JPH04209145A - Cleaning device of belt transfer and carrier device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent toner particles from scattering, in the cleaning device of a belt transfer and carrier device used in an electronic copying machine or the like, by continuing electric charge application to the fur brush of a cleaning unit disposed on the rotational locus of a carrier belt and its rotational driving in a prescribed time when the carrier belt is separated from a sensitive material. CONSTITUTION:When a print key switch is turned on and a sensitive material 1 starts rotational driving, a carrier belt 41 is oscillated upwards by a disconnecting/connecting mechanism 9 to come into contact with the sensitive material 1, and prescribed electric charge is applied to the fur brush 10b and the cleaning roller 10c of a cleaning unit 10. By this, the carrier belt 41 conducts transfer while being cleaned. When transfer is finished and a feed detecting switch ESW is turned off at the same time, the disconnecting/connecting mechanism 9 is turned off after the prescribed time, and the carrier belt 41 is separated from the sensitive material 1. Afterwards, application to the cleaning unit 10 is continued in the prescribed time to carry on cleaning. After the prescribed time, the application is stopped.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a cleaning device for a belt transfer conveyance device installed in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying device or an electrophotographic link.

(Prior Art) Generally, in image forming apparatuses such as electrophotographic copying machines and electrophotographic printers, belt transfer and conveyance devices are employed in order to more reliably convey the transfer body.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. are placed in constant contact with each other, and a predetermined charge is applied to this conveyor belt 21 by a charge applying means, so that a transfer body such as a transfer paper conveyed by the conveyor belt 21 reaches the photoreceptor 20 side. At this time, the toner image on the photoreceptor 20 side is transferred to the transfer body side. By the way, since the photoconductor 20 and the conveyor belt 21 are always kept in contact with each other, when a transfer medium such as a transfer paper is not conveyed and supplied between them, toner particles on the photoconductor 20 side or the conveyance belt 21 are kept in contact with each other. 21 side, the conveyor belt 21 gets dirty, and the back side of the transfer body conveyed by the conveyor belt 21 gets dirty. Therefore, it is necessary to clean the conveyor belt 21. Conventionally, two means have been adopted as means for cleaning the conveyor heald 21.

First, as the first cleaning means, as shown in FIG. 5, a cleaning unit 23 having a rubber blade 22 that is in constant contact with the conveyor belt 21 is installed at a lower position on one side of the conveyor belt 21. The blade 22 scrapes off toner particles adhering to the conveyor belt 21 side for cleaning.

Further, as a second cleaning means, as shown in FIG.
a cleaning fur brush 24 made of nylon or Teflon fiber that is constantly in contact with the conveyor belt 21;
A cleaning unit 26 including a toner particle scraping member 25 that is constantly in contact with the fur flap 24
The toner particles adhering to the conveyor belt 21 are transferred to the fur flap 24 side by the rotation of the fur flap 24, and the toner particles are removed by the scraping member 25.
I try to scrape it off.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned first cleaning means, since the conveyor belt 21 and the blade 22 that is constantly in contact with the conveyor belt 21 are both made of a rubber material, The frictional resistance between the belt 21 and the plate 22 is large, causing rapid abrasion between the two and shortening the service life. In addition, due to unevenness on the surface of the conveyor belt 21, the scraping action by the plate 22 is not sufficiently performed, resulting in poor cleaning. As a result, there is a problem in that the back side of the transfer body becomes stained.

Further, in the second cleaning means, the conveyor belt 21
Since the fur brush 24 is constantly in contact with the fur brush 24, there is a problem that the bristles of the fur brush 24 may fall down, impairing the cleaning effect, or that toner particles may scatter due to the rotation of the fur brush 24, staining the surrounding area. Ta.

The present invention has been made in view of the various problems described above, and its purpose is to perform long-term stable cleaning of the conveyor belt without causing toner particles to scatter, and to improve transfer performance. To provide a cleaning device for a heald transfer conveyance device that can reliably prevent back stains from forming on the body.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a belt transfer/conveyance device equipped with a transfer body conveyance belt having a charge imparting means for transferring a toner image on a photoreceptor side to a transfer body side. , a contact/separation mechanism is provided for supporting the conveyor belt so as to allow the conveyor belt to come into contact with and separate from the photoreceptor, and to bring the conveyor belt into contact with and away from the photoreceptor; A cleaning unit having a cleaning fur brush that is constantly in contact with the fur brush is disposed, and when the conveyor belt is separated by the separation mechanism, the fur brush of the cleaning unit is exposed to t? The above structure is characterized in that the 7T printing load and the rotational drive are kept open at a predetermined time. Then, the entire conveyor belt having charge f1 applying means is moved via a separation mechanism so as to come into contact with the photoconductor side, and the toner on the photoconductor side is transferred to the transfer body supplied between the photoconductor and the conveyance belt. The image is transferred,
Furthermore, after the image transfer to the transfer body is completed, the entire conveyor belt is separated from the photoreceptor side via the separation mechanism, and therefore, at the time of separation, toner is transferred from the photoreceptor to the conveyor belt side. Transfer adhesion of particles is prevented.

Further, the fur brush of the cleaning unit provided on the conveyor belt is continuously applied with a predetermined electric charge and driven for a predetermined period of time when the conveyor belt is brought into contact with the photoreceptor by the separation mechanism and after the separation mechanism. Therefore,
The toner particles transferred and adhered to the conveying belt side are reliably removed and cleaned by the fur brush, and furthermore, after the image transfer to the transfer body is completed, the conveying belt is separated from the 8-light body side by the separating mechanism. Since the cleaning with the fur brush is performed while the transfer and adhesion of toner particles from the photoreceptor to the conveyor belt side is prevented, the conveyor belt is maintained in a good or leaning state.

Further, during cleaning by the fur brush, a predetermined charge is applied to the fur brush, and the toner particles from the conveyor belt are electrically attracted to the fur brush, thereby preventing the toner particles from scattering to the periphery.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of an image forming apparatus equipped with a belt transfer/conveyance device having a cleaning device of the present invention.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a photoreceptor that is rotatably supported, 2 is a cleaning device for the photoreceptor 1, 3 is a developing section, and 4 is a cream provided on the lower side of the photoreceptor 1. This is a belt transfer/transport device equipped with a device. Reference numeral 5 denotes a paper feed box containing a transfer body 6 such as transfer paper, and between this paper feed box 5 and the belt transfer/conveyance device 4, a pair of opposing upper and lower paper feed rollers 7.7 are provided. A paper feed detection switch R59i is provided immediately upstream of each paper feed roller rough to detect the paper feed of the transfer body 6.
A fixing section 8 including a plurality of rollers 81 is disposed downstream of the belt transfer/conveying device 4, and an ejection detection switch ESW for detecting ejection of the transfer body 6 is provided downstream of the fixing section 8. has been established. - As is clear from FIGS. 2 and 3, the belt transfer/conveyance device 4 is a semiconductive endless conveyance belt that conveys a transfer medium 6 such as transfer paper fed from the paper feed roller 7. 41, upstream and downstream rollers 42.43 that support the conveyance belt 41, and a pair of left and right intermediate wheels 44.45 disposed between the respective rollers 42.43. A corona charger 46 connected to a high-voltage power source E is disposed at an intermediate position between the intermediate wheels 44 and 45 as charge applying means for applying a predetermined charge to the conveyor belt 41. Further, the roller 42 located on the upstream side
A high-voltage power source E is connected to the roller 42 and the intermediate wheel 44, and a predetermined electric charge is applied to the upstream portion of the conveyor belt 4I by these rollers 42 and the intermediate wheel 44, and this applied electric charge is used to transfer the paper feed roller 7. The transfer body 6 supplied from
The photoreceptor 1 is reliably transported to the photoreceptor 1 side without causing any misalignment on the photoreceptor 1 side.

Each of the rollers 42 and 43 and the corona charger 4
The entire conveyor belt 41 such as No. 6 is assembled integrally via a support frame 47, and the support frame 47 is moved up and down centering on one side of each of the rollers 42 and 43 (the downstream roller 43 in the embodiment shown in each figure). A contact/separation mechanism 9 is provided which is swingably supported so that the entire conveyance belt 41 can come into contact with and away from the photoreceptor 1 side, and which also brings the conveyance belt 41 into contact with and away from the photoreceptor 1 side. do. The separation mechanism 9 includes, for example, a swinging arm 91 swingably supported on the fixed member side of the image forming apparatus, and a swinging arm 91 supported on the -side in the longitudinal direction of the swinging arm 91, and supporting the support frame 91. 47, and a solenoid SQL for swinging the arm provided on the other side in the length direction of the swinging arm 91, for actuation of the second solenoid SQL. The accompanying vertical swinging of the arm 91 causes the support frame 47, that is, the entire conveyance belt 41, to come into contact with and away from the S light body 1 side via the contacts 92.

Further, the cleaning unit 10 is integrally assembled to the lower portion 1 of the downstream roller 43 on the rotation locus of the conveyor belt 41 via the support frame 47 . Specifically, as the cleaning unit 1o, a cleaning fur brush I C1b made of nylon or Teflon fiber, which is in constant contact with the conveyor belt 41, is rotatably supported on the inner upper side of the unit case 10a. At the same time, a cleaning blade 10d is disposed on the lower side of the fur brush 10b to rotatably support a cleaning roller 10c that is always in contact with the fur brush 10b, and that is in contact with a part of the outer circumference of the cleaning roller 10c. do. In addition, the fur brache o
A high-voltage power source E is connected to each of the cleaning rollers l+- and Ic, and the high-voltage power source E applies a predetermined charge to the fur flage 10b and the cleaning roller 10c. Note that the cleaning link unit 1
0 may be provided on an appropriate rotational trajectory of the conveyance belt 41, limited to the lower position of the downstream roller 43 on the rotational trajectory of the conveyance belt 41. Furthermore, as is clear from the timing chart in Figure 4, which will be explained in detail later,
The fur brush 10b and the cleaning roller 10C of the cleaning unit 10 are used not only when the entire conveyor belt 41 is brought into contact with the photoreceptor 1 by the front separation welding machine ellipse 9, but also when the entire conveyor belt 41 is exposed to light. Even after separation from the body 1, application of a predetermined charge and rotational drive are both performed for a predetermined period of time.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to the timing chart shown in FIG. First, when the print key switch KSI11 is turned on, the drive motor DM is driven to start rotating the photoreceptor 1, and
The solenoid SQL of the front separating and welding machine ellipse 9 is activated, and the entire conveyance heald 41 is swung upward from the state shown in FIG. 2 to the state shown in FIG.
Imprinting a predetermined charge BHVT on the fur flag 10b,
A predetermined charge CH\・T to the cleaning roller 10c
When the fur flap 10b is rotated, residual toner particles on the conveyor belt 41 side are transferred and adhered to the fur flap 10b side, and the conveyor belt 41 is cleaned. The toner particles on the side 10b are removed from the cleaning roller 10C.
It is transferred to the side and removed by the cleaning plate 10d.

Then, when the transfer body 6 is fed and conveyed from the paper feed hook 5 side and the paper feed detection switch RSW is turned on, a corona charger 46 is placed on the conveyor belt 41 side at a predetermined timing from this on operation. Predetermined charge THV
T is printed and this! The toner image on the photoconductor 1 side is transferred to the transfer body 6 conveyed between the M conveying belt 41 and the photoconductor 1, and the paper feed detection switch R5III is turned off after the transfer body 6 passes. Ru. Further, the transfer body 6 on which the image has been transferred is conveyed to the fixing unit S side via the conveyor belt 41, and when the image is fixed in this fixing unit 8 and is discharged to the outside, the discharge detection switch ESl '1 is turned on, and the charge T HV T applied to the conveyor belt 41 is dissipated at a predetermined timing after this turn-on operation. The above-mentioned operations are similarly performed when the next transfer body 6 is conveyed and supplied subsequent to the transfer body 6.

Furthermore, when the image transfer to all the transfer bodies 6 is completed, the solenoid SQL of the separation mechanism 9 is turned off after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the discharge detection switch ESW was turned off on the final transfer body 6. The entire conveyor belt 41 is swung downward so as to be separated from the photoreceptor l;
Further, after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the solenoid SQL was turned off after the discharge detection switch ESvJ was turned off, the driving of the drive motor DM was stopped, and the electric charge BHVT of the fur brush 10b and the electric charge CH of the cleaning roller 10c 'llT are also deleted. In other words, the conveyance bell 1-41 is not always in contact with the photoconductor 1 side, but after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the ejection detection switch ESW is turned off on the final transfer body 6, the conveyance bell 1-41 9, the toner particles are separated from the photoreceptor 1 side, and therefore, transfer and adhesion of toner particles from the photoreceptor 1 to the transport belt 41 (l!I) is prevented when the transport belt 41 is separated.

Further, the fur brush 1 of the cleaning unit 10
0b and the cleaning roller 10c continue to be driven until a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the discharge detection switch ESIII on the final transfer member 6 is turned off and the solenoid SQL is turned off, and the fur brush 1
Each electric charge BHVT of 0b and cleaning roller 10c,
Similarly to its driving, CH\IT continues to be applied until a predetermined time elapses after the discharge detection switch ESW is turned off and the solenoid SQL is turned off. When the transfer body 6 is not supplied between the conveyor belt 11 and the conveyor belt 41, the residual toner particles transferred from the photoreceptor 1 to the conveyor belt 41 are transferred to the fur brush 11]b, the cleaner crawler lQc, and the cleaner. It is reliably removed and cleaned by the 12-ink plate 1 +-+ d and collected in the unit gauge 11]a, and furthermore, after the image transfer to the transfer body 1 is completed, the conveyor belt 41 is moved by the separation mechanism 9. Since cleaning is performed by the fur brush lOb and the cleaning roller 10c in a state where the fur brush lOb and the cleaning roller 10c are separated from the photoreceptor 1 side and transfer and adhesion of toner particles from the photoreceptor 1 to the conveyor belt 41 is prevented during this separation. The conveyor belt 41 is maintained in a good or leaning state.

Furthermore, during the above cleaning, the fur brush 10
Since a predetermined electric charge is applied to the cleaning roller 10c and the cleaning roller 10c, toner particles are reliably prevented from scattering around the cleaning roller 10c. In the above embodiment, the entire conveyor belt 41 is supported in a cantilever manner so as to swing vertically relative to the photoconductor 1 side. However, for example, it is possible to move the entire conveyor belt 41 horizontally You may also do so.

<Effects of the Invention> As explained above, the belt 1 to the cleaning device for the transfer/conveyance device according to the present invention supports the conveyance belt so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the photoreceptor, and the conveyor belt is exposed to the photoreceptor. A contact/separation mechanism for contacting and separating from the body is provided, and a cleaning unit having a cleaning fur brush that is constantly in contact with the conveyor belt is disposed on the rotation locus of the conveyor belt. When the conveyor belt is separated from the conveyor belt, the electric charge applied to the fur brush of the cleaning unit and the rotational drive are continued for a predetermined period of time. Stable cleaning can be performed, and stains on the back of the transfer body can be reliably prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 shows a belt transfer system equipped with the cleaning device of the present invention.
A side view showing the overall structure of an image forming apparatus equipped with a conveying device, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are the same belt transfer/conveying device! FIG. 2 is a side view showing a main part of the apparatus, FIG. 2 shows a state in which the conveyor belt is separated from the photoreceptor, and FIG. 3 shows a state in which the conveyor belt is in contact with the photoreceptor; FIG. 4 is a timing chart, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are schematic diagrams showing conventional examples. 1... Photoreceptor, 41... Conveyor belt, 46...
. . . Charge applying means (corona charger), 9 . . . Separation mechanism, 10 . . . Cleaning unit, 10b.
...fur brush.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a belt transfer/conveying device including a transfer conveyor belt having a charge imparting means for transferring a toner image on a photoconductor side to a transfer body side, the conveyance belt is supported so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the photoconductor side, and the conveyance belt A cleaning unit having a cleaning fur brush that is in constant contact with the conveyor belt is disposed on the rotation locus of the conveyor belt, and 1. A cleaning device for a belt transfer/conveyance device, characterized in that, when the conveyance belt is separated by the contact mechanism, the cleaning unit continues to apply electric charges to the fur brush and rotate it for a predetermined period of time.