JPH01295289A - Cleaning device for photosensitive body in electrophotographic copying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a method for cleaning a photoreceptor, in which deposits such as toner, paper powder, etc. adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor are removed from the surface of the photoreceptor using a brush that comes into contact with the surface of the photoreceptor. Regarding equipment.

This cleaning device is used in electrophotographic devices such as electrophotographic copying machines, facsimile machines, and printers.

It is known that the above-mentioned cleaning device has a cleaning brush formed by fixing a large number of open brushes whose tips are open in cross section to a brush core. In this device, each brush is made of a conductive material, the tip of which contacts the surface of the photoreceptor and electrostatically attracts unwanted toner adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor. It is designed to be removed from the photoreceptor.

By the way, in this type of cleaning device, ozone 03 and nitrogen oxide NOx generated from the discharger, or filming substances such as silicon coated on the carrier in the developer, form a thin film on the surface of the photoreceptor. Filming). Furthermore, paper dust from the recording paper used to transfer the toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor adheres to the surface of the photoreceptor.

The above-mentioned conventional cleaning device has the disadvantage that it is not able to remove unnecessary toner from the surface of the photoreceptor relatively well, but it is insufficient in removing the filming substance, paper powder, etc. mentioned above.

l? SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention cleanly removes unnecessary lubricants and toner adhering to the surface of a photoreceptor from the photoreceptor, and also removes other adhering materials such as filming substances and paper dust. ! An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device that can cleanly remove objects.

Hands to accomplish the task The means for achieving the above task are as follows.

(1-) A cleaning device for removing deposits adhering to the surface of a photoreceptor from the photoreceptor using a cleaning brush that comes into contact with the surface of the photoreceptor, wherein the cleaning brush has a tip that is open in cross section. A cleaning device characterized in that it has an oven brush branch and a loop brush branch which is annular and whose tip is not released.

(2) At least two cleaning brushes are arranged for the photoreceptor, the upstream cleaning brush in the moving direction of the photoreceptor is constituted by the oven brush branch, and the downstream cleaning brush is the loop brush. The cleaning device according to (1) above, characterized in that it is composed of branches.

(3) The above (1) characterized in that both the oven brush branch and the loop brush branch are provided on one brush.
cleaning equipment.

1- Among the deposits on the surface of the photoreceptor, toner is mainly cleaned by a cleaning brush consisting of oven brush branches, while film substances, paper dust, etc. are mainly cleaned by a loop brush. This makes it possible to reliably clean all deposits on the surface of the photoreceptor.

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the invention according to claims 1 and 2. In the figure, a drum-shaped photoreceptor]-
rotates counterclockwise. Therefore, the surface of the photoreceptor 1 facing the two rotating cleaning brushes 3 and 4 moves from the bottom to the top in the figure as indicated by arrow A. The cleaning brush 3 on the upstream side with respect to the moving direction (direction A) of the photoreceptor 1 is formed by forming a large number of open brush branches 3a whose tips are open in cross-section and are equivalent to the brush core 5, as shown in FIG. has been done. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning brush 4 on the downstream side is formed by attaching a loop brush branch 4a, which is annular and whose tip is not open in cross section, to the brush core 5.

When cleaning the adhered substances on the surface of the photoconductor 1, such as unnecessary residual toner, paper dust from recording paper, or filmink substances, first clean the residual toner 1-0 on the surface of the photoconductor. A charge having the same polarity as that of the toner is applied by the pre-discharge charger 2. Next, the toner is electrostatically attracted and removed from the photoreceptor 1 by the upstream cleaning brush 3, which is charged with the opposite polarity to the pre-cleaning static elimination charger 2. As mentioned above, the upstream cleaning brush 3 is made of an oven brush branch 3a (Fig. 2), so it is made of a loop brush branch 4a (Fig. 3).
There is less adhesion of paper dust, etc., compared to the case of , and therefore there is no worry that paper dust, etc. will adhere to the brush branches and reduce the conductivity of the brush branches, thereby reducing the adsorption of 1 to ner. As a result, the photoreceptor 1 is cleaned by the upstream cleaning brush 3.
You can reliably clean the toner on the top.

The toner adhering to the upstream cleaning brush 3 electrostatically moves to the collection roller 6 which is charged with the same polarity as the brush 3 but with a potential difference. The toner adhering to the surface of the collection roller 6 is mechanically scraped off by an elastic scraper 7, and then transported out of the apparatus by a toner collection member 8. For the elastic scraper 7, an insulating sheet 1 such as a polyester film or a rubber blade is used.

If there is only toner left on the surface of the collection roller 6, the effect of applying a bias voltage will be reduced, so it is necessary to keep it clean at all times. Rubber blades are better for this purpose than polyester films.

Incidentally, of the two cleaning brushes 3 and 4 that contact the collection roller 6, at least the upstream cleaning brush 3
Since the brush branch 3a is conductive, it is conceivable that the voltage applied to the collecting roller 6 may drop through the cleaning brush 3. Therefore, if no measures are taken,
A relatively large capacity power source is required to apply this voltage. In order to avoid this, it is desirable that the brush branches 3a and the brush core 5 of the cleaning brush 3 be electrically connected, and that the brush core 5 and the main body of the device be insulated.

The 1 to 1 to 3. NOx.

Filming substances such as silicone or paper dust remain. These filming substances and the like reach the downstream cleaning brush 4 as the photoreceptor rotates. As mentioned above, since the downstream cleaning brush 4 is formed by the loop brush branch 4a (FIG. 3) of the ring 4Je, the attachment of the photoreceptor surface is smaller than that of the oven brush branch 3a constituting the upstream cleaning brush 3. The mechanical scraping force on the kimono is large. Also, paper powder fibers tend to get caught. Therefore, filmink substances, paper dust, etc. can be collected cleanly. At the same time as the filming substance is mechanically collected, a small amount of toner that has reached the downstream cleaning brush 4 is also collected.
It is convenient if a is also made of a conductive material.

A rod-shaped brush striking member 5 is fixedly disposed at a lower position of the downstream cleaning brush 4. When the downstream cleaning brush 4 rotates, the tip of each brush branch 4a collides with this brush striking member 5, and the mechanical impact caused by this collision causes the Filmink substance etc. adsorbed on the brush 4 to be struck. be dropped. At the same time, it is electrostatically collected by the collection roller 6.

As described above, the downstream brush 4 is constructed of loop brush branches 4a, and it is desirable that the loop direction of the brush branches be parallel to the axial direction of the brush, as shown in FIG. This is because if it is parallel to the cross-sectional direction of the brush as shown in FIG. 5, the raking force and the ability to collect paper powder (easiness of getting caught) will be impaired.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment. This embodiment differs from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that paper dust and the like are removed from the downstream cleaning brush 4 only by the brush beating member 5, and no collection roller is used. Also, a pre-cleaning static elimination charger is not used.

FIG. 7 shows yet another embodiment. In this embodiment, collection rollers 6.6 are attached to both the upstream and downstream cleaning brushes 3 and 4.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of the invention according to claims 1 and 3. This embodiment differs from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in that only one cleaning brush is provided instead of two. However, this one cleaning brush 1
4 is an oven brush branch 14a and a loop brush branch 14b as shown in FIG.
are equated alternately and spirally. With this configuration, residual toner on the photoreceptor 1 is removed from the open brush branch 1.
・4a cleans reliably, while paper dust, filmink substances, etc. are cleaned using loop brush technique 1.4. Cleaning is ensured by b.

The ratio of Oven Brush Branch]-4a and Loop Brush Technique 1.4b is free.For example, if there is a large amount of filmink substance, increase the proportion of Loop Brush Branch 14b, and if the amount of residual toner is large, use the Oven Brush Branch. The proportion of 14a may be increased.

Incidentally, in FIG. 8, reference numeral 9 denotes a cleaning plate, which is used to completely clean the particles 1 to 3 that could not be completely scraped off by the cleaning brush 14.

FIG. 11 shows the cleaning brush 1 in the above embodiment.
4 is a graph showing the performance of a single unit. As can be seen from this graph, the current of the static elimination charger 2 before cleaning <I8
: μA) and the voltage applied to the collecting roller 6 at a predetermined value or higher, it is possible to obtain good cleaning performance of the brush 14 without using the cleaning plate 9.

Effects According to the inventions of claims 1 to 3, it is possible to reliably remove adherents such as filmink substances and paper dust from the photoreceptor without seeing the toner.

Particularly, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the cleaning brush for removing toner and the cleaning brush for removing paper powder etc. are made independent of each other and share their functions, cleaning can be carried out extremely reliably.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since both of the above-mentioned cleaning operations can be performed with one cleaning brush, the device can be made smaller and lower in cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of one embodiment, FIGS. 2 and 3 are enlarged sectional views of the cleaning brush, FIGS. 4 and 5 are views showing the loop direction of the loop brush branches, and FIGS. 8 is a diagram showing other embodiments, FIGS. 9 and 1-0 are diagrams showing a cleaning brush in the embodiment of FIG. 8, and FIG. 11 is an enlarged sectional view of the cleaning brush. 1-Photoconductor, 3, 4-Cleaning brush, 3a...
Oven brush branch, 4a...Loop brush branch 14b

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A cleaning device in which deposits adhering to the surface of a photoconductor are removed from the photoconductor using a cleaning brush that comes into contact with the surface of the photoconductor, wherein the cleaning brush has an open brush branch whose tip is open in cross section. and a loop brush branch having an annular shape and having an unopened tip. (2) At least two cleaning brushes are arranged for the photoreceptor, the upstream cleaning brush in the moving direction of the photoreceptor is constituted by the open brush branch, and the downstream cleaning brush is the loop brush. The cleaning device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is constituted by a branch. (3) Both open brush branches and loop brush branches are 1
The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning device is provided on a book brush.