JP2000235336A - Image forming device and cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent toner from being leaked out, to prevent the inside of a machine from being soiled and to prevent a transfer paper from being soiled by the splashed toner by bringing the extending surfaces of toner leakage preventing members into slidable contact with the whole circumference of the end surfaces of flange members formed at both end parts of an image carrier. SOLUTION: The toner leakage preventing members are brought into slidable contact with the whole circumference of the respective end surfaces of the flange members 11F and 11R so as to prevent the toner from being leaked out from the end surfaces of the flange members 11F and 11R of the image carrier 1. Then, the extending surfaces of seal members 36F and 36R brought into slidable contact with the whole circumference of the end surfaces of the flange members 11F and 11R fixed to the side ends of the carrier 1 are brought into slidable contact with side ends near the tip part of a blade 21 and side ends near the tip part of a flexible thin plate 35 in a cleaning device 20 so as to prevent the toner from being leaked out from the end part of the cleaning device 20. In such a way, a pair of left and right toner leakage preventing members consisting of the seal members 36F and 36R, elastic members 37F and 37R and holding members 38F and 38R is constituted so that the toner is prevented from being leaked out from the end part of the cleaning device 20 and both end surfaces of the carrier 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device provided in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine, a printer, a facsimile or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electrostatic latent image is formed on an image carrier such as a photosensitive drum or a photosensitive belt based on an electrophotographic method, and after development and transfer processing, residual toner on the surface of the image carrier is removed. As a cleaning device, a blade system in which an elastic cleaning blade is brought into contact with an image carrier to perform cleaning is widely used. In such a cleaning device, a sheet-shaped toner guide member is disposed on the upstream side in the moving direction of the image carrier at the position where the tip of the cleaning blade contacts. After passing through the toner guide member, residual toner and the like on the image carrier reach the cleaning position by the cleaning blade. On the other hand, the removed matter such as the residual toner removed by the cleaning blade is separated from the image carrier surface on the back side of the sheet-shaped toner guide member, that is, on the surface opposite to the side facing the image carrier. Guided and collected.

[0003] The width of the cleaning blade is wider than the image forming area of the image carrier, and is set substantially equal to the width between the flange surfaces at both ends. Also, the width of the sheet-shaped toner guide member is set to be the same as the width of the cleaning blade, so that the removed material does not leak and scatter from both ends of the toner guide member.

In addition, seals are provided on inner walls on both sides of the cleaning device housing for accommodating the cleaning blade and the sheet-like toner guide member, for sealing toner leaking out of the housing from near both end surfaces of the image carrier. The member is stuck.

The surface of the seal member is in contact with both end surfaces of the image carrier, both end surfaces of the cleaning blade, and both end portions of the sheet-like toner guide member to prevent leakage of toner.

[0006] As a cleaning device having such a configuration, Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-41351 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-2359 are disclosed.
No. 84 is disclosed.

[0007]

(1) First Problem FIG. 8 (a) is a front view showing an example of a conventional cleaning device, and FIG. 8 (b) is a partial perspective view.

[0008] Seal member A of a conventional cleaning device
Has sealed only a part of both ends of the image carrier (photosensitive drum) 1, the cleaning blade 11, the toner guide member and the like. In such a cleaning device, since the seal member A seals only a part of both end surfaces of the image carrier 1, the toner T attached to the outer peripheral surfaces of the flange members 1A at both end portions of the photosensitive drum 1 is scraped. I will take it. The toner scraped off by the seal member A falls and scatters, thereby causing contamination inside the apparatus.

(2) Second Problem In a conventional cleaning device, a cleaning blade,
Cleaning blade holding member, toner leakage prevention member,
A stirring member, a toner conveying screw, and the like are housed in a housing (housing) having a two-part structure and a toner conveying guide member. For this reason, the size of the cleaning device is increased, causing problems such as an increase in the diameter of the image carrier and an increase in the volume of the image forming unit.

(3) Third problem In the conventional cleaning device, the residual toner after transfer scraped off from the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum by the cleaning blade is transferred to the toner on the photosensitive drum by the rotating toner scraping blade. , And is sent to the rotating toner conveying screw side. This cleaning device requires two mechanisms, a toner scraping blade and a toner conveying screw.

Further, in this mechanism, it is important that the toner scraping blade can sufficiently send toner to the toner conveying screw side. Further, the positional relationship between the toner scraping blade and the toner conveying screw is also important. In order to solve these problems, there is a problem that the device becomes complicated, it is difficult to make the device compact, and the manufacturing cost increases.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and is achieved by the following means.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention, which achieves the first object, comprises an image forming means, an image carrier which rotates while carrying the toner image formed by the image forming means, and an image carrier on the image carrier. And a cleaning device that removes residual toner after the image processing of (1), wherein a toner leakage prevention member is installed on inner walls of both ends of the cleaning device to prevent toner leakage from both ends of the cleaning device. And an extended surface of the toner leakage prevention member is slidably contacted with the entire periphery of an end surface of a flange member provided at both ends of the image carrier to prevent toner leakage from an end surface of the flange member of the image carrier. (The invention of claim 1).

A cleaning device according to the present invention for achieving the second object is a cleaning blade for removing residual toner on an image carrier, a toner conveying screw for discharging the removed residual toner, the cleaning blade and the cleaning blade. A cleaning device including a housing accommodating the toner conveying screw, wherein a part of a wall of the housing surrounding the outer periphery of the toner conveying screw is formed as a rotatable toner conveying guide member, and the toner conveying screw is formed. The cleaning blade is integrally supported by a guide member (the invention of claim 7).

A cleaning device according to the present invention that achieves the third object is a cleaning blade that is disposed above an image carrier and removes residual toner on the image carrier.
In a cleaning device comprising: a toner conveying screw for discharging the removed residual toner; and a sheet-shaped toner guide member for preventing leakage of the residual toner on the image carrier, the cleaning device includes The invention is characterized in that the toner conveying screw is disposed at a non-contact position near the image carrier in the middle (invention 8).

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part of an image forming apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an image carrier, and OPC, S
e) A photosensitive drum having a photoconductive layer such as e. The image carrier 1 is driven and rotated in the direction of the arrow. A corona charger 2 charges the surface of the image carrier 1 uniformly. Reference numeral 3 denotes an image exposure unit that irradiates a light image onto the image carrier 1 to form an electrostatic latent image. A developing unit 4 develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier 1 to form a toner image. Reference numeral 5 denotes a pair of registration rollers which feeds a transfer material P fed from a paper feeding means (not shown) to a transfer position in synchronization with the formation of an electrostatic latent image on the image carrier 1. A transfer corona discharger 6 transfers the toner image on the image carrier 1 to the transfer material P. Reference numeral 7 denotes a separating corona discharger that separates the transfer material P after transfer from the surface of the image carrier 1. Reference numeral 8 denotes a separation claw that is pressed against the surface of the image carrier 1 to peel off the transfer material P attached to the image carrier 1. 9A is a pre-charging charge removing unit, and 9B is a transfer simultaneous exposure unit. Reference numeral 10 denotes a fixing device, and reference numeral 20 denotes a cleaning device to which the embodiment according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 shows the image carrier 1 and the cleaning device 20.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an assembly unit of a cleaning blade peripheral member.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, reference numeral 21 denotes a cleaning blade (hereinafter, referred to as a blade) made of an elastic material, which removes toner remaining on the image carrier 1 after transfer from the image carrier 1. I do. The blade 21 is held between holder members 22A and 22B.

The tip of the blade 21 is located upstream of a vertical upper position which is the anti-gravity direction of the center of rotation of the image carrier 1,
The rotating image carrier 1 is pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the rotating image carrier 1 in a counter type.

The holder member 22A is a part of the outer peripheral member of the cleaning device 20.
It is fixed to 3. Protrusions project from both side ends of the holder member 22A, and the rotating shaft bodies 24F and 24R are fitted thereto. The inner surface side of the toner conveying guide member 23 is formed as a part of a cylindrical surface, and is opposed to an outer peripheral surface of a toner conveying screw 31 described later with a predetermined gap.

The rotation shafts 24F and 24R are preferably located near the rotation center axis of the toner conveying screw 31.

A base of a film-shaped flexible thin plate 25 is adhered to a part of the toner transport guide member 23. The distal end of the flexible thin plate 25 is a free end, and is elastically bent by being pressed by a rotating flexible rotary blade member 33 described later.

On the bottom side of the holder member 22B, a holder member 22C to which a flexible thin plate 26 is adhered is fixed by screws or the like. The leading end of the flexible thin plate 26 made of a polyurethane sheet makes a U-turn and constantly contacts the outer peripheral surface of the image carrier 1, and the leading end of the blade 21 is separated from the outer peripheral surface of the image carrier 1. In the previous state, leakage of the residual toner on the image carrier 1 is prevented.

The holder member 22A is pressurized by a coil spring 28 interposed in a part of a housing (housing) 30 of the cleaning device 20, and is pressed from the blade 21, the holder members 22A, 22B, 22C and the toner conveyance guide member 23. The assembling unit rotates around the rotation shafts 24F and 24R as rotation centers, and presses the blade 21 against the image carrier 1.

A packing 29 made of an elastic foam material is adhered to the upper portion of the rotatable toner conveying guide member 23, and presses against the inner wall of the housing 30 to prevent leakage of the toner.

In a space surrounded by the inner wall of the housing 30 and the inner wall of the toner conveying guide member 23, a spiral toner conveying screw 31 is rotatably supported at a predetermined position.

The upper part of the image carrier 1 and the housing 3
A rotation shaft 34 to which two flexible rotating blade members 33 are fixed is rotatably supported in a space surrounded by the inner wall of the housing 30 and the inner wall of the cover member 32 that shields the opening of the housing 30. I have.

At the bottom of the cover member 32, a flexible thin plate (toner guide member) 35 made of a PET sheet is adhered. The distal end of the flexible thin plate 35 comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the image carrier 1 in a trailing manner. Therefore, when the image forming apparatus can be used, the upper portion of the outer peripheral surface of the image carrier 1 is shielded by the tip of the blade 21 and the tip of the flexible thin plate 35. The upper surfaces of the distal ends of both ends of the blade 21 are pressed by leaf springs 27F and 27R, thereby preventing toner leakage at both ends.

The leading ends of the two rotating flexible rotating blade members 33 make light contact with the upper surface of the leading end of the blade 21 to sweep the remaining toner, and further remove the remaining toner on the image carrier 1. The toner is scraped up, conveyed, abutted against the flexible thin plate 25 and bent as shown in FIG.

The residual toner fed onto the toner conveying screw 31 is conveyed by the driving force of the toner conveying screw 31, moved along the inner surface of the toner conveying guide member 23, and collected at one end. The toner is returned to the developing device as recycled toner, or stored in a toner collection container as waste toner.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the image carrier 1 and peripheral members.

Flange members 11F and 11R are fitted to both ends of the hollow cylindrical image carrier 1. The center hole of one flange member 11F is fitted to a support pin 13 fixed to the left side plate 12F in the figure, and the flange member 11F is rotatably supported. The central shaft portion of the other flange member 11R is fitted to a bearing member 14 fixed to the right side plate 12R in the figure, and the flange member 11R
Is rotatably supported. Power is transmitted from a driving source (not shown) to the flange member 11 </ b> R, and the flange member 11 </ b> R is connected via a coupling and driven to rotate.

The entire periphery of each end face of the flange members 11F and 11R is slidably contacted with a toner leakage prevention member to prevent toner leakage from the end faces of the flange members 11F and 11R of the image carrier 1.

The toner leakage prevention member on the left side of the figure is a seal member 36 which is in sliding contact with the entire periphery of the end surface of the flange member 11F.
F, elastic member 37 joined to the back surface of seal member 36F
F, holding member 38F for joining and holding elastic member 37F
From the three-layer unit.

The toner leakage preventing member formed in this unit is interposed between the side plate 12F of the image forming apparatus and the flange member 11F of the image carrier 1, and is positioned and fixed. The unitized toner leakage prevention member is detachably supported and easily replaced.

The toner leakage prevention member on the right side of the drawing is a seal member 36 which is in sliding contact with the entire periphery of the end surface of the flange member 11R.
R, elastic member 37 joined to the back surface of seal member 36R
R, holding member 38R for joining and holding elastic member 37R
From the three-layer unit.

The toner leakage preventing member formed in this unit is interposed between the side plate 12R of the image forming apparatus and the flange member 11R of the image carrier 1, and is positioned and fixed.

The unitized toner leakage prevention member is
Removably supported and easily replaced.

The seal members 36F and 36R have a thickness of about 1 m.
m is made of a high-density fibrous felt material such as Teflon felt, and the surface is subjected to a hair loss preventing treatment. The seal members 36F and 36R have an appropriate fiber density and a surface friction coefficient, and are in sliding contact with the flange members 11F and 11R.

The elastic members 37F and 37R have a thickness of about 1.5
It is formed of a foamed resin material such as malt plane or urethane foam having an elasticity of mm.

The holding members 38F and 38R are formed of a hard resin such as ABS, and are formed of an elastic member 37 with a double-sided adhesive tape.
F, 37R.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the image carrier 1 and peripheral members.

The extended surface (upper part shown) of the seal member 36F which slides on the entire periphery of the end surface of the flange member 11F fixed to the side end of the image carrier 1 is the side end near the tip of the blade 21 in the cleaning device 20. In addition, the flexible thin plate 35 comes into sliding contact with a side end near the front end portion thereof, thereby preventing toner from leaking from the end portion of the cleaning device 20.

The extended surface of the seal member 36R which is in sliding contact with the entire periphery of the end surface of the flange member 11R fixed to the side end of the image carrier 1 has the side end near the tip end of the blade 21 in the cleaning device 20 and the flexibility. The thin plate 35 is in sliding contact with a side end near the front end, and prevents leakage of toner from the end of the cleaning device 20.

As described above, the sealing members 36F, 36R
, Elastic members 37F, 37R, and holding members 38F, 38
A pair of left and right toner leakage prevention members including R prevents toner leakage from the end of the cleaning device 20 and also prevents toner leakage from both end surfaces of the image carrier 1.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the cleaning device of the present invention. Note that, in the reference numerals used in the drawings, portions having the same functions as those in the above-described embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. Further, points different from the above embodiment will be described.

The cleaning device 20 of the present invention is disposed above the image carrier 1 and removes residual toner on the image carrier 1 after transfer, and a toner conveying screw for discharging the removed residual toner. 31 and a sheet-shaped toner guide member 35 for preventing leakage of residual toner on the image carrier 1.

A toner conveying screw 31 is disposed between the blade 21 and the toner guide member 35 at a non-contact position near the image carrier 1.

Residual toner on the image carrier 1 scraped off by the blade 21 forms an enclosed space surrounded by the outer peripheral surface of the image carrier 1, the tip of the blade 21, and the tip of the toner guide member 35. And is directly conveyed by a toner conveying screw 31 rotating just above the image carrier 1,
After being moved along the inner surface of the housing 30 and collected at one end, the toner is conveyed by the toner conveying means 39 and returned to the developing device as recycled toner or stored in a toner collection container as waste toner. .

[0052]

According to the first to sixth aspects of the present invention,
The toner leakage prevention member prevents toner from leaking from the ends of the cleaning blade and the toner guide member, and prevents toner from leaking from the end surfaces of both ends of the image carrier. Transfer paper stains and the like are eliminated.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the cleaning device can be reduced in size by integrating the holder member of the cleaning blade and the toner conveying guide member.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, since the residual toner on the image carrier is directly collected and transported by the toner transport screw, the number of components of the cleaning device is reduced and the size is reduced. Is achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part of an image forming apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a cleaning device and an image carrier.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an assembly unit of a cleaning blade peripheral member.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an image carrier and peripheral members.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an image carrier and peripheral members.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the cleaning device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view and a partial perspective view showing an example of a conventional cleaning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image carrier (photosensitive drum) 11F, 11R Flange member 12F, 12R Side plate 20 Cleaning device 21 Cleaning blade (blade) 22A, 22B, 22C Holder member 23 Toner conveyance guide member 24F, 24R Rotating shaft body 25, 26 Flexible Flexible thin plate 27F, 27R Leaf spring 28 Coil spring 29 Packing 30 Housing (housing) 31 Toner transport screw 32 Cover member 33 Flexible rotating blade member 34 Rotating shaft 35 Flexible thin plate (toner guide member) 36F, 36R Seal member 37F , 37R Elastic member 38F, 38R Holding member 39 Toner conveying means

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An image forming means, and an image carrier which rotates while carrying a toner image formed by the image forming means,
A cleaning device that removes residual toner after image processing on the image carrier, wherein a toner leakage prevention member is installed on inner walls of both ends of the cleaning device, and a toner leakage preventing member is provided from both ends of the cleaning device. And an extended surface of the toner leakage preventing member is slidably contacted with the entire periphery of an end surface of a flange member provided at both ends of the image carrier, so that toner from the end surface of the flange member of the image carrier is An image forming apparatus for preventing leakage. 2. The toner leakage prevention member is in sliding contact with the entire periphery of the end surface of the flange member, and is in contact with both ends of a cleaning blade of the cleaning device and both ends of a sheet-shaped toner guide member. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The toner leakage preventing member includes an end surface of the flange member, both end portions of the cleaning blade, a seal member abutting on both end portions of the toner guide member, and an elastic member joined to the back surface of the seal member. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sealing member is a high-density fibrous felt material. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said elastic member is a foamed resin material. 6. The toner leakage prevention members provided at both ends of the image carrier and both ends of the cleaning device,
6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the unit is formed of a unit including the seal member, the elastic member, and the holding member, and is detachably supported between both side plates of the image forming apparatus main body.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 7. A cleaning device comprising: a cleaning blade for removing residual toner on an image carrier; a toner transport screw for discharging the removed residual toner; and a housing containing the cleaning blade and the toner transport screw. A part of a wall of the housing surrounding the outer periphery of the toner conveying screw is formed as a rotatable toner conveying guide member, and the cleaning blade is integrally supported on the toner conveying guide member. A cleaning device characterized by the following. 8. A cleaning blade disposed above the image bearing member for removing residual toner on the image bearing member;
In a cleaning device comprising: a toner conveying screw for discharging the removed residual toner; and a sheet-shaped toner guide member for preventing leakage of the residual toner on the image carrier, the cleaning device includes A cleaning device, wherein the toner conveying screw is disposed at a non-contact position in the vicinity of the image carrier.