KR810001724B1 - Lubricator roll - Google Patents

Abstract

The lubricator roll(21) is for uniformly applying low viscosity lubricant to surfaces such as fusing rolls(11) used in copying or reproduction machines. The roll has a longitudinal array of apertures(29) for dispensing low viscosity lubricant contained in the roll and a longitudinal, interior strip(40) which scoops lubricant into an annular reservoir(36) formed between the strip and the roll. The annular reservoir provides a head on the lubricant near the dispensing apertures so that lubricant is dispensed from it over approximately three-fourths of each revolution, regardless of the level of lubricant in the roll(21).

Description

Oiling furnace wool

1 is a perspective view of a hot roll melting assembly of a copying machine using a lubricating and washing device having a lubricator roll in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view of the oiling and washing apparatus taken along line 2-2 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the lubrication oil of the present invention taken along line 3-3 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the main fuel oil of the present invention taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3 showing the effect of reducing the oil height upon dispensing.

5a and 5b are cross sectional views of the main fuel oil of the present invention similar to FIG. 4 showing the action of the vent strip to provide the same pressure.

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a lubrication apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus for lubricating a melting roller used for fixing an image made of a toner of a copier.

The dissolving system of the copier frequently uses heated melting rolls together with supporting rolls. Paper having toner attached to the surface in the form of an electrophotographic image passes through a nip formed of a melting roller and a supporting roller, where the image is fixed.

Offset the toner onto the melting furnace and thus attach the copy paper to the melting roll is a frequent problem in the melting process of the heating roll. As a result, radiation is poor, the working life of the melting furnace is reduced, no radiation and the machine is stopped. Elastomeric surface coatings can be applied to the melting roll to enhance toner ejection capacity, thereby mitigating offset and copy paper adhesion.

The use of glass lubricants such as silicone oils improves lubrication and increases the life of the rolls. Typically, silicone oil free lubricating oil is applied to the dissolution roll by a sponge or wick material submerged in a silicone oil tank. However, using such an apparatus, it is difficult to control the silicone oil so that sufficient oil is added to discharge the toner without dirtying the copy paper. Especially after stopping for a certain period of time, the silicone oil even becomes excessively formed or the wick is clogged with the toner and loses its quick effect.

Many attempts have been made to improve the performance of wick applicators. Regulatory A, announced February 27, 1973. Al Tetu US Pat. No. 3,718,116 uses an application roll to lubricate the primary wick in contact with the dissolving soil and an auxiliary wick to promote uniform supply of lubricant to the applicator.

Regulating A, announced on August 27, 1974. Altetu's US Pat. No. 3,831,553 uses a sponge inserted between the main wick, auxiliary wick and applicator roll of US Pat. No. 3,718,116. Another attempt was made on 13 May 1975 by Eugene F. Made by U.S. Patent No. 3,883,291 to Clotier and Douglas P. Connolly, a wiper is used directly in the melting roller to remove excess glass liquid supplied by a sponge-type applicator. In addition, the contact pressure between the wiper and the applicator is changed to control the supply of lubricant to the melting roll and the efficiency of the wiper.

Wanderer's U.S. Patent No. 3,040,383 describes a glass lubricating oil applying device that provides a robust and uniform supply of glass lubricating oil rather than a wick, thus avoiding the problems associated with the wicking applicator and the complex structure of the wicking applicator. do.

The Vanderbottle device is a liquid dispensing roll with an internal supply of liquid lubricant, an application roll for transferring lubricant from the distribution roll to the dissolution roll and wiping the dissolution roll, and evenly dispensing the lubricant on the application roll before the lubricant is completely transferred to the dissolution roll. It consists of a spreader roll for dispensing. The dispensing roll has a concentric inner cylinder for dispensing the lubricating oil contained in the annular reservoir formed between the roll and the inner cylinder during the rotation of the lubrication dispensing hole and the roll. The reservoir provides a relatively constant head of lubricant so that the lubricant is evenly distributed at 270 ° per revolution, regardless of the lubricant height of the dispensing roll. The fixed exhaust pipe is connected to the inside of the distribution roll so that the pressure inside the distribution roll is equal to the ambient pressure, and prevents the pumping of the lubricating oil generated by the heat.

The present invention provides an improved oil roll that delivers liquid lubricating oil to a surface, such as a melt roll surface. The oil roller has a relatively narrow exhaust strip rigidly installed in the first cylinder rotating together and a rotatable cylinder having an axially arranged hole. The exhaust strip and its associated flanges extend along a short lubrication section with an internal angle of about 80 °. The cylinder provides a first reservoir for liquid lubricant. The outer surface of the exhaust strip and the inner surface of the cylinder form a second reservoir for the lubricant. The exhaust strip has a radially inwardly extending flange for directing lubricating oil from the interior of the cylinder into the second reservoir and an outwardly extending flange in contact with the interior of the cylinder located near the rear end of the second reservoir. Such a device allows the lubricant to be discharged from the hole in the cylinder during about 4/3 revolutions of the filling roll. The exhaust strip has an axially arranged hole arranged in line with the cylinder hole for draining the second reservoir in the upper portion of the rotation of the oiling roll to provide a passage for the exhaust of excess pressure through the cylinder hole.

The invention is explained in more detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the oil distribution or oiling roll 21 used in the oiling and cleaning apparatus 10 of the hot roll fusing assembly is shown. Since the oiling rolls are used wherever the rolls for dispensing low viscosity lubricants are used, this use of the oiling rolls is shown and not limited.

The general apparatus of the lubrication and cleaning apparatus 10 and the hot roll dissolution assembly is that of Van der Bott, described above in US Pat. No. 4,040,383. The hot roll dissolution assembly is that of the copier and uses heated melt rolls 11 and nip-rolls 12.

The advancing paper 13 with the toner attached to the upper surface on the electrophotographic image passes through the nip 14 formed by the melting roll 11 and the nip roll 12, where the toner image is fixed.

Referring to FIG. 2, the furnace 11 shown has a metal portion 16 with an elastomeric surface coating 17. Heat is supplied by lamp 18 installed in roll 11. The nip roll 12 also has elastomeric surface coding 19. Typically, elastomer coatings are formed by spraying and have a thickness of 0.038-0.064 mm. Elastomeric melt roll coating 17 acts as a release agent to prevent the toner image from being offset onto the melt roll and to prevent the copy paper 13 from adhering to the melt roll.

It is known that silicone rubber has many desirable features as a meltable coating, although any one of several types of elastomeric coatings can be used in the present invention. Silicone rubber is chemically stable to glass lubricants used on melting rolls and remains completely mechanically and chemically free of heat and pressure. Although silicone rubber is feasible in the present invention, the present invention is not limited to using a silicone rubber plate as the elastomer coating.

It is preferable to add the toner discharge lubricant to the melting roll to wash the roll as described in the above Van der Boat US Pat. No. 4,040,383. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the oil distribution or oiling roll 21 works with the application roll 22 and the spreader roll 23 to lubricate and wash the melting roll 11. Since silicone oils provide good lubricity and are used with elastomeric surfaces, lubricants have since been considered silicone oils.

In further consideration of the oiling and washing apparatus 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the application roll 22 is installed to enable rotational movement on a pair of angled brackets or arms 24-24. The brackets are mounted on the copier (not shown) for pivot movement in the first 27-27, and the spreader roll 23 is rotatably mounted in frictional contact with the application roll 22. Oil rollers are usually installed in the copier's frame (not shown) along longitudinal axis 28 (FIG. 1). As indicated by the arrows in FIGS. 1 and 2, the angled bracket 24-24 is pivoted by a suitable device to contact the application roll 22 simultaneously with the melting roll 11 and the oiling roll 21.

In the illustrated embodiment, although not the most satisfactory, the melting roller 11 and the application roller 22 can be operated by the same gear or belt drive (not shown) and the fuel roller 21 and the spreader roller 23 are applied roller 22. Rotates in frictional contact with In operation, by means of the application roller 22 in rotary contact with the melting roller 11 and the fuel roller 21, the rotation of the oil roller is carried out via a series of holes 29-29 from the reservoir 32 (figure 4) located therein. Feed onto surface 31 (figure 2). The application roll surface 31 is usually coated or applied with an absorbent material such as polyester felt. Spreader roll 23 is oil-rolled on the surface of the application roll 31 to evenly supply the oil to the melting roll 11. During this operation, the absorbent surface 31 removes the toner from the surface 17 (FIG. 1) of the melt 11. The removal of the toner is performed by the difference in the rotational speed causing the wiper action.

The melting roll surface and the application roll surface must be rotated at slightly different rotational speeds, even if they are driven by the same gear or belt drive. This is made possible by installing application rolls and melting rolls having slightly different diameters. The difference in surface speed imparts a wiper action on the melting roll to clean it. Although the difference in surface speed is not critical, the furnace should be wiped out sufficiently to not wear the elastomeric coating of the furnace.

The present invention seeks to improve the structure and function of the oiling roll 21. The internal structure of the oiling roll 21 is shown in cross-sections 5A and 5B in FIGS. 2 and 4 and in longitudinal section in FIG. In particular, the oiling roll 21, when used, draws oil from the holes 29-29 during about 3/4 revolutions without a pulsation caused by the oil ejection, despite the decrease in the amount of silicone oil in the reservoir 32 and an increase in the oil vapor pressure inside the oiling roll. To distribute. This uniform distribution in rotation provides an even supply of oil to surface 31 of application roll 22 (FIG. 2) and surface 17 of melting roll 22 (FIG. 2).

The oil roller 21 has a circular cylinder 35 with longitudinal holes 29-29 and a longitudinal exhaust strip 40 firmly mounted near the hole in the cylinder 35. As shown in FIG. 4, when the oiling roll 21 is rotated counterclockwise, the bent flange 33 bent into the guide end of the exhaust strip 40 causes oil to flow from the reservoir 32 inside the oiling roll to the outer surface 37 of the exhaust strip 40. The inner surface 38 of the cylinder 35 is directed into an annular cavity. The flange 39 bent outward along the end of the exhaust strip 40 engages the inner surface 38 of the cylinder 35 behind the holes 29-29 and closes the space such that the exhaust strip and surface 38 form a second reservoir 36 for oil.

The pumping action of the second reservoir 36 and the guide end flange 33 provides oil distribution of the holes 29-29 at most of the rotations of the roller 21 over a wide range of oil heights of the reservoir 32. The oil flow through the holes 29-29 is caused by the action of gravity, so the flow only occurs when the head h is present. However, due to the action of flange 33 holding the pumped oil in the reservoir and the presence of reservoir 35, sufficient head h is supplied to the oil near holes 29-29 to distribute the oil over about three quarters of a turn. The amount of oil dispensed decreases slightly as the height of reservoir 32 decreases. However, the dispensing continues beyond 3/4 turns and the slightly decreasing amount does not have a detrimental effect on the operation of the lubrication-washer 10.

Referring to FIG. 3, the oiling roll 21 is installed on the shaft 53-53 with the bearing 61-61. The shaft is supported at support arms 57-57. This structure causes the roll to rotate about the longitudinal axis 28. Counterweight 42 is installed inside the oil roller 21 opposite the holes 29-29 arranged in a straight line. The counterweight is positioned and fixed between the end structures 55 and 60 of the cylinder 35. When the application roll 22 (FIG. 2) is separated from the oil roll 21, the counterweight 42 causes the oil roll 21 to place the holes 29-29 in the radially highest or upper center position. This position of the hole prevents oil leakage when roll 21 is at rest.

The internal pressure caused by, for example, heat can eject oil from the fuel oil 21 regardless of its radial position. To prevent this, US Patent No. 4,040,383 to Vanderboth provides an internal exhaust in the form of a fixed L-shaped exhaust pipe (not shown). This exhaust pipe has one leg extending into the space above the reservoir 32 of silicone oil and a second leg coaxially extending with one of the fixed shafts 53-53 supporting rotation 21 of the roll 21. This coaxial arrangement allows the exhaust to be continuously evacuated through the aperture of one axis to be fixed in a vertical position to be at the same pressure as the ambient atmosphere.

Exhaust holes 65-65 located in exhaust strip 40 according to the invention provide a simple but very effective device for exhaust and equal pressure. As shown in FIG. 3, one of the exhaust holes 65-65 is located approximately coaxial with each of the holes 29-29. Exhaust holes 65-65 and holes 29-29 should be arranged evenly along the length of the roll. The even arrangement distributes the lubricant evenly across the surface of the oil roller. If lubricating oil is transferred from the main oil to the application roll, the rolling action of the spreader bar assists in uniform coating of the dissolution roll. The number of holes 29-29 and exhaust holes 65-65 is determined by the amount of oil that must be supplied for each roll rotation. In order to make it uniform, it is better to increase the number of relatively small holes to provide the required dispensing amount. The actual size of the holes 29-29 is related to the viscosity of the lubricating oil used and the temperature of the oil filling roll. In the absence of exhaust holes 65-65, the surface tension will hold the oil in reservoir 36 throughout the rotation of the filling roll 21. In accordance with the present invention, however, the vent holes 65-65 drain the oil from the reservoir 36 so that the fuel roller 21 is in communication with the atmosphere through the holes 29-29.

Referring to FIG. 4, the height capital h provides an oil distribution by three quarters, or d, of the turning path of the oil passage 21. When the hole falls below the oil level of the reservoir in the cylinder, the lubricant is first discharged through holes 29-29. The oil distribution stops when holes 29-29 approach the top center position. The distribution range is shown by the arc distance d shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 5A, when the oiling roll 21 approaches the upper part of the rotary path, the oil contained in the reservoir 36 falls by gravity forming an oil drop 66 through the exhaust hole, where the oil drop 66 is the place where they emerged. Will leave a bubble 67 (the one hole 29, the exhaust hole 65, the oil drop 66 and the bubble 67 are shown in Figs. 5A and 5B).

As shown in FIG. 5B, the oil droplet leaves the expanded bubble 67 consisting of a thin oil film as soon as it drops to storage 32 by weight. In the absence of vent holes 65, the oil in reservoir 36 will not vent through holes 29-29 until the pressure is sufficient to push out most of the oil in reservoir 36. However, the enlarged bubble 67 in a thin wall by the exhaust holes 65-65 of the present invention is easily ruptured by the internal pressure so that the interior is in communication with the atmosphere so that the pressure is the same. In addition, since the amount of oil contained in the holes 29-29 of the exhaust passage is small, there is no oil ejection.

That is, the structure of the hole 29 and the exhaust hole 65 uses holes 29-29 for the distribution and exhaust of oil. This structure evacuates the oiling roll 21 while it is being rotated and controls the oil ejection during the exhaust to prevent oil ejection by pressure. For sufficient exhaust capacity without oil ejection, the exhaust holes 65-65 are at least several times larger than holes 29-29. For low viscosity lubricating oils such as silicone oils, the diameter of the vent holes should be at least 10 times the diameter of the holes 29-29.

The optimum dimension of the vent hole depends in principle on the oil viscosity. If the hole is too large, the dug-out of the flange 33 will be insufficient to provide height head and reservoir for the holes 29-29. On the other hand, if the exhaust holes are too small, the oil contained in the reservoir 32 will not fall into the reservoir 36. It has been found that exhaust holes 65-65 having an 8 mm diameter are suitable dimensions compared to other dimensions as described below.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the lubricating-washing apparatus 10 of FIG. 1 has a diameter of approximately 57 mm and a length of 246 mm, and has a lubricating roll 21 days when oil is filled. The oil is additionally supplied through the tapped holes 58 (Figure 3) after removing the plug 59. Silicone oil of 500 centistock viscosity is used. Fifteen holes 29-29 having a diameter of about 0.56 mm are evenly distributed along the length of the roll 21. The application roll 22 has a polyester felt surface 31 (FIG. 2) having a diameter of about 52 mm and a length of 264 mm and a thickness of about 1.65 mm. The exhaust strip 40 is about 30 mm wide or has an arc formed at an angle of 80 ° to the center of the roll. Exhaust holes 65-65 have a diameter of 8 mm. Spreader rolls 23 are about 13 mm in diameter and are made of steel. In radiation, the melting furnace 11 (65 mm in diameter, 274 mm in length) is heated to a temperature of about 148 ° C. The normal working temperature of the lubrication rollers is 71 ° C or higher. At this temperature, device 10 provides sufficient oiling and cleaning to remove the offset.

Lubricant loss due to evaporation is about 0.02% of the storage volume for 24 hours. Of course lubricant consumption is related to the number of copies used. However, the internal reservoir with about 400 ml of silicone oil lubricant does not need to be replenished for 25,000 copies.

Although various materials can be used to manufacture the outer cylinder of the oiling roll and its end caps, the reservoir height can be viewed visually and visually determined whether the exhaust holes are blocked by contaminants or blocked. It has been found that it is desirable to use polycarbonate plastics that are clearly molded to provide a transparent structure. It is also preferred that the end cap and the oil roller are made of the same polycarbonate plastic material so that solvent bonding is used to join the two parts. This results in a strong, oil-free bond that is not readily obtained in other construction methods.

While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims (1)

On the inner surface of the cylinder with a hollow cylinder having an inner and outer surface, and two end structures having a bearing connected to the cylinder and rotating the cylinder around the longitudinal axis, and a hole arranged in longitudinal communication with the outer surface of the cylinder and the inner surface. In a device consisting of a first reservoir provided by a strip 40, the cylinder is installed therein and extends longitudinally along the inner surface of the cylinder and has a first flange 39 and a second flange 33. The first flange 39 is in contact with the inner surface of the cylinder to form a second reservoir, and the second flange 33 receives the second lubricant lubricant contained in the first reservoir 32 when the cylinder rotates. Inwardly directed openings to the reservoir 36 and longitudinally disposed holes communicate the outer surface of the cylinder with the second reservoir 36 and the strips of the second reservoir 36 and the first reservoir 32. To Oiling roller, characterized in that it has a hole (65) arranged in the bell to communicate.

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