JPH02183152A - Photosensitive body inspecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable detection of various flaws on photosensitive bodies by providing a probe of a potentiometer with at least one combination electrode having a plurality of electrodes in one set with different detecting capacities. CONSTITUTION:This apparatus is equipped with a casing 100 and a photosensitive body support device 9 to support and rotate a photosensitive body 10 to be inspected at a fixed position within the casing 100. A potentiometer 50 for inspection comprises a group of DC amplification type surface potentiometers and a probe 5 of the potentiometer 5 has a plurality of combination electrodes 5A. Then, an electric charger 1, an exposure lamp 3, a transfer charger 6, a separation charger 7 and an eraser lamp 8 are operated rotating the photosensitive body 10 at a fixed position with a motor 98 while the probe 5 is driven by at least a distance l between adjacent electrodes of the combination electrode 5A with a driver 500 to inspect parts of the surface to be inspected of photosensitive body 10 with both of a group of upper electrodes 5a and a group of lower electrodes 5b, thereby enabling inspection of the presence of various flaws on the surface of the photosensitive body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inspection device for photoreceptors used in copying machines, printers, and the like.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art When photoconductors used in copying machines, printers, etc. have scratches on their surfaces, the potential on the photoconductor surface varies, causing poor image quality. Further, if the surface potential is not in an appropriate state, problems such as not being able to obtain a satisfactory image density may occur.

As described above, the state of the surface potential of the photoreceptor is extremely important, so when inspecting the quality of the photoreceptor, it is necessary to evaluate the surface potential of the photoreceptor.

Through this evaluation, it is necessary to know whether the photoreceptor is good or bad.

A device for inspecting the quality of a photoconductor by evaluating the surface potential of the photoconductor has been known for a long time, as seen in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-49573, for example. The structure is such that the surface state of the photoreceptor can be determined by detecting the surface potential with a detection electrode in a probe of a potential needle for photoreceptor inspection.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, the detection electrode of such an electrometer probe has a fixed dimension (cross-sectional diameter), and its detection ability is naturally limited.

For example, if the detection electrode diameter is small, the detection range will be narrow, making it suitable for detecting fine scratches such as bottle holes that are narrow and have a large potential difference, but the probe output will be small, resulting in poor sensitivity to potential differences, and therefore It is not suitable for inspecting wide scratches with a small potential difference, such as those caused by uneven coating of a photosensitive layer during the formation of a photoreceptor.

On the other hand, if the diameter of the detection electrode is large, it is possible to detect wide scratches with a small potential difference, but it is not suitable for detecting minute scratches such as pinholes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention provides a photoconductor inspection device that can detect various types of scratches on a photoconductor better than conventional inspection devices, including minute scratches such as pinholes and wide scratches with small potential difference. With the goal.

[Means to solve the problem]

In accordance with this object, the present invention provides a photoconductor inspection apparatus for inspecting the surface condition of a photoconductor by measuring the photoconductor surface potential with a photoconductor inspection electrometer, in which a plurality of probes of the electrometer have different detection capabilities. A photoreceptor comprising at least one set of electrodes, each electrode set having individual electrodes arranged so as to sequentially face the same position on the surface of the photoreceptor to be inspected. The present invention provides an inspection device.

[For production]

According to the photoconductor inspection apparatus of the present invention, individual portions of the surface of the photoconductor to be inspected are sequentially inspected by a plurality of detection electrodes having different detection capabilities as the photoconductor rotates.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross section of one embodiment.

This photoconductor inspection device includes a casing 100, and further includes a photoconductor 10 to be inspected at a fixed position within the casing.
A photoreceptor support device 9 is provided for supporting and rotating the photoreceptor.

Further, a charger l, an absolute electrometer 2, an exposure lamp 3, an absolute electrometer 4, a probe 5 of an inspection electrometer 50, a transfer charger 6, A separate charger 7 and an eraser lamp 8 are arranged in sequence.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the structure of the photoreceptor support device 9 and the state in which the photoreceptor is supported by the device are as follows.

The device 9 has a shaft 91 that passes through the casing 100 and projects into the casing. A portion of the shirt 91 outside the casing 100 is driven by a motor 98 via a belt transmission 97.

A circular chuck member 92 concentric with the shaft 91 is fitted into the root of the narrow diameter portion 911 of the shaft 91 that protrudes into the casing 100. An end 101 of the body 10 is removably fitted.

At the center of the chuck member 92 is an end portion 9 of a cylindrical body 93 that is concentric with the shaft 91 and that fits externally into the narrow diameter portion 911 of the shaft.
31 is supported in a cantilevered manner.

After the photoreceptor 10 is fitted into the chuck member 92, another chuck member 94 is fitted into the free end 911a of the shaft narrow diameter portion 911, and the central threaded portion 941 of the chuck member is attached to the end of the cylindrical body 93. is removably engaged with the female threaded portion 932 of the.

At the same time, the end portion 102 of the photoreceptor 10 is fitted into the outer peripheral stepped portion 942 of the chuck member 94.

Finally, the bolt 95 is screwed from the chuck member hole into the female screw hole 911b at the end of the shaft narrow diameter portion 911 and tightened.

- Thus, the photoreceptor 10 to be inspected is supported at a fixed position within the casing, and rotated by the motor 98 in the six directions of arrows.

Note that 96 is a dielectric breakdown pin that comes into contact with the inner surface of the photoreceptor 10.

The aforementioned absolute potential meters 2.4 are each for monitoring the absolute potential on the surface of the photoreceptor when the ground is set to zero.

The inspection electrometer 50 is composed of a DC amplification type surface electrometer group, and in the illustrated example, as can be seen from FIG. 2, the electrometer probe 5 is provided with a plurality of electrode sets 5A.

The electrometer probe 5 is movable in the direction of the rotational axis of the photoreceptor 10 by guide means such as a roller table 501, and a threaded rod 503 is engaged with a female threaded portion 50'2 connected to the probe. is driven by a drive device 500 that is configured to drive a motor 504.

Each set of electrodes 5A includes a detection electrode 5a and a detection electrode 5b below it.
It consists of When looking at the probe 5 as a whole, the electrodes 5a group and the electrodes 5b group are substantially parallel to the rotational axis direction of the photoreceptor 10 and equally spaced apart! are arranged in

Further, in each set of electrodes, the upper and lower electrodes 5a and 5b move the probe 5 through its driving means 500 while rotating the photoreceptor IO.
When performing an inspection while moving the photoreceptor in the rotational axis direction, as shown in FIG. 2A, the scanning line L of the upper electrode 5a is
It is arranged so that the lower electrode 5b is located above. Due to this arrangement, individual portions of the surface to be inspected of the photoreceptor 10 are inspected by the upper electrode 5a and then by the lower electrode 5b.

In the case of this embodiment, the diameter of the upper electrode 5a is 1 mm,
The diameter of the lower electrode 5b is 0.5 mm.

A comparison of the characteristics of the electrodes i5a and 5b is as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

That is, the electrode 5a with a large diameter has a wide distribution characteristic, a wide detection range, and a large output (and has a good S/N ratio, so it has good sensitivity. The electrode 5b with a small diameter has a narrow detection range, The output is also small.

There are various types of scratches on the surface of the photoreceptor, from small pinhole-like scratches to large mist-like scratches, but according to this example, shallow scratches with a relatively large area and low potential can be used as electrodes with high sensitivity. A fine flaw such as a pinhole, which has a relatively small area and a large potential difference, is detected by the electrode 5a. Further, large and deep scratches are detected by both electrodes 5a and 5b.

As described above, the motor 98 causes the photoreceptor 10 to
While rotating at a fixed position in the direction of arrow A in the figure, the charging charger 1, exposure lamp 3, transfer charger 6, separation charger 7 and eraser lamp 8 are operated,
By driving the probe 5 with the drive device 500 at least the distance l between adjacent electrode groups 5A, each part of the surface to be inspected of the photoreceptor 10 is separated by the upper electrode group 5a group and the lower electrode group 5b.
Both groups inspect the photoreceptor for the presence of various scratches on its surface.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be implemented in various other ways.

In the above embodiment, the upper electrode 5a and the lower electrode 5b are integrated into one probe 5, but as shown in FIG. The small probes 5bS may be arranged in two stages, upper and lower.

Further, in the above embodiment, a plurality of sets of electrodes 5A consisting of electrodes 5a and 5b are provided, but this may also be a - set. In this case, this - set covers the entire surface of the photoreceptor to be inspected. will be inspected.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, each set of electrodes 5A includes two types of electrodes 5a.
, 5b, but electrodes with different detection capabilities may be placed above the electrode 5a, below the electrode 5b, or between the electrodes 5a and 5b. In the case of the probe shown in FIG. 6, for example, the small probe 5c with different capabilities
S can be added as appropriate.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, there is provided a photoconductor inspection device of the type that inspects the surface condition of a photoconductor by measuring the photoconductor surface potential with a photoconductor inspection electrometer, and is capable of detecting minute scratches such as pinholes, wide potential differences, etc. It is possible to provide a photoconductor inspection device that can detect various types of scratches on a photoconductor better than conventional inspection devices, including small scratches.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 show one embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the whole, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an electrometer probe, and FIG. 2A is an upper and lower electrode in each set of electrodes. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a part of the photoreceptor support device. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are explanatory diagrams of characteristics of the upper and lower electrodes. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of an electrometer in another embodiment of the present invention. 1O... Photoreceptor, 50... Electrometer for inspection, 5... Electrometer probe, 5A... Group electrode, 5a, 5b... Detection electrode, 5aS, 5bS, 5cS = small probe. Applicant Minolta Camera Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a photoconductor inspection device that inspects the surface condition of a photoconductor by measuring the photoconductor surface potential with a photoconductor inspection electrometer, the probe of the electrometer has a plurality of electrodes having different detection capabilities as a set. 1. A photoreceptor inspection apparatus comprising at least one set of electrodes, each of which is arranged such that the individual electrodes in each set of electrodes sequentially face the same position on the surface of the photoreceptor to be inspected.