JPH1055111A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing toner leakage between a toner container and a toner holder for a long period of time. SOLUTION: The present invention is applied to a toner container 24 containing a toner 2, a toner holding member 5, a seal member 22 provided between the toner container 24 and the toner holding member 5, and an application to the toner holding member 5. When the bias voltage VB to be applied is a positive value, a bias voltage VS smaller than the bias VB is applied to the seal member 22, and when the bias voltage VB is a negative value, the bias voltage VS is larger than the bias voltage VB.
A seal member power supply 23 for applying
.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, in order to prevent toner leakage between a toner container containing toner and a toner holder holding toner on the surface, A sealing member such as an elastic body is provided between the toner container and the toner holding member, and a method of mechanically sealing the toner has been used.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional image forming apparatus, although it is possible to prevent toner leakage at the initial stage, it is necessary to predict the abrasion and deformation of the seal member over time, It is difficult to set the shape of the seal member, the contact area with the toner holding member, the contact pressure, and the like, and toner leakage occurs due to the deformation of the seal member,
This is a cause of image defects and soiling of the inside of the image forming apparatus.

[0004] The present invention is to solve the above problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus that can prevent toner leakage between a toner container and a toner holder for a long period of time.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a toner container for storing toner, a toner holder, a seal member disposed between the toner container and the toner holder. Bias voltage VB applied to toner holder
Is a positive value, a bias voltage VS smaller than the bias VB is applied to the sealing member, and if the bias voltage VB is a negative value, a bias voltage VS larger than the bias voltage VB is applied to the sealing member. And a power supply for the sealing member.

With this configuration, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing toner leakage between the toner container and the toner holder for a long period of time.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to a first aspect of the present invention is directed to a toner container accommodating a toner, a toner holding member, a seal member disposed between the toner container and the toner holding member, and a toner container. When the bias voltage VB applied to the holder is a positive value, a bias voltage VS smaller than the bias VB is applied to the sealing member, and when the bias voltage VB is a negative value, the bias voltage VB is higher than the bias voltage VB. And a power supply for the seal member for applying the bias voltage VS to the seal member. The bias voltage applied to the seal member causes the toner on the toner holder to be attracted to the seal member by electrostatic force. As a result, even if the seal member is worn or deformed over time, it is possible to prevent toner leakage between the toner container and the toner holder for a long time. A.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the seal member is formed of a conductive resin. Since the contacting portion is deformed according to the shape of the toner holding member, it has an effect that a mechanical load such as friction on the toner holding member can be reduced.

As the conductive resin, there are a single-cell type conductive elastic foam, an open-cell type conductive elastic foam, and the like, and these foams stain toner into the sealing member. It may have a skin layer to prevent the toner holding member and the seal member from slipping and to improve the sliding property.

More specifically, a urethane resin, a silicone resin, or the like is used, but is not particularly limited thereto.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the seal member is formed of a metal, and the seal member has high conductivity. This has the effect that the potential gradient in the seal member is eliminated, a uniform bias voltage is applied to the entire seal member, and more uniform sealing characteristics are obtained throughout the seal member.

As the metal, aluminum or the like is used, but it is not particularly limited to this.

A specific example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a principal part of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a principal part showing a periphery of a seal member of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a developing device housing, 2 denotes toner, 3 denotes a toner stirring member, 4 denotes a toner supply roller, 5 denotes a toner holder, 6 denotes a developing device blade, and 7 denotes a developing device blade.
Is a power supply for the toner holder, 8 is a photoreceptor, 9 is a charger, 9a
Is a charged wire, 9b is a shield plate, 10 is a paper feed cassette, 1
1 is a copy paper, 12 is a feed roller, 13a and 13b are transport rollers, 14 is a registration roller, 15 is a driven roller,
6 is a transfer roller, 17 is a fixing device, 18 is a heat roller,
19 is a pressure roller, 20 is a static eliminator, 21 is a cleaning blade, 22 is a seal member, 23 is a power supply for the seal member, and 24 is a toner container.

A detailed configuration and operation of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described below.

When image formation by the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is started, the toner 2 held in the toner container 24 of the developing device housing 1 is sent to the toner supply roller 4 by the toner stirring member 3. . As a result, the toner supply roller 4 and the toner holder 5 rotate, and the toner 2 attached to the surface of the toner supply roller 4 is supplied to the surface of the toner holder 5. The toner 2 on the surface of the toner holder 5 is triboelectrically charged by the developing device blade 6 and thinned on the surface, and a voltage is applied to the toner holder 5 by the toner holder power supply 7.

The photosensitive member 8 disposed adjacent to the toner holding member 5 is rotated by the rotation of the toner holding member 5.
And the corona discharge of the charger 9 including the charging wire 9a and the shield plate 9b,
The surface of the photoconductor 8 is charged. The photoreceptor 8 is composed of a columnar metal rotator and a photoreceptor layer formed of selenium, an organic photoconductor, or the like formed on the surface of the rotator. The toner on the toner carrier 5 adheres to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor 8 by a latent image forming means (not shown) in a portion where An image is formed.

On the other hand, the copy paper 11 held in the paper supply cassette 10 is carried out by the paper supply roller 12, and is sequentially delivered in the direction of arrow A by the conveyance rollers 13a and 13b. Between the photoconductor 8 and the transport rollers 13a and 13b, a registration roller 14 and a driven roller for holding the copy paper 11 on standby so that the toner image on the photoconductor 8 is transferred to a predetermined position of the copy paper 11. 15 are provided.

When the copy paper 11 is conveyed to the position of the photoconductor 8, the transfer roller 16 to which a bias voltage having a polarity opposite to the bias voltage applied to the photoconductor 8 is applied.
When the copy paper 11 is brought into contact with the photoconductor 8, the toner image on the photoconductor 8 is transferred to the copy paper 11. The transferred toner image is transferred to a heat roller 1 provided in a fixing device 17.
The roller 8 and the pressure roller 19 rotate and are conveyed while being nipped between them, so that they are fixed on the copy paper 11.

After the toner image has been transferred to the copy paper 11, the charge remaining on the photoreceptor 8 is removed by the charge remover 20, and the remaining toner 2 is also cleaned by the cleaning blade 2.
1 removed.

The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is different from the conventional example in that the toner holding member 5 and the toner container 2 are different from each other.
4, a seal member 22 made of a conductive resin or a metal and disposed along the surface of the toner holder 5 to which the toner 2 adheres, and a power supply for the seal member for applying a voltage to the seal member 22 23, and when the bias voltage VB applied to the toner holding member 5 is a positive value during the above operation, a bias voltage VS smaller than the bias VB is applied to the seal member 22, When the voltage VB is a negative value, a bias voltage VS higher than the bias voltage VB is applied to the seal member 22.

By applying the bias voltage VS to the seal member 22 as described above, the toner 2 on the toner holder 5 is attracted to the seal member 22 by the electrostatic force, so that the seal member 22 wears and deforms over time. In this case, toner leakage between the toner container 24 and the toner holder 5 can be prevented for a long time.

[0023]

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, by applying a bias voltage to the seal member, the gap between the toner container and the toner holder due to the abrasion or deformation of the seal member over time is obtained. Since it is possible to prevent toner leakage for a long period of time, an excellent effect of preventing image defects and contamination in the image forming apparatus due to toner leakage can be obtained. Also, by preventing toner leakage,
An excellent effect that the toner can be used without waste is obtained. Further, since contamination in the image forming apparatus due to toner leakage can be prevented, an excellent effect that maintenance and management of the image forming apparatus becomes easy can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part showing a periphery of a seal member of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Developing device housing 2 Toner 3 Toner stirring member 4 Toner supply roller 5 Toner holder 6 Developing blade 7 Toner holder power supply 8 Photoconductor 9 Charger 9a Charging wire 9b Shield plate 10 Paper cassette 11 Copy paper 12 Paper feed Rollers 13a, 13b Conveyance Roller 14 Registration Roller 15 Follower Roller 16 Transfer Roller 17 Fixer 18 Heat Roller 19 Pressure Roller 20 Static Eliminator 21 Cleaning Blade 22 Sealing Member 23 Power Supply for Sealing Member 24 Toner Container

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tetsuhiro Tsuru 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A toner container containing toner, a toner holder, a seal member disposed between the toner container and the toner holder, and a bias voltage VB applied to the toner holder is positive. When the bias voltage VB is a negative value, the bias voltage VS smaller than the bias VB is applied to the sealing member. When the bias voltage VB is a negative value, the bias voltage VS higher than the bias voltage VB is applied to the sealing member. An image forming apparatus comprising: a power supply for a sealing member applied to the member. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said seal member is formed of a conductive resin. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said seal member is formed of metal.