JPH06290895A - Device removing electric charge from surface - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To eliminate electric charge from a supporting body surface such as a copying paper sheet by arranging a plurality of composite members made of a non-metal material containing conductive fibers and produced by extrusion forming in a base member like a brush and installing a means which electrically connects the conductive fibers to the base member and at the same time transfers electric charge. CONSTITUTION: This static electricity eliminating apparatus 100 comprises a plurality of composite members 110 extended in parallel with each other from a base member 130 and produced by extrusion forming. Each of the member 110 is formed into a thin and long rod-like shape and a plurality of conductive fibers 120 are oriented in the longitudinal direction of the member 110 and continuously extended. The cross-section of each composite member 110 may be polygon, elliptical, plane, and in this case, members 110 having circular cross-section are used. The diameter of the members 110 is controlled to be about 0.1-4mm, preferably about 0.1-2mm. The base member 130 is electrically connected to the members 110 and electric charge is transferred to the base member 130 and passed to an earth.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to electronic components such as connectors, switches and sensors that conduct current. The invention also relates generally to an apparatus for neutralizing and removing electrostatic charge accumulated on a surface.

In particular, the present invention relates to electronic components and static eliminators that are useful in various types of equipment and other applications that require the electronic components and static eliminators described above for proper operation. Specifically, the electronic component and static eliminator of the present invention each comprise a pultruded composite member having a plurality of generally circular, small cross-section conductive fibers within a polymer matrix, the fibers being within the polymer matrix, The member is oriented parallel to the axial direction of the member and is continuous from one end to the other end of the composite member, and one end of the member has a brush-like structure in which small fibers are scattered. The electronic components described herein are particularly suitable for low energy electronic / microelectronic signal level circuits represented by current digital and analog signal processing practices,
On the other hand, the static eliminator described below is ideally designed to remove or neutralize accumulated electrostatic charges from dielectric materials such as copy paper. A typical type of device using such electronic components and devices is an electrostatographic printing device.

[0003]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the currently commonly used electrostatographic printing apparatus, the photosensitive insulating member is usually charged to a uniform voltage and then an optical image of the original document to be copied. Exposed. This exposure discharges the photosensitive insulating surface in the exposed or background areas to form an electrostatic latent image on the member corresponding to the image contained in the original document. Alternatively, a light beam may be modulated and used to selectively discharge the charged photosensitive surface area to record desired information on the photoreceptor. Generally, such systems use a laser beam. The electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive insulating surface is then visualized by developing the image with a developer powder called toner in the art. Most development systems use a developer that contains both charged carrier particles and charged toner particles that are triboelectrically attached to the carrier particles. During development, the charge pattern in the image area of the photoreceptor insulation area attracts toner particles from the carrier particles to form a particle image on the photoreceptor area. The toner image is then transferred to the surface of a carrier such as copy paper which is transported within the electrostatographic printing apparatus.
This toner image is permanently fixed to the copy sheet by heating or pressing.

In the commercial use of such electrostatographic printing devices, the photoreceptor is generally comprised of a fast moving belt or drum to allow high speed multiple copies from the original document. Under these circumstances, the moving photoreceptor must be electrically grounded to provide a path to ground all the spurious currents that occur in the xerographic process. It is usually formed as a ground strip on one side of the photoreceptor belt or drum that contacts a ground brush of conductive fibers. Some of these brushes have a small fiber diameter and are fragile, which makes the brush easy to fall off.This is especially true for high-voltage charging devices in automatic copying machines. On contact, this can cause arcing and hot spots on the wire, which can cause the wire to melt and destroy the corotron. This is catastrophic and fatal damage and requires unplanned, trained operator repair of the device. Fibers also contaminate the device and interfere with the uniformity of corona charging.

Further, commercial use of such electrostatographic printing machines requires the distribution of power and / or logic signals throughout the machine. According to conventional methods, this took the form of using conventional wires to distribute power and logic signals to various functional elements in the automated device by connecting harnesses within each machine. In such a distribution system it is necessary to equip the wires and parts with electrical connectors. Further, for example, it is necessary to equip a sensor and a switch for detecting the position of copy paper or a document. Similarly, other electrical devices such as interlocks are provided to activate and deactivate functions.

Very common devices that perform these functions have traditionally completed the associated electronic circuits using metal indirect points. While this long-standing conventional method was very effective in many applications, it had some difficulties. For example, the formation of an insulating film by oxidation of a metal causes one or both of the metal contacts to deteriorate with time. This membrane is either a mechanical contact force or a low energy power (5
(v, 10mA) cannot break through. This is because Holm's "Electrical Contact", 4th Edition, page 1 (19
(67 Springer-Verlag)) and further complicated by the description. That is, if the contact is very hard, it is not possible to make contact with anything but a very small number of local spots with any force. Further, the corrosion contact causes radio frequency interference (noise), which may cause a delicate circuit failure. Moreover, conventional metal indirect points are susceptible to contamination by dust and other debris in the in-flight environment. For example, in an electrostatographic printing machine, toner particles may be sprinkled by air into the machine, aggregate, and deposit at such contacts. A common contaminant in printing devices is silicone oil, which is commonly used as a fixing and releasing agent. This contamination is also sufficient to prevent the required metal-to-metal contact. Therefore, direct metal indirect points are particularly unreliable in low energy circuits. In order to improve the reliability of such contacts, especially for low energy applications, the contacts may be pre-filled with precious metals such as gold, palladium, silver, rhodium, or palladium.
It was made from a specially developed alloy such as nickel, or in other applications the contacts were placed in a vacuum or sealed. In addition, metal contacts can self-destruct or burn out. Because most metals have a positive coefficient of thermal conductivity, increasing the current density causes the contact spot to heat up, further increasing the resistance, which is further heated by the increased current and eventually burns out. Somehow it melts. When the phenomenon of flooding of current dominates the conduction of current, it is the final destruction. In addition to being unreliable due to its sensitivity to contamination, conventional metal contacts, especially sliding contacts, are subject to wear due to long vertical use due to the large vertical forces.

As mentioned above, the copy paper or equivalent support surface must be transported into place in the electrostatographic printing machine prior to the toner image being transferred from the photosensitive insulating member. Once the toner image is transferred, the copy sheet is transported within the electrostatographic printing machine for the next electrostatographic operation or ejection of the copy sheet. The guide member and the transport mechanism used in the process of transporting the copy sheet are brought into frictional contact with the copy sheet, which causes frictional charge. In addition, the charge that is intentionally generated in the electrostatographic printing machine is also induced on the copy paper. These charges have either positive or negative polarity. Due to its dielectric properties, the copy paper or equivalent support surface receives and retains these charges.

The accumulation of these charges is very detrimental to the handling and transport of copy paper. Because copy paper is thin and soft, electrostatic charge causes the copy paper to be repelled by some position or member within the electrostatographic printing apparatus and attracted at another position. In addition, electrostatic charges tend to stick multiple copy sheets together, potentially causing paper jams in the electrostatographic printing machine during operation. The electrostatic charge buildup on multiple copy sheets also has the disadvantage of causing electrical shock to the user of the electrostatographic printing apparatus by discharge. Finally, the electrostatic charge that builds up on copy paper is known to be detrimental to image quality.
That is, toner particles and other contaminants present in the electrostatographic printing machine will stick to the charged copy paper and degrade the background quality.

Several methods and devices have been proposed to remove or neutralize accumulated electrostatic charge on copy paper. The early concept was an independently powered device that ionized the air around the copy sheet and created a ground path.
However, this device is expensive to manufacture and operate and, in addition, produces ozone. Recent concepts use ground gloss metal that is arranged to drag across the surface of the copy sheet as it exits the copier. Since this "gloss metal" device is not perfect at static elimination of sheets, the difficulty in handling charged copy paper in electrostatographic printing machines could not be completely eliminated. In addition, the glossy metal can scratch the freshly made image on the copy paper surface.

Recently, various forms of brushes have been used in electrostatographic printing machines to aid in the removal of electrostatic charges accumulated on copy paper. Generally, these static eliminator brushes are located in the required locations within the electrostatographic printing machine to allow the copy sheets to contact and pass through the ground fibers of the static eliminator brush before being processed by the transport mechanism. Although brush-type static eliminators have proven effective in removing charge, several drawbacks have been recognized depending on the materials and construction used.

For example, it is known that a static eliminator using a metal brush has a limited useful life after continuous operation. Alternatively, antistatic brushes have been developed with relatively long, i.e. 15 to 25 mm, lengths of conductive carbon fiber to ensure the flexibility of the brush fibers. However, these relatively long conductive carbon fibers easily fall off from the brush due to the brittleness inherent to the thin carbon fibers. With respect to the photoreceptor contact brush described above, these relatively long conductive carbon fibers contact one charging wire of a plurality of high-voltage charging devices that are common in electrostatographic printing devices and, when bridged, cause arcing. It tends to damage the charging wire. This wire breakage is catastrophic and irreparable, impairing the uniformity of the charging device, resulting in unscheduled device repairs. Although high electrical resistivity carbon fibers have been developed and used to minimize arcing in electrostatographic printing machines, for many reasons high resistivity low conductivity antistatic brushes have always been used. Not desirable.

US Pat. No. 4,553,191 to Franks et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,049 discloses a static eliminator having a plurality of elastic, flexible, fine fibers having a resistivity of about 21 × 10 ³ ohm-cm to 1 × 10 ⁶ ohm-cm. The fibers are preferably composed of locally carbonized polyacrylonitrile fibers.

1-53, 118- of Ragnar Holm's "Electrical Contact" (4th edition, 1967), published by Springer-Verlay.
Pages 134, 228, 259 are a comprehensive description of the theory of electrical contacts, especially metal contacts.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a polymer matrix for electrical contact with another member comprising a non-metallic pultruded composite member having a plurality of generally circular small cross-section conductive fibers within the polymer matrix. For an electrical member, the fibers are oriented in a polymer matrix substantially parallel to the axial direction of the member, and the fibers are continuous from one end of the member to the other at a plurality of ends of the member. The composite member has a fibrillated brush-like structure composed of a plurality of fibers that provide electrical contact and one end of the composite member provides densely distributed filament contact, the ends of the fibers of the brush-like structure being It constitutes the electrical contact surface. For example, this electronic element is used in electronic devices such as switches, sensors or connectors.

In another aspect of the invention, the electrical component is used to provide a conductive ground brush for the moving photosensitive member of an electrostatographic printing machine.

The present invention is also directed to a static eliminator and method for removing charge from the surface of a support such as copy paper. The static eliminator of the present invention comprises a non-metallic pultruded composite member having a plurality of conductive fibers within a polymer matrix. A plurality of conductive fibers are oriented within the polymer matrix in the longitudinal direction of the pultruded composite member and extend continuously within the member. The pultruded composite member has at least one fibrillated end that includes a brush-like structure formed from exposed longitudinal portions of a plurality of conductive conductive fibers for contacting a support surface.

The static eliminator further comprises a base member for holding the pultruded composite member or a plurality of pultruded composite members, the base member being connected to the conductive fibers so that charges can be transferred from the plurality of conductive fibers. ing. Alternatively, the pultruded composite member of the static eliminator of the present invention has a generally flat shape, and the base end of the pultruded composite member is made of conductive fibers so that charges can be transferred from the plurality of conductive fibers. A means for electrically connecting is provided. Therefore, the static eliminator of the present invention is basically integrally formed as a single device. The static eliminator is typically incorporated into an electrostatographic printing machine to remove accumulated charge on copy sheets carried within the electrostatographic printing machine.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described based on the following representative drawings, but the dimensions of each part in these drawings are not necessarily accurate, but rather exaggerated or distorted for clarity of explanation and description. Sometimes I'm out.

According to the present invention, an electronic component is provided, which is highly reliable, can be manufactured at low cost and easily, and can operate reliably in a low energy circuit.
Various electronic devices for conducting current such as connectors and interlocks are provided. Generally, these devices are not for low voltages in the range of a few millivolts to hundreds of volts and low currents in the range of a few microamps to a few hundreds of milliamps, rather than for power applications of, for example, tens to hundreds of amps. It is an energy device. Although the present invention may be used in the single digit amperage range for certain applications, it will provide the best results with high resistance circuits that can tolerate power loss. It should be noted that these devices can be used even in a high voltage region of, for example, 10,000 V or more in a certain use, provided that excessive heat is not generated. While these devices can be used in certain low power applications where the inherent power dissipation is acceptable, as mentioned above, they are electronic in their nature in the general electrical device field, that is, , Basically means to be used in signal level circuits. Further, these electronic devices can perform mechanical or mechanical functions in addition to performing electrical functions. The above advantages are realized by a manufacturing method commonly known as pultrusion and by fibrillating at least one end of pultrusion.

According to the present invention, an electronic component is composed of a pultruded composite member having a fibrillated brush-like structure at one end, and one end of the brush-like structure is in close contact with another component for filament contact. I will provide a. The term densely arranged filament contacts is intended to be a particularly highly abundant contact which ensures an electrical contact with another contact surface, where the contact parts are 1 per mm ²
It has more than 000 independent conductive fibers. In the preferred embodiment, the use of a laser allows the pultruded member to be cut into discrete segments and fibrillated in a single step. This laser fibrillation process provides a fast and clean programmable method. That is, by this method, the electrical contacts are low cost, long life, low electrical noise, do not fall off, can be machined like solid material, have more durable, easily replaceable, no pollution. Formed to provide a conductive contact that does not occur.
On the other hand, the brush-like structure has a length several times larger than the diameter of the individual fibers, thereby providing a flexible brush with soft elasticity that elastically behaves as a lump when deformed,
As a result, it is possible to form electronic contacts that provide the desired level of rich contact with electronic contacts. Further, the length of the brush-like fiber is less than 5 times the diameter of the fiber, and the end portion provides a microstructure in which the contact surface provides a relatively rigid contact surface.

The pultrusion process generally stretches the fibers to a continuous length through a resin bath or impregnator and places them in a preformed fixture where the sections are partially molded to remove excess resin and / or air. It is further placed in a heated die, where the sections are continuously cured. This process is commonly used to make pultruded shapes of glass fiber reinforced plastics. For more details on pultrusion techniques, see "Handbook of pultrusion techniques" (Raymond W. Meyer, 1985 first edition, Chap.
man and Hall, New York). In the practice of the present invention, the conductive carbon fiber is immersed in a polymer tank,
It is drawn at an elevated temperature through a die opening of the desired shape to form a solid piece that has the dimensions and shape of the die and can be cut, formed and machined. As a result, thousands of conductive fiber elements are contained within the polymer matrix, exposing the ends of these fibers to the surface for electrical contact. The extreme abundance and availability of this electronic contact makes it possible to substantially improve the reliability of these devices. Since these plurality of small-diameter conductive fibers are drawn out as a continuous length through the polymer tank and the heated die, the molded member is formed by the fibers continuous from one end to the other end of the member, and is formed in the resin matrix. Oriented substantially parallel to the axial direction of the member. The term "axial" defines the longitudinal or longitudinal direction along the major axis of the construction during the pultrusion process. Thus, the pultruded composite can be formed into a continuous length of construction during the pultrusion process and can be cut to the desired length to provide a large number of electronic contacts at each end. These pultruded composite parts can then be fibrillated at one or both ends.

Any suitable fiber can be used in the practice of the present invention. Generally, the conductive fibers are non-metallic and have a DC volume resistivity of about 1 × 10 ^{-5 to} about 1 × 10 ¹⁰ ohm-cm to minimize resistive losses and excess RFI, and are about 1 × 10 ^−. It is preferred to have a DC volume resistivity of ^{4 to} about 10 ohm-cm. The upper region of the resistivity up to 1 × 10 ¹⁰ ohm-cm is such that the individual fibers act like individual parallel resistors, thereby reducing the total resistance of the pultruded member which allows current conduction. It can also be used in special applications involving extremely high fiber densities. However, most applications require fibers having a resistivity within the preferred range described above to conduct current. The term "non-metal"
It is possible to distinguish from a conventional metal fiber that exhibits a metal conductivity having a resistivity of the order of 1 × 10 ^-6 ohm-cm, and to treat it as a non-metallic but close to or provide a metallic physical property. Used to define a class of different fibers. It is also possible to use materials with higher resistivity if the associated electronic circuit has a sufficiently high impedance. In addition, the individual conductive fibers are generally circular in cross section and generally have diameters on the order of about 4 to about 50 microns, which allows to provide a large number of contacts with a very small cross sectional area. Fibers are generally flexible and compatible with polymer systems. Typical fibers include carbon fibers and carbon / graphite fibers.

Particularly suitable fibers that can be used are those obtained by a controlled heat treatment that causes complete or partial carbonization of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor fibers. It has been found that such fibers are capable of accurately obtaining the electrical resistivity of carbonized carbon fibers by carefully controlling the carbonization temperature within a certain range. Carbon fibers from polyacrylonitrile precursor fibers are available from Stackpole, Celion Carbon Fibers (BA
It is commercially produced by a fiber bundle of 1000 to 160,000 filaments by SF Division, etc. This fiber bundle is carbonized in a two-step process. That is, the PAN fiber is stabilized in an oxygen atmosphere at a temperature of about 300 ° C. to stabilize the pre-oxidation.
PAN fibers are produced and then carbonized at high temperature under an inert (nitrogen) atmosphere. The DC electrical resistivity of the resulting fiber is controlled by the choice of carbonization temperature. For example, if the carbonization temperature is controlled in the range of about 500 ° C to 750 ° C, about 10
Carbon fibers with an electric resistivity of ^{2 to} about 10 ⁶ ohm-cm are obtained, while at the processing temperature of 1800 ° C. to 2000 ° C. 10
Carbon fibers with a DC resistivity of ^{-2 to} about 10 ^-6 ohm-cm are obtained. See US Pat. No. 4,761,709 (Ewing et al.) For treatments that may be employed to produce these carbonized fibers.
And the literature cited in column 8 thereof. Generally, these carbon fibers have higher tensile stresses than most steels, about 30 to 60 million psi or 20.
5 to 411 GPa, which makes it possible to obtain very strong pultruded composite parts. High temperature conversion of polyacrylonitrile fiber is inert and oxidatively resistant about 9
Produces 9.99% elemental carbon fiber.

One of the advantages of using conductive carbon fibers is that they have a negative coefficient of thermal conductivity, so that as the individual fibers become hotter, for example during spurious high current surge flow. The conductivity of the fibers is to increase. This is an advantage over metal contacts. This is because metals exhibit this opposite behavior, which makes metal contacts prone to burnout and self-destruction. A further advantage of carbon fibers is that their surface is naturally rough and porous, which allows them to adhere well to the polymer matrix. In addition, the carbon material is inert and therefore relatively resistant to contamination of the plated metal.

Any suitable polymeric matrix can be used in the practice of the present invention. The polymer may be insulating or conductive. If diagonal conductivity along the edges of the pultrusion is required, conductive polymers may be used. On the other hand, if insulation is required along the edges of the pultrusion, use a thick film of insulating polymer or use insulating fibers around the pultrusion structure to isolate the conductive fibers from the edges. Can be configured to do so.

Generally the polymer is selected from the group of structural thermoplastic or thermosetting resins. Polyester, epoxy,
Vinyl esters, polyether ether ketones, polyether imides, polyether sulfones, polyethylenes, polypropylenes and polyamides are generally suitable materials, polyesters and vinyl esters have a short cure time and are relatively chemically inert, It is preferable because it is suitable for laser treatment. However, thermoplastic polyamide,
Polyethylene and polypropylene are also preferable because they have a low melting point, are low in cost, and are suitable for laser treatment. If an elastomeric matrix is desired, silicone, fluorosilicone or polyurethane elastomers can provide the polymeric matrix. As a typical concrete material, Hetron 6
13, Hetron 7030, Arpol 7030, 7362 (available from Oshland Oil), Dion Iso 6315 (available from Koppers) and Silmar S-7956 (available from Vestron). See Section 4 of Meyer's Pultrusion Technology Handbook, above, for more information on the resins that can be used. When physical properties such as corrosion resistance and flame resistance are required, other materials may be added to the polymer tank. In addition, the polymer bath may be a filler such as calcium carbide, alumina, silica, or a pigment to give a constant color,
For example, it is possible to include a lubricant that reduces friction in sliding contact. Furthermore, to change the viscosity and surface tension,
Or to facilitate cross-linking or pultrusion bonding,
Additives may be added in addition to these other materials. Of course, if the fiber contains adhesive glue, a compatible polymer is chosen. For example, when using an epoxy resin, it is preferable to add an epoxy paste to the fiber to promote the adhesion between the resin and the fiber.

The fiber loading into the polymer matrix depends on the desired conductivity and cross-sectional area of the final structure and other mechanical properties. Generally, resins have a specific gravity of about 1.1 to about 1.5, while fibers have a specific gravity of about 1.7 to about 2.2. The fibers may be about 5% by weight of the pultruded member to impart the above-mentioned conductivity level to the electronic component, but generally 50% by weight or more, preferably 70% by weight, to impart the desired number of fiber contacts. It is preferable that the pultruded member contains, by weight, or even 90% by weight of the fiber, and the higher the fiber loading, the more fibers will be subjected to contact with low body resistivity, and a hard and strong member will be provided. Generally, additional conductive fibers may be added to increase the conductivity of the matrix.

The pultrusion composite member can be manufactured by the pultrusion technique described above, for example, by Meyer's "Pultrusion Technique Handbook." Generally, this involves the following steps. That is, a continuous multifilamentary strand of conductive carbon fibers is preliminarily washed in a preliminary washing tank, then the continuous strand is pulled through a molten or liquid polymer, and further heated according to the curing temperature of the resin. It is pulled through the die provided and introduced into the oven drier, if necessary in the cutting or winding position. See Meyer for more details on this process. The desired final shape of the pultruded composite part is formed by the die. Generally, the cross section of pultrusion is circular, oval, square, rectangular, triangular, etc. In some applications, the cross section may be irregular, and may be tubular or annular in cross section with a cavity of the shape described above. Other constructions that allow a mixed region of conductive and non-conductive fibers are possible. Generally, holes, slots, ridges, grooves, concave or convex contact areas, or threads can be formed in a pultruded composite member by conventional machining techniques. Or, to allow the pultrusion to be flexible and foldable upon its initial removal from the die so that it can be molded into a rigid structural member upon curing. It is also possible to improve the pultrusion process. Or, if the pultrusion resin is a thermoplastic one, take out a part of it from the die at high temperature,
It is also possible to arrange the process to be molded and then cooled to cure.

Generally, a fiber is a continuous filament wire,
For example, each strand is 1,000, 3,000, 6,000, 12,000 or 1
It is supplied as a continuous filament wire consisting of up to 60,000 filaments. Generally these fibers are 1 cm ²
About 1 × 10 ⁵ (4% nominal diameter fiber added to pultrusion by 50% by weight) to about 1 × 10 ⁷ (nominal 4 micron fiber added to pultrusion by 90% by weight)
The pultruded molded member is formed so as to have the contact points.

An electronic component having an electrical contact surface in which individual fibrillated fibers are densely present can be manufactured by a suitable technique from a pultruded member having a proper cross section. Typical techniques for fibrillating pultruded parts include melting and heat removal of the polymer matrix at the ends of the pultruded part. In the preferred embodiment, fibrillation is accomplished by exposure to laser light. In the heat removal process, the polymer matrix has a much lower melting point or decomposition point than the fiber. Similarly, in the solvent removal process, the solvent removes only the polymer matrix and not the fiber. In each case the process is completed with virtually no removal of the residue. In general, pultruded parts are supplied in continuous lengths and formed into fibrillated contacts of much smaller size, the laser cuts from long pieces into individual parts and at the same time a highly overlapping fiber of the pultruded parts that travels downstream. Fiberizing both ends of the contact and the highly overlapping fiber contact upstream of the second pultruded member. The laser used is usually one which is absorbed by the polymer matrix and is thereby volatilized. They are also safe and have high output due to high speed cutting,
It has a continuous or pulsed output and operates relatively easily. Specific lasers include carbon dioxide lasers, carbon monoxide lasers, YAG lasers, and argon ion lasers, of which the reliability is high, the most suitable for absorption of polymer matrix and manufacturing environment, and the most economical. A carbon dioxide laser is preferred. The invention is illustrated by the following examples.

0.001 to 0 with a diameter of about 8 to 10 microns.
1ohm-cm 0.5 mm rod-shaped pultrusion 2.5mm in diameter made as fibers per 1 mm ² in a vinyl ester resin matrix of carbon fibers is more present 10000 having a resistance of
6 watt continuous wave laser (Adki
n Model LPS-50) was exposed while rotating the rod slowly about the rod axis at about 1 revolution per second. About 10 steps
After the exposure for 0 seconds, the pultrusion molding was completely cut by the laser, and the vinyl ester adhesive resin was evaporated evenly from the filament ends of both members to several millimeters, so that the rigid conductive material as shown in FIG. The "paintbrush" tip connected to the pultrusion remained.

A large CO ₂ laser (Coherent General model E) that scans at a continuous wave of 300 watts at about 7.5 cm / min.
verlase 548) and made from the same material with a diameter of 1 m
The m 2 pultruded product was cut into fibrils in less than 1 second.

Referring to FIGS. 1A and 2A. These depict a preferred embodiment of the electronic component of the present invention, which has a laser fibrillated brush-like structure at one end of the pultruded composite member, which is densely distributed over the electrical contact surface. Provide filament contact. In the above continuous pultrusion molding, the brush-like structure of electronic parts is at least 1000 pieces / m
It will be appreciated that it is possible to make high levels of abundant electronic contacts with fiber densities of m ² and in fact fiber densities above 15000 fibers / mm ² . Of course, such a level of fiber density is shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2A and 2
Although it cannot be accurately expressed in B, FIG. 1 and FIG.
Shows that the fibers of the brush-like structure have a substantially uniform free fiber length, and the boundary between the pultrusion part and the brush-like part was formed by precise control of the laser.

FIGS. 1, 1A and 1B show flexible electronic components which are generally elastic in that the fibers of the brush-like structure have a length greater than 5 times the fiber diameter and therefore behave elastically when deformed. It is a thing. Electronic components of this type may find use in applications where it is desirable to have resiliently flexible fiber contacts, such as in sliding contacts such as the photoreceptor ground brushes described above. At such contacts, the individual fibers are very delicate and elastic so that they stay in contact with another contact surface without the bounce, split, etc. that often occur with conventional metal contacts. . Therefore, they continue to function despite minor disruptions in the physical environment. This type of macro fibrillation is distinct from the more micro fibrillation shown in FIGS. 2, 2A and 2B.
2, FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show the case where the fibers of the brush-like structure are shorter than about 5 times the fiber diameter, and the end portions are relatively hard to form an undeformable contact surface. In this part, the individual elements are minimally deflected, and thus find use in applications requiring static or non-sliding contact, such as switches and microswitches. However, they are highly packed with individual fibers and constitute the contact surface. In this micro example,
It is particularly important to keep the boundary area between the pultruded composite part and the brush-like structure part precise and to provide a uniform contact-facing surface to another facing surface. If the boundary between these two regions is not precise and a substantially uniform free fiber length is not formed, the contact pressure will be different at the contact surface and will therefore present a non-uniform surface to another opposing surface. It will be.

The term "boundary region" is intended to define the heat affected zone area between the pultruded brush-like structure and the pultruded part where there is a gradation of decomposed polymer and fibrillated fibers. To do. In this heat-affected zone, the temperature of the small volume portion of the pultrusion molding rises considerably with the contact with the light-induced heat generated by the laser. This heat spreads from the hot contact area of the material to the cold bulk portion of the material depending on the heat conduction of the material, the power of the laser spot and the exposure time. The temperature gradient along the length of the pultrusion that occurs during heating results in a gradation of decomposed polymer in the boundary region.

It is possible to use a free fiber length of the fibrillated pultruded body of 1 inch or more. However, free fibers longer than about 5 mm are not practical because they are more costly than conventional brush-like construction techniques for removal and consumption of the polymer matrix. Free fiber lengths of about 0.1 to about 0.3 mm are preferred for electrostatic or other electrical or electronic applications. In microscopic embodiments, the fibrillated ends are very short fibers and, when touched, are not perceived as fibers and feel solid. However, in a macro example, it feels like a fluffy velvet or paintbrush.

In making the electronic component according to the preferred embodiment, the laser beam is moved relative to the pultruded piece. This allows the laser beam or pultruded piece to rest and the other to move relative to the stationary member, or
Both the laser and the work piece can be controlled simultaneously and easily implemented programmatically.

Referring to FIG. 3, in FIG. 3, a pultruded piece 40 is placed on a table 42 which is rotatably installed around a central shaft 43, that is, a motor shaft (not shown) of a motor housing box 44.
The outline of the method of fixing is shown. Further, this table can be moved in the XY plane by the movement of the worm gear 46 by another motor (not shown) in the motor storage box 44. The laser scanning carriage 48 has a laser port 52 and can be moved vertically by a worm gear 56 and a motor 58, and can be moved horizontally by a worm gear 60 and a motor 62. The movement of table 42 and scan carriage 48 is controlled by programmable controller 64.

The laser fibrillated pultruded member is used to form at least one of the current conducting contact components in the device, with the remaining contact components selected from conventional conductors and insulators. It In addition to these, or as a substitute for them, both contacts may be constructed from the same or different pultruded composite members that are pultruded and fibrillated. Alternatively, one of the contacts may be pultruded and not fibrillated. One of the contact points may be macro-fibrillated and the other may be micro-fibrillated. Furthermore, it is possible that one or both contacts fulfill a mechanical or structural function. For example, in addition to serving as a current conductor in a connector, the solid portion of the fibrillated pultruded member may function as a mechanical member such as a bracket or other structural support, or a crimp on a metal connector. May function as a mechanical fixture for the. It is also possible to provide a part of the fibrillated pultruded member as a guide rail or a pin, a stopper, or a mechanical structure as a rail for mounting a scanning extrusion head. It is also possible to do so. Therefore, it is possible to combine multiple functions,
It is possible to reduce the number of parts. In fact, one member,
It can function as an electronic contact, its support and an electrical connection.

FIG. 4 shows an electrophotographic printing apparatus or a copying machine using the belt 10 having the surface of the photosensitive member provided with the ground brush 29 of the present invention. The belt 10 moves in the direction of an arrow 12 and continuously advances from the surface of the photoconductor starting from a charging station equipped with a corona generator 14 through various process stations. This corona generator charges the surface of the photoconductor at a relatively high voltage and almost uniformly.

Next, the charged portion of the surface of the photoconductor advances through the image forming station. At the image forming station, the document handling device 15 positions the original document 16 on the exposure system 17 with the original surface facing down. The exposure system 17 comprises a lamp 20 which illuminates a document 16 positioned on a transparent platen 18. The light rays reflected from the document 16 pass through the lens 22 and this lens 2
Reference numeral 2 forms an optical image of the original document 16 on the charging portion on the surface of the photoreceptor of the belt 10 to selectively dissipate the electric charge. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is recorded on the surface of the photoconductor corresponding to the information area included in the original document.

The platen 18 is movably mounted so that the magnification of the original document to be copied can be adjusted, and is arranged so as to move in the direction of arrow 24. The lens 22 moves in synchronism with this and forms an optical image of the original document 16 on the charging portion on the surface of the photoreceptor of the belt 10.

The document handling device 15 sends documents to the platen 18 one after another from the holding tray. The document handling device returns the documents to the stack held in the tray. afterwards,
Belt 10 advances the electrostatic latent image recorded on the photoreceptor surface to a development station.

At the developing station, a pair of magnetic brush developing rollers 26 and 28 bring the developer into contact with the electrostatic latent image. The latent image attracts toner particles from the carrier particles of the developer to form a toner particle image on the photoreceptor surface of belt 10.

When the electrostatic latent image recorded on the photoreceptor surface of belt 10 is developed, belt 10 advances the toner particle image to the transfer station. At the transfer station, copy paper is moved into contact with the toner particle image. The transfer station comprises a corona generator 30, which sprays ions onto the back side of the copy sheet. As a result, the toner particle image is attracted to the sheet from the photoreceptor surface of the belt 10.

The copy sheet is conveyed from the selected one of the trays 34 and 36 to the transfer station. After transfer, the conveyor 32 advances the sheet to the fusing station. The fusing station includes a fusing assembly that permanently affixes the transferred toner image to the copy sheet.
The fusing assembly 40 preferably includes a heat fusing roller 42 and a backup roller 44, with the particle image in contact with the fusing roller 42.

After fixing, the conveyor 46 conveys the sheet to the gate 48 which functions as a reversing unit. Depending on the position of the gate 48, the copy sheet is deflected and inserted into the sheet reverser 50, that is, the bypass sheet reverser 50, or directly into the second gate 5.
Transport to 2. The judgment gate 52 deflects the sheet directly to the output tray 54, or directs the sheet to a conveyance path for conveying the sheet without inverting the sheet to the third gate 56. The gate 56 conveys the sheet directly to the output path of the copying machine without inverting the sheet, or deflects the sheet to the reverse roll conveyance 58 for double-sided copying. The reverse conveyance 58 stacks sheets for double-sided copying on the double-sided copying tray 60.
The double-sided copy tray 60 is for intermediate temporary holding in order to print the opposite side of the sheet on which one side is printed.

In FIG. 5, a document sensor 66 is shown in the transport path of the document 16. Document sensor 66 generally comprises a pair of opposed conductor contacts. This pair is a laser fibrillated brush 6 supported by the upper support 70.
8 and is depicted as a pultruded composite member 72 in electrical contact therewith and supported by a lower conductor support 74. The pultruded composite member comprises a plurality of conductive fibers 71 within a polymer matrix 75 having a surface 73, one end of which is in contact with the fibers of a laser fibrillated brush 68. The brush 68 is oriented perpendicular to the sheet path and flexes as the document passes between the contacts. In the absence of a document, the laser fibrillated fibers form a closed circuit with the surface 73 of the pultrusion member 72.

Referring to FIG. 6, a schematic side view of the photoconductor grounding brush is shown with the photoconductor moving in the direction indicated by the arrow. A notch or "V" is formed in the pultruded portion of the ground brush. This is given because the moving photoreceptor belt has a seam in the lateral direction of the belt, and if this notch were not present it could potentially disrupt the grounding operation. This geometry provides two fibrillated brush-like structures separated by a notch or "V" space.

The pultruded body shown from the side in FIG.
17mm, width 25mm, thickness 0.8mm.
Tested as a photoreceptor ground brush on a rox 5090 copier.
This pultruded product is a Celion Carbo that has been hardened with epoxy and pultruded into a vinyl ester binder resin.
n Fiber G30-500 (Celion Carbon Fibers DIV., BASF
Made from 50 strands of 6000 filaments (Structural Material Inc., Charlotte, NC). The pultruded member was cut with a CO ₂ laser at intervals of 17 mm, and both edges of the cut portion were simultaneously fibrillated. A notch former was used to form the "V" shown in FIG. The two brush-like structures thus prepared were mounted on a Xerox 5090 copier, and these brushes were brought into ground contact with the edges of the photoconductor. The other end of the pultruded body was wire bonded to the ground of the device. I made more than 15 million copies with the two machines, and at the time of the test interruption, fiber consumption shortened other parts, but the copies could be eliminated without failure.

Thus, according to the present invention, there is provided a densely distributed filament contact electronic component that has a very high degree of overlap in the contacts over conventional metal indirect points. In addition, there is a reliable, low cost, durable component that has controlled resistance, is immune to contamination, is non-toxic, and can be designed to be environmentally stable. Provided. It works for a very long time in low power structures. Also, in the preferred embodiment, the pultruded member was cut into individual contacts, simultaneously fibrillated, the free fiber length was strictly controlled, and the boundary region between the pultruded portion and the free fiber was precisely constructed. Provide the final contact. This is because the laser can be precisely controlled and imaged by the program format. Further, in addition to being capable of single, one-step automated manufacturing, the element can simultaneously perform electrical and mechanical or structural functions.

The present invention is also directed to a static eliminator for removing accumulated charges from a support such as copy paper. Generally, the static eliminator of the present invention comprises a fibrillated brush-like structure of conductive fibers formed and exposed at one end of a flexible composite member. When the electrically charged support surface is conveyed across the static eliminator, the composite member curves and passes while the brush-like structure contacts the support surface to receive and discharge. In this way, the loss of the conductive fibers is limited to the exposed length of the fibers of the brush-like structure, and the durability of the static eliminator is enhanced. It will be appreciated that the static eliminator can also be moved instead of or in addition to the transport of the support surface.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention, the static eliminator comprises a non-metallic pultruded composite member having a plurality of conductive conductive fibers within a polymer matrix. here,
The plurality of conductive fibers are oriented within the polymer matrix in the longitudinal direction of the pultruded composite member. The pultrusion process for making non-metallic pultruded composites and the general features of pultruded composites are set forth in the above detailed description of the electronic components of the present invention.

However, it is important to note that the specifications regarding the structure and physical characteristics of the static eliminator differ from those of the parts described above. These differences in structure and physical properties make the static eliminator operating conditions unique. For example, it is desirable to maintain the flexibility of the pultruded composite member as it repeatedly flexes as many support surfaces are continuously transported through the static eliminator.
Therefore, as described below, the polymer matrix is not only an energy absorbing substance capable of being volatilized by a laser, but in particular, the energy absorbing substance of the static eliminator embodied here is a thermoplastic resin.

As mentioned above, a polymer matrix,
In particular, the thermoplastic resin may be an insulator or a conductor. Thermoplastic resins include polyamide, polyethylene, polypropylene, liquid crystal polymers and thermoplastic elastomers. However, it is preferred that the thermoplastic resin is selected from the group consisting of polyamide, polyethylene and polypropylene.
See above for more information on applicable resins.
See chapter 4 of Meyer's pultrusion technology handbook.

A further feature of the static eliminator is that it requires a lower electrical resistivity than the typical electrical components described above. This low electrical resistivity allows irregular pulse discharge of stored charge from the dielectric support. As described above, the direct current resistivities of the plurality of conductive fibers of the static eliminator embodied here are about 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ ohm-cm to about 1 × 10 ⁵ ohm-c.
m. However, the direct current resistivity of conductive fiber is about 1 × 10 ^-4
It is preferably from ohm-cm to about 10 ohm-cm.

Virtually any suitable conductive fiber can be used, but the static eliminator embodied here processes and manufactures non-metallic fibers such as carbon and carbon / graphite fibers in continuous length. In the preferred embodiment, carbon polyacrylonitrile fibers are preferred due to their electrical properties and durability, as described above. As further embodied herein, the conductive fibers generally have a circular cross section.
The diameter of each conductive fiber is in the range of about 4 microns to about 50 microns, preferably about 7 microns to about 10 diameters.
It is preferred to use conductive fibers between the microns, and even more preferred to use conductive fibers having a diameter of from about 7 microns to about 8.5 microns.

Using the pultrusion process as detailed above,
It is possible to construct the static eliminator of the present invention with a fiber density of at least about 100 fibers per 1 mm square. Since low resistivity and high conductivity are desired, the static eliminator embodied here has a fiber density of at least about 400 fibers per 1 mm square and from about 400 to about 12 fibers per 1 mm square.
A fiber density of 00 fibers is preferable. Thus, a plurality of conductive fibers is at least about 5% of the pultruded composite member.
Examples of suitable static eliminators include about 30% by weight, and more than 40% by weight and about 80% by weight or less fibers.

According to the invention, the pultruded composite member of the static eliminator has at least one fibrillated end, which end exposes a plurality of conductive fibers in contact with the support surface. It has a brush-like structure of densely distributed filament contacts formed from lengths. In essence, this brush-like structure provides a closely-spaced contact for discharging accumulated charge from the support surface. As embodied herein, the exposed length of the plurality of conductive fibers is in the range of about 0.1 mm to about 15 mm, with an exposed length limited to about 0.1 mm to about 8 mm being preferred. Thus, the exposed length limits the length of individual fibers that inadvertently break or fall out of the brush-like structure. By limiting the exposed fibers of the brush-like structure to be shorter than the critical distance that causes arc discharge in a high-voltage charging device such as a corona generator, it is possible to prevent mechanical damage that often occurs in brushes of conventional static eliminators. become.

With respect to the electronic component of the present invention, as described above, the formation of the brush-like structure is performed by fibrillation by laser at at least one end of the pultrusion composite member.
That is, by using a laser such as the above-mentioned CO ₂ or YAG laser, the polymer matrix is removed by volatilization and a plurality of conductive fibers are exposed for a predetermined length. In this way, an appropriate boundary portion is formed between the pultruded composite member and the exposed length of the conductive fiber. The polymer matrix is an energy absorbing substance. As mentioned above, lasers can also be used to cut individual lengths of pultruded composite parts from long pultruded stock members.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the static eliminator comprises a base member holding a pultruded composite member, the base member being electrically connected to a plurality of conductive fibers and transferring charges from the fibers. It is equipped with a means for The electrical connection with the plurality of conductive fibers can be performed in various ways.
For example, when the base member is made of a conductive material and is connected to the ground potential, the base end of the pultruded composite member near the base member is fibrillated to expose a plurality of conductive fibers directly to the base member. Alternatively, the polymer matrix may be made of a conductive resin and may be brought into direct contact with the base member. Or Acheson Colloids, Po
rt Huron, available from Michigan Electrodag 213 or Ele
It is also possible to use a conductive epoxy, such as ctrodag 199, to surround and contact the base end of the pultruded composite member. At this time, the conductive epoxy is passed through the base member,
Alternatively, it is directly grounded to the ground potential. It will be appreciated that pultrusion is sufficiently conductive that it can be grounded, for example, by screwing.

As described above with respect to the electronic components of the present invention, the pultrusion composite member can be formed in a variety of shapes with an axis or longitudinal direction defined by the principal axes of the pultrusion process. The elongated shape allows the pultruded composite member to bend in response to laterally induced forces on the moving support. As embodied herein, the pultruded composite member has a total length of about 6 mm to about 50 mm, and more preferably a total length of about 10 mm to about 25 mm.

First, referring to FIG. 7, FIG.
A specific example of the static eliminator shown by is shown. Figure 7
The static eliminator 100 comprises a plurality of pultruded composite members 110 extending substantially parallel to each other from a base member 130. Each pultruded composite member 110 is formed into an elongated rod shape, and a plurality of conductive fibers 120 are formed by the pultruded composite member 110.
Oriented in the longitudinal direction and extending continuously therethrough.
The cross section of each bar-shaped pultruded composite member may be polygonal, elliptical, flat, etc., if desired, but the static eliminator of this embodiment uses a bar-shaped pultruded composite member having a circular cross section. The main dimension, or diameter, of each bar pultruded composite is approximately
Main dimensions in the range of 0.1 mm to about 4 mm, with about 0.1 mm to about 2 mm being more preferred. In general the cross-sectional area of each pultruded composite member is in the range of from about 0.01 mm ² to about 10 mm ^2, even about 0.1 mm ² to about 1 mm ² is preferred.

FIGS. 8 to 10 show two different configurations of the brush-like structure 125 of the static eliminator of FIG.
As can be seen in FIG. 8, the exposed length of each of the plurality of conductive fibers 120 is uniform, with the free end of the brush-like structure 125 in the region of the boundary 115 between the pultruded composite member and the exposed length of the conductive fibers. It is parallel and almost flat. Or brush-like structure 12
The free end of 5'may be angled with respect to the area of boundary 115 'as shown in FIG. By using the cut fibrillation process described above for the method of manufacturing an electronic component, it is possible to form the brush-like structure 125 in various forms. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the free end of each brush-like structure 125 of the rod-shaped pultruded composite member 110 of FIG. 7 is formed into a conical shape by rotating each rod-shaped member 110 during laser cutting and fibrillation. It is also possible to do so.
It should be noted that the fiber density of these pultruded composite members is at least about 100 fibers per 1 mm square, and actually there are more than about 1000 fibers per 1 mm square.
It is again noted that these fiber densities cannot be stated in the 0 schematic.

FIG. 11 shows another specific example of the static eliminator indicated by reference numeral 200, which uses a single pultruded composite member having a flat shape. A plurality of conductive fibers 220 are oriented in the longitudinal direction of the pultruded composite member 210, continuously extend therebetween, and are densely arranged over the entire width of the plane member 210, that is, in the lateral direction. The width of the planar pultruded composite member 210 of the present example is from about 2 mm to about 1000.
The range of mm is possible, with between about 2 mm and about 300 mm being more preferred. On the other hand, the thickness of the flat member is about 0.1 mm to about 3 mm.
Can range from 0.2 mm to about 1 mm, preferably. Further, the brush-like structure 225 formed on the fibrillated end of the planar member 210 may be formed by a straight edge, or may be formed by a shaped edge such as a saw blade shape as shown in FIG. Good.

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment of a basically integrated static eliminator, which is designated by reference numeral 300. Here, a single flat pultruded composite member 310 is used. Therefore, instead of a separate base member, the base end 316 of the pultruded composite member 310 has multiple conductive fibers.
It is provided with means electrically connected to 320 to allow the flow of charge therefrom. For example, using one of the conductive epoxies described above, the base end 316 of the pultruded composite member 310.
And is in contact with the plurality of conductive fibers 320, and the conductive epoxy is directly grounded to the ground potential.

In the embodiment of FIG. 11, the plurality of conductive fibers 320 of FIG. 12 are oriented continuously in the longitudinal direction of the pultruded composite member 310, while being closely spaced across the width of the planar member 310. The width of the planar pultruded composite member 310 of the present embodiment can range from about 2 mm to about 1000 mm, preferably between about 2 mm and about 300 mm. On the other hand, the thickness of the planar member 310 can range from about 0.1 mm to about 3 mm, preferably between about 0.2 mm and about 1 mm. Plane shape member 310
The brush-like structure 325 formed on the fibrillated end of the above may have either a straight edge shape or a shaped edge shape.
Further, grooves 318 may be formed in the planar pultrusion composite member 310 to increase the flexibility of the static eliminator, as seen, for example, in FIG.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 11 to 13, the width of the static eliminator, that is, the lateral direction corresponds to the width of the support to be conveyed, and extends over the width direction. The surface of a support such as copy paper is generally a dielectric and does not conduct electric charges. Therefore, the electric charge on the surface of the support cannot be sufficiently discharged by a single contact. The location of the contacts must be perpendicular to the direction of movement of the support surface, which ensures that almost the entire surface of the support surface is in contact with this static eliminator and is discharged. In this way the stored charge can be reduced to less than about 20 nanocoulombs per 8.5 x 11 sheet on the support surface.

Referring to FIG. 14, FIG. 14 shows the automatic electrostatographic printing apparatus already described with respect to the use of the electronic component of the present invention, further comprising the static eliminator of the present invention. Generally, as can be understood from the above description, an automatic electrostatographic printing apparatus has a means for forming a toner image on a surface of a support by an electrostatographic process, and an electrostatographic treatment of the surface of the support by the toner image forming means. And means for transporting the support surface in the apparatus. That is, the toner image forming means includes the charging station, the image forming station, the developing station, the transfer station and the fixing station as described above. The conveying means is equipped with a plurality of trays, conveyors, judgment gates, etc. at various places in the apparatus.

As is apparent from FIG. 14, the support, that is, each sheet of copy paper, passes through the transfer station and the fixing station, and the conveyors 64, 66, 32.
And 46, they are generally exposed to a significant amount of charge. This accumulated charge is applied to the subsequent decision gates 48, 52, 5
6 is very detrimental to the handling and orientation of copy sheets. In addition, the accumulated charge is output from the copy paper output port A or B.
There is a risk of giving an electrostatic shock to the user after the sheet is discharged from the sheet or when the sheet is held in the double-sided copy tray 60.

These charge-related problems are due to the 8.
It can be solved or minimized by reducing the accumulated charge to less than about 20 nanocoulombs per 5 x 11 size sheet. In order to reduce the charge stored on each sheet, the static eliminator S of the present invention is placed immediately upstream of the required location of interest. For example, as can be seen in FIG. 14, static eliminator S has decision gates 48, 52 and 5
6, the sheet discharge ports A and B, and the tray 60 for double-sided copying.

It will be appreciated that any of the disclosed embodiments, or any of the obvious embodiments of the static eliminator of the present invention, can be used in the automatic electrostatographic printing apparatus of FIG. It is also clear that the use of the static eliminator of the present invention greatly reduces the risk of arcing and mechanical damage in high voltage charging devices such as corona generators 14 and 30. That is, the length of each conductive fiber that is inadvertently broken or dropped from the static eliminator S is limited to less than the critical length of the corona generators 14 and 30 as described above.

Thus, according to the present invention, the static eliminator having a densely arranged brush structure of filament contacts is used to remove accumulated electrostatic charges from the support. The static eliminator is highly reliable, inexpensive, has a low output configuration, and can function for a long time without using an external power source. Furthermore, the static eliminator of the present invention has a controllable resistance, is immune to contamination, is not toxic, and can be environmentally stable manufactured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a molded composite member having a polymer matrix with the polymer matrix removed from one end of the member to expose individual fibers that are relatively long compared to the fiber diameter, and The member behaves as a lump-like brush when deformed, FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view of the fibrillated member of FIG. 1, and FIG. 1B is a partially enlarged view of the cross-sectional view of FIG. 1A. .

FIG. 2 is another embodiment of the pultruded composite member, in which the length of the fibrillated one end is considerably shorter than the fiber diameter, and the end portion has a relatively hard contact surface. 2A is Figure 2
2B is a cross-sectional view of the member dispersed in the small fibers of FIG.
It is the figure which expanded a part of sectional view of A further.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a programmable bed for placing a pultrusion member for laser fibrillating a portion of the pultrusion member.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an automatic electrostatographic printing apparatus equipped with the present invention as a photoconductor grounding brush.

FIG. 5 illustrates a laser fiberized sensor with pultruded contacts and pultruded contacts.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the photoconductor grounding brush that comes into contact with the moving photoconductor surface as seen from the side surface.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of the static eliminator of the present invention.

8 is an enlarged view of one of the pultruded composite members of the static eliminator shown in FIG.

9 is an enlarged view of an alternative embodiment of a pultruded composite member used in the static eliminator of FIG.

10 is an enlarged view of another alternative embodiment of the pultruded composite member used in the static eliminator of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of another embodiment of the static eliminator of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the static eliminator of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of another integrated embodiment of the static eliminator of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of the automatic electrostatographic printing apparatus of FIG. 4 further including the static eliminator of the present invention.

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Thomas E. Orlauski New York, USA 14450 Fairport Morning View Drive 1 (72) Inventor Stanley Jay. Wallace New York, USA 14564 Victor Trillium Trail 7424 (72) Inventor Wilber M. Peck New York, USA 14616 Rochester Ripplewood Drive 227 (72) Inventor John Yi. Courtney, New York, USA 14502 Macedan Panel Road 128 (72) Inventor David E. Rollins United States New York 14489 -1258 Leighton Street 59

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A device for removing charge from a surface, the non-metallic pultruded composite member comprising a plurality of conductive fibers provided within a polymer matrix, wherein the plurality of conductive fibers are within a polymer matrix. Oriented in the longitudinal direction of the pultruded composite member and extending continuously through the polymer matrix, said pultruded composite member having at least one fibrillated end, said end being in contact with said surface. A base member for holding a pultruded composite member, comprising a brush-like structure of closely arranged filament contacts formed by the exposed lengths of a plurality of conductive fibers for contact, electrically connected to the plurality of conductive fibers And a device for removing charge from the surface including the base member including means for passing charge therethrough. 2. The energy by which the polymer matrix is volatilized by a laser to expose at least the exposed lengths of the plurality of conductive fibers at the fibrillated ends, thereby forming a brush-like structure. The device of claim 1 which is an absorbent material. 3. The device of claim 2, wherein the energy absorbing material is a thermoplastic resin.