JPH0774933B2 - Image forming device cleaning device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus utilizing an electrostatic transfer process, such as an electrostatic copying machine and a printer, and particularly to a cleaning apparatus thereof. Is.

(Problems to be solved with conventional technology) In an image forming apparatus that repeats the process of forming a transferable toner image on the surface of an image bearing member and transferring the transferable toner image onto a transfer material, it does not transfer to the transfer material during transfer. It is essential to remove the toner remaining on the image carrier each time.

A number of cleaning means have been proposed for this purpose, each of which has a certain effect, but a cleaning blade made of an elastic material such as rubber is pressed against the surface of the image carrier to scrape the toner. It is well known that such a device is widely used because it has a simple configuration and an excellent toner removing function.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 schematically show such a cleaning device. The cleaning device is arranged in the vicinity of the cylindrical image carrier 1 rotating in the direction of arrow A and extending in the axial direction thereof. An elastic cleaning blade 3 is attached to the apparatus 2, and one of its free edges is in pressure contact with the image carrier.

At the transfer portion (not shown), the residual toner remaining on the image carrier without contributing to the transfer arrives at the edge position of the blade as the image carrier rotates, and is scraped off from the image carrier. In the above apparatus, it is assumed that the cleaning roller 4 drops onto the rotating cleaning roller 4 and is conveyed by the cleaning roller 4, reaches the toner storage section in the apparatus by the scraper 5, and is discharged by the conveying screw 6 as necessary.

In such a cleaning device, there is no choice but to form a gap between the casing of the device and the surface of the image carrier at both end portions thereof, so that the toner is prevented from leaking from this part. In order to do so, a side seal member 7, which is usually a bristle brush, is provided.

By the way, in this type of device, the toner scraped off from the image bearing member may be separated and dropped from the image bearing member at that position surely, but in reality, it stays at the blade edge portion for a while, and further runs laterally. Then, as shown by an arrow X in FIG. 4, there is a blade that reaches the end of the blade 3.

Such toner is generally collected in the cleaning device by the side seal 7. However, since the function of the side seal is naturally limited, if too much toner arrives, it cannot be processed, and a part of the toner cannot be processed. The toner goes around the edge of the blade 3 and rotates together with the image carrier to reach the lower portion S of the side seal 7 again. When the toner gradually accumulates in this way, a large amount of toner eventually becomes a lump, which falls out of the cleaning device due to its own weight and contaminates the transfer area, resulting in deterioration of image quality and contamination of various parts inside the image forming device. I'm unavoidable.

The present invention has been made to cope with such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device that eliminates the above-mentioned defects in the cleaning device and can always maintain a good cleaning function. To do.

(2) Configuration of the Invention (Technical Means for Solving the Problem and Its Action) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a cleaning device for removing toner adhering to an image carrier. To remove the adhered toner,
An elastic cleaning blade that comes into contact with the image carrier along the axial direction of the image carrier, and a toner that is removed from the image carrier and falls by the elastic cleaning blade, and conveys the toner away from the image carrier. In order to prevent the toner from leaking from the rotating cleaning roller provided on the upstream side of the elastic cleaning blade with respect to the rotation direction of the image carrier and the toner in the longitudinal direction of the elastic cleaning blade, Abutting on both ends of the elastic cleaning blade in the longitudinal direction, and with respect to the rotation direction of the image carrier, from the upstream side of the position where the cleaning roller is provided, to the position where the elastic cleaning blade is provided. The toner provided on both ends of the image carrier in the axial direction is supplemented over the downstream side. And a brush-like side seal having a function of, and the side seal portion and the image carrier positioned upstream of the rotation direction of the image carrier for dropping the toner that has slipped through the side seal at any time. A sliding member having a releasability with respect to toner, which is provided between the side seal portion and the image carrier located upstream of the rotation direction of the image carrier, the sliding member being in contact with the image carrier. It is a cleaning device characterized by having.

With this configuration, it is possible to avoid a disadvantage that a large amount of toner accumulates on the side seal attached to the end portion of the cleaning blade, and further, the toner drops and scatters on the transfer material and each portion in the image forming apparatus. .

(Explanation of Embodiments) FIGS. 1 and 2 are a perspective view and a side view of a main part showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus having a rotating cylindrical image carrier.

A cleaning device 2 is disposed in close proximity to the image carrier 1 which extends in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing and rotates in the direction of arrow A, and one edge of one end of the cleaning blade 3 attached thereto Is pressed against the surface of the image carrier to remove the residual toner.

Parts of the cleaning device corresponding to those of the device shown in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals,
Descriptions thereof will be omitted unless necessary.

Needless to say, a primary charging device, a developing device, a transfer charging device and other members necessary for image formation are provided around the image bearing member, but they are not directly related to the present invention. All are omitted because they are not available.

In such a cleaning device, according to the present invention, side seals 7 (only one of which is shown in the figure) are provided at both ends of the device 2, and the cleaning device is further viewed in the traveling direction of the image carrier. A sliding member 8 made of high-density polyethylene is attached to the upstream end of the sliding member 8.

With this configuration, the toner, which runs laterally at the blade edge and reaches the blade end, is not captured by the side seal 7 and is conveyed in a state of adhering to the image carrier as the image carrier rotates. When the toner reaches the upstream end of the side seal, this toner comes into contact with the sliding member 8.

Unlike the side seal, the sliding member does not have a function of trapping toner, so some of it slips through the sliding member and reaches the bristle-like part of the side seal to be supplemented by it, while the other part remains untouched. Falls down.

This falling toner adheres to the transfer material or contaminates various parts inside the image forming apparatus, but since the sliding member originally has good separability from the toner, it should be accumulated after a large amount and fall. It has been confirmed that there is no such problem, and because it drops a little at a time, it does not pose any problem in practice.

As the material of the sliding member, a Teflon sheet is suitable in addition to the above materials.

(3) Effects of the Invention As can be seen from the above description, according to the present invention, the toner accumulates on the side seal of the cleaning device and falls onto the transfer material or scatters to various parts in the image forming apparatus. In many cases, it is possible to reliably prevent contamination and maintain a good cleaning function, which contributes to obtaining a high-quality image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of a side seal according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of a main part of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 3 is a side view for explaining the operation of a known cleaning device. FIG. 4 and FIG. 4 are partial perspective views for explaining the related configuration and operation of the cleaning blade and the side seal. 1 ... Image carrier, 2 ... Cleaning device, 3 ... Cleaning blade, 7 ... Side seal, 8 ... Sliding member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device for removing toner adhering to an image carrier, said cleaning device for removing toner adhering to said image carrier along said axial direction of said image carrier. An elastic cleaning blade that comes into contact with the image carrier, and the elastic cleaning blade receives the toner that has been removed from the image carrier by the elastic cleaning blade and that conveys the toner in a direction away from the image carrier to convey the toner away from the image carrier. A rotating cleaning roller provided on the upstream side of the elastic cleaning blade, and abutting on both longitudinal ends of the elastic cleaning blade for preventing toner from leaking from both longitudinal ends of the elastic cleaning blade, and Above the position where the cleaning roller is provided with respect to the rotation direction of the image carrier. From the side to the downstream side of the position where the elastic cleaning blade is provided, and brush-shaped side seals having a function of supplementing toner provided at both ends in the axial direction of the image carrier, and slipping through the side seals. The side seal portion located upstream of the rotation direction of the image carrier and the side seal portion upstream of the rotation direction of the image carrier for dropping the toner at any time. A cleaning device, comprising: a sliding member provided between the image carrier and the image carrier so as to be in contact with the image carrier, and having a releasability from toner.