JPH06175538A - Decoloring device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a light and compact erasing device that can efficiently erase erasable photochemically erasable toner, and also provides a lightweight sheet erasing device. Extend the recyclable life of the. With the guide member 41 kept in a substantially horizontal posture, the sheet body 2 is conveyed along the top of the guide member 41,
When the front end of the sheet body 2 is sandwiched by the heating roller pair 10 and 11, the guide member 41 is displaced upward, so that the sheet body 2 approaches the heating roller 10 and the contact area Y with the heating roller 10 is reached. Is formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a decoloring device for decoloring a photochemically irradiable toner fixed on a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, in order to protect the earth's resources, the reuse and recycling of used papers and plastics has been reviewed, but regarding the reuse of documents in which highly confidential information is recorded, Since it is difficult to request an outside reclaimer, most of them are incinerated or crushed.

[0003]

In order to solve such a problem, the color of ink or toner fixed on the recording medium is erased while maintaining the shape of the recording medium.
Toner that can be reproduced as a plain recording medium,
It is proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-277725. When electrostatic copying is performed using such a toner, a recorded image such as a copy sheet or the like recorded on a sheet or a recorded image such as a print can be erased by irradiating near infrared rays. Therefore, the recording medium can be easily reused.

However, there has been a problem that a decoloring device capable of decolorizing a photochemically decolorable toner efficiently and quickly has not been developed so far.

An object of the present invention is to provide a lightweight and compact erasing device which can efficiently erase erasable photochemically erasable toner and which has a short erasing time per sheet. . Another object of the present invention is to provide an erasing device capable of extending the recyclable life of the sheet body.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a heating roller for heating a photochemically decolorizable toner fixed on a sheet member to at least a glass transition temperature of a binder resin of the toner. And a pressure roller, a light source for irradiating the toner with near-infrared rays, and a guide member for guiding the sheet body on the sheet body carry-in side of the heating roller, wherein the guide member guides the sheet body to the sheet body. The erasing device is movable so as to be close to the heating roller.

Further, according to the present invention, a registration roller is provided on the upstream side of the guide member for conveying the sheet body, and when the heating roller and the pressing roller sandwich the sheet body, the operation of the registration roller is switched to the driven state. It is characterized by

[0008]

According to the present invention, the heating roller and the pressing roller heat the photochemically decolorizable toner fixed on the sheet body to at least the glass transition temperature of the binder resin of the toner. As a result, the thermal momentum of the molecules of the binder resin increases, the decolorization chemical reaction is promoted, and the dye in the toner is efficiently decolorized by the light source irradiating the toner with near infrared rays.

Further, a guide member for guiding the sheet body is provided on the sheet carrying-in side of the heating roller, and the guide member is movable so as to bring the sheet body close to the heating roller. The contact time with the toner becomes longer and the efficiency of heating the toner on the sheet is improved. Furthermore, since the sheet body is gradually brought into contact with the heating roller to heat the sheet body, it is possible to prevent the sheet body from being deformed due to a rapid temperature rise.

Further, on the upstream side of the sheet conveyance of the guide member,
By providing the registration roller, the sheet body is prevented from meandering and obliquely conveyed, and when the heating roller and the pressure roller sandwich the sheet body, the operation of the registration roller is switched to the driven state, so that the heating roller and the pressure roller and the registration roller are not moved. Since tension is applied to the sheet member located between the roller and the roller, it is possible to suppress deformation of the sheet member due to heating, such as curling and wrinkling.

[0011]

EXAMPLES First, the toner used in the present invention will be described. The toner is a photochemically decolorizable toner, in particular, a decoloring toner that decolorizes by absorbing near-infrared rays, and examples of a large number of composition examples and other components constituting the toner such as a sensitizer, The details of the decoloring action of the toner of each composition example and the like are described in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-277725. Therefore, in the following examples, several examples of decolorizable toner will be shown. The present invention is not limited to the example of this embodiment, but includes a wide variety of modifications in accordance with the spirit of the present invention.

Such an erasable toner is, for example, constituted by dispersing a dye and an organic boron ammonium salt in a styrene resin. The dye is represented by, for example, the following (Chemical formula 1) or (Chemical formula 2).

[0013]

[Chemical 1]

[0014]

[Chemical 2]

The styrene resin is widely used as a binder resin for toner. The above (Chemical formula 1) and (Chemical formula 2)
The dye represented by is one of the cyanine dyes and has a wavelength of 820 when coexisted with an organic boron ammonium salt.
Irradiation with near-infrared rays in the vicinity of nm absorbs the near-infrared rays to cause an irreversible reaction, and the blue color disappears to become colorless. As the organic boron ammonium salt, for example, tetrabutylammonium nbutyltriphenylboron shown in the following (Chemical Formula 3) is used.

[0016]

[Chemical 3]

Next, the erasing device according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of an erasing apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention. This erasing device 1 includes a heating roller 1
0, a heating roller pair including a pressing roller 11, a light source 12 such as a halogen lamp, reflecting mirrors 13a and 13b having concave surfaces, heat-resistant glass plates 14 and 15, and a sheet body 2 such as paper or a plastic sheet are conveyed. Sheet feeding rollers 31, 32, conveying rollers 34, 35, registration rollers 38, 39, sheet discharging rollers 22, 23, and sheet body 2
Members for smoothly guiding the vehicle 33, 36, 37, 4
0, 41, 16, 17 and exhaust ducts 61, 63, 65, 67 and exhaust fans 62, 6 for discharging heat from the heating roller pairs 10, 11 and the light source 12 to the outside.
It is composed of 6 and the like.

The sheet cassette 2 accommodates the sheet body 2 on which the photochemically decolorizable toner as described above is fixed. The sheet members 2 are taken out one by one by the sheet feeding rollers 31 and 32, and are guided along the one-dot chain line in the figure.
3, 36, 37, 40, 41 and conveyance rollers 34, 3
5, heating roller pair 1 by registration rollers 38, 39
It is transported to 0 and 11.

The heating roller 10 is a hollow cylindrical roller made of metal or glass whose surface is coated with fluororesin or the like, and has a heater 10a such as a halogen lamp incorporated in the shaft center portion thereof. The current is applied to heat the surface to a predetermined temperature. The pressing roller 11 is a metal roller whose surface is thickly coated with silicone rubber. When the pressing roller 11 is urged against the heating roller 10 by a predetermined pressure, the pressing roller 11 is made of silicone along the outer peripheral shape of the heating roller 10. The rubber is elastically deformed to secure a predetermined contact area.

By passing the sheet body 2 while being sandwiched by the pair of heating rollers 10 and 11, the toner is heated above the glass transition temperature of the binder resin. On the discharge side of the heating roller pair 10, 11, the light source 1
The light including the near-infrared light radiated by 2 is reflected by the reflecting mirrors 13a, 13
A light condensing portion is formed that is efficiently collected by b or the like and has a high light irradiation density. Therefore, when the sheet body 2 is ejected from the heating roller pair 10 and 12, the near-infrared light is immediately irradiated, so that the color of the toner is efficiently erased. The decolored sheet body 2 is guided by the guide members 16 and 17, and the discharge roller 2
The sheets are discharged to the outside by 2, 23 and placed on the sheet discharge tray 42. The guide member 16 is composed of a plurality of guide members formed by bending such as wire, and is arranged at a predetermined interval along the conveyance direction of the sheet body.

With such a configuration, the light utilization efficiency of the light source 12 is improved, the entire light source is downsized, and the sheet body 2 heated to a predetermined temperature by the heating roller pairs 10 and 11 is heated by the heating roller pair 10. It is possible to eliminate the decrease in the temperature of the light that is discharged from the light sources 11 and 11 and reaches the condensing portion. In this way, the sheet body 2 once recorded with the toner is erased efficiently and quickly before being conveyed from the paper feed cassette 30 to the paper discharge tray 42.

The heating roller 10 and the pressing roller 1
The cleaning rollers 20 and 21 impregnated with a release agent such as silicone oil are in contact with the sheet 1, and the surfaces of the heating roller pairs 10 and 11 are lubricated with the release agent to fix the sheet to the sheet body 2. The adhered toner and the winding of the sheet body 2 are prevented. Further, in the vicinity of the discharge side of the heating roller 10 and the pressing roller 11, separation claws 24, 25 are provided.
Are in contact with each other, and the sheet body 2 has the heating roller pair 1
Even when the sheet bodies 2 are in close contact with the sheets 0 and 11, the tip ends of the separation claws 24 and 25 can peel off the sheet body 2 and prevent the sheet body 2 from being wound.

At various points in the conveying path of the sheet body 2 (one-dot chain line in the figure), for example, the upper part of the guide member 36 and the discharge rollers 22,
Sheet body detection sensors 51 and 52 such as photocouplers and microswitches are installed on the discharge side of 23 as required to perform timing control and jam occurrence detection. Further, for example, the surface of the pressing roller 11 and the discharge roller 2 are provided at various places on the conveyance path of the sheet body 2 and at various places of each roller.
Static elimination brushes 56 and 57 are provided on the discharge sides of 2 and 23 to prevent the occurrence of electrostatic attraction of the sheet body 2.

A temperature sensor 53 such as a bimetal or a thermistor is provided on the surface of the heating roller 10 to control the temperature of the heating roller 10. Further, the temperature fuses 54, 55,
56 is provided to prevent the occurrence of abnormally high temperature.

The heating roller pair 10, 11 and the light source 12
Since a large amount of heat is generated during that period, exhaust ducts 61 and 65 are installed on both sides of the conveyance path of the sheet body 2 and forcedly exhausted by exhaust fans 62 and 66 such as sirocco fans, and exhaust ducts 63 and 67 and ventilation. By releasing the gas through the ports 64 and 68 to the outside, the temperature rise in the device is prevented.

FIG. 2 is a cutaway side view showing a schematic structure of the erasing apparatus 1 of FIG. The heating roller 10, the pressing roller 11, and the cleaning rollers 20, 21 are rotatably supported with respect to the casing 6 and the auxiliary side plate 7, and the heater 10a such as a halogen lamp is provided at the axis of the heating roller 10. Is provided. Therefore, each roller 1
When replacing 0, 11, 20, and 21, it is sufficient to remove only the auxiliary side plate 7 without disassembling the entire housing frame 6, so that maintenance workability is improved.

As shown in the broken central portion of FIG. 2, the paper discharge rollers 22 and 23 are axially supported at predetermined intervals along the width direction of the sheet body. Similarly, the tips of the separation claws 24, 25 provided at a predetermined interval along the width direction of the sheet body 2 are in contact with the respective surfaces of the heating roller 10 and the pressing roller 11 while being biased with a predetermined pressure. Coil spring 2
4a and 25a are attached. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, one end of the coil spring 24a for urging the separation claw 24 is extended to the axis of the paper discharge roller 22 and is bent into a smooth curve so that it also serves as the guide member 16. You can The paper discharge fan 62 is driven by the motor 62a.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a state where the light source unit 70 in the erasing apparatus 1 of FIG. 1 is opened around the shaft 71. When the sheet body 2 is jammed in the subsequent stage of the heating roller pair 10 and 11, that is, when a so-called jam occurs, after the paper discharge tray 42 is removed in the state of FIG.
By manually moving the locking member 72 provided on the upper part of 0, the engagement between the claw 73 of the locking member 72 and the hole 74 formed in the housing 5 is released. And the light source unit 7
By tilting 0 to the outside, the heating roller pair 10, 11
A large space is formed on the discharge side, and the inside of the light source unit 70 can be easily seen, and the jam removal work by the user can be performed extremely safely and easily.

When the jam removing work is completed, the light source unit 70 is pushed into the housing 5, so that the engagement between the claw 73 of the locking member 72 and the hole 74 of the housing 5 is easily restored. By opening and closing the light source unit 70 in this way, the jam removal work is simplified.

FIG. 4 is a partial configuration diagram showing an optical system of the light source 12 and the light condensing unit P. Some of the light emitted from the light source 12 reaches the light condensing part P directly, but most of the light is reflected by the reflecting mirrors 13a, 13b, 13c, and the reflecting mirror 1
The light reflected by 3b is directed to the condensing part P, while the reflection mirror 13
The light reflected by a and 13c is directed to the guide member 17 whose surface is a mirror surface, and is reflected there again to be collected in the light condensing unit P. In addition, the light guide 12 and the light condensing portion P are formed by forming the guide member 17 into a mirror-like shape and having a triangular cross-section.
By setting and in the regular reflection direction, the light collection efficiency can be further improved. Therefore, the guide member 17
Plays a role of smooth conveyance of the sheet body 2 and improvement of light collection efficiency. Even when the sheet body 2 passes over the guide member 17, the light from the light source 12 passes through the sheet body 2 while being attenuated to some extent, so that the light condensing action by the guide member 17 is continued. . Further, when the output of the light source 12 is high, the separation claw 24 made of synthetic resin may be overheated and deformed. Therefore, it is preferable to provide the protective cover 18 made of metal in front of the separation claw 24.

FIG. 5 shows a light source 12 and a heating roller pair 1.
It is a partial block diagram which shows the exhaust heat state of 0 and 11 vicinity. In order to erase the color-erasable toner efficiently and quickly, it is conceivable to increase the light-collecting efficiency from the light source 12 to the light-collecting section P and to increase the output of the light source 12, so that the heat exhausted from the light source can be eliminated. It is necessary to exhaust the heated air to the outside of the device while reducing the influence on the members. The light source 12 emits light having a wavelength distribution from visible light to far infrared and generates a large amount of heat. The temperature of the member that directly receives the light from the light source 12 rises due to light absorption, so that the temperature of the air near the light source 12 and the heating roller pair 10 and 11 becomes high. Therefore, the exhaust duct 61 connected to the exhaust fan 62 is provided near the upper portion, and the exhaust duct 65 connected to the exhaust fan 66 is provided near the lower portion. Further, by providing the heat-resistant glass plates 14 and 15 between the light source 12 and the light condensing unit P, it is possible to smooth the air flow without blocking the light from the light source 12 so much. It is possible to prevent the accumulation of internal air. Further, by exhausting air from both sides of the conveying path of the sheet body 2, ventilation efficiency is improved, and deformation of the sheet body 2 such as warpage and corrugation due to a difference in exhaust pressure on both sides of the sheet body 2 can be prevented. This makes it possible to suppress the jam occurrence rate.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view showing a contact area between the heating roller pair 10 and 11. As shown by the broken line, when the sheet body 2 is conveyed horizontally by the rotation of the heating roller pairs 10 and 11, the sheet body 2 moves to the heating roller pair 10 and 1.
The area in contact with 1 is represented by the nip width L. On the other hand, as shown by the solid line, when the sheet body 2 is conveyed in the state of being close to the heating roller 10, the contact area Y between the sheet body 2 and the heating roller 10 is increased in addition to the nip width L described above. To do. Therefore, when the conveying speed of the sheet body 2 is the same in both cases, the latter makes the heating time for the sheet body 2 longer and the heating efficiency can be improved. Further, since the sheet body 2 is carried in close to the heating roller 10 and the sheet body is gradually heated, it is possible to prevent the sheet body 2 from being deformed due to a rapid temperature rise. This is a sheet body 2 such as paper
It is considered that the moisture adsorbed on the sheet causes uneven distribution of the evaporation rate due to a rapid temperature rise, and thus curls and wrinkles are generated, and uniform moisture evaporation is achieved by preheating the sheet body 2. .

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged view showing the arrangement of the heating roller pairs 10 and 11 and the guide member 41. First, FIG.
In (a), with the guide member 41 maintained in a substantially horizontal posture, the sheet body 2 is conveyed from the right side to the left side in the figure along the guide member 41, and the leading end of the sheet body 2 is conveyed. When the sheet is sandwiched between the heating roller pairs 10 and 11, the guide member 41 is displaced upward as shown in FIG. A contact area Y with the roller 10 is formed. A film 41a made of heat resistant resin or the like is fixed to the tip of the guide member 41.
Smoothes the contact between the heating roller 10 and the sheet body 2. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a driven roller 41e such as a rotatable rubber roller is used instead of the film 41a.
The same smoothing can be achieved also by providing the guide member 41 at the tip thereof.

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural view showing an example of a drive mechanism for displacing the guide member 41 upward. In FIG. 9, a fulcrum 41d is provided near the center of the guide member 41, and an electromagnetic plunger 41c for displacing the rear end of the guide member 41 downward by a predetermined distance is provided via a spring 41b. In such a configuration, the electromagnetic plunger 41
By controlling the energization to c, the guide member 41 can be angularly displaced around the fulcrum 41d.

FIG. 10 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining the arrangement and operation of the heating roller pair 10, 11, the guide member 41, and the registration rollers 38, 39. First, FIG. 10 (a)
In, the sheet body 2 is conveyed from the right side to the left side in the drawing along the conveyance roller 34. Next, in FIG. 10B, when the leading end of the sheet body 2 reaches the registration rollers 38, 39 rotating at a predetermined speed, the leading end of the sheet body 2 and the registration rollers 38, 39 are made parallel. Next, in FIG. 10C, the sheet body 2 is moved to the registration roller 3
It is conveyed toward the guide member 41 while being sandwiched by the 8, 39. Next, in FIG. 10D, at the time when the front end of the sheet body 2 is sandwiched between the heating roller pairs 10 and 11,
The rotational driving force of the registration rollers 38, 39 is cut off, and the operation of the registration rollers 38, 39 is switched to a driven operation that follows the movement of the sheet body 2. Next, in FIG. 10 (e),
The guide member 41 is displaced upward to bring the sheet body 2 close to the heating roller 10, and the heating roller pair 10, 11
A predetermined tension is applied to the sheet body 2 located between the registration rollers 38 and 39. Then, the heating roller pair 10,
By the rotation of 11, the sheet body 2 is conveyed and heated,
The discharge side of the heating roller pair 10 and 11 receives near-infrared radiation necessary for decoloring. By gradually heating the sheet body 2 while pulling the sheet body 2 in the conveying direction, it is possible to prevent the sheet body 2 from curling or wrinkling. Next, in FIG. 10F, heating and light irradiation of the sheet body 2 are completed.

[0036]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
Since it is possible to improve the heating efficiency and the light irradiation efficiency of the sheet body, it is possible to perform the toner erasing process efficiently and quickly, the erasing time per sheet is shortened, and the size is small. It is possible to provide a lightweight erasing device.

Further, since the sheet body which has been subjected to the color erasing process is prevented from being deformed such as curl or wrinkle, it is possible to prevent the paper jam in the conveying path and increase the number of times of recycling the sheet body. As described above, when the sheet body is reused, a large-scale facility is not required, and the reuse in each company can be easily performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a configuration of an erasing device which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cutaway side view showing a schematic configuration of the erasing device 1 of FIG.

3 is a front view showing a state in which a light source unit 70 in the erasing device 1 of FIG. 1 is opened around a shaft 71. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a partial configuration diagram showing an optical system of a light source 12 and a condensing unit P.

FIG. 5 is a partial configuration diagram showing a heat exhaust state in the vicinity of a light source 12 and a pair of heating rollers 10 and 11.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view showing a contact area between heating roller pairs 10 and 11.

7 is a partially enlarged view showing the arrangement of the heating roller pairs 10 and 11 and the guide member 41. FIG.

8 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example in which a driven roller 41e is provided at the tip of a guide member 41. FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a drive mechanism for displacing the guide member 41 upward.

10 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating the arrangement and operation of heating roller pairs 10, 11, guide member 41, and registration rollers 38, 39. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Decoloring device 2 Sheet body 10 Heating roller 11 Pressing roller 12 Light source 13a, 13b, 13c Reflecting mirror 14, 15 Heat-resistant glass plate 16, 17, 33, 36, 37, 40, 41 Guide member 18 Protective cover 20, 21 Cleaning Rollers 22,23 Paper ejection rollers 24,25 Separation claws 31,32 Paper feeding rollers 39 Paper feeding cassettes 34,35 Conveying rollers 38,39 Registration rollers 41a Films 41b Springs 41c Electromagnetic plungers 41d Supports 41e Driven rollers 42 Discharging trays 61, 63, 66, 67 Exhaust duct 62, 66 Exhaust fan 70 Light source unit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical display location G03G 15/22 103 Z 6830-2H // G03G 9/08 (72) Inventor Katsumi Murofushi Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture Showa Denko Co., Ltd. Chemical Research Laboratory, 5-1, Ogimachi, Kawasaki-ku, Japan (72) Inventor Kiichi Hosoda 5-1-1 Ogimachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Showa Denko Chemical Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A heating roller and a pressing roller for heating a photochemically decolorizable toner fixed on a sheet member to at least a glass transition temperature of a binder resin of the toner, and the toner. A light source for irradiating near-infrared rays, and a guide member for guiding the sheet body on the sheet body carry-in side of the heating roller, the guide member being movable so as to bring the sheet body close to the heating roller. An erasing device characterized in that 2. A registration roller is provided on the upstream side of the guide member for conveying the sheet body, and when the heating roller and the pressing roller sandwich the sheet body, the operation of the registration roller is switched to a driven state. The erasing device according to claim 1.