contact, resulting in stick slip and reversal, resulting in damage to the surface to be cleaned and insufficient wiping. may occur.

In addition, the cleaning blade has a nip in the contact portion where the cleaning blade comes into pressure contact with the surface to be cleaned, and if the cleaning blade does not have a nip, a line contact occurs, resulting in insufficient wiping.

However, in this nip, frictional force increases depending on the contact area, which can cause damage to the surface to be cleaned, wear of the cleaning blade, stick slip, and in some cases, the toner used in the image forming device may melt due to heat generation. This sometimes led to permanent adhesion.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The present invention solves the problems of the prior art described above, namely the various inconveniences caused by step slip and generation of excessive frictional force between the surface to be cleaned and the cleaning plate.

[Configuration for solving the problem] The present invention has been made to achieve the above object,
It has the following configuration. That is, the cleaning blade removes residual deposits by contacting the surface to be cleaned, and is characterized in that it is an elastic member having a roughened surface at least in the portion that contacts the surface to be cleaned, and is used in an image forming apparatus. It is a cleaning blade that can be used.

(Example) FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the main parts of an image forming apparatus using the cleaning blade of the present invention.

3 is an image bearing member, which is Example 5 in which a photoreceptor having an OPC photoconductive material is supported in the form of a drum. The drum-shaped image carrier 3 rotates in the direction of the arrow. A corona discharger 4 uniformly charges the surface of the image carrier. 5 is an optical means such as a short focus optical element array, which irradiates a light image onto the image carrier. A developing device 6 develops an electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier in response to light image irradiation.

A timing roller 7 functions to send a transfer material 8 fed from a paper feeding means (not shown) to a transfer position in synchronization with the developed image on the image carrier. 9 is a transfer material guide, 10
is a transfer corona discharger.

A transfer corona is applied to the back side of the transfer material 8 by a transfer corona discharger 10 to complete the transfer to the transfer material 8. 11 is a conveyor belt,
After the transfer is completed, the transfer material is guided to a fixing means (not shown). The toner 12 remaining on the peripheral surface of the image carrier 3 after the transfer is removed by the cleaner 13 having the cleaning blade 1 of the present invention and collected in the cleaner 13 container.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a cleaning blade for removing toner remaining on the circumferential surface of an image carrier. Figure 1 (a
), a rigid support body 2 made of metal, resin, ceramics, etc. is set in the opening of the mold as shown in FIG. Crosslink with At this time, if at least the part of the mold opening that contacts the surface to be cleaned is roughened,
As shown in FIG. 1(a), a cleaning blade 1 is obtained in which a portion B of the side A that contacts the surface to be cleaned is roughened. Although the molded shape may be used as a blade as shown in Figure 1(b), in order to obtain straightness, edge accuracy, and dimensional accuracy of the contact part, the entire surface of the mold mouth is roughened as shown in Figure 1(C). After molding, it may be cut at P in the figure as shown in FIG. 1(d).

The width of the rough surface B may be about 21 mm wider than the abutment edge C. This is because the aforementioned contact nip is 0.2 mm or less.

The surface roughness is 4 μ or less, preferably 2 μ or less in terms of roughness.
．． 5μ or more is good. This is a toner used in electrophotographic devices, and in particular, the toner that remains on the photoreceptor after transfer contains a lot of fine powder, so a value that can remove about 2 μm of toner is good. However, since the contact portion actually has a nip, the rough surface B can become a contact surface that does not allow toner to pass through even if the roughness is 4 μm. Also 0.5μ
If it is less than that, the surface state will be not much different from a smooth surface.

The contact area of the rough surface thus obtained is smaller than that of a smooth surface,
Even if the same contact pressure is applied, the adhesion force or frictional force to the surface to be cleaned can be suppressed, reducing damage to the photoconductor and wear of the blade, and there is no blade reversal or stick slip, such as toner fusion due to heat generation. This inconvenience can be avoided.

In this embodiment, the circumferential surface of the image carrier is used as the surface to be cleaned, but the surface to be cleaned is not limited to this, and it is of course possible to clean the fixing roller and the conveyance roller.

〔Effect of the invention) The configuration of the present invention provides the following effects.

■Prevents damage to the surface to be cleaned.

■Prevents damage to the developer caused by stick slips on the cleaning blade.

■Suppresses cleaning blade wear.

■An explanatory diagram of the blade that prevents the cleaning blade from turning over or breaking. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. Figures 3 (a) to (C) are the conventional cleaning blade and The attachment is a side view showing the state.

1-11 cleaning blade, 2-111 support member, B---Rough surface.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cleaning blade for removing residual deposits by contacting a surface to be cleaned, the cleaning blade being an elastic member having a rough surface molded at least in the portion that contacts the surface to be cleaned, for use in an image forming apparatus. blade.