JP3147995B2 - Cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a copying machine, a facsimile,
More particularly, the present invention relates to a cleaning device for recovering residual toner on a photoreceptor to a toner recovery unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an image forming apparatus carries a photoreceptor carrying a predetermined optically formed image as an electrostatic latent image, and visualizes the electrostatic latent image carried on the photoreceptor into a toner image. A predetermined image forming process is performed by transferring the visualized toner image onto transfer paper and fixing it by a fixing device (for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-17453). Reference).

In order to repeatedly perform the above image forming process,
After the toner image is transferred onto the transfer paper, a cleaning device is required to remove and collect the toner remaining on the photoconductor. Such a cleaning device includes a conveying unit that conveys the residual toner removed from the photoreceptor, a scraper that scrapes off the toner conveyed by the conveying unit, a part that is partitioned by the scraper, and a scraper that scrapes the toner. Generally, a housing provided with a toner collecting section for collecting the collected toner is provided in the housing.

Further, the transport means includes a rotating body having a rotation center extending in the width direction of the photosensitive member, and a rotating body attached to the rotating body and rotating together with the rotating body.
It is widely known that a cleaning blade integrally formed with an elastic blade for scraping residual toner scraped off by a cleaning blade to a toner collecting portion side (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-2440).
No. 85). The rotator is a plate-like member whose one end protrudes radially outwardly longer than the rotation locus of the elastic blade, and the one end causes the toner guide member on the upstream side to slightly vibrate. Further, a scraper is fixed to the housing to scrape off the toner scraped by the elastic blade. Here, in the conventional device, the lower end of the scraper is separated from the bottom surface of the housing by a considerably large distance.

[0005]

In order to spread the image forming apparatus having the above configuration for home use and personal use,
It is desirable to reduce the size and weight of the cleaning device as much as possible. For this purpose, it is required to reduce the size of the cleaning device. And in order to reduce the size of the cleaning device,
It is essential to reduce the size of the housing that forms the outer shell.

However, since the rotating body in the above-mentioned prior art example has one end protruding radially outward beyond the rotation locus of the elastic blade to slightly vibrate the toner guide member on the upstream side, the rotating body is rotated. In order to prevent the body and the inner surface of the housing from interfering with each other, it is necessary to set the dimensions of the housing to be large.

Next, in order to reduce the size of the housing,
It is preferable to set the volume of the toner collecting section to be small.
However, in the above-mentioned prior art, since the lower end of the scraper is separated from the bottom surface of the housing by a considerably large distance, there is a problem that the residual toner conveyed to the toner collecting section flows backward from between the scraper and the housing. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a cleaning device capable of reducing the size of a housing.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning device for conveying a residual toner removed from a photoreceptor, and a conveying device for conveying the residual toner. In a cleaning apparatus having a housing in which a scraper for scraping off toner and a toner collecting section for collecting toner scraped off by the scraper, a part of which is partitioned by the scraper, the conveying means is provided in a width direction of the photosensitive member. A rotating body having a rotation center extending in a direction perpendicular to the rotation center, and a pair of scraping portions that are adhered in a state where both ends protrude from the rotation body and convey toner to the scraper side by the both ends. With a flat elastic blade constituting the scraper, the scraper,
Of the pair of scraping portions, at least a part of the surface opposite to the sticking surface of the elastic blade is inserted into the rotation locus of the conveying means so that it can be engaged with a side driven toward the scraper side. Of the scraping feed section during rotation
The elastic blade is driven in the direction of peeling the adhesive surface.
Can avoid engagement with the scraper and housing
It is characterized in that it is set to various dimensions .

[0009] The cleaning device according to claim 2, wherein the distance between the inner bottom surface of the lower housing of the upper Symbol scraper, characterized in that it reduced the size capable of preventing the reverse flow of the toner from the toner collector a cleaning apparatus of claim 1, wherein.

[0010]

In the cleaning device having the structure according to the first aspect of the present invention, since a pair of scraping portions are formed by both ends of the flat elastic blade, each scraping portion is rotated during rotation of the conveying means. The toner can be conveyed while the part is learned on the inner surface of the housing. Further, by forming a pair of scraping portions with a flat elastic blade, the toner can be scraped to the scraper side every time the conveying means makes a half rotation. In addition, the scraper
Of the pair of scraping portions, at least a surface opposite to the sticking surface of the elastic blade is partially inserted into the rotation locus of the conveying means so as to be engaged with a side driven to the scraper side. Increases the amount of toner scraped off.

Further, as in claim 2, the distance between the inner bottom surface of the lower end and the housing of the scraper and Ru narrowed dimensioned capable of preventing the reverse flow of the toner from the toner collector, the toner in the toner recovery unit Even if the density increases, the backflow of the toner can be prevented.

[0012]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, which is a schematic enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, D is a photosensitive drum that is horizontally mounted on an image forming apparatus. The photosensitive drum D is driven by a driving mechanism (not shown).
It is driven to rotate clockwise as shown by the arrow A1.

The cleaning device 10 according to the present embodiment is disposed close to the photosensitive drum D. The cleaning device 10 includes a cleaning blade 11 for removing residual toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum D, and a transport unit 12 that transports the residual toner removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum D by the cleaning blade 11. And a scraper 13 for scraping off the toner conveyed by the conveying means 12, and a toner collecting unit 14 for partially collecting the toner scraped off by the scraper 13 and provided in the housing 15. I have.

The cleaning blade 11 is made of a flat rubber material. The transporting means 12 includes the rotating body 1
2a. The rotator 12a is a sheet metal product having an L-shaped cross section, and is rotated in a predetermined direction (clockwise in FIG. 1 in this embodiment) by a spindle a1 having a rotation center along the surface of the photosensitive drum D. It is rotatably supported. An elastic blade 12b is attached to the rotating body 12a with both ends protruding beyond the rotating body 12a in a direction orthogonal to the rotation center. Elastic blade 12b
Is formed of a resin or metal sheet, and the both ends constitute a pair of scraping portions b1 and b2 for transporting the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 11 to the scraper 13 side. In the pair of scraping portions b1 and b2, the surface opposite to the sticking surface of the elastic blade 12b is driven toward the scraper 13 (in the present embodiment, the scraping portion b1: hereinafter, b1 is referred to as " One of the scraping portions ") protrudes long from the rotating body 12a so as to be able to contact the scraper 13 during rotation. On the other hand, the one driven in the direction of peeling the sticking surface of the elastic blade 12b (scraping portion b2 in the present embodiment; hereinafter, b2 is referred to as "the other scraping portion").
However, the dimensions are set so that engagement with the scraper 13 and the housing 15 can be avoided.

The scraper 13 is constituted by a wall as a plate material of a casing 16 provided for partitioning the toner collecting section 14 in the housing 15, and a lower end thereof is provided with one scraping feed section b1. The lower end portion enters the rotation trajectory L of the conveying means 12 so that only the engagement can be performed. A seal blade 17 for sealing between the housing 15 and the surface of the photosensitive drum D is fixed.

According to the construction of this embodiment, a pair of scraping portions b1, b are formed by both ends of the flat elastic blade 12b.
2, the toner can be conveyed while the scraping portions b1 and b2 follow the inner surface of the housing 15 when the conveying means 12 rotates, and the overall size of the housing 15 can be reduced accordingly. It has a remarkable effect that it can be set.

Further, by forming a pair of scraping portions b1 and b2 by the flat elastic blades 12b, the toner can be scraped to the scraper 13 every time the conveying means 12 makes a half rotation, so that the toner can be collected. There is an advantage that efficiency can be greatly improved. Further, since the lower end of the scraper 13 is bent into the rotation locus of the conveying means 12 so as to be able to engage with the one scraping portion b1, the amount of scraping off the toner by the scraper 13 is increased. Also, the ability to collect toner can be improved.

Further, in this embodiment, since the other scraping portion b2 is set to a size that can avoid engagement with the scraper 13 and the housing 15, the sticking between the elastic blade 12b and the rotating body is performed. There is also an advantage that the state can be favorably maintained for a long time. Next, FIG.
The embodiment shown in FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the distance C between the lower end of the scraper 13 and the inner bottom surface of the housing 15 is reduced to a dimension (for example, 2 mm) that can prevent the backflow of the toner from the toner collecting section 14. . According to the above configuration, even if the density of the toner in the toner collecting unit 14 increases, the backflow of the toner can be prevented, so that the volume of the toner collecting unit 14 is set small, and the housing 15 is reduced in size accordingly. It has a remarkable effect that it is possible to achieve the structure.

Further, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the scraper 13 is constituted by attaching an elastic plate to a wall portion of a casing 16 provided for partitioning the toner collecting portion 14 in the housing 15. The lower end of the elastic plate is inserted into the rotation locus L of the conveying means 12 so that the lower end of the elastic plate can be engaged with only one of the scraping portions b1. Also in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the distance C between the lower end of the elastic plate 13 as a scraper and the inner bottom surface of the housing 15 is also set.
Is narrowed to a size that can prevent the backflow of the toner from the toner collecting unit 14.

According to the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, first, one of the scraping portions b1 rotates and comes into contact with the elastic plate 13 as a scraper as shown in FIG. 4B. As a result, the elastic plate 13 is elastically deformed, and the toner is scraped off as shown in FIG.
Collected inside. Then, as shown in (D), after the engagement with one of the scraping parts b1 is released, the elastic plate 1
3 returns to the initial state by its own elasticity.

It should be noted that the above-described embodiments are merely examples of preferred embodiments of the present invention, and that various design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Absent.

[0023]

As described above, in the cleaning apparatus having the structure according to the first aspect of the present invention, the toner is conveyed while the respective scraping portions are adapted to the inner surface of the housing when the conveying means is rotated. Therefore, there is a remarkable effect that the size of the entire housing can be set small accordingly. Further, since the toner can be scraped to the scraper side every time the transporting unit makes a half rotation, there is an advantage that the toner collection efficiency can be greatly improved. In addition, since the scraping amount of the toner by the scraper increases, the toner collecting ability can be improved accordingly.

Further, of the pair of scraping portions, the one driven in the direction of peeling the sticking surface of the elastic blade during rotation is set to a dimension that can avoid engagement with the scraper and the housing. In this case, there is also an advantage that the adhered state between the elastic blade and the rotating body can be favorably maintained for a long period of time. Further, in the cleaning device according to another aspect of the present invention, even if the density of the toner in the toner collecting unit increases, the backflow of the toner can be prevented. This has a remarkable effect that the size of the housing can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view of a main part of a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional schematic view of a main part of a cleaning device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view of a main part of a cleaning device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a related diagram showing an operation of the embodiment of FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 D Photosensitive drum 10 Cleaning device 12 Conveying means 12a Rotating body 12b Elastic blade b1 Scraping section b2 Scraping section 13 Scraper 14 Toner collecting section 15 Housing

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A conveying means for conveying residual toner removed from a photoreceptor, a scraper for scraping off the toner conveyed by the conveying means, and a toner which is partially partitioned by the scraper and which is scraped by the scraper. A cleaning device provided with a toner collecting section to be collected in a housing, wherein the transporting means includes: a rotating body having a rotation center extending in a width direction of the photoconductor; and a rotating body having both ends in a direction orthogonal to the rotation center. Also provided with a flat elastic blade that constitutes a pair of scraping units that convey the toner to the scraper side by the both ends, the scraper is attached in a protruding state, and the scraper is at least one of the pair of scraping units. Part of the elastic blade enters the rotation locus of the conveying means so that the surface opposite to the sticking surface can be engaged with the one driven to the scraper side. Crowded in which, among the pair of scraping feed unit, said resilient during rotation
When driven in the direction to peel off the blade attachment surface,
The dimensions must be such that engagement with the creper and housing can be avoided.
A cleaning device characterized in that it is fixed . 2. A method interval between the inner bottom surface of the lower end and the housing of the upper Symbol scraper claim 1, characterized in that to narrow the size capable of preventing the reverse flow of the toner from the toner collector
A cleaning device as described .