JPH08290605A - Image forming apparatus and aperture electrode body used in the image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To provide an image forming apparatus capable of forming a high quality image on a sheet 20 by increasing the rigidity of the aperture electrode body 1 and suppressing the deformation wrinkles as much as possible. [Arrangement] Aperture electrode body 1 in the image forming apparatus
Is a 25 μm thick insulating sheet 2 made of polyimide, in which a plurality of apertures 6 having a diameter of 100 μm are formed in one row, and a control electrode 4 made of copper having a thickness of 1 μm is formed for each aperture 6 on the upper surface, and the lower surface thereof. 1 μm thick copper auxiliary member 3
2 are formed except the periphery of the aperture 6. The aperture electrode body 1 is pressed against the toner carrying roller 14 at the aperture position of the insulating sheet 2 without contacting the auxiliary member 32 with the control electrode 4 facing the sheet 20 side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which can be used in a copying machine, a printer, a plotter, a facsimile and the like, and an aperture electrode body used in the image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as one of image forming apparatuses, by applying a drive signal by an image signal to an aperture electrode body having a plurality of small apertures, the passage of toner particles is controlled so that the toner particles that have passed through the apertures are controlled. An image forming apparatus that obtains an image on a printing sheet or the like by means of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-15579
No. 8 publication and the like.

In such an image forming apparatus, as shown in FIG. 6, the toner carrying roller 114 and the paper 120 are opposed to each other with the aperture electrode body 101 interposed therebetween, and further, the paper 12 is used.
0 is provided with a back electrode roller 122 on the back surface. Further, in this image forming apparatus, the aperture electrode body 1
As shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of apertures 106 each having a diameter of 100 μm are formed in a line in the longitudinal direction of the aperture electrode body 101 on one surface of an insulating sheet 102 made of polyimide having a thickness of 25 μ, and 01 is formed around the aperture 106. Thickness 8μm,
Control electrodes 104 made of a copper foil having a width of 20 μm are formed. The aperture electrode body 101 includes a control electrode 10
The surface on which the sheet No. 4 is provided faces the sheet 120. In this image forming apparatus, a control voltage according to an image signal is applied from the control voltage application circuit 108 to the control electrode 104, and the DC electrode 124 and the back electrode roller 122 are used.
A flying voltage is applied to the sheet to control the flying of the toner 116 carried by the toner carrying roller 114 to form an image on the paper 120.

[0004]

However, in the conventional image forming apparatus as described above, warpage or distortion of the aperture electrode body has been a serious problem. That is, since the copper wiring is provided only on one surface of the aperture electrode body, it may be rounded toward the copper film at the stage of the material with a copper film or may be greatly bent when the wiring is formed by etching. The generation of such warp or distortion deformation wrinkles in the aperture electrode body makes it difficult to make the contact state between the aperture electrode body and the carrier roller uniform, which causes disturbance such as lateral unevenness in the output image. , Has a great influence on printing.

When the aperture electrode body is deformed and wrinkles are formed, the aperture electrode body is apertured and the driving IC is driven.
Processing was also hindered during the manufacturing process such as mounting. That is, the positioning wrinkles of the aperture deteriorate due to the deformation wrinkles, and it becomes difficult to attach the driving IC.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is used for an image forming apparatus capable of excellent image quality and stable image formation and easily manufactured, and an image forming apparatus therefor. It is an object of the present invention to provide an aperture electrode body having the above structure.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, an image forming apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises an aperture electrode body having a plurality of apertures, and control electrodes corresponding to the respective apertures. , By independently controlling the charged particle supply means for supplying charged particles to the aperture of the aperture electrode body and each control electrode of the aperture electrode body, the charged particles pass through the aperture of the aperture electrode body from the charged particle supply means. In the image forming apparatus provided with the control electrode driving means for selectively flying on the recording medium, except the periphery of the plurality of apertures on the surface of the aperture electrode body opposite to the surface on which the plurality of control electrodes are provided. The auxiliary member thus formed is provided.

An image forming apparatus according to a second aspect of the invention includes an auxiliary member having the same thickness as the control electrode.

The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 is
An auxiliary member made of the same material as the control electrode is provided.

Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the charged particle holding means is provided with a charged particle holding roller capable of contacting the aperture electrode body and the charged particle holding roller side of the aperture electrode body. And an auxiliary member formed so as not to contact the holding roller.

Further, in the aperture electrode body used in the charged particle flying type image forming apparatus according to the present invention, an insulating sheet having a plurality of apertures and one surface of the insulating sheet corresponding to the plurality of apertures. Each of the control electrodes is provided with an auxiliary member formed on the other surface of the insulating sheet except for the periphery of the plurality of apertures.

[0012]

In the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the auxiliary member excludes the periphery of the plurality of apertures on the surface of the aperture electrode body opposite to the surface provided with the plurality of control electrodes. Are formed to prevent distortion of the aperture electrode body, and when the charged particle supply means supplies the charged particles to the aperture of the aperture electrode body, the control electrode driving means independently controls each control electrode of the aperture electrode body. As a result, the charged particles pass through the aperture of the aperture electrode body from the charged particle supply means and are selectively caused to fly on the recording medium.

In the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, the auxiliary member is formed to have the same thickness as the control electrode.

In the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, the auxiliary member is made of the same material as the control electrode.

Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the charged particle supplying means has a charged particle holding roller capable of contacting the aperture electrode body, and the auxiliary member is arranged on the charged particle holding roller side of the aperture electrode body. It is formed so as not to come into contact with the charged particle holding roller.

Further, in the aperture electrode body used in the charged particle flying type image forming apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the control electrode is provided so as to correspond to the plurality of apertures on one surface of the insulating sheet, and the auxiliary member is provided. It is formed on the other surface of the insulating sheet except for the periphery of the plurality of apertures.

[0017]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. A cylindrical rear electrode roller 22 is provided on the upper side of the aperture electrode body 1 with a gap of 1 mm, and a chassis (not shown). It is arranged rotatably in (1) and is configured to be able to convey the paper 20 as a recording medium inserted in the gap. Further, a toner supply device 10 as a charged particle supply means is arranged below the aperture electrode body 1 along the longitudinal direction of the aperture electrode body 1, and further, the back electrode roller 22 is provided. A fixing device 26 is disposed at the destination of the support 20 conveyed by the fixing device 26.

Next, the respective constituent elements will be described in detail. The toner supply device 10 includes a toner case 11 which also serves as a housing of the entire device, and a toner 16 as charged particles contained in the toner case 11. A supply roller 12, a toner carrying roller 14 as a charged particle holding roller, and a toner layer regulating blade 18 are provided. Here, the toner carrying roller 14 carries the toner 16 and conveys it toward the aperture electrode body 1, and the supply roller 12 supplies the toner 16 to the toner carrying roller 14.

The supply roller 12 and the toner carrying roller 14 are rotatably supported by the toner case 11 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. Further, the toner layer regulating blade 18
Is for adjusting the amount of the toner 16 carried on the toner carrying roller 14 to be uniform on the roller surface and for uniformly charging the toner 16, and is pressed against the toner carrying roller 14. .

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the aperture electrode body 1 is made of a polyimide insulating sheet 2 having a thickness of 25 μm.
A plurality of apertures 6 having a diameter of 100 μm are formed in a row on the upper surface, and a copper control electrode 4 having a thickness of 1 μm is formed on the upper surface (one surface).
Are formed for each aperture 6. As shown in FIG. 1, the aperture electrode body 1 is pressed against the toner carrying roller 14 at the aperture position of the insulating sheet 2 with the control electrode 4 facing the sheet 20 side. A plurality of driving ICs 30 are attached to the upper surface of the insulating sheet 2, and each terminal of the driving IC 30 is connected to the plurality of control electrodes 4 on the upper surface of the insulating sheet 2.

As shown in FIG. 4, an auxiliary member 32 made of copper and having a thickness of 1 μm is formed on the lower surface (other surface) of the insulating sheet 2 except for the periphery of the aperture 6. That is, the auxiliary member 32 has the opening 34 formed in the portion corresponding to the aperture 6 so that the insulating sheet 2 is exposed.

Next, the manufacturing process of the aperture electrode body 1 will be described. First, the copper control electrodes 4 and the auxiliary member 32 made of copper are etched by etching the copper films formed on both sides of the insulating sheet 2, respectively. Process into shape. Then, a hole is formed in the center of the control electrode 4 to form an aperture 6, the drive IC 30 is mounted, and each terminal is connected to the control electrode 4.

Therefore, in this aperture electrode body 1, since the copper film is disposed on most of both surfaces of the insulating sheet 2, the material itself has very little distortion, and the aperture electrode body 1 is less likely to warp. Further, even if the control electrode 4 side is patterned during the etching process and a local strain is generated, the auxiliary member 32 of the copper film is arranged on the back surface, so that the rigidity is improved and the local deformation can be suppressed. Becomes

Further, by advancing the manufacturing process by using the aperture electrode body 1 having high rigidity in this way, the productivity is excellent due to the improvement of the positioning accuracy and the mountability of the aperture 6 in the hole forming process and the IC mounting process. Cost reduction can be achieved.

Further, by increasing the rigidity of the aperture electrode body 1, the toner carrying roller 14 which is indispensable for good recording.
The contact state between the aperture electrode body 1 and the aperture electrode body 1 can be made uniform and stabilized, and as a result, excellent image quality and stable image formation can be performed.

Here, a detailed description will be given of the positional relationship between the aperture 6 of the aperture electrode body 1 and the auxiliary member 32 and the toner carrying roller 14, as shown in FIG. It is arranged so as to pass through the uppermost portion of the peripheral surface of the carrying roller 14 and the central axis of the toner carrying roller 14. According to this, the respective apertures 6 are evenly arranged on the left and right with respect to the uppermost portion of the peripheral surface of the toner carrying roller 14, so that the distribution of the toner 16 passing through the apertures 6 is distributed over the entire area of the aperture. Can be uniform. Further, since the wall surface of the aperture 6 and the flying direction of the toner 16 are parallel to each other, it is possible to stably fly the toner.

The auxiliary member 32 is the toner carrying roller 1
4, an opening 34 is formed so as not to come in contact with the toner carrying roller 4, and the toner carrying roller 14 is constructed so as to come into direct contact with the insulating sheet 2.

A control voltage applying circuit 8 is connected between the control electrode 4 and the toner carrying roller 14.
The control voltage application circuit 8 is configured to apply a voltage of 0 V or +50 V to the control electrode 4 based on the image signal.

Further, a DC power source 24 is connected between the back electrode roller 22 and the toner carrying roller 14, and this DC power source is + with respect to the back electrode roller 22.
A voltage of 1 kV can be applied.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus configured as described above will be described.

First, by rotating the toner carrying roller 14 and the supply roller 12 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1, the toner 16 sent from the supply roller 12 is rubbed against the toner carrying roller 14 to be negatively charged. The toner is carried on the toner carrying roller 14. Toner 1 carried
The layer 6 is thinned by the layer regulating blade 18 and charged, and then is conveyed toward the aperture electrode body 1 by the rotation of the toner carrying roller 14. Then, the toner on the toner carrying roller 14 is supplied under the aperture 6 while being rubbed by the insulating sheet 2 of the aperture electrode body 1.

Here, in accordance with the image signal, the control voltage applying circuit 8 adds + to the control electrode 4 corresponding to the image portion.
A voltage of 50V is applied. As a result, electric lines of force from the control electrode 4 toward the toner carrying roller 14 are formed in the vicinity of the aperture 6 corresponding to the image portion due to the potential difference between the control electrode 4 and the toner carrying roller 14. As a result, the negatively charged toner receives an electrostatic force in the direction of higher electric potential, passes through the aperture 6 from the toner carrying roller 14, and is drawn out to the control electrode 4 side.

Then, the toner 16 thus extracted is further applied to the paper 2 by the voltage applied to the back electrode 22.
By the electric field formed between 0 and the aperture electrode body 1,
It flies toward the paper 20 and accumulates on the paper 20 to form pixels. Then, the aperture electrode body 1 includes the auxiliary member 3
Since the occurrence of deformation wrinkles is suppressed by 2 as much as possible,
The contact state with the toner carrying roller 14 becomes uniform, and lateral unevenness in the output image can be suppressed.

A voltage of 0V is applied from the control voltage application circuit 8 to the control electrode 4 corresponding to the non-image portion.
As a result, since no electric field is formed between the toner carrying roller 14 and the control electrode 4, the toner carrying roller 1
The toner 16 on 4 does not pass through the aperture 6 because it is not subjected to electrostatic force.

Further, the paper 20 has toner 1 on its surface.
While one column of pixels is formed by 6, one pixel is sent in the direction perpendicular to the aperture column. Then, by repeating the above process, a toner image is formed on the entire surface of the paper 20. After that, the formed toner image is transferred to the fixing device 26.
It is fixed on the sheet 20 by.

If an insulating toner is used in the image forming apparatus constructed as described above, the toner carrying roller 14 is used.
The insulation between the control electrode 4 and the control electrode 4 is maintained, and the aperture 6 does not cause dielectric breakdown.

As described above in detail, according to this embodiment, since the auxiliary member 32 is the same copper foil as the control electrode 4 and has the same thickness, the forces applied to both surfaces of the aperture electrode body 1 are substantially the same. Therefore, deformation wrinkles of the aperture electrode body 1 can be further prevented.

Further, according to this embodiment, since the auxiliary member 32 does not contact the toner carrying roller 14, even if the auxiliary member 32 is energized due to an accident due to dust or the like, the toner carrying roller 1
It is possible to maintain safety without short-circuiting with 4.
Further, this also allows the control electrode 4 and the toner carrying roller 1 to be
4, the voltage applied to the control electrode 4 and the back electrode roller 22 can be reduced, and an inexpensive drive element can be used.

Since the auxiliary member 32 has the opening 34 in the portion corresponding to the control electrode 4, that portion can be thinned and the aperture 6 can be easily drilled.

Further, in the above process, the control electric field generated by the control electrode 4 is generated in the control electrode 4 and the aperture 6,
And the toner carrying roller 14 facing the aperture 6 thereof
Since the control electric field can be directly applied to the toner 16 to be carried, the control efficiency is good.

Further, even if a part of the supplied toner 16 receives mechanical force due to sliding with the aperture electrode body 1 and enters the aperture 6 corresponding to the non-image portion, inside the aperture 6 Since it can be controlled so as not to pass through the aperture 6 by the electric field, the toner controllability is good.

Further, since the insulating sheet 2 of the aperture electrode body 1 is directed toward the toner carrying roller 14, the toner 16 on the toner carrying roller 14 due to the trouble of the toner supply system.
Even if there is not, the control electrode 4 and the toner carrying roller 14 do not come into contact with each other and electrically short-circuit and the drive element is not destroyed.

Further, since the aperture electrode body 1 and the toner 16 on the toner carrying roller 14 are in contact with each other at the entrance portion of the aperture 6, the toner 16 accumulated at the entrance portion of the aperture 6 is not supported. Since the toner 16 is pushed away by the toner sequentially supplied, the toner 16 does not accumulate and bridge to block the aperture 6.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described in detail above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, although the control voltage of the aperture corresponding to the non-image portion is set to 0V in the above embodiment, it may be a negative voltage. In this case, an image with less fogging can be obtained.

[0047]

As is apparent from the above description, the image forming apparatus of the present invention and the aperture electrode body used in the image forming apparatus can increase the rigidity of the aperture electrode body by the auxiliary member. Since the deformation wrinkles of the electrode body can be suppressed as much as possible, the quality of the image output on the recording medium can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment embodying the configuration of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

2 is a perspective view showing details of an upper surface of an aperture electrode body mounted in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a relationship between a control electrode on the aperture electrode body and a drive IC.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing details of the lower surface of the aperture electrode body.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of an aperture electrode body and a toner carrying roller used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional image forming apparatus.

7 is a perspective view showing details of an upper surface of an aperture electrode body mounted on the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Aperture electrode body 2 Insulating sheet 4 Control electrode 6 Aperture 8 Control voltage application circuit 14 Toner carrier roller 30 Driving IC 32 Auxiliary member 34 Opening

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An aperture electrode body having a plurality of apertures and having control electrodes corresponding to the respective apertures, charged particle supply means for supplying charged particles to the apertures of the aperture electrode body, and each of the aperture electrode bodies. In an image forming apparatus provided with a control electrode driving unit that controls the control electrodes independently to selectively fly charged particles from a charged particle supply unit through an aperture of an aperture electrode body onto a recording medium, An image forming apparatus, comprising: an auxiliary member formed on a surface of the aperture electrode body opposite to a surface on which the plurality of control electrodes are provided, excluding the periphery of the plurality of apertures. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary member has the same thickness as the control electrode. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary member is made of the same material as the control electrode. 4. The charged particle supply means includes a charged particle holding roller that can come into contact with the aperture electrode body, and the auxiliary member is disposed on the charged particle holding roller side of the aperture electrode body and also has a charged particle holding roller. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is formed so as not to contact with each other. 5. In an aperture electrode body used in a charged particle flying type image forming apparatus, an insulating sheet having a plurality of apertures and a control provided on one surface of the insulating sheet so as to correspond to the plurality of apertures, respectively. An aperture electrode body comprising: an electrode; and an auxiliary member formed on the other surface of the insulating sheet except for the periphery of the plurality of apertures.