JPH0622863Y2 - Cleaning device for electrophotographic copying machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is to form a predetermined electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor, develop the electrostatic latent image with toner, and transfer the toner image to a transfer paper. The present invention relates to an electrophotographic copying machine that obtains a copied image by transferring the toner image onto a photoconductor, and more particularly to a cleaning device that removes toner and the like remaining on the photoconductor after the toner image is transferred.

(Prior Art) An electrophotographic copying machine forms a predetermined electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor, develops the electrostatic latent image with toner, and transfers the toner image onto a transfer paper or the like. I'm getting a duplicate image. Usually, the cleaning device removes the residual toner and the like adhering to the surface of the photoconductor on which the toner image has been transferred onto the transfer paper, and the photoconductor is provided for the next copying process.

In a conventional cleaning device, a blade 52 is usually disposed in a housing 51 as shown in FIG. 4, the tip of the blade 52 is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor 10a, and the edge of the blade 52 leads to the photoconductor 10a. The residual toner on the surface is scraped off.
The toner scraped off by the leading edge of the blade 52 is dropped downward. At the bottom of the housing 51, the starting end of the spiral conveyor 53 is arranged.
At 53, the toner that has dropped to the bottom of the housing 51 is discharged to the outside of the housing 51.

In such a conventional cleaning device, when used in a high-humidity state, the toner that has fallen to the bottom of the housing 51 is rotated in the direction indicated by arrow C.
It may be blown off to the side of the transport area of 53 by centrifugal force, and it may solidify on that side. The same may occur when the copying machine is used less frequently. The hardened toner may also prevent the spiral conveyor from rotating.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. The purpose of the present invention is to fix the toner scraped off from the photoconductor in the lower part of the housing to the lower part of the housing. An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device for an electrophotographic copying machine in which there is no fear that the spiral conveyor arranged in the above will not be rotatable.

(Means for Solving Problems) The present invention is a cleaning device for an electrophotographic copying machine, which removes toner and the like remaining on a photoconductor after transferring a toner image formed on the photoconductor, A blade, the tip of which is swingable between a cleaning position where it comes into contact with the photoconductor and a retracted position where it is separated from the photoconductor, and a blade which scrapes off residual toner on the photoconductor when the tip comes into contact with the photoconductor, A spiral conveyor that is disposed horizontally below the blade and that conveys the toner scraped off by the blade, and is connected to the blade so as to be swingable above the conveyance area of the spiral conveyor. Therefore, by swinging the blade to the retracted position, the toner accumulated on the side away from the photosensitive drum in the transport area of the spiral conveyor is crushed. And a rocking member that rocks in such a manner that the above-mentioned object is achieved.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

The cleaning device of the present invention is used in an electrophotographic copying machine for forming a copy image by an electrophotographic process, for example, an electrophotographic copying machine shown in FIG. In the electrophotographic copying machine, a photoconductor drum 10 is arranged substantially in the center of the machine body, and a photoconductor drum 10 is provided on the outer peripheral surface thereof.
10a is provided. The photoconductor 10a is a photoconductor drum 10
While being rotated in the direction of arrow A, it is uniformly charged by the charging device 11, and then a predetermined image is exposed from the direction shown by arrow B by an exposing device (not shown) and statically placed on the photoconductor 10a. A latent image is formed. The electrostatic latent image is toner-developed by the developing device 13, and then the toner image is transferred to the transfer paper by the transfer device 14. The transfer paper is separated from the photosensitive drum 10 by a separating device 15, the toner image is fixed by a fixing device (not shown), and the transfer paper is ejected to the outside of the machine. Photoreceptor 10 with toner image transferred to transfer paper
a is the photoconductor drum 10a in the cleaning device 20 of the present invention.
The toner remaining on the top is removed. After that, the charge removal lamp 17 removes residual charges on the surface of the photoconductor 10a.

The cleaning device 20 of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
It has a blade (21) and a spiral conveyor (26) arranged in a housing (25). The blade 21 has a flat plate shape with a rectangular cross section, and is attached to a support shaft 22 arranged in parallel with the axis of the photosensitive drum 10 via a swing member 23. The support shaft 22 can be swung by about 20 degrees by a solenoid (not shown).
Is set to a cleaning position where one end edge 21a of the tip portion contacts the photoconductor 10a and a retracted position where the end edge 21a is separated from the photoconductor 10a as shown in FIG. When the photoconductor drum 10 is rotated during the copying operation, the blade 21 is swung to the cleaning position where the end edge 21a of the tip portion contacts the photoconductor 10a, and scrapes off the toner remaining on the photoconductor 10a. When the photoconductor drum 10 is not rotated, the blade 21 is swung to a retracted position separated from the photoconductor 10a.

The rocking member 23 is a mounting portion that is mounted on the support shaft 22 substantially vertically.
23a, a connecting portion 23b extending substantially horizontally from the lower end of the mounting portion 23a in a direction away from the photosensitive drum 10, and the connecting portion 2
3b has an oscillating portion 23c extending downward from an end thereof separated from the photosensitive drum 10. The blade 21 is supported by a supporting member 24 on the side of the photoconductor drum 10 at the swinging member 23 connecting portion 23b. The oscillating member 23 oscillates by the rotation of the support body 22, and oscillates the blade 21 between the cleaning position and the retracted position.

The lower end of the oscillating portion 23c of the oscillating member 23 is located on the side of the conveying area of the spiral conveyor 26 described later.

At the bottom of the housing 25, the starting end of the spiral conveyor 26 is arranged. The spiral conveyor 26 has an arrow C
The housing 25 is rotated in the direction indicated by
The toner that has fallen to the lower part of is discharged to a predetermined position outside the housing 25.

The swinging portion 23c of the swinging member 23 has a spiral conveyor 26
And a lower end thereof is located between the housing 25 and the back surface of the housing 25, and the lower end has substantially the same height as the upper end of the spiral conveyor 26. Therefore, the swing member 23 is a spiral conveyor.
It covers 26 upper areas. When the support 22 is rotated to set the blade 21 to the cleaning position where it abuts on the photoconductor 10a, the oscillating portion 23c of the oscillating member 23 oscillates toward the photoconductor drum 10. Move. When the support 22 is rotated to bring the blade 21 to the retracted position away from the photoconductor 10a, the swinging part 23c moves in the direction away from the photoconductor drum 10 as shown in FIG. The tip contacts the back surface of the housing 21.

In the cleaning device of the present invention having such a structure, when the photosensitive drum 10 is rotated during the copying operation, the support shaft 22 is rotated as shown in FIG. The cleaning position is set so as to contact the photoconductor 10a. At this time, the swinging portion 23c of the swinging member 23 also
Similarly, the photoconductor drum 10 is swung in a direction approaching the photoconductor drum 10, and the lower end thereof is located above the side portion of the transport area of the spiral conveyor 26.

When the photoconductor drum 10 rotates in such a state, the photoconductor drum 10 is rotated by the normal electrophotographic process during the rotation.
A toner image is formed on a, and the toner image is transferred to a transfer paper to obtain a copy image. After that, the photoconductor drum
10 continues the rotation, and the toner remaining on the photoconductor 10a is
As the photosensitive drum 10 rotates, the blade 21 reaches the contact position of the blade 21 and is scraped off by the edge 21a at the tip of the blade 21. The scraped toner drops to the bottom of the housing 25 and is discharged to the outside of the housing by the spiral conveyor 26 rotating in the direction of arrow C. In this case, if the atmosphere of the electrophotographic copying machine is in a high humidity state, the spiral conveyor
Due to the centrifugal force caused by the rotation of 26, the toner accumulates on the back side of the housing 25 and hardens.

The photosensitive drum 10 from which the residual toner has been scraped off by the blade 21 stops its rotation and enters a standby state. In the cleaning device 20, when the rotation of the photoconductor drum 10 is stopped, the support shaft 22 is rotated, and the blade 21 is swung to the retracted position separated from the photoconductor 10a. At this time, the swing part of the swing member 23
23c also swings away from the photosensitive drum 10. The swinging of the swinging portion 23c crushes the toner solidified on the side of the spiral conveyor 26. Swing part 23c
Comes into contact with the rear surface of the housing 25 and stops.

(Effect of the Invention) Since the cleaning device of the present invention has the rocking member that rocks on the side of the transfer area of the spiral conveyor in this way, toner that has hardened on the side of the spiral conveyor is also removed. The rotation of the spiral conveyor is not likely to be stopped by the toner crushed by the rocking member and solidified in this way. If the swinging member is connected to the blade as in the above-described embodiment, the swinging member covers the upper region of the spiral conveyor, so that there is no possibility that toner will scatter upward in the housing. . If the swing member connected to the blade is in contact with the housing, the blade vibrates due to the impact when the swing member comes into contact with the housing, and the vibration causes the toner attached to the tip of the blade. Etc. will fall.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an essential portion of an electrophotographic copying machine equipped with the cleaning device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cleaning device of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram thereof, and FIG. It is sectional drawing of a cleaning device. 10 …… photosensitive drum, 10a …… photosensitive body, 21 …… blade, 22 …… support shaft, 23 …… housing, 26 …… spiral conveyor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A cleaning device for an electrophotographic copying machine, which removes toner and the like remaining on a photoconductor after transferring a toner image formed on the photoconductor, the tip of which is in contact with the photoconductor. A blade that is swingable between a cleaning position and a retracted position that is separated from the photoconductor and that scrapes off the residual toner on the photoconductor when the tip end contacts the photoconductor, and is disposed below the blade. A spiral conveyor that conveys the toner scraped off by the blade, and is connected to the blade so as to be swingable above the transport area of the spiral conveyor, and by swinging the blade to a retracted position, An electronic copying machine comprising: a swinging member that is swung so as to crush the toner accumulated laterally away from the photosensitive drum in the transport area of the spiral conveyor. Cleaning device for true copiers.