JPH0360778A - Drum washing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove the foreign matter sticking to brushing hair groups by providing brushes for washing, an ultrasonic oscillator and a means for allowing an ultrasonic liquid to flow over. CONSTITUTION:Drums A are held in the arraying state similar to the arraying state of the brushes 10 for washing and while the respective drums are swiveled, the drums are passed vertically in the brushing hair groups 12 of the brushes 10 for washing. The respective brushing hair groups 12 come into sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the respective drums A and the outer peripheral surface of the drums A are washed. The ultrasonic oscillator 13 is operated and ultrasonic oscillation is imparted to the washing liquid 9 in a washing tank 7 when the drums A are washed and are pulled up from the washing liquid 9. The brushing hair groups 12 of the brushes 10 for washing are washed in this way and the resticking of the foreign matter to the drums is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is used for cleaning drums such as aluminum tubes on which a photosensitive layer is formed on the outer periphery when manufacturing photosensitive drums for image forming apparatuses. The present invention relates to a drum cleaning device.

(Prior Art) Photosensitive drums used in image forming apparatuses such as electrophotographic copying machines and printers are manufactured by applying a photosensitive substance to the outer peripheral surface of an aluminum tube. In order to apply the photosensitive material to a uniform thickness, the aluminum tube is cleaned before the photosensitive material is applied to remove foreign substances such as metal powder and oils and fats adhering to its surface.

An example of a method for cleaning an aluminum tube is a method of cleaning the aluminum tube by ultrasonically vibrating a cleaning liquid in which the aluminum tube is immersed, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 108568/1983. Are known.

However, with this method, the aluminum tube must be immersed in the cleaning solution for a long time in order to completely remove foreign substances that are firmly attached to the tube, which reduces work efficiency. There are drawbacks.

Therefore, the applicant installed a plurality of cleaning brushes having ring-shaped bristles in the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning tank, and while the cleaning liquid was vibrated by ultrasonic waves, the aluminum tube was rotated. The present invention proposes a cleaning device that can efficiently and reliably remove foreign matter adhering to an aluminum tube in a short period of time by passing the brush bristles vertically through the inside of the brush bristles and bringing the brush bristles into sliding contact with the aluminum tube. (Utility Application No. 63-14311).

As shown in FIG. 3, this cleaning device installs a plurality of cleaning brushes 3 having ring-shaped bristles 4 in a cleaning liquid 2 contained in a cleaning tank 1, and cleans aluminum tubes and the like. While rotating the drum A, the brush bristles group 4
The group of bristles 4 is brought into sliding contact with the drum A by passing it up and down inside the drum A.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, when the drum A is cleaned using the cleaning brush 4, some of the foreign matter such as dirt released from the drum A into the cleaning liquid 2 is transferred to the bristles group 4 of the cleaning brush 3. It may get into the gaps between the brushes or adhere to the brush bristles group 4. Therefore, as the number of cleaning treatments for drum A increases, metal powder and dirt that are insoluble in the cleaning liquid accumulate in the brush bristles group 4. If drum A is cleaned in such a state,
A situation arises in which dirt and the like re-adhere to the drum A that comes into sliding contact with the brush bristles group 4. If foreign matter such as dust re-adheres to drum A in this way, when the aluminum raw tube is treated as having been cleaned and transported to the next process where a photosensitive material is coated on the outer circumferential surface, the photosensitive material in that process will be affected. Foreign matter may get mixed into the substance and adhere to the outer circumferential surface of the aluminum tube along with the photosensitive substance, or the photosensitive substance may be coated on the foreign substance that has been attached from the beginning, causing the photosensitive substance to have a uniform thickness. It becomes impossible to apply.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to effectively remove foreign matter adhering to the bristles of a cleaning brush, and to remove foreign matter from the drum into the cleaning liquid. It is an object of the present invention to provide a drum cleaning device that does not cause foreign matter that has been removed to re-adhere to a drum such as an aluminum tube.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The cleaning device of the present invention is arranged so as to be immersed in a cleaning liquid contained in a cleaning tank, and a drum is inserted through the inside of the cleaning device, so that the outer circumferential surface of the drum is coated with water. The cleaning brush includes a cleaning brush having a group of bristles that come into sliding contact with each other, an ultrasonic oscillator disposed to ultrasonically vibrate the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank, and means for causing the cleaning liquid to overflow from the cleaning tank. , thereby achieving the above objective.

Further, the cleaning device of the present invention is disposed so as to be immersed in the cleaning liquid contained in the cleaning tank, and has a group of brush bristles that come into sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the drum when the drum is inserted through the inside. a cleaning brush, an ultrasonic oscillator disposed to ultrasonically vibrate the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank, and a cleaning liquid circulation means for purifying and circulating the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank;
The above-mentioned object is achieved by comprising means for injecting the cleaning liquid circulated by the circulation means near the surface of the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank to cause the cleaning liquid to overflow.

(Example) The present invention will be described below with reference to Examples.

The drum cleaning device of the present invention is suitable for cleaning the outer peripheral surface of the drum on which the photosensitive layer is formed when manufacturing a photoreceptor drum in which a photosensitive layer is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the drum made of an aluminum tube. used.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the drum cleaning device has a processing tank 5 whose interior is partitioned into a cleaning tank 1'ff7 and a distillation tank 8 by a partition plate 6.

A cleaning liquid 9 is contained in the cleaning W17, and a plate 11 having a large number of cleaning brushes 10 is installed near the liquid level in the cleaning liquid.

As the drum cleaning liquid used for the photosensitive drum, for example, a degreasing cleaning liquid such as dichloromethane is suitably used. The cleaning brushes 10 are formed in two rows, for example, with four cleaning brushes arranged in one row. Each cleaning brush 10
The cleaning brush has the same structure as the cleaning brush of the conventional cleaning device shown in FIG. 3, and has, for example, a ring-shaped group of brush bristles 12 in which the bristles are arranged radially. Further, an ultrasonic oscillator 13 is installed at the bottom of the cleaning tank 7.

A circulation path 14 is provided between the lower part of the cleaning tank 7 near the partition plate 6 and the upper part near the outer wall facing the partition plate 6.
is provided. A pump P and a filter F in which the size of particles to be filtered is, for example, 0.2 μm are sequentially installed in the circulation path 14. The circulation path 14 is connected to the cleaning tank 7
It is connected to the cleaning tank 7 via a liquid reservoir box 16 arranged at a height corresponding to the level of the cleaning liquid 9 inside.

The liquid storage box 16 is configured to temporarily store therein the cleaning liquid flowing through the circulation path 14.

The cleaning liquid stored in the liquid storage box 16 is transferred to the cleaning tank 7.
A large number of nozzles 15 are arranged along the cleaning liquid surface at a height substantially equal to the cleaning liquid level in the cleaning liquid, and spray the cleaning liquid in a shower-like manner toward the cleaning liquid surface.

The distillation tank 8 is installed at a position opposite to the outer wall of the cleaning tank 7 in which the nozzle 15 is disposed, with the cleaning liquid contained in the cleaning tank 7 interposed therebetween. The distillation tank 8 is covered with an inclined wall. Further, a heater 17 is installed at the bottom of the distillation tank 8. Furthermore, a cooling water jacket 18 is provided above the sloping wall covering the top of the distillation tank 8 and above the processing tank 5 .

The cleaning device of the present invention having such a configuration can clean the drum A of aluminum tubes or the like to be cleaned, for example, as a plate! 1
The cleaning brushes 10 are held substantially vertically in the same alignment as the cleaning brushes 0 disposed in the cleaning brushes 10, and are passed vertically through the bristles 12 of the cleaning brush 10 while rotating each drum. As a result, each brush bristle group I2 is attached to the outer peripheral surface of each drum A.
are in sliding contact with each other, and the outer peripheral surface of each drum A is cleaned.

In this way, each drum A is cleaned and each drum A
When the cleaning liquid 9 is pulled up from the cleaning liquid 9, the ultrasonic oscillator 13 is activated and ultrasonic vibrations are applied to the cleaning liquid 9 in the cleaning tank 7. As a result, the bristles 12 of the cleaning brush 10 are ultrasonically cleaned by the cleaning of each drum A that was performed immediately before, and any metal that has adhered to the bristles 12 or entered the gaps between the bristles 12 is removed. Foreign matter such as powder and dirt is separated from the brush bristles group 12. The foreign matter removed from the brush bristles 12 in this manner is dispersed in the cleaning liquid 9 and floats near the liquid surface.

At this time, the cleaning liquid 9 in the cleaning tank 7 is being circulated through the filter F in the circulation path 14, and the cleaned cleaning liquid is
After being stored in the liquid storage box 16, the liquid is injected from each nozzle 15 toward the surface of the cleaning liquid 9 in the cleaning tank 7, and is returned to the cleaning WJ7. In this way, the cleaning liquid sprayed like a shower toward the surface of the cleaning liquid 9 in the cleaning tank 7 causes the portion of the cleaning liquid 9 near the liquid surface to flow.
A portion of the cleaning liquid 9 is allowed to overflow from the partition plate 6 to the distillation 11!8. Thereby, foreign matter such as dust dispersed and floating in the cleaning liquid 9 also overflows the partition plate 6 together with the cleaning liquid 9 and is efficiently collected in the distillation tank 8. In this way, the cleaning tank 7 contains clean cleaning liquid 9 from which foreign matter has been removed and which has circulated through the circulation path 14. By spraying clean cleaning liquid from the nozzle 15 in a shower-like manner, foreign matter floating in the cleaning liquid is forcibly and efficiently collected into the distillation tank 8.

The cleaning liquid containing foreign matter contained in the distillation tank 8 is transferred to the heater 17.
The water is heated, evaporated, and returned into the cleaning tank 7 by the cooling water jacket 18 disposed above the processing Ig5.

In this way, the brush bristles 12 of the cleaning brush 1o are ultrasonically cleaned, and the cleaning liquid 9 in which foreign matter is suspended is removed from the filter F.
When the clean cleaning liquid that has passed through is forcibly collected into the distillation tank 8, the cleaning action by the cleaning brush 10 is performed more effectively, and the next time the drum is cleaned, the cleaning liquid is removed from the brush bristles 12. There is no risk that detached foreign matter such as dust may re-adhere to the outer peripheral surface of the drum A.

In the above embodiment, the cleaning liquid in which foreign matter is suspended is collected into the distillation tank 8 by forcibly injecting the cleaning liquid circulated in the cleaning tank 7 into the cleaning liquid inside the cleaning tank 7. However, the structure is not limited to this, and for example, the cleaning liquid in which foreign substances are suspended may be collected into the distillation tank by simply circulating the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank 7 so that the cleaning liquid always overflows. .

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the cleaning device of the present invention efficiently softens the bristles of the cleaning brush when the drum is not being cleaned, so that the metal removed from the drum by the cleaning brush is This prevents foreign matter such as powder and oil from re-adhering to the drum. As a result, a situation in which foreign matter reattached to the drum is carried into the next process is prevented.

4 no na! FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the drum cleaning device of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional drum cleaning device.

7...Cleaning tank, 8...Distillation tank, 9...Cleaning liquid, 1
0...Cleaning brush, 12...Brush hair group, 13.
...Ultrasonic transmitter, 14...Circulation path, 15...Nozzle, A...Drum, F...Filter.

that's all

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device that is disposed so as to be immersed in a cleaning solution contained in a cleaning tank, and that has a group of brush bristles that come into sliding contact with the outer circumferential surface of the drum when the drum is inserted therethrough. A drum cleaning device comprising: a cleaning brush; an ultrasonic oscillator disposed to ultrasonically vibrate cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank; and means for causing the cleaning liquid to overflow from the cleaning tank. 2. A cleaning brush that is disposed so as to be immersed in a cleaning solution contained in a cleaning tank, and has a group of brush bristles that come into sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the drum when the drum is inserted therein; An ultrasonic oscillator disposed to ultrasonically vibrate the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank; a cleaning liquid circulation means for purifying and circulating the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank; and a cleaning liquid circulating means to circulate the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank. A drum cleaning device comprising: means for causing the cleaning liquid to overflow by injecting it near the liquid surface of the cleaning liquid.