JPH07117803B2 - How to clean the photoreceptor surface - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for cleaning the surface of a photoconductor drum of a copying machine.

[Background of the Invention]

Generally, when the toner is transferred from the photoconductor to the transfer paper in the transfer section, paper powder (particularly, talc, kaolin, or other filler added for the purpose of giving the paper elasticity) is transferred from the transfer paper to the surface of the photoconductor. Transfer was adhered. It has been confirmed that the amount of paper dust that is transferred increases as the transfer output is increased. The filler thus transferred to the surface of the photoconductor was rubbed by the blade for removing the residual toner and firmly adhered, which caused deterioration of the photoconductor characteristics. That is,
When the photoconductor is made of organic photo semiconductor (OPC), if talc adheres to the surface of the photoconductor, the friction potential with the developer raises the charging potential and the image density rises, causing a fog phenomenon. When a copy was made in a high humidity environment using a photoreceptor having talc adhered to it, image deletion occurred.

The above problem is due to the fact that talc inhibits the formation of a latent image, and even with the same filler, it does not occur due to the adhesion of kaolin. Therefore, recently, it has been proposed to use kaolin instead of talc as the filler for the transfer paper, but it is only dependent on the paper manufacturer to replace the filler for the transfer paper, and the copier manufacturer cannot immediately respond. was there.

[Object of the Invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for cleaning the surface of a photoconductor that can solve the phenomenon of deterioration of the photoconductor characteristics caused by the adhesion of talc on the surface of the photoconductor.

[Structure of Invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to grind a small amount of the surface of the organic photoreceptor on the downstream side of the blade sliding contact portion for removing the residual toner.

〔Example〕

Next, an explanation will be given based on the drawings of an apparatus for carrying out the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a photosensitive drum, and 11 is a cleaning box provided so as to face the photosensitive drum 10. The upper part of the cleaning box 11 is in sliding contact with the photosensitive drum 10, and a blade 12 for scraping off the toner remaining on the drum surface after transfer, and a surface of the photosensitive drum 10 on the downstream side of the blade 12. Polishing means 22 is provided for pressing and polishing a small amount of the surface. Further, a guide plate 15 for guiding the toner 13 scraped off the drum surface by the blade 12 to the toner receiving portion 14 is provided in the lower portion. The installation position and angle of the guide plate 15 and the space between the guide plate 15 and the drum surface are important for preventing the toner 13 entering the cleaning box 11 from flowing back and leaking.
The toner that has passed through the guide plate 15 and has entered the toner receiving portion 14 is conveyed by a screw 16 to a discard case (not shown).

The blade 12 is on the front edge side of the support member 18 hinged to the pin 17 provided on the inner surface of the side wall of the cleaning box 11,
It is supported while being sandwiched between the support claws 18a and 18b.
The supporting member 18 is urged by a spring 19 interposed between the upper surface on the trailing edge side and the inner surface of the lid 11a of the cleaning box 11 in a counterclockwise direction, whereby the blade 12 is pressed against the surface of the drum 10. is doing.

Further, on the back side of the blade 12, a plate-like member 20 fixed to the support claw 18a with an adhesive or the like is provided in parallel. The plate-shaped member 20 has a function of preventing the toner 13 scraped by the blade 12 from rising and rising along the back surface of the blade. That is, the toner 13 that has entered between the blade and the plate-shaped member is compressed there, and is formed into a large lump and drops.

Further, a sheet-like member 21 is provided on the trailing edge side of the blade supporting member 18 to close off the gap with the rear wall of the cleaning box 11. In this, the inside of the cleaning box 11 is divided into a lower chamber A having a toner receiving portion 14 and an upper chamber B, and the scattering of toner is stopped in the lower chamber A so as not to reach the upper chamber B. . Since the blade supporting member 18 swings around the hinge joint 17, the sheet-shaped member 21 may be formed of a thin elastic material (for example, PET base) that is thin so as not to hinder the swing.

The polishing means 22 has two end pieces 22a 'which can be connected to a common pin 17 to which a blade supporting member 18 is hinged as shown in FIG.
And a fixed frame body 22a having a long hole in the width direction of the fixed frame body 22a.
Movable frame 22b slidably attached by means of 26 and pin 26 'and urged in one direction by spring 24
Then, the polishing pad 23 is replaceably mounted in the groove of the groove frame 25 fixed to the outer end side of the movable frame body 22b. Then, the polishing means 22 removes the lid portion 11a of the cleaning box 11, and fixes the frame 17 to the pin 17 on the inner surface of the side wall of the box 11.
22a is made horizontal as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3 and both end pieces 22a 'are connected to each other. So that it hits against. Thereafter, as shown in the first drawing, the lid 11a is fitted into the cleaning box 11, and by fixing the lid 11a, the polishing means 22 is supported from above by the portion 11b of the lid 11a, and the force in the rotational direction of the photosensitive drum 10 is exerted. (Arrow) can be opposed.

The polishing pad 23 installed as described above is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor drum 10 by the spring 24, and a slight amount of the surface of the drum is polished for each copy. The pressing force of the polishing pad 23 required for this micro-polishing is sufficient if the talc adhering to the surface of the photosensitive drum can be wiped off, and it is 4 to 40 g / cm, preferably 15 to
20g / cm is suitable.

Further, the polishing pad 23 forms a member such as a non-woven fabric formed by compressing fibers, for example, a plate-like felt F. in this case,
The thickness a of the plate-like felt F is formed to be larger than the depth d of the groove frame 25. Then, the plate-like felt F is attached to the groove frame 25.
The felt strip B having a square cross-section is formed by cutting the strip into strips each having a width dimension b slightly larger than the groove width w. The strip B is fitted into the groove frame 25 so that the two surfaces B-1 and B-2, which are not cut surfaces, serve as polishing surfaces. Since the surface to be the polishing surface becomes fatigued as a result of long-term use, in such a case, it is removed from the groove frame 25 and replaced with the other polishing surface, and when both polishing surfaces become fatigued, they are replaced with new ones.

Wool (wool fiber) may be used as the material of the polishing pad 23. That is, the surface layer of wool is scaly and is excellent in abrasiveness. However, it is also possible to use fibers other than wool, for example, synthetic fibers or stainless fibers. However, synthetic fibers do not have a surface layer like wool, and lack some abrasiveness, and conversely,
With stainless fibers, the abrasiveness may become too high. Therefore, when the synthetic fiber stainless fiber is used, it is preferable to mix it with wool in an appropriate ratio. Incidentally, the above-mentioned abrasivity is also related to the pressure contact force of the polishing pad 23, but in reality, about 1 μ to 1.5 μ / 10,000 copies is sufficient.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described above, the method for cleaning the surface of the photoconductor according to the present invention is characterized in that the surface of the organic photoconductor on the downstream side of the blade sliding contact portion for removing the residual toner is slightly polished. This has an excellent effect of effectively preventing the phenomenon of deterioration of the characteristics of the photoconductor caused by the adhesion of talc on the surface of the photoconductor.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of an apparatus used to carry out the present invention.
The figure is a schematic sectional view, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the polishing means, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the polishing means is pressed against the surface of the photoconductor, and FIG. 4 is an explanation showing the order of manufacturing the polishing pad. It is a figure. 10 …… Photosensitive drum 11 …… Cleaning box 12 …… Blade 13 …… Toner 18 …… Blade support member 19 …… Spring 20 …… Plate-like member 21 …… Sheet-like member 22 …… Abrading means 22a …… Fixed Frame 22b …… Movable frame 23 …… Polishing pad 24 …… Spring 25 …… Groove type part F …… Non-woven fabric-like material (plate felt) B …… Strips B-1, B-2… … Polished surface

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method for cleaning a surface of a photosensitive member, which comprises polishing a small amount of the surface of the organic photosensitive member downstream of a blade sliding contact portion for removing residual toner. 2. The method for cleaning the surface of a photosensitive member according to claim 1, wherein the micro-polishing is performed by pressing a non-woven fabric. 3. The method for cleaning the surface of a photoconductor according to claim 1, wherein the polishing is performed at 1 μ to 1.5 μ / 10,000 copies.