JPH10254246A - Waste liquid treatment device in image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a waste liquid treatment apparatus in an image forming apparatus capable of efficiently absorbing a large amount of waste liquid in a waste liquid box. SOLUTION: A waste liquid treatment apparatus 20 disposed in an image forming apparatus main body includes a fiber layer having a high waste liquid absorption rate on a foam 23 having a low waste liquid absorption rate but a large holding power inside a waste liquid box 21. 22 are laminated. The waste liquid of the residual toner and the cleaning liquid enters the waste liquid box 21 through the recovery pipe 33, is quickly absorbed by the fiber layer 22, and is absorbed and held by the foam 23 below the waste liquid box.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a waste liquid processing apparatus in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer of a wet development system using electrophotography.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Development methods in image forming apparatuses are roughly classified into dry development and wet development. Wet development using a developing solution can provide high resolution because the toner particle size is smaller than dry development. In wet development, a developing solution in which a toner such as carbon black coated with a resin is dispersed in a carrier liquid including a petroleum solvent such as Isopar (Exxon Chemical) is developed on the surface of the latent image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed. The electrostatic latent image is developed by utilizing the electrophoresis phenomenon of charged toner in the carrier liquid from above the roller.

The configuration of a conventional wet developing type image forming apparatus will be described below. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a conventional image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a waste liquid processing apparatus of a conventional image forming apparatus.

A latent image carrier 2 is arranged in an image forming apparatus main body 1 so as to be rotatable. On the surface of the latent image carrier 2, a photosensitive receiving layer such as a-Si or an organic photoconductor (OPC) is applied. Reference numeral 3 denotes a charger, which uniformly charges the latent image carrier 2 using corona discharge. Reference numeral 4 denotes an exposure optical system which forms an electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier 2 by turning on / off a laser controlled by information from a host computer.

The developing unit includes a developing roller 5 that supplies the supplied developing solution to the outer peripheral surface of the photoreceptor to make a latent image written on the outer peripheral surface of the photoreceptor appear as a toner image. Roller 6 for removing excess developer adhering to the toner, and set roller 7 for increasing the cohesive force of the toner layer
Consists of A developer tank 12 for storing a developer containing toner is disposed on the side of the developing roller 5, and a pump P is provided between the developer tank 12 and the developing roller 5.
The supply pipe 31 to which the developing solution is supplied by the drive of is supplied.

A recovery section 13 for returning the developing solution supplied to the developing section and used for forming a toner image to the developing solution tank 12 is connected to the developing solution tank 12. The developer tank 12 is connected to a carrier liquid bottle 14 for supplying a carrier liquid and a toner bottle 15 for supplying a high-concentration developer. The cleaning section of the latent image carrier is composed of a sponge-shaped foam roller 9 and a cleaning blade 10 made of an elastic material such as rubber. Remove residual toner.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a static eliminator provided with a light emitting diode and the like, and after the remaining toner is removed, the latent image carrier 2 is removed.
The latent image charge remaining on the substrate is removed by light irradiation.
Around the latent image carrier 2, a charger 3, an exposure optical system 4, a developing roller 5, a squeeze roller 6, a set roller 7, a transfer roller 8, a form roller 9, and a cleaning blade 1
0, a static eliminator 11 is arranged. Reference numeral 16 denotes a sheet, 17 denotes a separator, and 18 denotes a fixing unit.

A cleaning liquid tank 19 stores a cleaning liquid using a carrier liquid for cleaning the latent image carrier 2. Reference numeral 20 denotes a waste liquid treatment device that collects waste liquid. As shown in FIG. 3, the waste liquid treatment device 20 includes a waste liquid box 21 and a fiber layer 22. In a waste liquid box 21, a fiber layer 22 made of polypropylene fiber or the like that absorbs waste liquid is disposed.

The operation of the conventional image forming apparatus configured as described above will be described below. First, as a charging step, a corona discharge is performed in the charger 3 connected to the high-voltage power supply to uniformly charge the surface of the latent image carrier 2. Next, as an exposure step, when the latent image carrier 2 is rotated in the direction of arrow A by a driving device and the surface of the uniformly charged latent image carrier 2 is irradiated with an exposure light beam such as a laser beam corresponding to an image, The irradiated portion on the latent image carrier 2 loses its charge, and a latent image is formed. Next, as a developing process, the developing solution supplied from the developing solution tank 12 through the supply pipe 31 is supplied from the developing roller 5 onto the latent image carrier 2, and development is performed to make the latent image visible as a toner image.

After the development, excess developer adhering to the latent image carrier 2 is removed by a squeeze roller 6, and then a high electric field having the same polarity as the toner is applied to the toner layer on the latent image carrier 2 by a set roller 7. Is applied to increase the cohesive force of the toner layer. Further, the developing solution supplied into the developing unit and used for forming the toner image is returned to the developing solution tank 12 through the collecting unit 13. After that, the toner image formed on the latent image carrier 2 is transferred to the paper 16, and the remaining toner remaining on the latent image carrier 2 without being transferred is removed in a cleaning process, and further, in a static elimination process, By 11, the residual electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier 2 is neutralized, and the toner image forming process ends.

The toner image thus formed is transferred to a sheet 16 by applying a transfer bias to a transfer roller 8 as a transfer step. At this time, the sheet 16 is charged and adheres to the latent image carrier 2. . Therefore, the separator 1
The sheet 16 is separated from the latent image carrier 2 by applying an AC bias to the wire of the corona discharger 7. Next, the paper 16 is conveyed to a fixing device 18, and a toner image is fixed on the paper 16 by the fixing device 18 as a fixing process, and then discharged.

In the cleaning step, a supply pipe 32 for supplying a cleaning liquid is provided between the cleaning section and the cleaning liquid tank 19.
The cleaning liquid supplied into the cleaning unit via the supply pipe 32 is diffused to the foam roller 9, and the residual toner is cleaned by the foam roller 9 and the cleaning blade 10. The residual toner that has been cleaned is squeezed out together with the cleaning liquid as squeezed waste liquid, enters the waste liquid box 21 of the waste liquid treatment device 20 via the recovery pipe 33 from the cleaning unit, and is absorbed by the fiber layer 22. Thereafter, when the waste liquid box 21 is full, the user or service person replaces the waste liquid box.

[0013]

However, since the waste liquid absorbing means of the conventional waste liquid treatment apparatus uses only fibers such as polypropylene fiber, the waste liquid has a lack of retention of waste liquid.
There is a problem that a large amount of waste liquid cannot be efficiently absorbed in the waste liquid box.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a waste liquid processing apparatus in an image forming apparatus capable of efficiently absorbing a large amount of waste liquid into a waste liquid box.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to a waste liquid processing apparatus for an image forming apparatus of a wet development type, which comprises a waste liquid box for storing waste liquid and a waste liquid box disposed in the waste liquid box. Absorbing means for absorbing the waste liquid, the absorbing means, a foam having a large waste liquid holding power,
It is a laminate of fiber layers on this foam, which has a high waste liquid absorption rate.

According to this configuration, a waste liquid treating apparatus in an image forming apparatus in which a large amount of waste liquid is efficiently absorbed in the waste liquid box can be obtained.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 is a waste liquid treatment apparatus for an image forming apparatus of a wet development type, wherein a waste liquid box for storing the waste liquid and a waste liquid arranged in the waste liquid box are disposed. An absorbing means is provided for absorbing, and the absorbing means is a laminate of a foam having a large waste liquid holding power and a fiber layer on the foam and having a high waste liquid absorption rate.

According to this configuration, the waste liquid in the waste liquid box is first absorbed by the fiber layer which absorbs quickly and then slowly absorbed, but is absorbed by the foam having a holding power, so that a large amount of waste liquid can be efficiently removed. It has the function of absorbing the waste liquid into the waste liquid box.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the waste liquid treatment apparatus of the first aspect, the foam is made of ether polyurethane or ester polyurethane.

According to this configuration, since these materials have a large holding power of the waste liquid, they have an effect that more liquid developer can be held.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the waste liquid treatment apparatus according to the first aspect, the fiber layer is made of polypropylene fiber, pulp, absorbent paper, or felt.

With this configuration, these materials have a function of absorbing the waste liquid quickly because they absorb the waste liquid quickly.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a waste liquid processing apparatus in an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the image forming apparatus is the same as that of FIG.

The waste liquid treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a waste liquid box 21 for storing a waste liquid, and a waste liquid absorbing means disposed in the waste liquid box 21. The absorbing means is a laminate of a foam 23 having a large waste liquid holding power and a fiber layer 22 on the foam 23 having a high waste liquid absorption rate. The fiber layer 22 is, for example, polypropylene fiber, and the foam 23 is, for example, ether polyurethane. The foam 23 is thick, and the fiber layer 22 is thinly disposed thereon.

In the above configuration, the waste liquid entering the waste liquid box 21 from the recovery pipe 33 is first absorbed by the fiber layer 22 having a high absorption rate, and then absorbed by the foam 23 having a low absorption rate but having a large holding power. You. The waste liquid thus entered into the waste liquid box 21 is first removed from the fiber layer 22 having a high absorption rate.
Then, the absorption rate is slow, but the absorption is performed by the foam 23 having a large holding power, so that the waste liquid box 21 can efficiently absorb a large amount of waste liquid.

In the above embodiment, polypropylene fiber is used for the fiber layer 22, but pulp, absorbent paper or felt may be used. Further, although ether polyurethane is used as the foam 23, ester polyurethane may be used.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, a large amount of waste liquid can be efficiently absorbed in the waste liquid box. Also, during the replacement of the waste liquid, liquid splashing or leakage occurs or the container is accidentally knocked down. Since there is no spillover, an image forming apparatus with good maintainability can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a waste liquid processing apparatus in an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a waste liquid processing apparatus of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Description of Signs] 1 Image forming apparatus main body 2 Latent image carrier 20 Waste liquid treatment device 21 Waste liquid box 22 Fiber layer 23 Foam

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A waste liquid processing apparatus for an image forming apparatus of a wet developing system, comprising: a waste liquid box for storing a waste liquid; and an absorbing means disposed in the waste liquid box for absorbing the waste liquid. , A foam with large waste liquid holding power,
A waste liquid treatment apparatus in an image forming apparatus, wherein the waste liquid treatment apparatus is a laminate of a fiber layer on the foam and having a high waste liquid absorption rate. 2. The waste liquid treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the foam is ether polyurethane or ester polyurethane. 3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said fiber layer is made of pulp, absorbent paper, polypropylene fiber or felt.