JPH0721684B2 - Cleaning device in recording device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cleaning member for removing toner remaining on the surface of a latent image carrier after the transfer of a visible image, and a toner chamber in which the toner removed from the surface of the latent image carrier falls. And a toner container that is located adjacent to the toner container and has a toner storage chamber that stores the toner sent from the toner chamber, and that is disposed below the upper wall of the toner container and is rotationally driven. A rod-shaped toner feeding member having a polygonal cross-sectional shape for feeding the toner from the toner chamber to the toner storage chamber, the upper portion is fixed to the upper wall of the toner container, and the lower portion is in contact with the peripheral surface of the toner feeding member. An elastic sheet for partitioning the toner chamber and the toner storage chamber is provided. The elastic sheet has a surface on the toner chamber side abutting the toner feeding member, and the toner feeding member is rotated in accordance with the rotation of the toner feeding member. By an external force received from member, elastically repeated bending deformation to the side of the upper portion of the elastic sheet secured to the upper wall of the toner container as a fulcrum, to a cleaning apparatus in a recording apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art In a recording device that forms a visible image made of toner on a latent image carrier and transfers the visible image to a transfer material to obtain the image, such as an electronic copying machine, an electrostatic recording device, and various printers,
It is well known in the art to clean the surface of a latent image bearing member after the transfer of a visible image with a cleaning member of a cleaning device of the above type, and store the toner removed from the surface of the latent image bearing member in a toner storage chamber. is there.

At that time, the above-mentioned elastic sheet is a member that functions to scrape off the toner on the toner feeding member and to function as a seal that prevents the toner stored in the toner storage chamber from flowing out of the storage chamber. However, when the amount of toner in the toner storage chamber increases and the pressure increases, the elastic sheet may be deformed into a bent state due to the pressure from the toner. If such a situation occurs, the elastic sheet cannot sufficiently function to prevent the toner from flowing out, and it becomes impossible to reliably store the toner in the toner storage chamber. When the cleaning member is positioned, the toner that has flowed out may impair the cleaning action of the cleaning member.

In order to eliminate the above-mentioned defects, the bending rigidity of the elastic sheet may be increased so that the elastic sheet is not easily deformed even when pressure is applied from the toner. However, if the rigidity of the elastic sheet is increased in this way, the force that acts from the elastic sheet to the toner feeding member having a polygonal cross-sectional shape increases, so the torque required to rotate the toner feeding member must be increased. Not only that, since the toner feeding member is polygonal,
When a large pressure is applied from the elastic sheet to this, torque fluctuation occurs, which causes jitter, which inevitably deteriorates the quality of the image formed by the recording apparatus. Further, the polygonal corners of the toner feeding member may be scraped off over time due to the pressure applied by the elastic sheet, which may reduce the toner feeding ability of the toner feeding member.

OBJECT The object of the invention is to provide a cleaning device of the type mentioned at the outset, which makes it possible to eliminate or reduce the disadvantages of the prior art.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cleaning device of the type described at the beginning, wherein an elastic sheet is fixed to an upper wall of a toner container and extends from the upper wall to a position close to the toner feeding member. It is proposed to provide a sheet receiving portion that extends downward along the side of the toner chamber side and that receives the surface of the elastic sheet on the toner chamber side when the pressure of the toner in the toner storage chamber acts on the elastic sheet.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, and the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks will be more specifically clarified with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partial view of an electronic copying machine having a cleaning device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a latent image carrier configured as an endless belt-shaped photoconductor 2 is wound around a roller 3 shown in the figure and another roller not shown in the figure and driven in the direction of arrow A. At this time, as is known per se, an electrostatic latent image and a visible image composed of toner powder are sequentially formed on the surface of the photoconductor, and this visible image is transferred to a transfer material (not shown). The toner remains on the surface of the photoconductor after the transfer of the visible image, and if it is left as it is, the visible image formed next is stained.
Therefore, the residual toner is cleaned by the cleaning device 1 before the next image forming process is performed.

The cleaning device 1 is located opposite to the photoconductor 2 and has a cleaning member configured as a cleaning blade 4 and a toner container 5. The cleaning blade 4 serves to remove the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 2 after the transfer of the visible image, as will be described later, and the toner container 5 includes the toner chamber 5c on the right side in FIG. It has a toner storage chamber 5a located adjacent to it. Toner is stored in the toner storage chamber 5a as described later. The cleaning blade 4 is arranged in the toner chamber 5c and is fixed to the upper wall of the toner container 5 by the holder 6, and the tip of the blade 4 is in pressure contact with the photoconductor 2.

Further, the cleaning device 1 is arranged at a position below the upper wall of the toner container 5, and is a rod-shaped toner feeding member 7 having a polygonal cross-section and driven to rotate in the arrow B direction.
And an elastic sheet 8, and the elastic sheet 8
Of the toner container 5 by means of, for example, screws, adhesive, or double-sided adhesive tape 20 as shown in the figure.
It is fixed to the upper wall. The lower portion of the elastic sheet 8 contacts the peripheral surface of the toner feeding member 7 to partition the toner chamber 5c of the toner container 5 and the toner storage chamber 5a. Although the illustrated toner feeding member 7 has a quadrangular cross-sectional shape, it may be formed in a triangular shape or a polygonal shape having five or more sides. A seal member 9 prevents the toner scraped off by the blade 4 from being discharged to the outside of the container.

When the photoconductor portion after the transfer of the visible image reaches the cleaning device 1, the toner remaining on the portion is scraped off by the cleaning blade 4. The toner removed from the surface of the photoconductor drops in the toner chamber 5c of the toner container 5, and the arrow B
By the toner feeding member 7 which rotates in the direction, the toner is fed from the toner chamber 5c of the toner container 5 into the toner storage chamber 5a and is stored in the toner storage chamber 5a. In this way, the toner feeding member 7 serves to feed the toner from the toner chamber 5c to the toner storage chamber 5a by being rotationally driven. At this time, since the toner feeding member 7 has a polygonal cross section, the toner is reliably fed by the corners of the toner feeding member 7, and the toner is fed between the feeding member 7 and the container partition wall 5d under the arrow C. Move as shown.

The toner attached to the toner feeding member 7 is scraped off by the scraping action of the elastic sheet 8 whose lower portion is in pressure contact with this member 7. At this time, since the toner feeding member 7 having a polygonal cross-section is rotating, the elastic sheet 8 that abuts on the toner feeding member 7.
1 elastically deforms from the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 to the state shown by the broken line, and this deformation is repeated as the feeding member 7 rotates. In this way, the elastic sheet 8 has its surface on the toner chamber 5c side abutted on the toner feeding member 7 and the toner feeding member 7
Along with the rotation, the external force received from the feeding member 7 elastically repeatedly bends and deforms the upper side of the elastic sheet 8 fixed to the upper wall of the toner container 5 as a fulcrum. At this time, in order that the elastic sheet 8 can follow the rotation of the toner feeding member 7 having a polygonal cross-sectional shape, that is, any part of the lower portion of the elastic sheet can always come into contact with the toner feeding member 7, this elastic sheet 8 is made of an elastic material such as a polyester film.

Further, the elastic sheet 8 partitions the toner chamber 5c of the toner container 5 from the toner storage chamber 5a as described above, whereby the elastic sheet 8 moves the toner accumulated in the toner storage chamber 5a to the toner chamber 5c. It also serves to prevent that.

A sheet receiving portion configured as a barrier 21 is provided on the right side of the elastic sheet 8 in FIG. 1, which will be described later in detail.

Although the elastic sheet 8 does not perform two functions as described above, when the toner accumulates in the toner storage chamber 5a and its pressure increases, the elastic sheet 8 receives a large pressure from the toner in the toner storage chamber. For this reason, in the past, the drawbacks described above were inevitable, but this will be explained more specifically based on the conventional configuration example shown in FIG. The cleaning device shown in FIG. 2 is substantially the same as the structure shown in FIG. 1 except that the barrier 21 shown in FIG. 1 is not provided. In this case, if the elastic sheet 8 shown in FIG. 2 is made of a material that is relatively easily elastically deformed, when the powder pressure of the toner accumulated in the toner storage chamber 5a increases, the elastic sheet 8 is affected by this pressure. The toner is bent to the side of the toner chamber 5c, and is deformed as indicated by the chain line, for example, and finally is deformed as shown by the chain line. For this reason, the toner in the toner storage chamber 5a overflows from between the elastic sheet 8 and the toner feeding member 7 to the toner chamber 5c of the toner container, and the overflowing toner accumulates under the cleaning blade 4. When the amount of the accumulated toner increases, this toner pushes up the cleaning blade 4 and remarkably deteriorates the cleaning function of the cleaning blade 4. Further, toner may leak from between the seal member 9 and the photoconductor 2.

Therefore, if the bending rigidity of the elastic sheet 8 shown in FIG. 2 is increased in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, the elastic sheet 8 is less likely to be deformed by the pressure of the toner in the toner storage chamber, but the toner having a polygonal cross section is used. Due to the rotation of the feeding member 7, normal deformation as shown by the broken line in FIG. 1 becomes difficult, the torque for rotating the toner feeding member 7 increases, the jitter is generated due to the torque fluctuation, and the corner portion of the toner feeding member 7 is scraped off. The drawback, which was explained earlier, is inevitable.

In order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, the following two conditions should be satisfied at the same time.

(1) The elastic sheet 8 is deformed following the rotation of the toner feeding member 7. That is, the elastic sheet 8 can be easily elastically deformed from its natural state to the left end in FIGS. 1 and 2 (state of broken line in FIG. 1).

(2) The elastic sheet 8 is made to withstand the pressure received from the toner in the toner storage chamber 5a. That is, the elastic sheet 8 is less likely to bend toward the right side toner chamber 5c in FIGS.

In order to achieve the above (1) and (2), in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the above-mentioned barrier is provided adjacent to the elastic sheet 8 on its right side, that is, on the side of the toner chamber 5c of the toner container 5. 21 is projected. This barrier 21 is the toner container 5
Is fixed to the upper wall of the elastic sheet 8 and extends downward from the upper wall to a position near the toner feeding member 7 along the surface of the elastic sheet 8 on the toner chamber 5c side. The barrier 21 shown in FIG. 1 is located continuously over the entire length of the elastic sheet 8 in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG.

The barrier 21 configured as described above receives the surface of the elastic sheet 8 on the side of the toner chamber 5c when the pressure of the toner in the toner storage chamber 5a acts on the elastic sheet 8. That is, the elastic sheet 8 is supported by the barrier 21. Therefore, the elastic sheet 8 does not largely deform toward the toner chamber 5c as shown by the one-dot chain line and the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, and therefore, as the elastic sheet 8, a sheet that is relatively easily bent and deformed can be used. Further, only the upper part of the elastic sheet 8 is fixed to the upper wall of the toner container 5 so that the elastic sheet 8 can be easily elastically deformed to the side of the toner storage chamber 5a. Double-sided adhesive tape 20 is not attached to. Therefore, depending on the rotation of the toner feeding member 7, the elastic sheet 8 can be bent and deformed as indicated by the broken line without any trouble.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the barrier 21 which is continuous over the entire length of the elastic sheet is used, but the barrier 21 may be provided only over a part of the region of the elastic sheet 8 on the toner chamber 5c side. . Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of barriers 21 are arranged at intervals along the axial direction of the toner feeding member 7 so that the barriers 21 are intermittently positioned over the entire length of the elastic sheet 8. You may Also in this case, the adhesive tape 20 is not interposed between the barrier 21 and the elastic sheet 8. If such a configuration is adopted, as shown in FIG. 4, the elastic sheet 8 which receives pressure from the toner in the toner storage chamber 5a is deformed into a corrugated plate shape, so that the bending rigidity thereof is further enhanced, which is indicated by an arrow in FIG. It becomes difficult to bend and deform in the direction indicated by X, that is, in the direction of the barrier 21. Thereby, the barrier from the upper wall of the toner container 5
It is also possible to make the protrusion height H of 21 smaller than the protrusion height h from the upper wall of the barrier 21 shown in FIG. 1 and to separate the lower end of the barrier from the toner feeding member 7 as compared with the case of FIG. .

In the illustrated embodiment, when the elastic sheet 8 in contact with the toner feeding member 7 is located closest to the toner chamber 5c, as shown by the solid line in FIG. The toner feeding member 7 is closer to the straight line than the straight line connecting T and the fixing portion F of the elastic sheet 8 (the portion where the elastic sheet 8 in FIG. 2 corresponds to the root portion F protruding from the upper wall of the toner container 5). In order to prevent the elastic sheet 8 from falling over, the front surface 21a of the barrier 21 on the toner storage chamber side is arranged along the straight line, but the front surface of the barrier 21 is located in the left or right direction in FIG. The intended purpose of the present invention can be achieved even with a slight shift.

Further, in the above embodiment, the toner container 5 and the integrally formed barrier 21 are used as the sheet receiving portion that receives the pressure exerted on the elastic sheet from the toner stored in the toner storage chamber.
The barrier may be a member separate from the toner container, or the sheet receiving portion may be configured in a form other than the barrier.

The toner container 5 shown in FIG. 1 has a toner detection device 10 for detecting the state of the amount of toner in the toner storage chamber 5a.
This device is provided with a flexible film member 12 fixed to an opening 11 formed in the upper wall of the toner container 5, and a pressure sensitive sensor 13 that comes into contact with the film member portion protruding outside the toner container. When the toner storage chamber 5a is filled with toner, the pressure acts on the pressure sensitive sensor 13 through the film member 12, thereby detecting that the toner storage chamber of the toner container is clogged with toner. Is configured. Toner storage room
If toner gets stuck in 5a, replace it with a new toner container. At this time, the pressure-sensitive sensor 13 is left on the main body of the copying machine, and it is not necessary to replace the sensor itself. It is also possible to use a toner detection device other than the illustrated type, for example, a sensor including a tuning fork.

The present invention can be applied to various copying machines other than those shown in the drawings, or electrostatic recording devices that use a latent image carrier containing a dielectric, or cleaning devices such as printers, and remain on the latent image carrier. The present invention can be applied to a cleaning device that uses, for example, a fur brush or the like, instead of a blade as a cleaning member for removing toner.

The cleaning device according to the present invention is provided with the sheet receiving portion for receiving the elastic sheet when the pressure of the toner contained in the toner storing chamber in the toner container is exerted on the elastic sheet. Even if the toner pressure is increased, the elastic sheet is not largely bent by the toner pressure, and the defects caused by the bending deformation of the sheet can be suppressed. Further, since it is not necessary to use a sheet having a particularly large bending rigidity as the elastic sheet, it is possible to prevent the drawbacks when the elastic sheet having a particularly large bending rigidity is used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view showing an example of a cleaning device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional partial view of a conventional cleaning device of this type, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of a barrier. FIG. 4 is a view of the inside of the toner container as seen obliquely from below, and FIG. 4 is a partial view as seen in the direction of arrow IV in FIG. 1 ... Cleaning device, 5a ... Toner storage chamber 5c ... Toner chamber, 7 ... Toner feeding member 8 ... Elastic sheet

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning member for removing the toner remaining on the surface of the latent image carrier after the transfer of the visible image, a toner chamber in which the toner removed from the surface of the latent image carrier falls, and a position adjacent to this chamber. And a toner container having a toner storage chamber for storing the toner sent from the toner chamber, and the toner container is disposed below the upper wall of the toner container and is rotationally driven to store the toner from the toner chamber. A rod-shaped toner feeding member having a polygonal cross-section for feeding the toner into the chamber, an upper portion fixed to the upper wall of the toner container, and a lower portion abutting the peripheral surface of the toner feeding member, the toner chamber and the toner storage chamber An elastic sheet for partitioning the sheet and the elastic sheet, and the surface of the elastic sheet on the toner chamber side abuts on the toner feeding member, and the elastic sheet receives an external force from the feeding member as the toner feeding member rotates. In a cleaning device of a recording apparatus, which is elastically repeatedly bent and deformed with an upper side of an elastic sheet fixed to an upper wall of a toner container as a fulcrum, the upper wall is fixed to the upper wall of the toner container. To a position close to the toner feeding member, extends downward along the surface of the elastic sheet on the toner chamber side, and when the pressure of the toner in the toner storage chamber acts on the elastic sheet, the surface of the elastic sheet on the toner chamber side. A cleaning device having a sheet receiving portion for receiving the sheet. 2. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the sheet receiving portions are arranged at intervals along the axial direction of the toner feeding member.