JPH06167912A - Electrophotographic apparatus cleaning device and cleaning method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] The present invention relates to a cleaning device for an electrophotographic apparatus. A first object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device in which scattered toner and the like are prevented from scattering. is there.
A second object is to extend the life of the cleaning brush. Further, a third object is to provide a cleaning method capable of efficiently cleaning the cleaning brush during the printing operation of the electrophotographic apparatus. [Configuration] Cleaning brush 3 for cleaning the portion to be cleaned
In a cleaning device of an electrophotographic apparatus, which includes a cleaning roll for removing and collecting dust adhering to the cleaning brush, the cleaning brush is separated from the portion to be cleaned during the non-cleaning operation, and the cleaning brush is operated during the cleaning operation. By rotating the cleaning brush in the opposite direction to the above, dust and the like attached to the cleaning brush are prevented from scattering to the outside of the cleaning device, and the life of the cleaning brush is extended.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for an electrophotographic apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is a known technique to bring a cleaning brush into contact with the surface of a rotating photoconductor and to sweep and collect the toner and the like remaining on the surface of the photoconductor with the cleaning brush.

In such a cleaning brush, there are various lengths of bristles.

In the case of a cleaning device using a cleaning brush having long brush bristles, if the cleaning brush is kept in contact with the surface of the photoconductor for a long period of time, the bristle tips of the cleaning brush are gradually tilted by the rotational force of the photoconductor. As a result, the cleaning ability of the cleaning brush is deteriorated. From the viewpoint of preventing the tip of the bristle tip of the cleaning brush from occurring, a technique in which the rotating direction of the cleaning brush is periodically reversed to perform the raising operation is described in, for example, JP-A-57-109970.

[0005]

However, if the cleaning brush is simply reversed as in JP-A-57-109970, the dust and the like adhering to the cleaning brush will be diffused again to the photoreceptor side. In view of the cleaning ability, there is a problem that the devices arranged around the cleaning device are soiled.

When a cleaning brush having short bristles (length of bristles is about 5 mm) is used in the cleaning device, toner, paper dust, etc. are present between the bristles as compared with a cleaning brush having a long bristles. Dust is easily clogged, and as a result, the rubbing depth of the brush bristles on the part to be cleaned becomes shallow,
There is a problem that the dust removed from the portion to be cleaned cannot be reliably collected.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device which prevents scattering of collected toner and the like in a cleaning device of an electrophotographic apparatus.

A second object of the present invention is to realize a longer life of a cleaning brush used in a cleaning device of an electrophotographic apparatus, and particularly to effectively clean a cleaning brush having short brush bristles. To provide a device.

Further, a third object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning method capable of efficiently cleaning the cleaning brush during the printing operation of the electrophotographic apparatus.

[0010]

In order to achieve the first object, the cleaning device for an electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention adopts a structure in which the cleaning brush is separated from the portion to be cleaned during the non-cleaning operation. did.

In order to achieve the second object, the cleaning device for the electrophotographic apparatus according to the present invention employs a structure in which the cleaning brush is rotated in the direction opposite to that during the cleaning operation. Further, in order to improve the ability to collect the dust adhering to the cleaning brush, a configuration is adopted in which a bias voltage is applied to each of the cleaning brush and the collecting roll.

Further, in order to achieve the third object, in the method for cleaning an electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention, the cleaning brush is separated from the portion to be cleaned during the printing operation,
In addition, a method of providing a period in which the cleaning brush is rotated in the opposite direction to the cleaning operation is adopted.

[0013]

According to the cleaning device for an electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to extend the life of the cleaning brush while preventing scattering of dust collected in the cleaning device.
Further, the cleaning brush can be efficiently maintained even during the printing operation of the electrophotographic apparatus.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The construction of a cleaning device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a portion to be cleaned. In the present invention, the portion to be cleaned refers to all members that need to be cleaned regularly or irregularly, but in this embodiment, the portion to be cleaned will be described as an electrostatic image holder.

A cleaning device 9 is provided near the electrostatic image carrier 1.

The cleaning device 9 is composed of a cleaning brush 3, a recovery roll 4, a blade 5, a discharge auger 6 and the like. The cleaning brush 3 has an overall outer diameter of about 30 mm and has a brush bristle portion. Is a conductive fur made by dispersing and blending carbon in rayon and is 5 mm
It is formed to a brush bristle length of the order.

At least the surface of the recovery roll 4 is electrically conductive, and is in contact with the cleaning brush 3 with a rubbing depth of about 1 mm.

The tip of the blade 5 is the recovery roll 4
Is arranged in the cleaning device 9 so as to come into contact with a predetermined rake angle with linear pressure.

Reference numerals 7 and 8 represent bias voltages,
If necessary, it may be applied to the cleaning brush 3 and the recovery roll 4 as shown in the drawing. In this embodiment, by setting the bias voltage 7 to about 400V, it is possible to satisfactorily collect dust from the electrostatic image carrier 1 to the cleaning brush 3 side, and set the bias voltage 8 to about 700V. By doing so, the dust can be favorably recovered from the cleaning brush 3 to the recovery roll 4 side.

In the figure, reference numeral 10 is a cleaning device 9.
It is an axis that constitutes a fulcrum of rotation when the whole is moved away from the surface of the electrostatic image holder 1.

Next, the operation of the cleaning device according to the present invention will be described.

During cleaning operation: electrostatic image carrier 1 during printing operation
Dust 2 such as toner and paper dust remaining on the surface is wiped off by a cleaning brush 3 rotating in the direction of arrow A as shown in FIG. The dust 2 that has been swept from the surface of the electrostatic image carrier 1 and adhered to the cleaning brush 3 is collected by the recovery roll 4
Is transported to the side and is rotated and conveyed in the direction of the arrow B to be scraped off by the blade 5 and dropped to the discharge auger 6 side.

During non-cleaning operation: During non-cleaning operation, as shown in FIG. 2, the entire cleaning device 9 rotates about the shaft 10, and the cleaning brush 3 is separated from the surface of the electrostatic image carrier 1. The cleaning brush 3 is reversed in the direction of arrow C.

Dust clogged in the cleaning brush 3 is discharged all at once by the above separating and reversing operations. When a printing operation of 400,000 pages was performed in the experiment, the cleaning brush was found to be clogged with 40 g of dust. Then, when the cleaning brush clogged with the dust of 40 g was reversely operated for 2 minutes, the dust was
I was able to reduce to g. Further, since the cleaning brush is only brought into contact with the recovery roll during the reverse rotation operation, the cleaning brush is reversely operated in a state where the cleaning brush is kept in contact with the surface of the electrostatic image carrier as in the prior art. I was able to reduce it to less than one-third.

In the present embodiment, the portion to be cleaned has been described as an electrostatic image carrier, but the same effect as above can be obtained even if the portion to be cleaned is, for example, the transfer belt portion.

[0027]

According to the cleaning device for an electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention, since the cleaning brush is separated from the portion to be cleaned during the non-cleaning operation, dust and the like adhering to the cleaning brush is scattered to the outside of the cleaning device. Can be prevented.

Further, according to the cleaning device of the electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention, since the cleaning brush is rotated in the opposite direction to the cleaning operation at the time of the separating operation, the dust clogging the cleaning brush is discharged, so that the cleaning brush is cleaned. It is possible to realize a long life.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a configuration of a cleaning device according to the present invention when a cleaning brush is normally rotated.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of the cleaning device according to the present invention when the cleaning brush is reversed.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 1 is a portion to be cleaned, 3 is a cleaning brush, and 4 is a recovery roll.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device of an electrophotographic apparatus, comprising: a cleaning brush for cleaning a portion to be cleaned; and a collection roll for removing and collecting dust adhering to the cleaning brush, wherein the cleaning brush is covered with the cleaning brush during non-cleaning operation. A cleaning device for an electrophotographic apparatus, characterized in that the cleaning brush is rotated in a direction opposite to that during a cleaning operation while being separated from a cleaning unit. 2. The cleaning device for an electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a bias voltage is applied to the cleaning brush and the recovery roll. 3. In an electrophotographic apparatus for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on an electrostatic image carrier to form a developed image, the cleaning brush is attached to the portion to be cleaned prior to forming the developed image. A cleaning method for an electrophotographic apparatus, characterized in that the cleaning brush is rotated in a direction opposite to that during the cleaning operation. 4. An electrophotographic apparatus for rotating an electrostatic image carrier a plurality of times to perform multi-color printing, and prior to forming a development image on the electrostatic image carrier, removes the cleaning brush from the portion to be cleaned. A cleaning method for an electrophotographic apparatus, characterized in that the cleaning brushes are separated from each other and the cleaning brush is rotated in a direction opposite to that in the cleaning operation.