JPS62102272A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain efficient cleaning performance even if the pressing force of a blade is weakened and to extend the life of the blade by making the rotational center of a cleaning blade holder coincide with that of an angular member. CONSTITUTION:The cleaning blade 9 is fitted to the blade holder 10 pivotally fitted to a body device and the blade 9 is abutted upon a photosensitive drum 1 at a contact C. The angular member 14 for recovery toner which consists of alminium or the like is set up so as to be rotated in the clockwise direction. The rotational center of the holder 10 is made to coincide with that of the angular member 14 so that the rotational supporting point of the holder 10 is approached to the contact C side. Even if the blade pressing force is weakened, fine cleaning efficiency can be obtained and the life of the blade can be extended.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention includes a cleaning blade that cleans toner remaining on an image carrier, a rotatable blade holder that supports the cleaning blade, and a rotating corner member, The present invention relates to a cleaning device having a moving means for moving the toner scattered by the blade to a collected toner storage section, and wherein the cleaning blade is brought into contact with a direction in which the cleaning blade is dragged with respect to the movement of the image carrier.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Cleaning devices of the above type are well known and are used in electrophotographic copying machines, other recording devices, and the like. Since this type of cleaning device uses a cleaning blade, it is superior in size, cost reduction, and ease of handling compared to other types of cleaning devices. Even when using a cleaning blade, one that abuts in the direction in which the photoconductor is dragged in the so-called trailing direction provides stable performance and is suitable for miniaturization.

Some cleaning devices with such a configuration are of a type in which the cleaning blade is constantly brought into contact with the photoreceptor. This device has a simpler mechanism and is extremely inexpensive compared to a device that approaches and separates the photoreceptor in synchronization with the movement of the photoreceptor. However, since the cleaning blade is made of polyurethane rubber or the like, if it is in constant contact with the photoreceptor, there is a risk that the cleaning blade may become sagging. Therefore, in the constant contact method, it is advantageous to reduce the pressing force of the cleaning blade against the photoconductor, but in this case, there is a problem that the cleaning blade lifts up when the photoconductor starts moving, which reduces cleaning performance. was there.

In order to solve this problem, it is known that it is more advantageous to move the center of rotation of the cleaning blade, that is, the fulcrum of the holder, closer to the tangential side of the contact point of the cleaning blade with the photoreceptor. However, in a cleaning device of the type that uses a corner member to move the collected toner, in order to obtain good toner recovery performance, a corner member is placed at the bottom of the contact point of the cleaning blade 30 with the photoreceptor drum 3, as shown in FIG. 32, the fulcrum 34 of the blade holder 33 was provided at a position away from the photoreceptor drum. For this reason, in the past, either the life of the cleaning blade was shortened or the cleaning performance was degraded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described conventional problems and to provide a cleaning device in which good cleaning performance can be obtained even when the pressing force of the cleaning blade against the image carrier is weakened.

Structure: This object has been achieved in the present invention by aligning the center of rotation of the blade holder that supports the cleaning blade with the center of rotation of the corner member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Two embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a copying machine will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an image carrier configured as a photosensitive drum, and the photosensitive drum 1 is rotatably supported by a machine frame (not shown).

When this photosensitive drum 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow A by a driving device M (not shown), its surface is charged by a charging section 2, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the charged section by image exposure at an exposure section 3. is formed. When this electrostatic latent image passes through the developing section 4, powder toner is attached to the electrostatic latent image to form a visible image, which then reaches the transfer section 5. A transfer paper 6 is fed to the transfer section 5 in synchronization with the visible image, and the visible image is transferred onto the transfer paper 6. The transfer paper 6 to which the visible image has been transferred is then transferred to a separating section 7
The photoreceptor drum 1 is separated from the photoreceptor drum 1, conveyed in the direction of arrow B, and then discharged to the outside of the machine via a fixing section (not shown). Furthermore, toner is prevented from remaining on the photoreceptor drum 1 after transfer.

These residual toners are cleaned by a cleaning device 8 according to the present invention.

As is clear from FIG. 1, the cleaning device 8 includes a cleaning member configured as a cleaning blade 9 that comes into contact with the photoreceptor drum 1 over almost the entire width thereof. It is in contact with the direction in which it is dragged against rotation. That is, the cleaning blade 9 contacts the contact point C with the photoreceptor drum such that the blade main body is inclined toward the upstream side in the rotational direction of the photoreceptor drum 1 . The cleaning blade 9 is made of an elastic material, such as polyurethane rubber, and is attached to a blade holder 10. This blade holder 10 is rotatably mounted as will be described in detail later. Note that reference numeral 11 denotes a compression spring that applies pressure to the cleaning blade 9 to press against the photoreceptor drum 1.

A moving means 13 is provided below the cleaning blade 9 for moving the toner scraped off by the photosensitive drum 1 by the cleaning blade 9 to a toner storage section configured as a hopper container 12. Transportation means 13
is a corner member 1 made of aluminum or the like and formed into a regular square prism shape.
4, and a blade member 15 made of mylar or the like, which abuts substantially the entire length of one surface of the corner member 14 in the axial direction, that is, the longitudinal direction. This corner member 14 is.

It is rotated clockwise around an axis by a drive device (not shown). Note that the cross-sectional shape of the corner member 14 is not limited to a square, but may be a single plate, or further triangular, pentagonal, or the like.

In the cleaning device of the present invention, the rotation center of the blade holder 10 and the rotation center of the corner member 14 are made to coincide with each other. Therefore, the rotational fulcrum of the cleaning blade 9 can be placed near the tangent line at the contact point C of the cleaning blade 9, and even if the pressure contact force of the cleaning blade 9 against the photoreceptor drum 1 is weakened, the cleaning performance is good. The service life can be extended, and toner recovery performance can also be improved.

Next, the rotation center of the cleaning blade IO and the corner member 1
A preferred specific example in which the rotation centers of No. 3 and No. 3 are made to coincide with each other will be described.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, legs 16.17 are integrally provided on both sides of the blade holder 10.
Holes 16a and 17a are formed in which a bearing 18, which will be described later, is fitted. In this case, the diameter of at least one of the holes 16a and 17a, the hole 16a in this example, is formed to be slightly larger than the circumscribed circle of the corner member 13. The bearing 18 fitted in the holes 16a and 17a is fixed to the hopper container 12 as clearly shown in FIG.
It is configured to receive the rotating shaft 14a of. Note that reference numeral 19 is a seal for preventing the toner from going around along the rotation 14a of the toner corner member 14, and is made of sponge or the like. Moreover, the code 20 is a drive device (
(not shown).

Thus, by inserting the corner member 14 into the blade holder IO from the axial direction of the corner member 14 through the hole 16a of the leg 16 in the blade holder 10.

The rotation center of the corner member 14 and the rotation fulcrum of the blade holder 10 can be made to coincide. According to this configuration, as described above, even if the cleaning blade 9 is pressed with a weak force, the cleaning performance is not deteriorated, and not only the life of the cleaning blade is extended, but also the cleaning device becomes compact.

In addition, when one compression spring is used at the center of the blade holder 10 to apply pressure to the cleaning blade against the photoreceptor drum l as shown in FIG. is important. Even in this case, in this embodiment, since the corner member 14 passes through as a central axis, the degree of alignment of the center positions can be achieved with high accuracy. The legs 16,17 are also relatively short, which has a dramatic effect in terms of stiffness.

Effects The cleaning device according to the present invention is configured as described above, and the life of the cleaning blade is extended, and the cleaning performance is improved. Furthermore, the toner recovery performance is also good.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a copying machine in which the cleaning device of the present invention is used, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the main parts of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a portion of FIG. 2 after assembly. 4 is a side view of a portion of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional cleaning device. 1... Photosensitive drum 8... Cleaning device 9... Cleaning blade 10... Blade holder 13... Moving means 14... Corner member Fig. 1 Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cleaning blade that cleans toner remaining on the image carrier, a rotatable blade holder that supports the cleaning blade, and a rotating corner member are provided, and the toner scraped off by the blade is moved to a collected toner storage section. and a cleaning device in which the cleaning blade is brought into contact in a direction in which it is dragged with respect to the movement of the image carrier, wherein the rotation center of the blade holder and the rotation center of the corner member are made to coincide with each other. The cleaning device characterized in that: