JPH085495Y2 - Cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cleaning device used in an electrophotographic copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, or the like, for cleaning toner remaining on a photoconductor after transfer.

2. Description of the Related Art As a cleaning device of the above type, it is already known that toner (waste toner) cleaned by a cleaning unit is conveyed to a collecting container, which is a collecting unit, via a conveying unit to collect the waste toner. Then, the drop path (fall pipe) in which the toner falls by its own weight in the path in the transport section.
Cleaning devices provided with are already known. In this type of cleaning device, toner adheres to the inner wall of the drop pipe, and when the toner increases, it eventually blocks the drop pipe. When the pipe is blocked, problems such as toner leakage, toner scattering, and damage to the cleaning device occur.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention The present invention provides a cleaning device that solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, reliably prevents toner clogging in a drop path, and prevents toner leakage, toner scattering, and device damage. The purpose is to do.

Means for Solving the Problems To this end, the present invention has a cleaning unit including a cleaning unit that cleans toner remaining on a photoconductor after transfer, a collecting unit that collects the cleaned toner, and a toner collecting unit. A cleaning device having a transport section for transporting from a cleaning section to a recovery section, and a pipe-shaped drop path through which toner is dropped by its own weight is provided in the path of the carry section. It was achieved by installing a vibration generation means that gives a vibration to the fall path.

Further, for this purpose, the present invention is characterized in that the vibration generating means is
This is achieved by having a lever member that strikes the drop path and a drive unit that gives the lever member a strike action at least when collecting toner.

Action According to the above configuration, since the falling path is vibrated by the vibration generating means, the toner does not adhere to the inner wall thereof.
Therefore, the drop path is not blocked, and it is possible to prevent toner leakage, toner scattering, and damage to the cleaning device.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a copying machine to which the cleaning device of the present invention is applied. The drum-shaped photosensitive member 1 is rotationally driven in the clockwise direction, and at that time, the surface thereof is charged by the charging charger 2. The charged portion is imagewise exposed at the exposure position 3 to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 1.
This latent image is visualized by toner as it passes through the developing device 4, and this toner image is transferred by the transfer charger 5 onto the transfer paper conveyed from the paper feeding device (not shown) to the photoconductor 1. The transferred transfer paper is separated from the photoconductor 1, and the toner image is fixed by a fixing unit (not shown).

On the other hand, the residual toner on the photoconductor 1 after the toner image transfer is removed by the cleaning device 6. The cleaning device 6 of this example has a cleaning unit 8 provided with a cleaning unit configured as a cleaning blade 7, and residual toner is scraped off into the cleaning unit 8 by the cleaning blade 7. The waste toner scraped off in the cleaning section 8 is conveyed to the conveying section 10 as shown in FIG.
It is conveyed to the collecting unit configured as the waste toner tank 9 via.

The transfer unit 10 includes a discharge pipe 11 protruding from the cleaning unit 8, a drop pipe 13 as a drop path connected to a discharge port 12 of the discharge pipe 11, and a transfer pipe connected to a lower end of the drop pipe 13. 14 and the end of the conveying pipe 14 enters the waste toner tank 9. In this case, the discharge pipe 11 and the conveying pipe 14 are provided with conveying screws 15 and 16 which are rotationally driven by a driving device (not shown) and convey the toner.

In the transport unit 10 thus configured, the waste toner in the cleaning unit 8 is driven by the rotation of the transport screw 15 and the discharge pipe 11
It is conveyed to the discharge port 12 through where it falls inside the drop pipe 13 by its own weight. Then, the waste toner is transported into the waste toner tank 9 through the transport pipe 14 by the rotation driving of the transport screw 16, and is collected in the tank.

Thus, the waste toner is collected in the waste toner tank 9, but if the transport unit 10 is provided with the drop pipe 13, the toner adheres to the inner wall of the pipe and eventually the drop pipe 13 is blocked. That was explained earlier.

Therefore, in the present invention, the following measures are taken in order to solve such a problem.

In FIG. 2, the cleaning device 6 includes a drop pipe.
A vibration generating means 20 is provided for striking 13 and giving a vibration to the pipe. The vibration generating means 20 in this embodiment is a support shaft.
It has a pipe knock lever 22 as a lever member rotatably attached to 21, and one end of the pipe knock lever 22 can come into contact with the outer wall of the falling pipe 13 and the other end thereof can come into contact with a cam 23 as a driving means. There is. And the pipe knock lever 22
Is urged to rotate counterclockwise by a spring 24, one end of which contacts the outer wall of the falling pipe 13 and the other end of which contacts the cam 23 by spring force.

Here, when the cam 23 is rotated, the pipe knock lever 22
Since it is a cam follower, the pipe knock lever 22 moves to the spring 24 when moving from the maximum lift to the minimum lift.
By the action of, the shaft 21 rapidly rotates counterclockwise about the spindle 21. Then, one end of the pipe knock lever 22 hits the outer wall of the falling pipe 13 and gives a vibration to the falling pipe 13.
Due to this vibration, the toner does not adhere to the inner wall of the drop pipe 13 and the toner falls onto the transport pipe 14.
The cam 23 may rotate all the time or may rotate intermittently. In addition, other driving members, such as a conveying screw
You may make it rotate in agreement with the drive of 15,16.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In the vibration generating means 20 'of this embodiment, a pipe knock lever 22' is operated by turning on and off a solenoid 25 as a driving means. In this case, the lower end of the pipe knock lever 22 'is attached to the spindle 2
It is rotatably supported by 1 ', and the upper end of the pipe knock lever 22' is brought into contact with the outer wall of the falling pipe 13 by a spring 24 '.

In the developing device thus constructed, when the solenoid 25 is turned on, the pipe knock lever 22 'is rotated counterclockwise, and when it is turned off, the spring 24' causes a rapid rotation about the support shaft 21 'in the clockwise direction. As a result, the upper end of the pipe knock lever 22 'strikes the outer wall of the drop pipe 13, and the drop pipe 13 is vibrated. Thus, the same effect as that of the above embodiment can be obtained.

Effect According to the above configuration, since the present invention can be shaken by the vibration generating means in the falling path, the toner does not adhere to the inner wall of the falling path and the falling path is not blocked. It was possible to prevent damage and scratches.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the overall structure of a copying machine using a cleaning device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a carrying section of the cleaning device, and FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the present invention. It is an explanatory view shown. 1 ... Photosensitive member 6 ... Cleaning device 7 ... Cleaning blade 8 ... Cleaning part 9 ... Waste toner tank 10 ... Conveying part 13 ... Fall path 20, 20 '... Vibration generating means

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A cleaning unit having a cleaning unit for cleaning the toner remaining on the photoconductor after transfer, a collecting unit for collecting the cleaned toner, and a conveying unit for conveying the toner from the cleaning unit to the collecting unit. And a pipe-shaped drop path through which the toner falls under its own weight in the path of the transport unit, in which a vibration that gives a vibration to the drop path from outside the drop path is generated. A cleaning device comprising means. 2. The vibration generating means comprises a hitting member for hitting the falling path, and a driving means for giving a hitting operation to the hitting member at least when collecting toner. Cleaning device.