JP2001121785A - Cleaning apparatus and cleaning method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning apparatus and method constituted so as to clean the surface of an object to be cleaned by simple operation to remove the foreign matter bonded to the surface of the object to be cleaned. SOLUTION: In a cleaning head 150 wherein a liquid coating part 104 coating an object 34 to be cleaned with a cleaning liquid and a foreign matter scraping blade 108 for scraping off the foreign matter X on the surface of the object 34 to be cleaned are arranged almost in parallel to a cleaning direction, the liquid coating part 104 and foreign matter scraping blade 108 of the cleaning head 150 are brought into slide contact with the object 34 to be cleaned at the same time and, at a time of cleaning, the liquid coating part 104 passes the same place of the object 34 to be cleaned prior to the foreign matter scraping blade 108.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device and a cleaning method for removing foreign matter such as dust adhering to the surface of a body to be cleaned.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 11 shows a configuration of a recording apparatus in which an image receiving sheet and a toner sheet are mounted in close contact with a recording rotary drum in this order, and exposure is performed by a laser beam from the toner sheet outside the drum. . The recording apparatus has a plurality of laser beams, and performs on / off modulation of the laser beams in accordance with recording data, and simultaneously moves an optical head 1 movable in a direction parallel to a rotation axis and a recording medium 3 on an outer peripheral surface. And a recording rotary drum 34 that is mounted and rotatably supported. Here, the optical head 1 is set on a moving stage 4 that can move parallel to the recording rotary drum 34. This movement corresponds to the sub-scanning direction during image formation.
On the other hand, the rotation direction of the recording rotary drum 34 corresponds to the main scanning direction.

The recording medium 3 includes an image receiving sheet 12 and a toner sheet 11. The image receiving sheet 12 is composed of a support, a cushion layer, and an image receiving layer in this order from the recording rotary drum 34 side, and the toner sheet 11 is composed of a support, a photothermal conversion layer, and a toner layer in this order from the laser beam irradiation side. (See FIG. 3). The image receiving sheet 12 is mounted on a rotating drum 34 for recording, and a toner sheet 11 is overlaid on the image receiving sheet 12 with the toner layer facing the image receiving sheet 12 side. When light is applied, the irradiated toner layer is transferred to the image receiving layer by heat.

Here, the support is made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) base, TAC (triacetyl cellulose) base, PEN (polyethylene naphthalate).
A material that transmits laser light, such as a base, is used. As the light-to-heat conversion layer, a material that efficiently converts laser energy into heat, such as carbon, a black pigment, an infrared absorbing pigment, and a predetermined wavelength absorbing substance, is used.

In the toner layer, there are toner sheets of each color of KCMY, and toner sheets of gold, silver, brown, gray, orange, green, and the like may be used. The image receiving layer receives the transferred toner. Further, the cushion layer has a function of absorbing a step when the toner is stacked in a plurality of steps, and a step of absorbing a step due to foreign matter such as dust.

The details of the image receiving sheet 12 and the toner sheet 11 as the recording medium 3 used are described in JP-A-4-296594 filed by the present applicant.
JP, JP-A-4-327982, JP-A-4-3
No. 27983, and the like, and an image recording apparatus using such a recording medium is disclosed in
Reference is made to them, if necessary, as they are described in detail in Japanese Patent No. 275183.

Next, a description will be given of a step of performing laser recording with KCMY color data and a step of separating the toner sheet 11 from the image receiving sheet 12 after recording. However, when performing the laminating process, the laminating process is inserted before the laser recording process. Hereinafter, each step will be sequentially described with reference to FIG. 1) Wind the image receiving sheet 12 around the recording rotary drum 34. 2) First, in order to perform the K process, the K toner sheet 11
Is wound on the image receiving sheet 12. 3) Recording is performed by irradiating a laser beam with K image / character data. 4) Then, the K toner sheet 11 is peeled off from the image receiving sheet 12 (the K step is completed). 5) Next, the step C is performed. That is, the C toner sheet is wound around the image receiving sheet. 6) Perform laser recording with C data. 7) Finally, the C toner sheet is peeled off from the image receiving sheet (Step C is completed). 8) Further, the M step is performed. That is, the M toner sheet is wound on the image receiving sheet. 9) Perform laser recording with M data. 10) Release the M toner sheet from the image receiving sheet (M
Process end). 11) Then, the Y step is performed. That is, the Y toner sheet is wound around the image receiving sheet. 12) Perform laser recording with Y data. 13) Finally, the Y toner sheet is peeled off from the image receiving sheet (Y step ends). 14) In this manner, four colors of KCMY are appropriately laminated on the image receiving sheet, and an image of a necessary color is formed. 15) Transfer this to printing paper (real paper). In the case of lamination, the toner sheet is brought into close contact with the image receiving sheet by pressing the toner sheet with a pressing roller or a heating roller immediately before laser recording for each color.

The recording speed range in the above-described recording process is as follows.
0.5 to 50 [m / s], preferably 1 to 16
It is desirable to set in the range of [m / s]. The above is the basic recording operation of the recording apparatus.

[0009]

In the recording apparatus described above, the outer peripheral surface of the recording rotary drum 34 has dust or the like.
When foreign matter is adhered, it is possible to reduce the quality of the printed result by the foreign matter. For example, as shown in FIG.
When the foreign matter X exists between the toner sheet 11 and the outer peripheral surface of the toner sheet 11 due to the deformation or poor adhesion of the image receiving sheet 12 and the toner sheet 11 due to the foreign matter X, the photothermal conversion of the toner sheet 11 is performed. If the displacement of the layer in the direction of the optical axis exceeds the allowable value, a sufficient energy density cannot be obtained, and the image becomes thin or the density decreases in the range of arrow C in the figure, resulting in a ring-shaped image. Unevenness or white spots will result.
Further, as another case, since the heat escape from the support of the image receiving sheet 12 to the recording rotary drum 34 is reduced, the temperature of the contact portion between the image receiving sheet 12 and the toner sheet 11 is lower than the case where there is no foreign matter X. And the density of the image may increase in the range of C in the figure.

In such a case, the housing surrounding the apparatus is released, and the outer periphery of the drum is wiped by hand after visual confirmation. However, it is difficult to perform such work every time there is dirt. It was troublesome and time-consuming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has a cleaning operation capable of removing foreign substances adhering to the surface of the object to be cleaned by cleaning the surface of the object to be cleaned by a simple operation. It is an object to provide an apparatus and a cleaning method.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a cleaning apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention scrapes foreign substances on the surface of a cleaning object and a liquid application section for applying a cleaning liquid to the cleaning object. A cleaning head having a foreign matter scraping blade disposed substantially parallel to the cleaning direction, wherein the liquid application portion of the cleaning head and the foreign matter scraping blade simultaneously slide against the object to be cleaned; The liquid application section may pass through the same portion of the object to be cleaned before the foreign matter scraping blade.

In this cleaning device, the cleaning liquid applied to the surface of the object to be cleaned by the liquid application unit is scraped off by a foreign object scraping blade, so that the foreign object adhering to the surface of the object to be cleaned is removed by a simple operation. be able to.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning device, the liquid application section and the foreign matter scraping blade are integrally mounted on the base.

In this cleaning device, the liquid application section and the foreign matter scraping blade are integrally mounted on the base, so that the base can be controlled to approach / separate from the surface of the body by a simple operation. The surface can be cleaned.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the cleaning device is characterized in that the liquid applying section is made of a flexible material that can be impregnated and held with a cleaning liquid.

In this cleaning device, the liquid application section is made of a flexible material that can be impregnated and held by the cleaning liquid, so that the surface of the object to be cleaned is not damaged.
The cleaning liquid can be stably and uniformly applied.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning device, the foreign matter scraping blade is made of an elastic film, and a contact angle with the surface of the object to be cleaned is set to be less than 90 ° downstream of the foreign matter scraping blade in the cleaning direction. It is characterized by having been done.

In this cleaning device, the elastic film is brought into contact with the surface of the object to be cleaned at a predetermined contact angle. This makes it possible to satisfactorily scrape off foreign matter on the surface of the object to be cleaned, prevent foreign matter from remaining, and perform high-quality cleaning with little scraping.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning device, the elastic film is made of a resin film.

In this cleaning device, for example, PET
Use of a resin film with elasticity prevents the elastic film from abutting against the surface of the object to be cleaned during the scraping and flexing, thereby preventing the formation of a gap between the surface of the object to be cleaned and the foreign matter scraping blade. And uneven scraping can be eliminated.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning apparatus, a plurality of the foreign matter scraping blades are provided along a cleaning direction.

In this cleaning device, by arranging a plurality of foreign matter scraping blades along the cleaning direction, the scraping effect can be increased and the foreign matter removing effect can be improved.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning device, the object to be cleaned is a rotating body, and the cleaning head is configured to scrape the liquid coating portion on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the object to be cleaned and scrape the foreign matter on the upstream side. A blade is provided, and the cleaning head is substantially fixed in a rotation direction of the object to be cleaned.

In this cleaning device, a liquid application unit is provided on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the object to be cleaned, which is a rotating body, and a foreign matter scraping blade is provided on the upstream side so as to be substantially fixed in the rotation direction. Thus, when the object to be cleaned is rotated, the cleaning liquid is applied to the surface of the object to be cleaned by the liquid application unit, and the cleaning liquid applied by the foreign matter scraping blade is scraped off. As a result, foreign matter on the surface of the object to be cleaned is removed.

The cleaning device according to the present invention is characterized in that the cleaning head is supported so as to be movable in the direction of the rotation axis of the object to be cleaned, which is a rotating body.

In this cleaning device, the cleaning head is supported so as to be movable in the direction of the rotation axis of the object to be cleaned, so that the cleaning head can be moved to an arbitrary position on the surface of the object to be cleaned. The whole cleaning can be performed.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the cleaning device is characterized in that the cleaning head is supported so as to be able to separate and slidably contact the cleaning object to partially clean the surface of the cleaning object.

In this cleaning device, the cleaning head is supported so as to be able to separate and slidably contact the object to be cleaned, so that the cleaning head can be selectively applied only to the portion of the surface of the object to be cleaned where cleaning is required. , And can be locally cleaned. In particular, when the location of the foreign matter is known, the cleaning can be performed efficiently.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning device, the cleaning head is provided on both sides in the cleaning direction of the liquid application unit or on both ends in the arrangement direction of the plurality of liquid application units arranged along the cleaning direction. And the foreign matter scraping blades are provided respectively.

In this cleaning apparatus, foreign matter scraping blades are disposed on both sides of the liquid application section in the cleaning direction or on both ends in the arrangement direction of a plurality of liquid application sections arranged along the cleaning direction. With this arrangement, even if the cleaning direction is both reciprocating directions, the foreign matter scraping blade is slid in contact with the surface of the object to be cleaned after the liquid application portion slides in either direction. . Accordingly, cleaning can be performed in both the reciprocating directions, and the surface of the object to be cleaned can be more efficiently cleaned.

12. The cleaning device according to claim 11, wherein the cleaning head is provided with the liquid application portions on both sides of the foreign matter scraping blade in the cleaning direction, and the cleaning device is provided with the liquid application portions on the downstream side in the cleaning direction during cleaning. Is provided with a mechanism for separating the member from the surface of the object to be cleaned.

In this cleaning device, the liquid applying portions are disposed on both sides of the foreign substance scraping blade in the cleaning direction, and the liquid applying portion on the downstream side in the cleaning direction is separated from the surface of the object to be cleaned during cleaning. Even if the directions are both reciprocating directions, the foreign matter scraping blade comes into sliding contact with the surface of the body to be cleaned after the liquid application portion has slidably contacted in either direction. Thus, cleaning can be performed in both the reciprocating directions, and more efficient cleaning of the object to be cleaned can be performed.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning method for removing foreign matter adhering to the surface of the object to be cleaned by using the cleaning device according to the seventh aspect of the present invention. By rotating the body to be cleaned while sliding on
The surface of the object to be cleaned is cleaned.

In this cleaning method, the object to be cleaned can be cleaned at a high speed by rotating the object to be cleaned while sliding the cleaning head on the object to be cleaned, and the cleaning process can be completed in a shorter time. be able to.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning method for removing foreign matter adhered to the surface of the object to be cleaned by using the cleaning device according to the ninth aspect. Rotate it,
By moving the cleaning head in the axial direction of the object to be cleaned, the position of the cleaning head is adjusted to the vicinity of the position where foreign matter adheres to the surface of the object to be cleaned, and thereafter,
The surface of the object to be cleaned is cleaned by reciprocating the cleaning head a plurality of times in the axial direction while keeping the object to be cleaned stopped in the rotation direction.

In this cleaning method, the cleaning head is reciprocated in the axial direction a plurality of times while the cleaning target is stopped in the rotation direction, with the position of the cleaning head positioned near the position where the foreign matter adheres to the surface of the cleaning target. With a simple operation, the surface of the object to be cleaned can be locally cleaned.

[0038]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a cleaning apparatus for a recording drum according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a recording apparatus provided with the cleaning device of the present invention. This recording apparatus is for obtaining a full-color image, and includes a recording medium supply unit 32 and a recording rotating drum for image formation (hereinafter, referred to as a recording drum).
A recording medium fixing / release mechanism 36 provided on the recording rotary drum 34, and a laminating mechanism 3 disposed along the outer periphery of the recording rotary drum 34.
8, recording head 40, peeling mechanism 42, paper feeding section 44, laminating section 46, fixing section 48, peeling section 50, tray section 5
2, a controller 84, and a motor (not shown) that drives the recording drum 34.

The general operation of the recording apparatus 10 will be described. First, an image receiving sheet 12 and a toner sheet 11 as a recording medium are supplied in this order from a recording medium supply unit 32 onto a recording rotating drum 34. And the recording drum 34
The recording medium is fixed thereon by a recording medium fixing / releasing mechanism 36. That is, after the image receiving sheet 12 is wound on the recording rotary drum 43, the toner sheet 11 is wound on the image receiving sheet 12 while being pressed and heated by the laminating mechanism 38. As a result, each sheet is stacked on the drum 34. In addition,
As the toner sheet 11 and the image receiving sheet 12, a laser thermal transfer material or the like can be suitably used.

Next, the recording head 40 controlled by the controller 84 in accordance with the input image signal performs imagewise laser exposure on the toner sheet 11 in a heat mode. As a result, an image is recorded on the toner sheet 11 as a latent image. Subsequently, the toner sheet 11 is peeled off from the image receiving sheet 12 fixed on the recording rotating drum 34 by the peeling mechanism 42, and the recorded image of the toner sheet 11 is transferred to the image receiving sheet 12 and developed. Thereby, an image is formed on the image receiving sheet 12. This is repeated for the other three or four colors, and the image receiving sheet 12
After a color image is formed thereon, the image receiving sheet 12 and the printing paper 14 supplied from the paper supply unit 44 are laminated and adhered by the lamination unit 46. Then, after the image receiving layer of the image receiving sheet 12 is light-cured by the fixing unit 48, the image receiving layer is peeled off by the peeling unit 50, the printing paper 14 on which the full-color image is formed is placed on the proof tray 52a, and the used image receiving sheet is placed on the waste stocker 52b. To be discharged. Thus, a full-color image can be obtained as a hard copy.

Next, each component of the recording apparatus will be described in detail. The recording medium supply unit 32 holds a roll-shaped image receiving sheet 12 and a plurality of toner sheets 11, for example, a roll-shaped recording medium such as a Y, M, C, K standard toner sheet or a special color sheet used in the printing field. A recording medium station 53, a pair of pull-out rollers 54 for pulling out one recording medium, a cutter 55 for cutting the recording medium pulled out from the recording medium station 53 to a predetermined length by the pull-out roller 54 into a sheet shape, A pair of rollers 56 for nipping and transporting the sheet-shaped recording medium, guiding the sheet-shaped recording medium onto the recording rotating drum 34, and fixing the leading end of the recording medium to the recording medium fixed / mounted on the recording rotating drum 34. A guide 57 for guiding the release mechanism 36 to the fixed position.

The recording rotary drum 34 for image formation includes
First, a sheet-like image receiving sheet 12 is supplied. The leading end of the image receiving sheet 12 is fixed to a recording medium fixing / releasing mechanism 36 by a clamp or the like, and is wound around the outer periphery of the recording rotary drum 34 by rotation of the recording rotary drum 34 in the direction of the arrow in the drawing, and the rear end is also rotated. The recording medium is fixed by a recording medium fixing / release mechanism 36. Here, the recording medium fixing / release mechanism 36
At least one of the front end fixing portion and the rear end fixing portion is movable on the outer periphery of the recording rotary drum 34 so that various lengths of the recording medium can be fixed on the recording rotary drum 34. Is preferred.

Next, the toner sheet 11 similarly conveyed from the recording medium supply unit 32 is wound around the image receiving sheet 12 wound around the outer periphery of the recording rotary drum 34. The laminating process on the image receiving sheet 12 is performed by the laminating mechanism 38. The laminating mechanism 38
Laminating roller 5 with built-in heater not shown
8, an arm 59 for rotating the laminating roller 58 about a fulcrum 59a to contact and separate from the outer periphery of the recording drum 34, and pressing means for pressing the laminating roller 58 against the outer periphery of the recording drum with a predetermined pressing force. It consists of 60. As the pressing means 60, a manipulator of an air cylinder or the like is used. The pressing means 60 is also used as a working actuator of the cleaning device 100, which will be described later in detail, attached to the end of the arm 59 opposite to the laminating roller 58. That is, when the pressing unit 60 switches from the normal print mode to the cleaning mode, the arm 59 performs a seesaw motion about the fulcrum 59a to press the cleaning device 100 against the outer peripheral surface of the drum 34. The cleaning operation of the surface of the drum 34 is performed.

Since the outermost image receiving layer of the image receiving sheet 12 has adhesiveness, the toner sheet 11 is wound around the image receiving sheet 12 while being pressed with a predetermined pressing force by the laminating roller 58, so that the image receiving sheet 12 The toner sheet 11 comes into close contact with the toner sheet 11 and is laminated. By this laminating process, the image receiving layer of the image receiving sheet 12 and the toner layer (recording area) of the toner sheet 11 can be adhered to each other with uniform adhesiveness, as well as preventing the toner sheet 11 from wrinkling. Note that, as described above, the image receiving sheet 1
The laminating process of the toner sheet 11 on the sheet No. 2 is performed while applying pressure in order to uniformly and strongly adhere. However, in order to improve the adhesive force, it is preferable to perform the laminating process while heating the laminating roller 58 simultaneously with pressing.

In the illustrated example, the laminating roller 58 is used for laminating the toner sheet 11 on the image receiving sheet 12. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It can also be performed using a rod-shaped pressing member or the like. Further, when the image receiving sheet 12 is wound around the recording rotating drum 34, the leading end thereof is fixed by a recording medium fixing / releasing mechanism 36, and the other end of the image receiving sheet 12 is conveyed by the conveying roller 56 or the laminating roller 58 or other means. It is preferable to hold the portion and apply a predetermined tension to the image receiving sheet 12 and wind it around the outer periphery of the recording rotary drum 34. At this time, a perforation may be provided on the outer periphery of the recording rotary drum 34, and the image receiving sheet 12 may be suctioned using suction means. It is preferable to use both the suction means and the recording medium fixing / releasing mechanism 36, but only one of them may be used. As a result, the image receiving sheet 12 can be fixed to the outer periphery of the recording rotary drum 34 without causing wrinkles or the like and without causing a positional shift.

Further, the toner sheet 11 is transferred to the image receiving sheet 12
It is preferable that a tension is applied to the toner sheet 11 even when the toner sheet 11 is stacked on the upper surface. At this time, similarly to the winding of the image receiving sheet 12, the leading end and / or the trailing end of the toner sheet 11 may be fixed by using the recording medium fixing / releasing mechanism 36. You may. Note that the tension applied to the toner sheet 11 at the time of lamination is preferably smaller than the tension applied to the image receiving sheet 12 at the time of winding around the recording rotary drum 34.

The recording head 40 includes a laser light source (not shown) for emitting high-sensitivity energy light, such as a laser beam, including a modulating means, and an imaging lens for adjusting the beam spot diameter of the laser light. And a sub-scanning unit 61 that moves the laser head 24 in the axial direction of the recording drum 34 to perform sub-scanning. The main scanning of the toner sheet 11 by the laser beam is performed by rotation of the recording rotary drum 34.

As a laser light source, it is sufficient to emit high-sensitivity energy light capable of performing heat mode exposure.
In addition to a gas laser such as an argon ion laser, a helium laser, a helium cadmium laser, a solid laser such as a YAG laser, a semiconductor laser, and the like, a dye laser, an excimer laser, and the like can be used. As the laser light used for recording in the present embodiment, light directly emitted from these lasers, or light obtained by converting these emitted lights to a half wavelength through a second harmonic element can be used. Depending on the photosensitive wavelength of the toner sheet 11, the sensitivity, the required recording speed, and the like, the laser light source is appropriately selected from among the above-mentioned laser light sources. It is most preferable from the viewpoint of easy modulation.

In the modulation of the laser beam by the image signal, for example, in the case of an argon ion laser, a beam is passed through an external modulator, and in the case of a semiconductor laser, a current applied to the laser is controlled by a signal (direct modulation). And the like. The size of the laser spot focused on the light-to-heat conversion layer and the scanning speed are set according to the resolution required for the recorded image, the recording sensitivity of the material, and the like. In general, high resolution is required for printing applications, and a smaller beam spot is preferable in terms of image quality. However, on the other hand, the depth of focus is reduced, and mechanical control becomes difficult. On the other hand, if the scanning speed is too low, heat loss due to heat conduction to the support or the like of the toner sheet 11 increases, and the energy efficiency decreases and the recording time increases, which is not preferable. From the above, the recording conditions in the present invention are such that the beam diameter on the light-to-heat conversion layer is 5 to 504 m, particularly preferably 6 to 304 m, and the scanning speed is 1 m / sec or more, preferably 3 m / sec or more.

The image signal is output from an image reading device outside the recording device 10 of the present invention, a workstation having a DTP function, (W / S), an electronic publishing system, and various storage media (magnetic tape, floppy (registered trademark) disk). , A hard disk, a RAM card, etc.), a color management system (color image reproduction system) or the like performs matching of a color space or the like, and then transmits a digital signal to the controller 84 via a SCSI interface or the like to perform necessary processing. Is transmitted to the recording head 40, and the heat mode exposure of the laser head 24 is controlled.

The controller 84 controls the sub-scanning of the recording head 40 by the sub-scanning means 61 and the control of the main rotation of the recording rotary drum 34 and the recording apparatus 10 of the present invention.
Control of each section and control of the entire sequence.

The peeling mechanism 42 peels off the toner sheet 11 on which an image has been formed as a latent image by the heat mode exposure by the recording head 40 from the image receiving sheet 12 and simultaneously transfers the latent image of the toner sheet 11 to the image receiving sheet 12. Roller 62, two split rollers 63 and 64 in contact with the peel roller 62, and a comb blade guide plate 65 provided between the split rollers 63 and 64 along the peel roller 62. And a bracket (not shown) for attaching them integrally.

The peeling roller 62 is supported by an arm 67,
It rotates about the fulcrum 67a and can be moved toward and away from the recording drum 34. Further, pressing means 68 for pressing the peeling roller 62 via the arm 67 against the stacked body of the image receiving sheet 12 and the toner sheet 11 on the recording rotary drum 34 is provided.

Heat energy is applied imagewise by the heat mode exposure, and the adhesive force of the toner layer is reduced, so that the toner sheet 11 on which an image is formed as a latent image and the image receiving layer to which the toner sheet 11 is adhered are separated. Image receiving sheet 12 having
The arms 67 rotate about the fulcrum 67a with respect to the stacked body, and the brackets are brought closer to each other, so that the comb blade guide plate 65 is provided between the image receiving layer of the image receiving sheet 12 and the toner layer of the toner sheet 11 of the stacked body. Insert At the same time, the laminate is pressed from the toner sheet 11 side by the peeling roller 62. Here, if the joining length of either the toner sheet 11 or the image receiving sheet 12 is changed, the comb blade guide plate 65 can be easily inserted between them. After that, the recording drum 3
4 and the separation roller 62 and the split roller 6
By rotating the rollers 3 and 64, the leading end of the toner sheet 11 is moved along the comb blade guide plate 65 to be sandwiched between the peeling roller 62 and the split roller 63.

Thus, while the toner sheet 11 is pressed by the peeling roller 62, the peeling roller 62 and the split roller 6
3, the toner sheet 11 is peeled off from the image receiving sheet 12. In a portion where the toner sheet 11 is pressed by the peeling roller 62, peeling occurs at a constant peeling speed. However, at this time, the peeling force applied to the image receiving sheet 12 does not change. There is no displacement of the fixed position on 34. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a single-color high-quality, high-resolution, high-gradation halftone dot image without delamination unevenness or positional deviation without lowering the positional accuracy.

By repeating such a procedure for each color, an image receiving sheet 12 is obtained in which images of four colors of C, M, Y and K are accurately aligned, peeled, transferred and developed. The sheet 12 is transported by the transport roller pair 71 while being guided by the guide members 70, 70, and is transported to the laminating section 46. In the laminating section 46,
The print paper supply roll 72 sends out the print paper 14 from the print paper cassette 73 in synchronization with the conveyance of the image receiving sheet 12, and conveys the print paper 14 to the registration roller pair 75 while being guided by the guide member 70. The printing paper 14 may be supplied to the printing paper supply roll 72 from the manual feed tray 44a. Next, the image receiving sheet 12 and the printing paper 14 are stacked while being aligned by the registration roller pair 75, and are conveyed to the fixing unit 48. Then, in the fixing unit 48, the image receiving sheet 12 and the printing paper 14 laminated by the laminating unit 46 are nipped and conveyed while being heat-fixed by a pair of heat-fixing rollers composed of a pressure roller 76a and a heating roller 76b. The image receiving layer of the image receiving sheet 12 is further cured by the post-exposure lambs 77 so that the image receiving layer is easily peeled off.

Next, in the peeling section 50, the image receiving layer which has been hardened and easily peeled off is peeled off from the image receiving sheet 12 by the peeling roller pair 78 and the peeling guide 79, and the image receiving layer is stuck on the printing paper 14 to form an image. Is transferred. The printing paper 14 onto which the image has been transferred is discharged as a hard copy to the proof tray 52a of the tray section 52, and the image receiving sheet 12 from which the image receiving layer has been peeled is discarded to a discard tray 52b.

In addition to the above, in the present invention, the laminating mechanism 38 includes the cleaning device 100 for removing foreign matter such as dust adhered to the outer peripheral surface (the surface of the object to be cleaned) of the recording drum (the object to be cleaned) 34. Has been added. In the non-cleaning mode, the cleaning device 100
As shown in FIG. 1, it is separated from the recording rotary drum 34, and in the cleaning mode, the operation of the pressing means 60 causes the arm 59 to perform a seesaw movement about the fulcrum 59a, so that the cleaning device 100 moves to the drum outer peripheral surface. It slides and cleans the drum outer peripheral surface. During this cleaning, the laminating roller 58 is separated from the drum outer peripheral surface.

FIGS. 2 to 4 show the detailed structure of the cleaning device 100. FIG. This cleaning device 100 is similar to that shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, an elongated case 102 having an upper surface opening serving as a substrate and disposed substantially parallel to the rotation axis direction of the recording rotary drum 34, and a liquid coating provided by closing the opening on the upper surface of the case 102. 3, a connecting member 106 extending on the side surface of the case 102 on the drum rotation direction advance side and having a distal end bent toward the drum side, as shown in FIG.
Cleaning head 15 having a foreign matter scraping blade 108 fixed so as to be slidable on the outer peripheral surface of the drum at the leading end of the cleaning head 15
0, a tank 110 for storing the cleaning liquid, and a tube 112 for connecting the case 102 and the tank 110.
And a control valve 114 provided in the middle of the tube 112
And a controller 109 for performing various controls such as opening and closing control of the control valve 114 as main components.
Accordingly, the cleaning head 150 has a configuration in which the liquid coating unit 104 is disposed downstream of the recording rotary drum 34 in the rotation direction and the foreign matter scraping blade 108 is disposed upstream. Substantially fixed.

The width of the liquid application section 104 and the foreign matter scraping blade 108 in the drum axis direction may be at least as long as the area of the drum 34 where the recording medium is mounted. It is not necessary to form over. Therefore, a large number of suction holes 34a are provided on the outer peripheral surface of the drum for mounting the recording medium by vacuum suction. Cleaning of the drum 34 is performed only in the area where the suction holes 34a are formed. Just do it.
As a result, maintenance such as dust removal can be minimized without cleaning unnecessary areas, and efficient cleaning can be performed.

The case 102 is filled with a cleaning liquid, and the cleaning liquid is supplied from a tank 110 through a tube 112 through a control valve 114 operated under the control of a controller 109. The presence or absence of the cleaning liquid is detected by a liquid level sensor 116 or the like disposed in the case 102, and the controller 109 automatically opens and closes the control valve 114 according to the output of the liquid level sensor 116, so that the cleaning liquid is constantly The supply amount is controlled so that a predetermined amount is satisfied in the inside 102. The controller 109 is supplied with a mode switching signal at the time of cleaning or non-cleaning. In the non-cleaning mode, the control valve 114 is always closed, and only in the cleaning mode, opening / closing control according to the output of the liquid level sensor 116 is performed.

The liquid application section 104 is made of a soft material having a wet property such as sponge or felt.
The cleaning liquid supplied therein is sucked up by capillary action and is impregnated so as to be always in a wet state. Thus, the cleaning liquid can be stably and uniformly applied without damaging the outer peripheral surface of the drum. The foreign substance scraping blade 108 is disposed over the entire length of the case 102 in the longitudinal direction. The material of the blade is about 100-500 μm thick, elastic, wear-resistant,
For example, PET having erosion resistance to a cleaning liquid
A film or the like is preferably used. By using such a material, the outer peripheral surface of the drum and the foreign matter scraping blade 108
No gap is generated between them, and uneven scraping can be prevented from occurring. The contact angle θ with respect to the drum 34 is set to be less than 90 ° on the drum rotation direction advancing side with respect to the tangential direction with the drum 34. In other words,
By setting the angle to less than 90 ° downstream of the foreign matter scraping blade 108 in the cleaning direction, the scraping effect is improved. As the cleaning liquid, a foreign substance X such as dust to be removed, in this case, a volatile alcohol such as methanol, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol or the like which is soluble in an organic substance such as a printing material can be used.

The cleaning device 100 having the above structure can clean the outer peripheral surface of the drum as follows. In the cleaning mode, the pressing means 6
The rotation operation of the arm 59 by 0 causes the liquid application section 104 of the cleaning head 150 and the foreign matter scraping blade 108 to slidably contact the outer peripheral surface of the recording drum 34. On the other hand, the cleaning liquid may be
To supply. Then, by rotating the recording rotary drum 34 in the direction of the arrow, the cleaning liquid impregnated in the liquid coating unit 104 is applied to the drum outer peripheral surface, and the drum 3
The applied cleaning liquid is scraped off together with foreign matter such as dust by the foreign matter scraping blade 108 provided on the rotation direction advance side of No. 4.

As described above, when the drum 43 is rotated while the cleaning head 150 is in sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the drum, the cleaning liquid is applied from the liquid coating section 104 to the outer peripheral surface of the drum, and the foreign matter X is removed from the cleaning liquid. As a result, the dissolution, swelling, or adhesion to the outer peripheral surface of the drum is reduced, and the foreign matter is removed together with the cleaning liquid by scraping off the foreign matter scraping blade 108 at the subsequent stage. When the recording rotary drum 34 makes one rotation, the foreign matter X adhered to the outer peripheral surface of the drum is removed, and the remaining cleaning liquid remaining adhered to the outer peripheral surface is also removed by natural evaporation.

Next, a driving sequence of the cleaning device 100 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, on the outer peripheral surface of the recording rotary drum 34, a suction groove 34 for suction fixing the recording medium is provided.
b is formed. In some cases, the tape 34c for closing the hole is partially attached to the suction hole 34a for fixing and holding the recording medium. Since there is no need to perform cleaning on such a portion of the suction groove 34b or the tape 34c, if such a cleaning unnecessary portion exists, the cleaning switching control is performed as follows. The tape 34 wound on the outer peripheral surface of the drum is attached to the laminating roller 58 side and the cleaning device 100 side of the laminating mechanism 38.
Sensors 118 and 119 for detecting the presence or absence of c are arranged, respectively, and the detection signals of the sensors 118 and 119 are input to the controller 109.

The controller 109 includes both sensors 118,
In response to the detection signal from the sensor 119, the pressing means 60 is switched to a cleaning operation or a pressing operation, and the cleaning mode is set to a cleaning mode except for the position of the suction groove 34b and the position where the tape 34c is stuck.
0 is brought into sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the drum. That is, when the sensor 118 detects the rear end of the tape 34c from the state shown in FIG. 4 as shown in FIG. 5A, the pushing means 60 is advanced and driven as shown in FIG. Cleaning head 150 is brought into sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the drum. Next, when the suction groove 34b is detected by the sensor 119 as shown in FIG. 5C, the pressing means 60 is driven backward as shown in FIG.
Cleaning head 150 is separated from the drum outer peripheral surface.

In this embodiment, the laminating mechanism 3
The cleaning is performed by switching the roller 58 and the cleaning device 100 using the seesaw motion of the arm 15 using the pressing means 60 of FIG. 8. However, a mechanism that separates and separates only the cleaning head 150 of the cleaning device 100 may be provided. Good.

As described above, according to the cleaning device 100 of the present embodiment, the cleaning operation can be shortened by a simple operation of rotating the outer peripheral surface of the recording rotary drum 34 once before or during recording. Can be completed in a short time, and foreign substances such as dust adhering to the outer peripheral surface of the drum can be reliably removed without requiring a long cleaning time.
Recording defects due to foreign matter can be prevented. Further, since the liquid application section 104 and the foreign matter scraping blade 108 are integrally mounted on the case 102 serving as a base,
The drum outer peripheral surface can be cleaned by a simple operation of controlling the case 102 to approach / separate from the outer peripheral surface of the recording rotary drum 34.

Next, a modification of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a configuration of a main part of the cleaning head 151 according to the present modification, and shows an example of a configuration in which a plurality of foreign substance scraping blades (two sheets in the figure) 108a and 108b are attached to the connecting member 107. . According to this configuration, even if the first foreign matter scraping blade 108a is scraped first.
Even if the foreign matter is not removed by the above, the foreign matter can be reliably scraped off by the second foreign matter scraping blade 108b at the subsequent stage, and the cleaning effect can be further improved. In the same manner, by adopting a configuration including three or four foreign matter scraping blades, the scraping effect can be further improved. As a result, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from remaining and perform high-quality cleaning with little scraping.

[0070]

Here, the results of cleaning foreign matters such as dust adhering to the recording drum by the cleaning device having the above-described configuration will be described.

[Table 1] As shown in Table 1, before cleaning, the number of dirt (dust) adhering to the outer peripheral surface of the drum was reduced by half by a conventional manual cleaning operation. Further, from this state, when the cleaning was performed by the cleaning device 100 of the present embodiment, the number of dusts could be reduced by half. Further, it was confirmed that the number of dusts could be further reduced by using the cleaning head 151 provided with two foreign substance scraping blades of the configuration of the above-described modified example.

Next, a second embodiment of the cleaning device according to the present invention will be described. 7 and 8 show the configuration of the cleaning device 200 of the present embodiment. Here, the first
The same members as those of the embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and overlapping description will be omitted. The cleaning device 200 according to the present embodiment is configured to visually check the outer peripheral surface of the recording rotating drum 34 for the presence of dirt due to the adhesion of foreign matter, and to selectively clean a local dirt portion when dirt is present. It is. In this case, the housing 12 of the recording device
An openable / closable lid 122 is provided on one side of the recording drum. The lid 122 is opened to visually check for foreign matter, and to perform a cleaning operation on the outer peripheral surface of the recording drum 34 if necessary. .

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, a guide bar 125 is disposed near the outer peripheral surface of the recording rotary drum 34 substantially parallel to the drum axis direction.
Is mounted with a movable stage 130 which can be moved by manual operation. On the drum 34 side of the moving stage 130, a case 102 filled with a cleaning liquid is provided.
A liquid application section 104 to be impregnated with the cleaning liquid is slidably attached to the outer peripheral surface of the drum. Case 1
The foreign matter scraping blades 108 are symmetrically arranged on both sides in the direction of movement of the guide bar 125, ie, in the cleaning direction. The moving stage 130, the case 102, the liquid applying section 104, and the foreign matter scraping blade 108 constitute a cleaning head 152.

The guide bar 125 has both ends supported by brackets 128, and one end (left side in the figure) is a standby position for the cleaning head 152. The case 1 has a tube 1 similar to the first embodiment.
12 is connected to the tank 1 through the tube 112.
The cleaning liquid stored in 10 is supplied.

In the cleaning operation by the cleaning device 200 of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, first, the cover 122 of the housing 120 shown in FIG. 7 is opened, and the recording drum 34 is manually rotated through the opened window while the outer peripheral surface is being rotated. Visually check the stained area. If a spot with dirt is found, the recording rotating drum 34 is rotated to the vicinity of the dirt spot in order to move the cleaning device 200 to the dirt spot, and the cleaning head is moved to the dirty spot on the drum 34 using the operation lever 132. 152 is slid from the standby position. Next, the cleaning head 152 is reciprocally slid at the dirt portion, thereby removing dirt from foreign matters such as dust adhering to the outer peripheral surface of the drum. Also,
When dirt is present at a plurality of locations, after cleaning the first dirt location, the cleaning head 152 is temporarily retracted to the standby position, and the drum 34 is rotated to the next dirt location to repeat the cleaning operation. This makes it possible to remove the adhered foreign substances over the entire outer peripheral surface of the recording rotary drum 34. After the cleaning operation is completed, the cleaning head 152 is retracted to a standby position where the cleaning head 152 does not interfere with the recording rotary drum 34.

As described above, according to the cleaning device 200 of this embodiment, the cleaning head 15 is applied only to the portion of the outer peripheral surface of the drum to which foreign matter such as dust has adhered.
The cleaning can be performed by a simple operation such as reciprocating movement of the drum 2, and the cleaning head 152 does not need to be provided over the entire axial direction of the drum 34, so that the cleaning device 200 itself can be reduced in size. Further, since the visual confirmation is easy, the cleaning operation can be repeatedly performed until the foreign matter is surely removed, and the cleaning effect can be further improved. Further, since the foreign matter scraping blade 108 is arranged symmetrically with respect to the cleaning direction, a configuration in which the installation stability of the cleaning head 152 is improved can be achieved.

Next, a first modification of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 shows a main configuration of a cleaning head according to this modification. As shown in FIG. 9, the cleaning head 153
Is the liquid coating unit 10 on the drum side of the moving stage 130.
4 (two in the figure), and a pair of foreign matter scraping blades 108 are symmetrically arranged on both sides in the arrangement direction (cleaning direction) of the liquid application unit 104.
In addition, the foreign matter scraping blades 108 are attached to be inclined inward of the moving stage 130, respectively. With this configuration, the amount of the cleaning liquid applied can be increased, and even if the cleaning liquid is increased, it can be reliably scraped off by the facing foreign substance scraping blade 108. The removal ability can be improved. Further, the installation stability of the cleaning head 153 can be further improved.

Next, a second modification of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 10 shows a main configuration of a cleaning head according to this modification. As shown in FIG.
Reference numeral 54 denotes a pair of liquid coating units 104 at both ends in the cleaning direction on the drum side of the moving stage 131 which is tiltably attached to the drum outer peripheral surface, and a pair of foreign matter scraping blades 108 inside the pair. Arrange them. When sliding the cleaning head 154,
As shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, a well-known mechanism for inclining a cleaning head (not shown) causes the liquid application unit 104 on the cleaning direction advancing side and the foreign matter scraping blade 108 to slidably contact the drum outer peripheral surface. At the same time, the opposite liquid application unit 104 and the foreign matter scraping blade 108
Moving stage 13 so as to separate the
1 is tilted. This tilting operation is performed by the cleaning head 1.
The movement is automatically performed by the movement operation of 54. With such a configuration, the pressing force of the liquid application unit 104 against the outer peripheral surface of the drum is increased, so that cleaning can be performed more effectively, and the installation stability of the cleaning head 154 can be improved. it can.

As described in detail above, the cleaning apparatus of each of the above embodiments has been described as an example applied to a recording apparatus having a recording rotary drum, but the present invention is not limited to this application. Further, the cleaning is not limited to the cleaning of the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder. For other applications,
For example, various objects to be cleaned such as a surface of a rubber roller for conveyance, a surface of a heat roller for heating, a surface of a rotating disk such as an optical disk, a surface of a flat plate such as a liquid crystal display, and a surface of a light source such as a fluorescent lamp are exemplified. The optimum hardness of the blade material varies depending on the application, but generally, a blade material having a hardness lower than that of the object to be cleaned is desirable.

[0079]

According to the cleaning apparatus and the cleaning method of the present invention, the cleaning liquid applied to the surface of the object to be cleaned by the liquid application section is scraped off by the foreign matter scraping blade, so that the cleaning liquid adheres to the surface of the object to be cleaned. Foreign matter such as dust can be reliably removed by a simple operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a recording apparatus including a cleaning device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a main part of the cleaning device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a drive system of the cleaning device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a driving sequence of the cleaning device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a modified example of the cleaning head according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an overall view of a recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a cleaning device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram illustrating a first modification of the cleaning head.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram illustrating a second modification of the cleaning head.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus including a conventional optical head and a recording rotary drum.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing a recording process by a recording device.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which dust is present between a recording rotary drum and an image receiving sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

34 rotating drum for recording 102 case (substrate) 104 liquid applying section 108 foreign matter scraping blade 100, 200 cleaning device 150, 151, 152, 153, 154 cleaning head

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Akihiro Hashiguchi 798 Miyadai, Kaisei-cho, Ashigara-gun, Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan F-term (reference) 2C061 AQ04 AR01 AS02 BB10 CM06 CM11 3B116 AA41 AB53 BA03 BA22 BB01 3B201 AA41 AB53 BA03 BA22 BB09

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning head, comprising: a liquid application section for applying a cleaning liquid to a body to be cleaned; and a foreign matter scraping blade for scraping foreign matter on the surface of the body to be cleaned, the cleaning head being disposed substantially parallel to a cleaning direction. The liquid applying portion of the cleaning head and the foreign matter scraping blade simultaneously slide in contact with the object to be cleaned, and the liquid applying portion cleans the same portion of the object to be cleaned prior to the foreign object scraping blade during cleaning. A cleaning device characterized by passing through. 2. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the liquid application section and the foreign matter scraping blade are integrally mounted on a base. 3. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the liquid application section is made of a flexible material capable of impregnating and holding a cleaning liquid. 4. The foreign matter scraping blade is made of an elastic film, and a contact angle with the surface of the object to be cleaned is set to be less than 90 ° downstream of the foreign matter scraping blade in a cleaning direction. The cleaning device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein 5. The cleaning device according to claim 4, wherein said elastic film is made of a resin film. 6. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the foreign substance scraping blades are provided along a cleaning direction. 7. The cleaning object is composed of a rotating body, the cleaning head is provided with the liquid coating portion on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the cleaning object, and the foreign matter scraping blade on the upstream side. The cleaning device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a cleaning head is substantially fixed in a rotation direction of the object to be cleaned. 8. The cleaning head according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning head is supported so as to be movable in a rotation axis direction of the object to be cleaned, which is a rotating body.
The cleaning device according to the item. 9. The cleaning head according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning head is supported so as to be able to separate and slidably contact the cleaning object to partially clean the surface of the cleaning object. The cleaning device according to claim 1. 10. The cleaning head according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning head is provided on both sides of the liquid application unit in the cleaning direction or on both ends of the plurality of liquid application units arranged along the cleaning direction in the cleaning direction. The cleaning device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising a scraping blade. 11. The cleaning head, wherein the liquid application sections are disposed on both sides of the foreign substance scraping blade in the cleaning direction, and the cleaning section separates the liquid application section on the downstream side in the cleaning direction from the surface of the object to be cleaned during cleaning. 2. A mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising:
The cleaning device according to claim 10. 12. A cleaning method for removing foreign matter adhering to the surface of the object to be cleaned using the cleaning device according to claim 7, wherein the cleaning head is in sliding contact with the object to be cleaned. Cleaning the surface of the object to be cleaned by rotating the object to be cleaned. 13. A cleaning method for removing foreign matter adhered to the surface of the object to be cleaned by using the cleaning device according to claim 9, wherein the object to be cleaned is rotated in a rotating direction and the cleaning head is rotated. Is moved in the axial direction of the object to be cleaned so that the position of the cleaning head is near the position where foreign matter adheres to the surface of the object to be cleaned. Thereafter, while the object to be cleaned is stopped in the rotational direction, A cleaning method comprising: reciprocating the cleaning head a plurality of times in the axial direction to clean the surface of the object to be cleaned.