MXPA98002699A - Single brush cleaner with roller collector and cleaning help ultrason - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for efficient cleaning of the image forming surface. The primary cleaner is a rotary collection roller located directly opposite from and on the other side of the image forming surface from the ultrasonic cleaning aid device. The ultrasonic energy is used to remove the organic pigment from the image forming surface allowing attraction to the polarized pickup roller. The ultrasonic energy decreases the amount of residual organic pigment remaining after transfer. This residual organic pigment that is not cleaned from the surface by the pickup roller is removed from the surface by the rotating polarized conductive brush, which is the secondary cleaner. The non-contact pickup roller is not in contact with the photoreceptor. In another embodiment of the invention, the first cleaner and the second cleaner are pickup rollers with ultrasonic cleaning aid devices directly under each pickup roller. The complete cleaning system is without contac

Description

SINGLE BRUSH CLEANER WITH ROLLER COLLECTOR AND ULTRASONIC CLEANING HELP BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to an electrostatic printer and printer and more particularly to a cleaning apparatus for removing particles from an image forming surface. Copiers and electrostatic printers use various cleaning brushes to clean the image forming surface. For example, a cleaner can be a dual mini ESB (ie an electrostatic brush) that uses organic pigment discharge rollers to remove the organic pigment from the brushes. While another image forming surface cleaner uses a larger binary ESB with an organic air pigment discharger to remove particles from the image forming surface. The UMC (that is, the unit processing cost) for the dual mini ESB is estimated at approximately one third the cost of a larger or normal double electrostatic brush cleaner. Greater than the cost of a REF .: 26884 Small ESB cleaner, however, is associated with the cost of brushes and discharge rollers. An additional cost in a multi-step product is the necessary mechanism to move the brushes on and outside the photoreceptor. For the ESB cleaner of larger or normal size of the larger contributor to the UMC (ie, the cost of unit processing) is the airflow system required to discharge the organic pigment from the brushes -_Q which is less than 50% of the cost of the cleaner.

The following descriptions may be relevant to various aspects of the present invention and may be briefly summarized as follows: US Pat. No. 5,576,822 to Lindblad et al. Discloses an ultrasonic transducer located under the photoreceptor band. The transducer provides vibrational energy to the surface to separate the pigment particles organic from the surface. The transducer is placed such that it is located directly opposite to the cleaning of the contact point of the cleaning brush. The transducer reduces the adhesion of the organic pigment to the surface of the photoreceptor, thus allows the brush to operate at reduced interference and voltages. The reduced interference and voltage results in the organic pigment that has been collected at the various tips of the brush fibers, thus allowing a more effective organic pigment discharge from the brush.

U.S. Pat. US-A-5, 500, 969 to Bcnisla ski, Jr. discloses a dual or double polarity commutated roll that attracts organic pigment and end particle debris within a cloud of particles from the photoreceptor surface with an acoustic horn. The particles are attracted to and adhered to the switch roller, if the signal is correct or 'erroneous (ie positive or negative) and are removed from the roller, such as the rotating rollers, by a scraping blade. The particles are collected in a waste container when the particles are removed from the surface of the roller by the scraping blade. The residual particles that are not attracted to the commutator roller are removed from the surface of the photoreceptor by a dotted knife. The cleaning system does not make contact with the photoreceptor, thus, the cleaning and the life of the photoreceptor are increased. US Pat. No. 5,257,079 to Lange et al. Describes an electrically polarized cleaning brush with an alternating current that removes discharged particles from an image forming surface. The particles of the image forming surface are discharged by a corona generating device. A second cleaning device includes an insulating brush, a conductive brush or a blade, located upstream of the first brush mentioned, in the direction of the displacement of the image forming surface, it also removes the redeposited particles in the same way. U.S. Patent US-A-5, 030, 999 to Lindblad et al. Discloses a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) device operated at a relatively high frequency coupled to the back side of a somewhat flexible image forming surface to cause localized vibration to an amplitude predetermined and is placed in closed association with an improved electrostatic charged or discharged cleaning device associated with the cleaning function of the image forming surface, wherein the residual organic pigment and residues (hereinafter referred to simply as organic pigment) they are fluidized to increase electrostatic discharges of the organic pigment and / or the surface of the image, and free it from the mechanical forces that adhere the organic pigment to the image surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION It is briefly stated, and in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for removing particles from a moving surface after transferring an image thereof, comprising, a first cleaning member for removing particles from the surface , the first cleaning member which is continuously placed away from contact with the surface including during removal of the particles from the surface; a vibration device that is placed on the opposite side of the surface directly opposite the first cleaning member; and a secondary cleaning member is placed downstream, in the direction of movement of the first cleaning member BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other features of the present invention become apparent in accordance with the following preceding description and with reference to the drawings in which; Figure 1 is a schematic elevation view of the present invention using a negative polarized pickup roller and a negative polarized cleaning brush; Figure 2 is a graphic description of the charge distribution for the organic pigment after the preliminary treatment; Figure 3 is a schematic elevational view of the present invention using a positive polarized, pick-up roller and a positive, polarized cleaning brush; , Figure 4 is a schematic elevational view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention using a positively polarized pick-up roller and a pick-up cleaning roller, plated, negatively with pre-cleaning Figure 5 is a schematic elevational view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention using a polarized pick-up roller, positively and a pick-up cleaning roller, polarized, negatively without pre-cleaning; Figure 6 is a schematic elevation view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention using a positively double polarized pick-up roller without pre-cleaning; Figure 7 is a schematic elevation view of an electrostatic printing machine embodying the present invention; Y Figure 8 is a schematic elevational view of an electro-statographic printing machine, embodying the present invention.

Thus, the present invention can be described in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof, it can be understood that it does not intend to limit the invention to such an embodiment. On the contrary, it attempts to cover all alternative and equivalent modifications that may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION For a general understanding of a color electrostatic printing or copying machine in which the present invention may be incorporated, reference is made to US Pat. Nos. 4,599,285 and 4,679,929, its content has been incorporated herein by reference, which describes the image on image processor that has a multistep development with transfer of single steps. Although the cleaning method and apparatus of the present invention is particularly well suited for use in a color electrostatic printer or copier machine, it will become apparent from the following discussion that it is equally well prepared for use in a wide variety of devices. and is not necessarily limited to the particular modalities shown therein. Referring now to the drawings, where the drawings are for the purpose of describing a preferred embodiment of the invention and not to limit it, the various processing stations employed in the reproduction machine illustrated in Figure 8 will be briefly described.

A reproduction machine, from the, .. t which the present invention finds advantages of use, utilizes a load retaining member in the form of the photoconductive strip 10, consisting of a photoconductive surface and an electrical conductor, the substrate with transmission. pale to move past the heavy load station A, and an exposure station B, development stations C, a transfer station D, a fusion station E and a cleaning station F. The band 10 moves in the direction of the arrow 16 to advance successive portions thereof sequentially through several processing stations positioned close to the path of the movement. The band 10 is retained on a plurality of rollers 18, 20 and 22, the former which can be used to provide adequate tension of the photoreceptor band 10. The motor 23 of rollers 18 rotatable to advance the web 10 in the direction of the arrow 16. The roller 20 is coupled to the motor 23 by suitable means such as a drive belt or belt. As can be seen with reference to Figure 8, initial successive portions of the band 10 pass through the loading station A. A station A of carsa, a crown device such as a scotrón, corotrón or dicorotrón indicated generally by the number: >; Reference 24, the loads of band 10 for a high uniform selectivity of positive or negative potential. Any suitable control, known in the art, can be employed to control the corona effect device 24. Subsequently, the charging portions of the photoreceptor surface advances through the exposure station B, at the exposure station B, the uniformly charged photoreceptor or the retentive charging surface 10 is exposed to a laser-based input and / or a output scanner device 25 that causes the retentive charge of the surface to be discharged according to the output of the scanning device. For example, at two levels of the frame output scanner (ROS)). The photoreceptor, which is initially charged to a voltage, is subjected to the loss of charge at a voltage level. When exposed to exposure station B it is discharged to near zero or ground potential for the image area in all colors. In the developing station C, a developing system indicated generally by the reference number 30, the developing materials improve by being in contact with the electrostatic latent image. The developing system 30 comprises first 42, second 40, third 43 and fourth 32 development apparatuses. (However, this number can be increased or decreased depending on the number of colors, that is, these four colors are referred to in this way, -a there are four development housings). The first development apparatus 42 comprises a housing containing a donor roller 47, a magnetic roller 48 and a developing material 46. The second development apparatus 40 comprises a housing containing a donor roller 43, a magnetic roller 44 and a developing material 45. The third developing apparatus 34 comprises a housing containing a donor roller 37, a magnetic roller 38 and a developing material 39. The fourth development apparatus 32 comprises a housing containing a donor roller 35, a magnetic roller 36 and a developing material 33. The magnetic rollers 36, 38, 44 and 48 reveal the organic pigment on the rollers 35, 37, 43 and 47, respectively. The donor rollers 35, 37 43 and 47 then develop the organic pigment on the image forming surface 11. It is known that the developing housings 32, 34, 40, 42 and any subsequent developer housing must be unclean as well as to not distribute the image formed by the above development apparatus. The four accommodations contain material 33, 39, 45, 46 developer of the selected colors. The electrical polarization is achieved via the power supply 41, electrically connected to the development apparatuses 32, 34, 40 and 42. The substrate sheets or support material 58 are made to advance the conveyor D from a supply tray, not shown. The sheets are fed from the tray by a sheet feeder, also not shown, and advanced to the conveyor D through a corona loading device 60. After transporting the sheets continue to move in the direction of arrow 62, to fusion station E. The fusion station E includes a fusion assembler, indicated generally by the reference number 64, which permanently fixes the organic pigment powder images transferred to the sheets. Preferably, the melt assembler 64 includes a heat-set roller 66 adapted to be snap-fitted with a support roll 68 with the images of organic pigment powder in contact with a melt roll 66. In this way, the organic pigment powder image is permanently affixed to the sheets. After fusion, the copy sheets are directed to a capture tray, not shown, or a finishing station to be tied, held by staples or stapled, interleaved, etc., and removed from the machine by the operator. Alternatively, the sheets can be advanced to a double tray (not shown) so that they can be returned to the processor to receive a copy on the second side. A leading edge for routing the inverse of the edge and an odd number of reverse sheets is generally required for presentation of the second side for copying. However, information is additionally superimposed or information with a second color, it is desired on the first side of the sheet, the guiding edge is not required to route the inverse of the edge. Of course, the return of double or superimposed copying sheets can also be carried out manually. The residue of organic pigment and remaining debris that is made on the photoreceptor band after each copy can be removed by the cleaning station F with a brush, a knife or other type of cleaning system 70. A pre-cleaning corotron 160 is placed upstream of the cleaning system 70. Reference is now made to Figure 1, which shows a schematic elevation view of the polarized pickup roll as the first cleaner. A pre-cleaning corotron 160 is located upstream, in the direction of movement (shown by arrow 16) of the photoreceptor 10, from the polarized pickup roller 210. The present invention is applicable to both, a negative precleaner or a positive precleaner, depending on the triboelectric charge properties of the organic pigment particles. The polarized collection roller 210 is placed outside the contact with the photoreceptor surface 11. In the present invention, the spaces between the collection rollers 210 and the photoreceptor can be in the range from about 0.0127 cm to about 0.03048 cm. (from about 0.005"to about 0. 012") (ie approximately 0.127 mm to approximately 0.3048 mm (5 mils to approximately 12 mils).) For this space, the ultrasonic tip speed may be in the range of 800 m / sec. at 1500 mm / sec. The greater space between the pickup roller and the photoreceptor may occur in the present invention, but the high ultrasonic tip speed will be required which may cause damage to the photoreceptor at the tip speed of approximately 2000 mm / sec. Alternatively, small spaces (which require a lower ultrasonic tip speed than larger spaces) are feasible if space tolerance can be maintained in manufacturing. Continuing the reference with Figure 1, an ultrasonic cleaning aid (UCA) 220 is placed on the opposite side of the photoreceptor 10 from the collection roller 210, to help levitate (disturb) the remaining particles on the surface 11 after transferring the picture. The vertical movement of the contacts 220 of the UCA retracts and contacts the UCA 220 of the photoreceptor 10. A polarized conductive brush 200 is placed downstream of the polarized collector roll 210, in the direction of movement of the photoreceptor shown by the arrow 16 A blade 280 scrapes the organic pigment particles 230 from the collector roll 210 into a collection receptacle 240. (A metal blade is used experimentally as a scraping blade). The collection receptacle 240 may contain a probe 250 for transporting the organic pigment particles 230 away. Continuing the reference with figure 1, the first cleaning collection roller 210 removes most of the residual tannic 230 pigment. It negatively charges the surface 11. However, a small amount of residual organic pigment 232 may remain on the surface. photoreceptor after being cleaned by the collector roller 210. With a pre-cleaning treatment. negative. the organic pigment 232 is negative as shown in table 1 - This negative organic pigment is effectively cleaned with the positively polarized brush. Another modality happens when there is no pre-cleaning treatment. (For example, removing the preliminary 160 from Figure 1). In this case, residual organic pigment 232 can be bipolar having equal amounts. of organic pigments positively and negatively charged, or even a little more of positive organic pigment than of organic negative pigment. At first it may seem that this organic pigment would have been difficult to clean with a positive brush. However, experimentation has shown that the positively charged triboelectric negative organic pigment can be cleaned with a positive brush provided that the charge density is less than 0.5 fc / micron and the bulk density of the organic pigment is less than 0.1 mg / cm2. All machine measurements of the organic pigment charges are then transferred, showing that mainly all the positive organic pigment is less than 0.5 cf / miera because the negative triboelectric organic pigment does not accept positive charge. U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08 / 662,978 is incorporated by reference herein to describe the phenomenon of removing the positively polarized organic pigment with a positively polarized cleaner. The cleaners work as follows - the organic pigment, then the negative precleaner, is charged essentially and completely negatively as shown in Figure 2. The graphic description of Figure 2 has a horizontal axis showing the charge ratio (Q) • in the particles of organic pigment to the diameter (D) of the organic pigment particles. The units for the load (Q) and the diameter (D) are femtocoulomb (fc) and microns, respectively. The vertical axis shows the number of particles that correspond to a specific Q / D ratio. In Figure 2, most of the area under the graphic curve is on the negative side due to the negative pre-treatment 160 (see Figure 1). The negatively charged organic pigment is dislodged from the photoreceptor as it is introduced into the agitation zone of the UCA 220. The negative organic pigment is captured by a polarizing collection roller 210 positively shown in Figure 1. While the present invention is operated without a Preliminary, the negative pre-cleaning of Figure 1 results in a more efficient transfer of the organic pigment from the photoreceptor to the pickup roller. The reference is now made to Figure 3, which shows an alternately polarized embodiment of the present invention. The organic pigment particles are triboelectrically positive and the polarizations of the pickup roller 212 and the brush 202 are negative to remove the particles 235, 236. A positive pre-treatment 163 is used in this cleaning system to increase the attraction of the particles of organic pigment to the collection roller 212 and the brush 202. However, this system is also operable without a precleaner but, with less efficiency.

The present invention provides a cleaner that reduces the UMC while making the cleaning better robust than that of an electrostatic brush cleaning system. The UCA is placed directly under the polarized pickup roller 210 as in Figure 1. The pickup roller has similar electrical characteristics as those of the organic pigment discharge roller with respect to the organic pigment discharger ESB. The effective cleaning ability of the pickup roller, based on experimentation, is shown in Table 1 in the APPENDIX. Table 1 shows the percentage of effective cleaning by a polarization pickup roller of approximately 250 volts. The space between the pickup roller and the photoreceptor is approximately 0.1524 mm (six (6) mils) for the experimental results in Table 1. Table 1 shows' the mass and charge of organic pigment, before and after, of the pickup roller. Using both low and high DMA (revealed mass density or area unit), the effective cleaning of the pickup roller is relatively the same. This shows that the combination of the UCA collection roller / polarization is independent of the input mass. As shown in Table 1, the non-contact pickup roller is capable of removing approximately 93% to 94% of the mass of the non-transferred image. The rest ~ 6% - 7% of the remaining residual particles on the surface are removed with the electrostatic brush. Reference is now made to Figure 4, which shows another embodiment of the present invention that includes a double pickup roller cleaning system. This embodiment involves two polarized collection rollers 300, 310, to capture the levitated organic pigment, 320, a scraper blade 301, 311 to remove the organic pigment from the rollers 300, 310, a double transducer horn or helper (UCA) 305, 315 ultrasonic cleaner, to levitate the organic pigment 320 and an auger system 302, 312, to transport excess organic pigment to a waste container (not shown). The UCAs 305, 315 are placed directly under the polarized collection rollers 300, 310. Examples of picking rollers include organic pigment (anodized or ceramic) discharge rollers, metal rollers, conductive glass rollers and conductive plastic rollers.

Continuing with the reference for Figure 4, an embodiment of the present invention using a negative precleaner is shown. This pre-treatment 330 produces a charge distribution of organic pigment that is predominantly negative. The negatively charged organic pigment 320 is dislodged from the photoreceptor 10 when it is introduced into the agitation zone, created by the UCA 315, of the first pickup roller 310. The organic pigment 320 levitated by the UCA is attracted by the positively polarized collection roller 310. The small amounts of residual organic pigment (RMA2) left on the photoreceptor 10, after being cleaned by the first pickup roller 310, is still negatively charged as shown in Figure 4. This residual organic pigment is dislodged from the surface 11. of the photoreceptor by the second UCA 305 and the second pickup roller 300 captured positively polarized. The experimental cleaning efficiency of the embodiment of the present invention, with a pre-cleaner of -lOμa, shown in figure 4 is summarized in table 2. The input for the cleaner is shown in the column marked "Cleaner inlet". Note that the results are for both lower and upper DMA. The results after cleaning with the first pickup roller are shown in the column marked "beyond the pickup roller 1". And, the residual mass detected after cleaning with the second pickup roller is shown in the column marked "Beyond Pickup Roller 2". Table 2 shows that the first pickup roller cleans approximately 93% - 94% of the input organic pigment and the cleaning efficiency does not depend on the input mass density. Thus, he has? only a small amount of negative organic pigment left on the photoreceptor for the second roller to clean what is momentarily discarded by the second UCA by attracting the second pickup roller, as mentioned above. Other experimental results of three other modalities. precleaning / polarization are shown in tables 3-5. Figure 5 shows the first of these three alternative experimental modalities. In this embodiment, the organic nagative inlet pigment is used but with a negative polarization on the first collection roller. a negative pre-cleaning polarization of -lOμa is applied to the organic pigment. In this case, the input organic pigment 320 is cleaned from the surface 11 with a negative polarizing pickup roller 350. The results of figure 5 of mode are shown in table 3. For the two input mass densities (low and high) the cleaning efficiency is less than 50%. A lower cleaning efficiency is expected because the organic pigment and the pickup roller 350 are both of limited negative attraction of the organic pigment to the pickup roller 350. Due to the high residual mass density of the remaining organic pigment after the first pickup roller 350, the second non-contacting pickup roller 300 must remove the remaining amount of residual organic pigment. Experimentally (see Table 3), the remainder of the residual organic pigment on the photoreceptor 10 after being cleaned by the second pickup roller 300 was approximately 0.1 mg / cm 2 or less. This residual mass is too high, and indicates that the preclearance and the tilt polarity of the brush are not correct. The reference is made to figure 6 which shows the second of the third of the other experimental examples. In this example, the charge distribution of organic pigment simulates the charge of organic pigment left on the photoreceptor after transporting it. That is achieved by treating the revealed image with only AC. The result of the distribution of organic pigment load tends to be concentrated around zero. These results are summarized in table 4. (Note that the values of Q / M shown in the tables represent approximately the center of the distribution of the organic pigment loads.) In table 4 the values of Q / M for the The organic pigment inlet for the cleaner changes more positively so that the load distribution of organic pigment is more biased for the positive side. Occasionally this can happen when the developer organic pigment is treated only with AC. When the first pickup roller is negatively polarized, this tilting polarity does two things. First, you can clean some of the positive organic pigment, and second, inject negative charge into the organic pigment. In this way, the organic pigment after the first pickup roller will be negative. In table 4, it is observed that this injection load will occur. For example, the organic input pigment for the first pickup roller has an average load of about +4 μcoul / gm and after the first pickup roll the average organic pigment load is about -8 μcoul / gm. This is currently an ideal phenomenon because the positive polarization of the second collector cleans these residues very easily leaving a mass residue RMA2 of about 10 to 30 particles per mm2. It was experimentally observed that the residual organic pigment (RAM2) after the first collection roller is easier to clean than the organic input pigment by introducing the first collection roller. This suggests that RMA1 adhesion to the photoreceptor is lower than the input organic pigment. However, this challenges the idea that the organic pigment that is dislodged from the photoreceptor and returned to the photoreceptor is generally more difficult to remove. This fact is based on the theory of the "sample", that the charges tend to concentrate in localized areas on the organic pigment particles. In this way, when loading of organic pigment particles is dislodged from the photoreceptor, it is returned to the photoreceptor with the top loading portion of the surface attached to the photoreceptor creating a strong electrostatic bond with the photoreceptor. However, it has been found that the second pickup roller cleans a mass density equivalent better than that of the first pickup roller. This suggests that the injection load combined with ultrasonic sounds causes this phenomenon. The bottom line is that with the input conditions shown in table 4, the photoreceptor is essentially cleaned after the double pickup roller cleaning station has been passed. In the third experimental mode, also 'was for a residue left simulated'. After the transfer with both rollers 300, 310 of positively polarized collection. This is described in Figure 7. In this example, the first positively inclined collection roller 310 cleans the negative organic pigment and a little of the positive organic pigment. The input mass density and the average organic pigment loading is shown in the "input cleaner" column of Table 5. This shows that the distribution load is almost concentrated around zero. The cleaning efficiency of the first pickup roller 310 for the two dough densities is about 85% -88%. The second pickup roller 300 reduces the resilient organic pigment after cleaning by the first pickup roller 310 in a range that can not be measured except by containing organic pigment particles on the surface of the photoreceptor. The acceptable level for effective cleaning is less than 30 particles per mm2. Table 6 summarizes the cleaning results of the various modalities of the inlet / precleaning cleaning treatments and tilt polarities on the collection rollers shown in Figures 4-7. This table shows that the best cleaning performance is obtained in case 1 when the negative triboelectric organic pigment, after being transported is negatively charged and the polarization of both picking roller is positive. The inclined polarities of the pickup roller work well to remove the residual organic pigment from the photoreceptor after the paper jam. This organic pigment is mainly non-transferred, organic pigment that is of a higher mass density and can be positively and negatively charged (see cases 3 and 4). In case 2, when the negative triboelectric organic pigment is treated with a negative precleaner and the polarization on the first brush is negative, they create an unacceptable cleaning efficiency. The cleaning efficiency or cleaning transfer is too low and the mass density introduces the second collection roller without being able to be cleaned to the desired level of less than 30 particles per mm2. Additionally, for the positive triboelectric organic pigment, a positive pre-treatment and a negative inclination on the two collection rollers provide the best cleaning performance. In addition, the best polarity for the pickup roller can be negative ^ in the case where the residual organic pigment is treated with only an AC corona to stimulate the charge on the organic pigment after transferring it. The advantages of the present invention shown in Figures 1-3, include a first cleaning element that does not contact the photoreceptor. Compared to a dual ESB cleaner, the cleaner of the present invention reduces drag and abrasion of the photoreceptor due to a brush that has been removed. Also with ultrasonic support, heavy organic pigment densities of 1.0 mg / cm2 or greater can be momentarily detected from the photoreceptor and captured by the pickup roller. The heavy organic pigment densities allowed, such as the control samples or the left organic pigment in the photoreceptor after the paper jam to be cleaned in a single step. ESB dual current cleaners require two steps to clean these heavy densities that increase the downtime of the machine >; and overall decreases the printing efficiency of the machine. Additionally, the life of the cleaner is improved due to the removal of a first brush to clean the organic pigment. In electrostatic brush cleaners the first brush performs the most cleaning. The life of the first brush is short due to the accumulation of organic pigment in the brush. This buildup results from poor cleaning and requires the replacement of the brush. In addition, as these accumulations of organic pigment in the brush, the emissions of organic pigment from the cleaner also increase. The pickup roller as the first cleaner in the present invention eliminates both of the failure modes. The pickup roller provides a remarkable improvement in cleaning, a notable reduction in cleaning costs (UMC), improving the quality and serviceability due to its few cleaning elements that last longer. Even though a pre-cleaning device is not required for the present invention, the use of an additional pre-cleaner increases the efficiency of the pickup roller by allowing it to rotate slowly and with less drag on the secondary brush cleaner for an improved cleaning system. In the embodiment of the present invention wherein both of the primary and secondary cleaning elements are picking rollers (see Figures 4-7) that are not in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor, the cleaning elements do not produce any drag or friction on the photoreceptor. Also, the photoreceptor film is reduced because these are not brushes for impacting the organic pigment and the additives on the photoreceptor in a different way than that of the hybrid brush / pickup roller of the embodiment of the present invention. With the cleaning brushes, there is a stage of organic pigment discharge that is not 100% efficient that causes the accumulation of organic pigment in the brush. This excess of organic pigment reduces the cleaning efficiency of the brush, the life of the brush and will increase the emission of organic pigment, serviceability and cleaning cost. In addition, the dual picking rollers of the mode do not touch any other, therefore, the picking rollers can be tilted with opposite polarities, such as in case 3 of table 6. Additionally, in the present invention, the densities of mass above the photoreceptor can be cleaned in a single step because the cleaning efficiency is independent of the mass density of organic pigment on the photoreceptor. Thus, when it happens that a paper is tight, more organic pigment on the photoreceptor is residual that has not been transferred to the paper. The bulk density of this organic pigment is superior, but still needs to be cleaned in a simple step, as in the present invention, to avoid multiple steps that decrease printing yield and rent. In recapitulation, the present invention is a primary collection roller cleaner with ultrasonic assistance. - ,. The primary pickup roller without contact in which it can not be in contact with the photoreceptor. The primary cleaner is the pickup roller with ultrasonic cleaning aid that provides ultrasonic energy used to remove the organic pigment from the photoreceptor by drawing it towards the polarized pickup roller. The ultrasonic energy decreases the amount of remaining residual organic pigment after being transferred. The residual organic pigment that is not cleaned from the surface by the pickup roller is removed from the surface by the secondary cleaner. The secondary cleaner may be a polarized conductive brush or a pickup roller without secondary contact with ultrasonic assistance.

Accordingly, it is apparent that there has been provided in accordance with the present invention, a primary cleaner of a pickup roller with the aid of ultrasonic cleaning and a secondary cleaner that fully satisfies the purpose and advantages in the foregoing are set forth below. While this invention may describe in conjunction with a specific embodiment thereof, it is clear that many alternatives, modifications and variations will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it tries to cover all those alternatives, modifications and variations that are within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.

APPENDIX TABLE 1 Percent Effective Cleaning by the polarized collector roller Vc = 250 volts. Spaces Between the Pickup Roller and the Photoreceptor: 6 mils TABLE 2 Double pick-up roller Cleaner For loading of organic pigment Residual Negative with Roller Polarity collector (+, +) or in TABLE 3 Double pickup roller Cleaner For loading of organic pigment Residual Negative with Roller Polarity Collector (+, +) GO TABLE 4 Double collector roller Cleaner For loading organic pigment Residual Simulated Transfer and with Roller Polarity Collector (-, +) J TABLE 5 Double collector roller Cleaner For loading organic pigment Residual Transfer Simulated and with Roller Polarity collector (+, +) OO 00 TABLE 6 Summing up the Cleaning Results for the Different Distributions of Organic Pigment Load and Polarities derivation - of the plarizadored Collector Roller. or «3

Claims (27)

1. An apparatus for removing particles from a moving surface after transferring an image, characterized in that it comprises: a primary cleaning member for removing the particles from the surface, said primary cleaning member is continuously placed away from being in contact with the surface including during the removal of the particles from the surface; a first vibratory device is placed on the opposite side of the opposite surface directly to the primary cleaning member; and a secondary cleaning member that is located downstream, in the direction of surface movement i.e., from the primary cleaning member.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the primary cleaning member is biased in a manner to remove the particles, which have a charge thereof, from the surface.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the secondary cleaning member is biased in a manner to remove the surface particles remaining on the surface, after cleaning it with a primary cleaning member.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises pre-cleaning means for loading the particles that remain after transporting them allowing a more effective removal; of the particles.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the particles are triboelectrically negative.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the primary cleaning member is positively polarized

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the residual particles have a positive charge thereof, of a polarization of the primary cleaning member ,, are removed by the positively charged secondary cleaning member.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that the precleaning means are negatively polarized.

9. An apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the particles are triboelectrically negative.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the primary cleaning member is negative polarized.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that the residual particles having a negative charge thereof, of a polarization of the primary cleaning member, are removed by the negatively charged secondary cleaning members.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that the precleaning means are positively polarized.

13. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the primary cleaning member is placed at least about 0.127 mm (5 mils) to about 0.3048 mm (12 mils) from the surface during cleaning of the surface.

14. An apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that the primary cleaning member comprises a first pickup roller.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that the secondary cleaning member comprises a brush.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that the brush is conductive.

17. An apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises a secondary cleaning member that is continuously placed far from being in contact with the surface during the removal of the particles from the surface and that has a vibrating device located on the opposite side of the surface. surface opposite directly to the secondary cleaning member.

18. An apparatus according to claim 17, characterized in that the primary cleaning member comprises a first pickup roller.

19. An apparatus according to claim 18, characterized in that the secondary cleaning member comprises a second collecting roller.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the first pickup roller and the second pickup roller are placed at least about 0.127 rom (5 mils) to about 0.3048 mm (12 mils) from the surface during the cleaning of the surface.

21. An apparatus according to claim 20, characterized in that it also comprises means for pre-cleaning to load the particles that remain after transporting them allowing a more effective removal. of the particles.

22. An apparatus according to claim 21, characterized in that the first pickup roller and the second pickup roller are positively polarized.

23. An apparatus according to claim 22, characterized in that the pre-cleaning means are negatively polarized. ^

24. An apparatus according to claim 20, characterized in that the particles have a bipolar charge distribution.

25. An apparatus according to claim 24, characterized in that the first pickup roller is negatively polarized.

26. An apparatus according to claim 25, characterized in that the second pickup roller is positively polarized.

27. An apparatus according to claim 24, characterized in that the first pickup roller and the second pickup roller are positively polarized.