JPS62124584A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To securely clean the surface of a photosensitive body without flawing the photosensitive body and to improve the durability of the blade by removing a developer and foreign matter sticking on the blade associatively with the separation of the blade from the surface of the photosensitive body. CONSTITUTION:While the photosensitive body 2 rotates as shown by an arrow A, a cleaning device 1 is pressed against the surface of the photosensitive body 2 by its own weight to clean up the surface of the photosensitive body 2. When foreign matter sticking on the surface of the blade 4 from its cleaning surface is removed, a solenoid 15 is excited to lower an arm 14, thereby elevating its end part in a direction D. Consequently, a support member 6 is moved up, i.e. as shown by an arrow C around a shaft 9 and the blade 4 is therefore separated from the surface of the photosensitive body 2. At this time, a blade cleaner 7 is on a stopper 12 by its own weight, so the cleaner is rotated downwared around a shaft 11 as a fulcrum as shown by an arrow E according to the C-directional rotation of the support member 6 while supported on the stopper 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning developer remaining on a photoreceptor by pressing a blade against the photoreceptor in a copying machine.

<Prior Art> Normally, a photoreceptor in a copying machine is charged, exposed to light by an optical device to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor, and a developing device forms a visible image on the fed paper. Transfer and peel off the paper from the photoreceptor. After that, the cleaning device removes the developer remaining on the photoreceptor.

Examples of the cleaning device include means for cleaning the photoreceptor by pressing a blade against the photoreceptor.

In order to remove the developer remaining on the photoreceptor after transfer, this cleaning device presses a blade made of an elastic member such as rubber against the photoreceptor to remove the developer.

However, since the blade is always in pressure contact with the photoreceptor when the copying machine is in use, developer and foreign matter adhere to the blade, resulting in poor cleaning and accelerated deterioration of the blade.

<Objective> The present invention solves the conventional drawbacks and provides a cleaning device that not only reliably removes foreign matter adhering to the blade, but also cleans the blade with a simple mechanism and improves the durability of the blade. The purpose is to provide.

<Example> A schematic diagram of a general copying machine is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure f
The photoreceptor 2 is charged by a charging device 21 and exposed to light to form an electrostatic latent image, which is visualized by a developing device 22. Thereafter, the image is transferred by the transfer device 23 onto a sheet of paper fed from one of the paper feed cassettes 31, 32, and 33 at the transfer position. Next, the paper is conveyed from the peeling device 24 to the fixing roller 41, the image on the surface is fixed, and the paper is ejected.

On the other hand, the photoconductor 2 is cleaned by the cleaning device l.
The developer remaining on the surface is removed, and the static electricity is eliminated by the static elimination device 25. By performing these steps, the next copying operation is started.

An embodiment of the cleaning device 1 according to the present invention is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the photoreceptor 2 is rotatably provided around a shaft 3, and normally rotates in the direction of arrow A. The blade 4, which is pressed against the photoreceptor 2 during use of the copying machine, is made of an elastic member such as rubber. The blade 4 is held between one ends of L-shaped support plates 5a and 5b. The other ends of the support plates 5a and 5b are integrally fixed to one side of the support member 6. The support member 6 is formed of a relatively long part 6a to which one end of the support plates 5a and 5b is fixed, a part 6b perpendicular to the relatively long part 6a, and a relatively short part 6c perpendicular to the part 6b. has been done. A blade cleaner 7 for cleaning the blade 4 is attached to the support member 6.

The blade cleaner 7 has one end fixed to a cleaner mounting member 8 rotatably provided on the support member 6, and the other end is positioned close to the free end side or near the tip 4a of the blade 4. There is.

The blade cleaner 7 is made of an elastic and deformable member, such as a thin stainless steel plate.

The support member 6 that supports the blade cleaner 7 has an integrally formed support piece 6d, and this support piece 6a is supported by a shaft 9, and is rotatable around the shaft 9. It is provided. The support member 6 is normally rotated counterclockwise by its own weight around a shaft 9, thereby pressing the blade 4 against the surface of the photoreceptor 2. A stopper 1O that restricts the support member 6, that is, the cleaning device 1 during its rotation due to its own weight, is arranged at the rotation position. The stopper IO restricts the rotation of the cleaning device 1 due to its own weight at a predetermined position, and presses the blade 4 against the photoreceptor 2 with an appropriate pressure. That is, since the blade 4 presses against the photoreceptor 2 by its own weight, the pressing force is constant, and since it is supported by the stopper IO, the pressing force is stable. In addition, in this state, the developer and foreign matter adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor 2 are removed by the blade 4.
removed by

Further, the blade cleaner 7 is rotatable about the shaft II on the support member 6 by the mounting member 8 (since this is provided, it is normally rotated clockwise by its own weight. This rotation is caused by the stopper 121 The tip of the blade cleaner 7 is positioned away from the blade 4 when cleaning the surface of the photoreceptor 2.

On the other hand, an end 6c of the support member 6 is connected to one end of an arm I4 rotatably provided around a shaft 13 in a state of facing. The other end of this arm 14 is provided with a ferrule (not shown), which normally urges the arm 14 in a counterclockwise direction. However, due to the urging force of this peg, the support member 6
It does not apply a force that only biases the upper part of the body. That is, the tip of the arm 14 is connected to the end 6ci of the support member 6.
It acts so that it comes into contact with this. A solenoid 15 is further connected to the end of the arm 14 where the weight is provided. When this solenoid 15 is energized (energized), it pulls the arm 14 downward and rotates the arm I4 counterclockwise about the axis I3.

In the apparatus configured as above, the operation of cleaning the blade 4 will be explained below.

Normally, the photoreceptor 2 is rotating in the direction of arrow A, and in this state, the cleaning device 1 cleans the surface of the photoreceptor 2 with the blade 4 pressed against the surface of the photoreceptor 2 by its own weight. Therefore, when cleaning the blade 4, particularly when removing foreign matter adhering to the surface opposite to the cleaning surface of the blade 4, the solenoid 15 is energized and the arm 14 is pulled down, causing its end to rise in the direction D. do. Therefore, the support member 6 is moved upwardly about the shaft 9,
That is, the blade 4 is pushed up in the direction of arrow C, and the blade 4 is separated from the surface of the photoreceptor 2. This state is shown in FIG. At this time, the blade cleaner 7 rests on the stopper 12 due to its own weight, so as the support member 6 rotates in the C direction, it rotates downward as shown by arrow E while being supported by the stopper 12 with the shaft 11 as a fulcrum. do. As a result, the tip of the blade cleaner 7 deforms and comes into pressure contact with the blade 4, and as it rotates, foreign matter and the like near the tip of the blade 4 are removed and cleaning is performed.

After completing the above cleaning action, solenoid 15
is deenergized, the cleaning device 1 and the blade cleaner 7 are regulated by their own weight by their respective stoppers 10, 12, and return to the state shown in FIG.

Here, for example, cleaning of the blade 4 is performed by cleaning the photoreceptor 2.
This is done in synchronization with the reverse rotation. That is, the photoreceptor 2 is driven to rotate in reverse when cleaning the blade 4.

This reverse rotation drive is for the purpose of effectively removing foreign substances such as developer that adhere to the photoreceptor 2 side when the blade 4 is separated. The solenoid 15 is energized in synchronization with the start of reverse rotation of the photoreceptor 2, and the blade 4 is cleaned as described above. Then, the circumferential surface of the photoreceptor 2 is about several 1
When it rotates around 0ff, the solenoid 15 is deenergized and the first
As shown in the figure, the blade 4 is pressed against the photoreceptor 2. At this time, the rotation of the photoreceptor 2 in the B direction is stopped. After that, when cleaning the photoreceptor 2, the photoreceptor 2 is
As a result, the surface of the photoreceptor 2 is cleaned.

Incidentally, the blade cleaner 8 of the present invention is made of stainless steel (PET
) is preferably made of an elastic thin plate (about 0.1 to 0.3 ff thick) 6 Also, since the tip 8a of the blade cleaner 8 is in direct contact with the blade 4, it does not damage the blade 4. It is better to polish the blade in advance, and if necessary, apply a Teflon coating to further reduce damage to the blade.

Effects> As explained above, according to the present invention, the developer and foreign matter adhering to the blade in connection with the operation of separating the blade from the surface of the photoreceptor are removed, thereby preventing scratches or the like on the photoreceptor. Not only can cleaning be performed reliably without the need for attachment, the durability of the blade can be improved, and a blade cleaning mechanism can be provided in a small space.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 and 2 show a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 is a sectional view during normal operation, Figure 2 is a sectional view during blade cleaning, and Figure 3 is a general copying device. FIG. l: cleaning device, 2: photoreceptor, 4 blade, 6
: Support member, 7: Blade cleaner, 15: Solenoid.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device equipped with a blade that is supported on a rotating photoreceptor surface and that cleans developer adhering to the photoreceptor surface; A cleaning device comprising means for urging the support means to separate the blade from the photoreceptor, and cleaning means for contacting the blade and cleaning the blade in conjunction with the operation of the support means.