Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
  • G03G15/00—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern
  • G03G15/20—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern for fixing, e.g. by using heat
  • G03G15/2003—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern for fixing, e.g. by using heat using heat
  • G03G15/2014—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern for fixing, e.g. by using heat using heat using contact heat
  • G03G15/2017—Structural details of the fixing unit in general, e.g. cooling means, heat shielding means
  • G03G15/2025—Structural details of the fixing unit in general, e.g. cooling means, heat shielding means with special means for lubricating and/or cleaning the fixing unit, e.g. applying offset preventing fluid
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
  • G03G2215/00—Apparatus for electrophotographic processes
  • G03G2215/20—Details of the fixing device or porcess
  • G03G2215/2093—Release agent handling devices
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
  • G03G2215/00—Apparatus for electrophotographic processes
  • G03G2215/20—Details of the fixing device or porcess
  • G03G2215/2093—Release agent handling devices
  • G03G2215/2096—Release agent handling devices using porous fluoropolymers for wicking the release agent
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10S118/00—Coating apparatus
  • Y10S118/15—Roller structure
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/24—Structurally defined web or sheet [e.g., overall dimension, etc.]
  • Y10T428/24802—Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond [e.g., artwork, printing, retouched photograph, etc.]
  • Y10T428/24826—Spot bonds connect components
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/24—Structurally defined web or sheet [e.g., overall dimension, etc.]
  • Y10T428/24802—Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond [e.g., artwork, printing, retouched photograph, etc.]
  • Y10T428/24843—Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond [e.g., artwork, printing, retouched photograph, etc.] with heat sealable or heat releasable adhesive layer
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/249921—Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or component
  • Y10T428/249953—Composite having voids in a component [e.g., porous, cellular, etc.]
  • Y10T428/249955—Void-containing component partially impregnated with adjacent component
  • Y10T428/249958—Void-containing component is synthetic resin or natural rubbers
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/249921—Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or component
  • Y10T428/249953—Composite having voids in a component [e.g., porous, cellular, etc.]
  • Y10T428/249962—Void-containing component has a continuous matrix of fibers only [e.g., porous paper, etc.]
  • Y10T428/249964—Fibers of defined composition
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/31504—Composite [nonstructural laminate]
  • Y10T428/3154—Of fluorinated addition polymer from unsaturated monomers
  • Y10T428/31544—Addition polymer is perhalogenated

Definitions

• a web has oil self contained within it and therefore will deliver the oil consistently as the web is indexed to expose an unused portion of the web in contact with the fuser roller.
• the web has all of the oil contained within the pores of the material and therefore does not require a separate reservoir of oil which, depending on the configuration of the assembly, can be messy and difficult to meter. Webs tend to have superior cleaning ability because the collected toner and dirt is removed from the fuser roller with the taken up web material.
• sintered PTFE material such as that disclosed in PCT/GB92/01958 is brittle and, thus, has to be relatively thick to avoid breakage in use.
• the necessary thickness of the material means that less material can be used due to space constraints.
• the material is 0.010" (0.25 mm) thick or thicker in order to provide enough structural integrity for a web application. This material is suitable for some applications, but in no way addresses all of the demands for printer applications, especially those applications in which a lot of release agent is necessary.
• the sintered PTFE particle material has extremely low elongation, which causes it to prematurely crack, break or tear in applications if the stress applied is too high.
• Figure 11 is an enlarged cross-section view of the web material used in the present invention having a gravure print adhesive pattern;
• Figure 12 is a top plane view of a 45° gravure pattern;
• Figure 13 is a top plane view of a rosette gravure pattern:
• Figure 14 is a top plane view, microporous membrane up. of the web material with continuous adhesive from Example 5.
• ICP-AES Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
• Fabric substrate materials may be nonwoven, such as a spunbonded, wet-laid, melt blown or felted polyester, nylon, polypropylene, aramid, or may be light woven material of polyester, nylon, polypropylene, aramid, PTFE, FEP, PFA, or the like.
• the substrate material is chosen to meet the specifications of the system, such as heat, mechanical, and chemical compatibility requirements.
• the ePTFE membrane employed in the present invention should have the following properties: a thickness of about 0.0005" (0.0127 mm) to 0.125" (3.175 mm); a porosity of about 30 to 98%: and a bubble point (with isopropyl alcohol) of 0.4 to 60 psi (0.03 to 4.2 kg/cm 2 ).
• the preferred ePTFE membrane properties are: a thickness of about 0.0254 mm to 0.381 mm; a porosity of about 70 to 95%; and a bubble point of about 1.0 to 30 psi (0.07 to 2.1 kg/cm 2 ), with the most preferable being from 2.0 to 20 psi (0.14 to 1.4 kg/cm 2 ).
• the ePTFE membrane provides an even distribution and consistent delivery of the release agent.
• the rate of distribution of release agent can be tightly controlled by adjusting one or more of a number of different properties. For instance, dimensions, porosity, equivalent pore size and other properties of the expanded PTFE membrane may be modified to provide specific properties.
• the pattern formed on the membrane may be varied, for example, in degree of densification, depth, and amount of surface area densified. All of these factors can be controlled to provide required amounts and uniform dissemination of the release agent to the fuser.
• ePTFE has a low coefficient of friction and exceptional wear characteristics, reducing wear on component parts and extending operational life of the apparatus. Fourth, the ePTFE can be readily cleaned of deposited toner and other contaminates, which may be necessary for refurbishment of the oiling webs.
• the ePTFE can hold extremely high amounts of oil in its microporous structure.
• the ePTFE membrane can hold up to 95% oil (or 0.95 cc oil per 1.0 cc of ePTFE membrane).
• the oil holding capacity of the membrane may be adjusted from 0.35 cc of oil/cc of ePTFE to 0.95 cc of oil/cc of ePTFE, with the preferred being 0.55 to 0.87 cc of oil/cc (or 55 to 87%) of ePTFE.
• the release agent is added to the membrane.
• the release agent can be added to the membrane through a variety of techniques.
• One method of application is by soaking the web material in a bath of the fluid. Over time, the voids of the ePTFE will be filled with the fluid through capillary action. After the pores of the ePTFE are filled to a desired amount, the web may be pulled out of the fluid and the excess fluid removed, such as by wiping, blotting or any other means which is appropriate to remove excess fluid.
• Another method of application is by passing the web material between transfer coating rollers or spray apparatus in which the release fluid is added.
• the web can be passed through a bath of the release fluid and then passed through calendering rollers to press the fluid in. In each of these instances, heat may be added to the fluid or to the web in order to facilitate the filling of the voids of the ePTFE membrane with the release fluid.
• Any type of release agent may be used, such as silicone fluid, hydrocarbon fluids, alcohols, functionalized silicone fluids, water and others.
• the preferred release fluid for most printer applications is dimethylsiloxane fluid, or silicone oil.
• the release agent web assembly may comprise any configuration which is desirable to achieve delivery of release agent from the web to at least one contact surface of the printer device.
• the release agent web is typically positioned so as to continually provide a clean web surface to the contact surface of the fuser.
• the assembly may comprise one or more rotating members in order to meet this need.
• the release agent web assembly comprises at least two rotating members which permit the web and the contact surface to move relative to each other.
• Shown in Figure 4 is one apparatus for applying release fluid in a printer by employing a web 10 of the present invention.
• This apparatus comprises a payoff shaft 42, a takeup shaft 44, a housing or frame 46, and an elastomeric roller or member 48 that can apply pressure to hold the web 10 to a fuser roller 50.
• the elastomeric member 48 is spring loaded or includes some other form of mechanical biasing device 52 to maintain contact with the fixation roller 50.
• a fresh release coating 54 is supplied on the fuser roller 50 to protect against adhesion of paper and toner 58 to the fuser roller 50 during the fixing process as the paper 58 passes between the fuser roller 50 and a pressure roller 60. Further, toner particles 56 adhered to the fuser roller are cleaned off as the roller passes the web 10.
• the regular indexing of the web 10 assures that a fresh supply of oil and a clean web surface is always supplied.
• the web material 62 comprises an ePTFE membrane 64 bonded to a substrate 66 of a spunbonded nonwoven polyester
• the membrane 64 and the substrate 66 are adhered together along layer 68, comprising the polyester layer 66 melted and flowed into and around the nodes and fibrils of the ePTFE membrane 64.
• the polyester cools and hardens, the polyester and ePTFE are mechanically adhered together.
• the adhesive is provided as a continuous film, then the tension is no longer localized, but rather is distributed across the entire web. As displayed in Figure 14, wrinkles 98 form in the machine direction when the continuous film backing 92 buckles around the microporous membrane 12. As a result, the contact area between the membrane and the fuser roller may be decreased and irregular, thus dramatically increasing tracking and rewind problems.
• the transition zone 100 between the saturated 102 and unsaturated 104 sections on the used portion of the web mirrors the paper edge on the fuser roller.
• the web was assembled into a XEROX® Model 5028 web cartridge and placed into a Model 5028 copier, Xerox Corporation, Rochester, NY.
• the oil rate on a per page basis was determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) analysis. Samples were taken every 500 copies with the following sampling scheme: The copier ran 3 then 97 copies for the set of 100 from which three data points were obtained. Then the rest of the sets of 100 were run at 1 then 99 copies. The dwell time between sets was limited to the electronic reset rate of the 5028 copy machine. A transfer efficiency of 61.4% was calculated based on the following measurements. Page Oil/Page (mg)
• the web was assembled into a Model 5028 web cartridge and placed into a Model 5028 copier, Xerox Corporation, Rochester, NY.
• the oil rate on a per page basis was determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) analysis. Samples were taken every 500 copies with the following sampling scheme: The copier ran 3 then 97 copies for the set of 100 from which three data points were obtained. Then rest of the sets of 100 were run at 1 then 99 copies. The dwell time between sets was limited to the electronic reset rate of the 5028 copy machine. A transfer efficiency of 94.9% was calculated based on the following measurements.
• ICP Inductively Coupled Plasma

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Fixing For Electrophotography (AREA)
• Impression-Transfer Materials And Handling Thereof (AREA)
• Laminated Bodies (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

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ID=27048385

Family Applications (1)

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Citations (5)

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• 1996
  • 1996-01-30 US US08/594,046 patent/US5800908A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1996-05-28 CA CA 2190617 patent/CA2190617C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1996-05-28 EP EP96916650A patent/EP0774133A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1996-05-28 AU AU59332/96A patent/AU690849B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1996-05-28 JP JP50073497A patent/JPH10503860A/ja not_active Ceased
  • 1996-05-28 WO PCT/US1996/007734 patent/WO1996041241A1/en not_active Ceased
• 1997
  • 1997-01-21 US US08/786,574 patent/US5788770A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1999
  • 1999-05-03 US US09/303,918 patent/US6117528A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime

Patent Citations (5)

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