JP6478690B2 - Integrated seal member - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an integrated product in which a plurality of seal members for preventing leakage of a developer from an accommodating portion for accommodating a developer are integrated in a process cartridge used in, for example, an image forming apparatus.

  As a sealing material in an image forming apparatus, there is known a bonded product including a base fabric and a velor material provided with pile yarns raised on the base fabric, and having an adhesive surface on the back side of the base fabric. ing. This bonded product is formed by performing a kiss cut process for cutting the sheet material while leaving the release paper in a state where the release paper is bonded to the back surface of the sheet material including the velor material and the adhesive layer. It is known that a plurality of bonded products are made into a sheet-like integrated product bonded to a release paper (see Patent Document 1).

  Further, in order to facilitate the release of the release paper, a roll in which a laminated product including a plurality of velor materials and an adhesive layer is attached to a belt-like base material interposed with the release paper, and the base material is wound up It is also known to form an integrated product of a laminated product (see Patent Document 2).

JP 2003-228263 A JP 2001-242757 A

  However, in the conventional configuration described above, if the type of seal member to be used is different, a plurality of roll-shaped seal member integrated products are required. This complicates the assembly process and may increase costs.

  This embodiment is a further development of the preceding example in view of the above problems. The object is to provide an integrated seal member that can reduce the complexity and cost of the assembly process.

A first aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problems is a plurality of seal members used for suppressing leakage of the developer in a developing device including a frame including an accommodating portion for accommodating the developer. A plurality of seal members each including a base part, a seal part having a filament raised from the base cloth, and a sticking part for sticking the seal member to the frame, A sheet member on which the seal member is detachably attached, and the plurality of the seal members in which the sheet member on which the seal member is attached is wound in a roll shape in the winding direction. Each of the sealing members is configured such that a direction from a fixed end fixed to the base fabric of the filamentous material toward a free end of the filamentous material is a drawing direction that is opposite to the winding direction, Multiple The seal member includes a first seal member and a second seal member, and the first seal member is arranged at one end of the sheet member in the width direction of the sheet member that is orthogonal to the pull-out direction as it goes to the pull-out direction. The second seal member is affixed to the sheet member so that the approaching direction is the longitudinal direction, and the direction in which the second seal member approaches the other end of the sheet member in the width direction is the longitudinal direction as it approaches the pull-out direction. It is affixed on the said sheet | seat member so that it may become.
A second aspect of the present invention is a plurality of seal members used for suppressing leakage of the developer in a developing device including a frame including a housing portion that houses the developer, each of which is a base cloth, A plurality of seal members each including a seal portion having a filament raised from the base fabric, and an application portion for attaching the seal member to the frame, and the plurality of seal members are attached to be peelable. An integrated sheet member in which the sheet member to which the seal member is attached is wound in a roll shape in the winding direction, and each of the plurality of seal members includes: A direction from a fixed end fixed to the base fabric of the filamentous material to a free end of the filamentous material is configured to be a drawing direction that is opposite to the winding direction, and the plurality of seal members include Seal part And the second seal member, the longer the first seal member is, the closer to the one end of the sheet member in the width direction of the sheet member that is perpendicular to the pull-out direction, the longer is the longitudinal direction. Further, the sheet member is attached to the sheet member, and the second seal member is arranged such that a direction closer to the other end portion of the sheet member in the width direction becomes a longitudinal direction as it goes in the pull-out direction. It is affixed to.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the complexity and cost of the assembly process.

The whole block diagram of the integrated thing of the some sealing member which concerns on the Example of this invention 1 is a main cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus provided with a seal member according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an overall view of a process cartridge provided with a seal member according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an overall view of a developing unit provided with a seal member according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an overall view of a cleaning unit provided with a seal member according to an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed configuration diagram of a seal member according to an embodiment of the present invention Explanatory drawing of the assembly property of the sealing member based on the Example of this invention The whole block diagram of the integrated thing of the some sealing member which concerns on the modification 1 of this invention The whole block diagram of the integrated thing of the some sealing member which concerns on the modification 2 of this invention

  In the following, a description will be given of an integrated seal member in which a plurality of seal members that prevent the developer from leaking from the developer accommodating portion used in the image forming apparatus are detachably attached to the sheet member.

[Schematic Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus and Process Cartridge]
First, the overall configuration of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus (hereinafter, image forming apparatus 100) will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a main cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus 100. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 100 has four process cartridges 70 (70a, 70b, 70c, 70d) that are detachable. The process cartridge 70a contains yellow (Y), the process cartridge 70b contains magenta (M), the process cartridge 70c contains cyan (C), and the process cartridge 70d contains black (Bk) toner.

  Below the process cartridge 70, the photosensitive drum 1 (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d) of the process cartridge 70 is selectively exposed based on the image information to form a latent image on the photosensitive drum 1. A scanner unit 3 is provided. In addition, a cassette 17 containing a recording medium S is attached to the lower part of the image forming apparatus 100. The recording medium S stored in the cassette 17 can be transported above the image forming apparatus 100 by transport means provided in the image forming apparatus 100. As the conveying means, a feeding roller 54, a conveying roller pair 76, a registration roller pair 55, and a discharge roller pair 72 are provided. The feeding roller 54 is for separating and feeding the recording media S in the cassette 17 one by one. The transport roller pair 7 is for transporting the fed recording medium S. The registration roller pair 55 is for synchronizing the latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 and the recording medium S. The discharge roller pair 72 is for discharging the recording medium S to the paper discharge unit 75.

  Above the process cartridge 70, an intermediate transfer unit 5 is provided as intermediate transfer means for transferring a toner image formed on each photosensitive drum 1. The intermediate transfer unit 5 is opposed to the driving roller 56, the driven roller 57, the primary transfer roller 58 (58a, 58b, 58c, 58d) and the secondary transfer roller 69 at positions facing the respective photosensitive drums 1. The counter roller 59 and the transfer belt 9 are provided at the positions. The transfer belt 9 is wound around a driving roller 56, a driven roller 57, a primary transfer roller 58, and a counter roller 59, and circulates and moves so as to face and contact the photosensitive drum 1. Primary transfer is performed from the drum 1 onto the transfer belt 9. Then, the toner image on the transfer belt 9 transferred by the primary transfer is transferred to the recording medium S by the opposing roller 59 and the secondary transfer roller 69 arranged in the transfer belt 9. The recording medium S to which the toner image is transferred passes through the fixing unit 74 and is conveyed above the image forming apparatus 100, and an image is formed on the recording medium S.

  Next, the configuration of the process cartridge 70 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is an overall view of the process cartridge 70. 4A is an overall view of the developing unit 4 provided with a seal member, FIG. 4B is an overall view of the developing unit 4 with the developing roller 25 removed, and FIG. 4C is FIG. 4B. It is detail drawing which showed the end of the longitudinal direction in. It is. 5A is an overall view of the cleaning unit 26 provided with a seal member, FIG. 5B is an overall view in a state where the photosensitive drum 1 is removed in FIG. 5A, and FIG. It is detail drawing which showed the end of the longitudinal direction in 4 (b). In the following description, since the process cartridges 70a, 70b, 70c, and 70d have the same configuration, the process cartridge 70a is described as the process cartridge 70.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the process cartridge 70 includes a cleaning unit 26 and a developing unit 4.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the developing unit 4 includes a developing roller 25 (25a, 25b, 25c, 25d) that rotates in contact with the photosensitive drum 1, a developing frame 31, developing bearings 12, 13, and a seal. The members 160c and 160d and the blowout prevention sheet 20 are included. The developing roller 25 is supported by the developing frame 31 so as to be rotatable in the direction C in FIG. 2 via developing bearings 12 and 13 respectively attached to both sides of the developing frame 31. Further, the developing unit 4 has a developing chamber 32 in which a developing roller 25 is disposed as shown in FIG. Further, a toner supply roller 34 that rotates in contact with the developing roller 25 in order from the rotation direction C so as to contact the peripheral surface of the developing roller 25, and a developing blade for regulating the toner layer on the developing roller 25 35 are arranged respectively.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the cleaning unit 26 includes a photosensitive drum 1, a cleaning frame body 27, drum bearings 10 and 11, a charging roller 2, a cleaning member 6, seal members 160 a and 160 b, And a squeeze sheet 21. The photosensitive drum 1 (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d) is supported by the cleaning frame 27 so as to be rotatable in the direction B in FIG. 2 via drum bearings 10 and 11 attached to both sides of the cleaning frame 27, respectively. Has been. Further, in the cleaning unit 26, the cleaning member 6 (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d) and the charging roller are sequentially arranged from the rotation direction B so as to come into contact with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 1 (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d). 2 (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d) are arranged. The cleaning member 6 includes an elastic portion 6A formed of a rubber blade and a support member 6B, and the tip portion 6A1 of the elastic portion 6A from the counter direction with respect to the rotation direction B of the photosensitive drum 1 is changed to the photosensitive drum 1. It is in contact.

  In the developing unit 4, the toner stored in the storage portion 33 (33 a, 33 b, 33 c, 33 d) configured by the developing frame 31 is supplied by the toner supply roller 34, and the thickness of the toner is regulated by the developing blade 35. Thus, a toner layer is formed on the developing roller 25. The latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 is developed by the developing roller 25 to form a toner image.

  On the other hand, in order to prevent the toner from leaking from the storage portion 33, the seal members 160 c and 160 d and the blowout prevention sheet 20 as the development contact sheet are attached to the development frame body 31 so as to contact the development roller 25. It is fixed. Specifically, in the short direction of the developing roller 25, one end of the blowing prevention sheet 20 is fixed to the developing frame 31, and the other end of the blowing prevention sheet 20 is in contact with the developing roller 25 so that the developing roller 25 And the developing frame 31 are sealed. Further, seal members 160 c and 160 d are fixed to the adherend portion of the cleaning frame body 27 by an adhesive layer to be described later at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the developing roller 25. Thus, the seal members 160c and 160d seal between the developing frame 31 and the blowout prevention sheet 20 at one end in the hand-end direction, and between the developing frame 31 and the developing roller 25 at the other end in the hand-hand direction. To seal.

  In the cleaning unit 26, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 1 is removed by the cleaning member 6, the photosensitive drum 1 is charged by the charging roller 2, and a latent image can be formed again. On the other hand, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 1 removed by the cleaning member 6 is stored in the removed toner chamber 28 (28a, 28b, 28c, 28d) as waste toner.

  As shown in FIG. 5C, in order to prevent the waste toner from leaking from the removed toner chamber 28, the cleaning frame body so that the seal members 160a and 160b and the squeeze sheet 21 are in contact with the photosensitive drum 1. 27 is fixed. Specifically, in the lateral direction of the photosensitive drum 1, one end of the squeeze sheet 21 is fixed to the cleaning frame 27, and the other end is in contact with the photosensitive drum 1, so that the cleaning frame 27 and the photosensitive member are fixed. Seal between the drums 1. Further, at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive drum 1, the seal members 160 a and 160 b are fixed to the adherend portion of the cleaning frame body 27 by an adhesive layer described later. Thus, the seal members 160a and 160b seal between the cleaning frame body 27 and the squeeze sheet 21 at one end in the hand-end direction, and at the other end in the hand-end direction, the cleaning frame body 27 and the photosensitive drum 1 Seal the gap.

[Description of Seal Member 160]
Next, the seal member used in the process cartridge will be described in detail with reference to FIG. First, description will be made by taking seal members 160c and 160d used in the developing unit 4 as an example. 6A is a detailed view of the seal member 160c, and FIG. 6B is a detailed view of each of the seal members 160d.

  As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the seal member 160 includes a seal portion 161 that is a flexible member, a base portion 162 that is made of an elastic member, and an adhesive layer 163 that has an adhesive. Have a configuration. The seal part 161 is configured such that a plurality of flexible filaments such as piles and electrostatic flocking are raised. The base 162 is formed of a foam member such as urethane foam or a pile base fabric. The adhesive layer 163 is composed of a double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape using a rubber / acrylic adhesive.

  Here, in the seal part 161 of the seal members 160c and 160d, the thread-like materials such as piles and hairs do not extend perpendicularly to the surface on which the seal part 161 extends, but are inclined so as to be inclined. It is preferable to form it. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the seal portions 161 of the seal members 160c and 160d are preferably slanted in different directions (D direction in FIG. 6A). And (b) E direction). Hereinafter, the reason will be described. The direction from the fixed end fixed to the pile or hair base 162 to the free end of the pile or hair is defined as the direction of the inclined hair when viewed from the direction perpendicular to the surface in which the seal portion 161 extends. , Explain.

  On the developing roller 25, there is a region 25 a (see FIG. 4C) where the toner is uniformly applied by the developing blade 35. When the developing roller 25 rotates in the C direction during image formation, the toner layer 25a also rotates accordingly. At this time, the seal member 160c is inclined toward the downstream side of the developing roller 25 rotating in the C direction, that is, the direction from the fixed end of the pile or hair to the free end is the direction in which the circumferential surface of the developing roller 25 moves. To be. Thereby, the stable sealing performance is securable. In addition, the seal member 160c can be more effectively prevented from leaking out the toner that is about to leak from the inside of the developing chamber 32 by being inclined toward the inside of the developing chamber 32. More preferably, the toner can be further prevented from leaking when it is configured to beveled toward the inside of the developing chamber 32 so as to intersect the direction in which the toner leaks. As described above, the seal member 160 c is preferably inclined toward the downstream side in the rotation direction C of the developing roller 25 and toward the inside of the developing chamber 32.

  Since the arrangement of the seal member 160d with the developing chamber 32 is symmetrical with respect to the seal member 160c, as shown in FIG. 6C, the seal members 160c and 160d are respectively attached to the developing frame 31 as shown in FIG. ) It is preferable to bevel in different directions in the middle D direction and E direction.

[Description of integrated seal member]
A schematic configuration of the integrated member 150 of the seal member will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an example of an integrated product 150 of sheet members 164 in the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the assemblability of the seal member according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the integrated member 150 of the seal member 160 is wound around the sheet member 164 on which a plurality of seal members 160 (160c, 160d) are peeled so that the sheet member 164 and the seal member 160 are alternately arranged. It is configured in a roll shape so as to overlap. The sheet member 164 is, for example, in the form of a sheet or a band, and is formed from release paper or a film made of synthetic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyester, polyethylene, or polypropylene.

  In this embodiment, the seal members 160c and 160d are arranged in line symmetry so as to be paired with respect to the drawing direction (F direction in FIG. 1) of the sheet member 164, and the same number of seal members 160c and 160d is the sheet member 164. It was supposed to be pasted on. That is, in the integrated member 150 of the sealing member, the sealing members 160c and 160d are attached to the sheet member 164 so that the number of the sealing members 160c and 160d is the same. As a result, a plurality of seal members can be attached to one sheet member 164 and supplied.

  Normally, the seal members 160c and 160d are not point-symmetric when viewed from the direction perpendicular to the surface in which the seal portion 161 extends. For this reason, in order to obtain the seal members 160c and 160d inclined in different directions, an integrated product of the individual seal members is prepared and attached to the developing device frame 31.

  In this regard, in the invention according to the present embodiment, in the roll-shaped sheet member 164, the seal members 160c and 160d having different shapes are arranged in the axial direction W orthogonal to the pulling direction F, that is, in the width direction of the sheet member 164. Thereby, the seal members 160 c and 160 d can be easily peeled off from the sheet member 164 and attached to the developing device frame 31. As a result, for example, in the production using the pasting apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 7A, the base 162 is gripped from one sheet member 164, the seal members 160c and 160d are peeled off, and pasted to the developing frame 31 respectively. This can be performed by one pasting apparatus 200.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 7B, when the seal member 160 is supplied, the sheet member 164 is fed in the F direction. At this time, the oblique hair directions (D direction and E direction in FIG. 6) of the seal members 160c and 160d are made to coincide with the drawing direction (F direction) of the sheet member 164, respectively. In other words, the seal member 160c is disposed so that the angle disposed on the developing frame 31 and the angle fixed on the sheet member 164 are different from 160d. As a result, the seal members 160c and 160d attached to one sheet member 164 can be attached to each developing frame 31 so that the direction of oblique hair is different.

  Further, the seal members 160c and 160d are arranged in line symmetry so as to be paired with respect to the winding direction of the sheet member 164 (F direction in FIG. 1). This prevents the seal members 160c and 160d from being mistakenly attached by arranging them so that the longitudinal direction of the developing frame 31 and the axial direction W orthogonal to the pull-out direction F of the integrated product 150 coincide. The workability of the process can be improved.

  As described above, by using the integrated member 150 of the seal member 160 according to the present embodiment. The number of integrated seal members can be reduced, and the assembling apparatus can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the seal members 160c and 160d used in the developing unit 4 shown in FIG. 4 are described as the seal members 160. However, the seal members 160a and 160b used in the cleaning unit 26 shown in FIG. You may use for.
(Modification)
In Example 1, in the roll-shaped sheet member 164, the seal members 160c and 160d having different shapes are arranged one by one in a line extending in the axial direction W orthogonal to the pulling direction F. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a modified example 1 may have a configuration in which a plurality of sets of seal members 160c and 160d having different shapes in the axial direction W orthogonal to the pulling direction F are arranged as shown in FIG. That is, the same number of seal members 160c and 160d may be arranged in a line extending in the axial direction W perpendicular to the pull-out direction F, that is, in the width direction of the sheet member 164.

  As a result, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained, and a plurality of seal members 160c and 160d can be arranged in a row, so that a larger number of seal members 160c and 160d can be obtained by integrating a single seal member 160. Can be pasted. As a result, the winding axis can be reduced, and further cost reduction can be achieved.

  Further, a plurality of seal members 160c and 160d are arranged in a line so that the seal members 160c and 160d are line symmetric with respect to the drawing direction F of the sheet member 164, that is, the center in the width direction. As a result, even when a plurality of sets of seal members are arranged, the seal members 160c and 160d can be removed by arranging the longitudinal direction of the developing frame 31 and the axial direction W of the integrated product 250 so as to coincide with each other. Differences can be prevented and workability of the attaching process can be improved.

  Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the seal members 160c and 160d are arranged in line symmetry one by one so as to be paired with respect to the drawing direction F of the sheet member 164, and are attached to the sheet member 164. . However, the present invention is not limited to this, and seal members having a plurality of shapes may be arranged as one set, and each set may be adjacent to each other.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, as a second modification, a specific number of the same kind of seal members 160 c are arranged in a line in the axial direction W orthogonal to the pulling direction F so as to be adjacent to this line in the pulling direction F. Other types of seal members 160d may be arranged in a specific number in a row. That is, a configuration may be adopted in which a specific number of rows of seal members 160c extending in a direction orthogonal to the pull-out direction F and a row of seal members 160d are alternately arranged in the sheet member 164 in the pull-out direction F.

  As a result, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. Further, by arranging the seal members alternately in the drawing direction F one by one, more seal members 160c and 160d can be obtained by integrating the single seal member 160 into one body 350. Can be pasted. As a result, the winding axis can be reduced, and further cost reduction can be achieved.

  Furthermore, since the seal members 160c and 160d are arranged so as to be adjacent to each other in the pull-out direction F, it is possible to prevent the seal members 160c and 160d from being removed and to improve the workability of the attaching process.

  In addition, it can be appropriately changed within the scope of the present invention. In the above-described embodiment, the roll-shaped sheet member 164 is configured such that the seal members 160c and 160d are arranged in a row in the axial direction W orthogonal to the pulling direction F. However, the seal members 160c and 160d need only be arranged in a row in the axial direction W intersecting the pull-out direction F, and is not limited thereto. Furthermore, although an integrated product of two types of seal members 160c and 160d has been described, an integrated product of two or more types of seal members may be used. In addition, although the example in which the oblique hair direction of the seal member is the winding direction of the sheet member has been described, the direction may be a specific direction with respect to the sheet member, and is not limited thereto.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Electrophotographic image forming apparatus 150, 250, 350 Integrated product of seal member 160 (160a, 160b, 160c, 160d) Seal member 161 Seal portion 162 Base portion 163 Adhesive layer 164 Sheet member 200 Adhesive device

Claims (8)

A plurality of seal members used for suppressing leakage of the developer in a developing device including a frame including a housing portion that houses a developer, each of which is a base fabric and a thread-like material raised from the base fabric, A plurality of seal members comprising: a seal portion having: a sticking portion configured to stick to the frame;
A sheet member on which the plurality of sealing members are detachably attached;
In the integrated product of the seal member in which the sheet member to which the plurality of seal members are attached is wound in a roll shape in the winding direction,
Each of the plurality of seal members is configured such that a direction from a fixed end fixed to the base fabric of the filamentous material toward a free end of the filamentous material is a drawing direction opposite to the winding direction. ,
The plurality of seal members include a first seal member and a second seal member,
The first seal member is affixed to the sheet member such that a direction closer to one end of the sheet member in a width direction of the sheet member perpendicular to the pull-out direction becomes a longitudinal direction as it goes in the pull-out direction. And
The second seal member is affixed to the sheet member such that the direction closer to the other end of the sheet member in the width direction becomes the longitudinal direction as it goes in the pull-out direction.
An integrated product of the sealing member. A plurality of seal members used for suppressing leakage of developer in a device including a photoconductor and a frame that rotatably supports the photoconductor, each of which is raised from the base fabric and the base fabric A plurality of seal members comprising: a seal portion having a thread-like material; and a sticking portion configured to stick to the frame body;
A sheet member on which the plurality of sealing members are detachably attached;
In the integrated product of the seal member in which the sheet member to which the plurality of seal members are attached is wound in a roll shape in the winding direction,
Each of the plurality of seal members is configured such that a direction from a fixed end fixed to the base fabric of the filamentous material toward a free end of the filamentous material is a drawing direction opposite to the winding direction. ,
The plurality of seal members include a first seal member and a second seal member,
The first seal member is affixed to the sheet member such that a direction closer to one end of the sheet member in a width direction of the sheet member perpendicular to the pull-out direction becomes a longitudinal direction as it goes in the pull-out direction. And
The second seal member is affixed to the sheet member such that the direction closer to the other end of the sheet member in the width direction becomes the longitudinal direction as it goes in the pull-out direction.
An integrated product of the sealing member. 2. The first seal member and the second seal member are attached to the sheet member so as to be symmetrical with respect to an imaginary line extending in the pull-out direction of the sheet member. Or an integrated member of the seal member according to 2; 4. The integrated seal member according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of the first seal member and the second seal member are provided. In the first region of the sheet member, only a plurality of the first seal members are affixed side by side in the width direction, and in the second region at a position different from the first region in the pull-out direction, 3. The integrated seal member according to claim 1, wherein only a plurality of the second seal members are attached side by side in the width direction. 6. The integrated seal member according to claim 4, wherein the same number of the first seal members and the second seal members are provided. The said thread-like thing is a pile thread | yarn, The integrated object of the sealing member of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 6 characterized by the above-mentioned. The said sealing member has an elastic part between the said seal part and the said sticking part, The integrated object of the seal member of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 7 characterized by the above-mentioned.

Images