JPS60263182A - Image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the durability of a fixing roller and to constitute a small- sized, inexpensive cleaning device by pressing a cleaning sheet against the fixing roller after fixation to a transparent sheet, and sending it through the rotation of the fixing roller. CONSTITUTION:When a copy button is turned on in copy mode using the transparent sheet, the transparent sheet 28 is sent out of a cassette 27 by a feed roller 33, passed through a transfer drum 15, and separated from the transfer drum 15 with a separation claw 19. Then, paper 13 as the cleaning sheet sent out of a cassette 12 is carried forward through a conveyance path 14 and wound around the transfer drum 15. Rollers 1-3 increase in rotating speed to high speeds of paper fixation after the transparent sheet 28 is passed between the fixing roller 2 and lower pressure roller 3. At this time, the paper hold wound around the transfer drum 15 is separated with the separation claw 19 and discharged onto a paper discharge tray 32 though a conveyance path 20 and between the fixing roller 2 and lower pressure roller 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus, in particular, a rubber roller serving as a fixing roller and a pressure roller are heated and brought into contact with each other, and a recording material having an unfixed toner image is passed between the two rollers to remove the unfixed toner image. The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus equipped with a heat fixing device that fixes an image.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional heat fixing device having a three-roller configuration. ■ is a pressure roller, for example, a metal pipe l.
It has a structure in which the surface of a is coated with a Teflon (trade name) layer 1b. Reference numeral 2 denotes a fixing roller, which has a structure in which, for example, the surface of a metal pipe 2a is coated with an RTV silicone rubber layer 2b. 3
is a pressure roller F, which has the same configuration as the above-mentioned upper pressure roller I.

Reference numeral 6 denotes an oil application mechanism that applies silicone oil 0 to the L pressure roller 1 to prevent offset.

The recording material 5 on which the image is to be fixed advances on the guide plate 41- and passes between the fixing roller 2 and the lower front pressure roller 3, whereby the unfixed toner image 17 carried on the surface is heated and fixed. In this case, if a silicone rubber roller is used as the fixing roller 2, and if the recording material 5 is made of fibrous material such as paper (hereinafter referred to as paper), the molten toner may get stuck between the fibrous materials. Therefore, the so-called offset phenomenon in which the toner is transferred to the fixing roller does not occur very often.Also, the toner that has been slightly offset comes into contact with the paper 5 again due to the rotation of the fixing roller 2, and is removed from the paper. Because of the offset phenomenon, there has not been much demand for cleaning if the fixing roller 2 is offset.

However, when a resin-like recording material with a highly smooth surface is used, such as a transparent array film sheet for overhead projectors (hereinafter referred to as Trachen), the durability of the fixing roller 2 is drastically reduced due to the following reasons. There was a drawback. In other words, since it is difficult for the trap pen to grip the toner, the amount of offset of the toner to the fixing roller increases, and the fixing roller has a strong adhesion force to the toner, so that the toner continues to adhere to the fixing roller. Moreover, so-called re-offset is difficult to occur with the trap pen, and the toner adhering to the fixing roller is not removed even if it comes into contact with the trap pen again due to the rotation of the fixing roller, and the trap pen has a smooth resin surface that has a force that pushes the toner into the fixing roller. As a result, the toner offset to the fixing roller is forced into the rubber roller structure, changing the surface condition of the rubber roller and drastically reducing its durability.

Therefore, various cleaning means have been proposed in the past for the purpose of removing the toner offset on the fixing roller as described above. One of the simple means is a web cleaning device. In this web cleaning device, a belt-like web 26 wound around a feed shaft 22 is brought into pressure contact with a fixing roller and then wound onto a winding machine 23. The web impregnated with an anti-offset agent causes the anti-offset agent to be applied to the fixing roller. There are some that apply an anti-offset agent and clean the fixing roller, and others that clean the fixing roller without including an anti-offset agent in the web.

However, when a rubber roller is used as the fixing roller to fix paper with a highly smooth surface, the amount of offset of the toner to the fixing roller is greater than when fixing paper. With the cleaning ability of the fixing roller, it was not possible to sufficiently clean the fixing roller when the trap pen was fixed.

For this reason, conventional attempts have been made to improve the cleaning ability by increasing the amount of web feed, but this has the drawbacks of increasing the winding diameter of the web and increasing the frequency of replacement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, improves the durability of a rubber roller as a fixing roller, and improves the service life of a cleaning member such as a cleaning web due to wear and tear.

As a means for achieving the above object, the present invention brings a rubber roller serving as a fixing roller and a pressure roller into contact with each other under heat, and passes a recording material having an unfixed toner image between the two rollers to fix the unfixed toner image. In the image recording apparatus, the image recording apparatus includes a heat fixing device for selecting the type of the recording material, and when the means selects a resin-like recording material having a surface condition, heat-fixing the resin-like recording material. The image recording apparatus is further provided with a cleaning sheet feeding means for cleaning the rollers by passing a cleaning sheet between the two rollers, following the resinous recording material.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electrophotographic color copying apparatus showing the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a diagram of the operation panel of the apparatus. The mode switches 9 and 10 on the operation panel 8'' select the type of recording material, for example, switch 9 selects paper and switch 10 selects paper pen.

Now, when the main switch 7 is turned on, paper is selected with the switch 9, and the copy switch 11 is turned on, copying starts, and the paper 13 is sent out from the cassette 12 by the feed roller 31 and advances through the conveyance path 14. , the tip is a gripper (
The toner t17 formed on the photosensitive drum 16-1z held by the transfer drum 15 (not shown) is transferred to the paper 13 wrapped around the transfer drum 15 by the transfer charger 18. After the transfer, it is separated from the transfer drum 15 by the separation claw 19, passes through the conveyance path 20, and is transferred to the fixing device I21.
transported to. This fixing device 21 has the configuration shown in FIG. w44 above.

The paper 13 conveyed to the fixing device 21 shown in L passes between the fixing rubber roller 2 and the pressure roller 3, is heated and fixed, and is discharged to the paper discharge tray 321-. In this paper copy mode, the pressing roller 24 is moved to the chain line water position due to the non-operation of an electromagnetic mechanism (not shown), so the cleaning web 26 is separated from the fixing roller 2 as shown in the chain line water position.

・In the case of the copy mode using the trap pen, when the copy button 11 is turned on, the trap pen 28 is removed from the cassette 27.
is sent out by the feeding roller 33, and is conveyed to the fixing device 21 through the same process as the -recording paper. In this case, Trapen 2
8 is also separated from the transfer drum 15 by the separation claw 19, each of the rollers 1 to 3 of the fixing device 21 rotates at a low speed corresponding to the trap fixing speed, and at the same time the suppression roller 24 is moved to the solid line position by the operation of an electromagnetic mechanism (not shown). The cleaning web 26 is brought into pressure contact with the fixing rubber roller 2. This cleaning web 26 is connected from the motor 3JO to the gear G.
It is wound up in the direction of arrow 29 by the driving force transmitted through 1-G3.

After the L-tramen is separated from the transfer drum, the case is removed.
Paper 13 which is a cleaning sheet sent out from 12
After the trap pen 28 passes between the fixing roller 2 and the disembarkation pressure roller 3, the rotational speed of each roller 1 to 3 fixes the paper. It will rotate at high speed. At this time, the paper 13 that has been waiting wrapped around the transfer drum 15 is separated by the separation claw 19, passes through the conveyance path 20 between the fixing roller 2 and the F pressure roller 3, and is ejected to the paper ejection tray 321-. Ru. FIG. 3 shows the timing of the copy mode using the 1-trapen.

As shown in the above embodiments, the cleaning sheet is preferably paper, and if the surface is not highly slippery so that the toner that has been offset to the roller will be offset again, it can be used for paper feeding and conveyance, such as thick paper or thin paper. It may be of any size as long as it is possible, and more preferably, its size should be a standard one, and its length should be at least the length of the trap pen and at least the circumference of the roller. The conduit should be the same or wider than the width of the trap.

Further, in the above embodiment, the cleaning sheet was fed and conveyed from the cassette 27, but the paper pen and paper may be stacked alternately, and the paper pen and paper may be fed from the same cassette 27. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, cleaning sheets may be loaded in another cassette 50 and transported through a transport path 51.

By carrying out the cleaning with the paper described in 1-,
When fixing with a conventional trap pen, the durability of the fixing roller was 3000 sheets, but durability of 6000 sheets or more was obtained.

1-1 According to the present invention, after fixing to the trap pen, the cleaning sheet is brought into pressure contact with the fixing roller and is fed by the rotation of the fixing roller, so that the toner adhering to the fixing roller l- is transferred to the cleaning sheet 4- 1'i to clean the fixing roller and improve its durability. As a result, since the cleaning device only needs to have the cleaning ability when paper is fixed, it is possible to use a small and inexpensive device.

In Figure 11, 34 is a document illumination light source, 35 to 38 are mirrors, 39 is a lens, 40 is a color separation filter, and 41 is 1
42 is a secondary charger, 43a to 43c are three color developing devices, 44 is a cleaner, and 45 is a static eliminator. Also,
In Figure WIJ4, 46.47 is a heater provided in the L lower front pressure rollers 1 and 3, and 48.49 is a separation claw.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a top view showing one embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation panel, Figure 3 is a timing diagram, Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the Miki roller type heat fixing device, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment. 1 is an onboard pressure roller, 2 is a fixing roller, and 3 is an offboard pressure roller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An image equipped with a heat fixing device that brings a rubber roller as a fixing roller into heating contact with a pressure roller, and fixes the unfixed toner image by passing a recording material having an unfixed toner image between the two rollers. In the recording apparatus, a selection means for selecting the type of recording material, and when the selection means selects a resin-like recording material with a smooth surface, after the resin-like recording material is heated in a heating chamber R, the resin-like recording material is heated. An image recording apparatus further comprising: a cleaning sheet feeding means for cleaning the rollers by passing a cleaning sheet between the two rollers.