JPH0968912A - Image forming process unit for electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the cost of an image forming process unit, a replacement component in an electrophotographic device and to make efficient replacement work of a consumable component in the image forming process. SOLUTION: A cleaning blade 42 is fixed to a cleaning unit 40 supported by a holder 43 made of a conductive material. An electrifying brush 46 is supported to abut its top end part on an image carrier surface 1a by the holder 43 as well, so that the brush 46 constitutes a contact electrifier together with the holder 43. A bias applying part (not shown in the figure) which is projected to the side of a CTM 20 is formed in the holder 43. This bias applying part is connected to a power supply terminal for bias supply (not shown in the figure) by the attachment of the CTM 20 at the attaching position of the electrophotographic device. At this time, the holder 43 is fixed on an attaching surface 40a in the outside surface of the cleaning unit 40 by an attaching screw (not shown in the figure).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a laser printer,
The present invention relates to an image forming process unit used in an electrophotographic apparatus such as a laser facsimile and detachably attached to an electrophotographic apparatus main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an example of an electrophotographic apparatus provided with a conventional cleaning device and a charging device. Reference numeral 1 is a photosensitive drum whose roller surface is an image bearing surface 1a, and 2 is an image. A charging device which is in contact with the carrying surface 1a, 3 is an optical writing unit, 4 is a developing device having a developing roller 4a, 5 is a transfer roller which is rotated by following the photosensitive drum 1, and 6 is a cleaning member 6a which is a photosensitive drum. 1 is a cleaning device brought into contact with 1, 7 is a fixing device composed of a heating roller 7a and a pressure roller 7b, 8 is a paper feed cassette containing recording paper (not shown), and 9 is arranged on the paper feed cassette 8. Paper feed roller, 10 registration roller pair, 11 discharge roller pair,
12 is a discharge tray. Here, it is assumed that the charger 2 is a contact type charger that charges a charging member such as a charging roller and a charging brush in a state of being in contact with the image bearing surface 1a. Further, in the cleaning device 6, a cleaning blade or a brush-like cleaning brush as the cleaning member 6a is in contact with the image bearing surface 1a.

Next, an image forming operation based on the electrophotographic process will be briefly described. The charger 2 uniformly charges the image bearing surface 1a of the photoconductor drum 1 as it rotates in the direction of the arrow. The optical writing unit 3 forms an electrostatic latent image on the image bearing surface 1a by scanning the uniformly charged image bearing surface 1a with a laser beam L corresponding to image information. The developing device 4 develops the electrostatic latent image into a toner image by transferring the thinned toner on the developing roller 4a onto the image bearing surface 1a.

On the other hand, the paper feed roller 9 separates and feeds one sheet of recording paper from the paper feed cassette 8, and the recording paper is conveyed to a position held by a pair of registration rollers 10. The registration roller pair 10 starts the conveyance of the recording paper in synchronization with the leading edge of the toner image on the image bearing surface 1a, and the recording paper is conveyed to the transfer position held by the photosensitive drum 1 and the transfer roller 5. It

The transfer roller 5 nips and conveys the recording paper together with the photosensitive drum 1 at the transfer position, and at the same time, transfers the toner image on the image bearing surface 1a onto the recording paper by electrostatic force. The recording paper is conveyed to the fixing device 7 and is heated and pressed to fix the toner image.
The paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 12 by the paper discharge roller pair 11.

Further, the cleaning device 6 separates the toner remaining after the transfer of the toner image by the cleaning member 6a from the image bearing surface 1a and collects it in the waste toner tank 6b.

In the electrophotographic apparatus as described above, the charging device 2, the developing device 4 and the cleaning device 6 are members that are exchanged at predetermined intervals. Therefore, each of these members is configured to be detachable from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus as a single unit, or the cleaning device 6 is integrated with the developing unit 4 and is detachable from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus. It is configured as a unit.
The contact-type charger 2 increases the amount of foreign matter such as paper dust adhered to the charging member as the usage time increases, and wears the charging member due to contact with the photosensitive drum 1, so that the charging device 2 is used at regular intervals. Need to be replaced. Further, the developing device 4 needs to be replaced with a new one when all the toner contained therein has been consumed. Further, the cleaning device 6 needs to be replaced with a new one when the waste toner tank 6b is filled with the residual toner collected from the image bearing surface 1a, and in the long term, the cleaning member 6a is replaced with the image bearing surface 1a.
The cleaning member 6a also needs to be replaced with a new one at regular intervals of use because it is worn by contact with the cleaning member 6a.

Here, the charger 2 generally supports a charging member by a holder (not shown) formed of a conductive material, and the holder is connected to a power supply terminal of a bias power supply inside the electrophotographic apparatus, and the bias power supply is , Image bearing surface 1
A charging bias is applied to the charging member via the holder during charging to a.

[0009]

However, in recent years,
In electrophotographic devices, there is a strong demand for lower running costs. In order to reduce the running cost, it is necessary to reduce the cost of replacement parts such as the charging device 2 and the cleaning device 6 by reducing the number of parts.

The image forming process unit including the cleaning device 6 is required to be reused as much as possible from the viewpoint of environmental protection. For this reason, the image forming process unit removed from the electrophotographic apparatus is recycled by replacement of the cleaning member 6a, which is a consumable component, by the manufacturer or the like. At this time, the cleaning member 6
In order to replace a, the cleaning member 6a generally has to be fixed inside the cleaning device 6 so that the cleaning device 6 must be disassembled, which is for recycling the imaging process unit. This has contributed to the increase in cost and time.

In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to reduce the cost of an image forming process unit, which is a replacement part in an electrophotographic apparatus, and to efficiently replace a consumable part of the image forming process unit. The object of the present invention is to provide an image forming process unit that can be performed in a specific manner.

[0012]

In order to solve the above problems, an image forming process unit according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises:
At least a cleaning member that comes into contact with the image bearing surface of the photoconductor on which the toner image is formed and removes the toner remaining on the image bearing surface after the transfer of the toner image is provided, and is detachably attached to the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus. In the image forming process unit, a charging member that uniformly charges the image bearing surface from which the residual toner has been peeled off by the cleaning member,
It is characterized in that the cleaning member, the charging member and the supporting member are integrated with each other by being arranged on a supporting member which supports the cleaning member in the main body of the image forming process unit.

Further, in the image forming process unit according to the second aspect, the toner remaining on the image bearing surface is peeled off after the transfer of the toner image is completed by contacting the image bearing surface of the photoconductor on which the toner image is formed. In an image forming process unit that includes at least a cleaning member and is detachably attached to the main body of an electrophotographic apparatus, a charging member that uniformly charges the image bearing surface from which residual toner has been peeled off by the cleaning member is used as the image forming process unit. The cleaning member is disposed on a supporting member that supports the cleaning member by the main body,
The charging member and the supporting member are integrated, and the charging member at the mounting position is connected to the bias power source unit of the electrophotographic apparatus through the supporting member formed of a conductive material.

Further, in the image forming process unit according to a third aspect of the present invention, the supporting member supporting the cleaning member and having the charging member arranged thereon is attached to an attachment portion provided on the outer surface of the main body of the image forming process unit. It is characterized by being attached detachably.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an image forming process unit of the present invention mounted on an electrophotographic apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of the image forming process unit of the present embodiment in a disassembled state. The members corresponding to the members described on the basis of 3 are designated by the same reference numerals,
The description is omitted. In FIG. 1, 20 is a CTM (cleaning toner magazine) which is an image forming process unit, 30 is a developing device, 40 is a cleaning device, and CTM2
In No. 0, the developing device 30 and the cleaning device 40 are integrally formed, and are removably mounted in the mounting position shown in the drawing in the electrophotographic apparatus.

The CTM 20 includes a developing device 30 and a cleaning device 40.
Are connected to each other by a pair of side plates 21, and the laser light L from the optical writing unit 3 is interposed between the pair of side plates 21.
A slit 22 is opened for passing through. The recycled CTM 20 is mounted at the mounting position of the electrophotographic apparatus in a state where at least the cleaning blade 42 and the charging brush 46 described later are replaced with new ones, and a predetermined amount of unused toner is replenished to the developing device 30. To be done.

In the developing device 30, 31 is a toner reservoir 31a.
And a developing unit frame in which the tank mounting portion 31b is formed, 32
Reference numerals 33 and 33 are a developing roller and a toner replenishing roller which are axially supported by the developing section frame 31, 34 is an agitator arranged in the toner reservoir section 31a, 35 is a doctor blade supported by the developing section frame 31, and 36 is a tank mounting section 31b. It is a toner tank that is detachably attached to. Toner tank 36
An agitator 37 and a toner feeder 38 that stir the toner in the tank are disposed inside.

When the CTM20 is recycled, the tank mounting part
By attaching a toner tank 36 filled with unused toner to 31b, a predetermined amount of toner is supplied to the developing device 30. The developing device 30 is configured to perform a developing operation in association with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 1 during development. At this time, the agitator 37 rotates in the direction of the arrow to stir the toner in the toner tank 36, and the agitator 37
The toner agitated by the toner feeder 38 is supplied to the toner reservoir 31a through the toner supply port 36a. When the agitator 34 agitates the toner in the toner reservoir 31a, the toner adheres to the entire roller surface of the toner replenishing roller 33 that rotates in synchronization with the photosensitive drum 1. The toner attached to the toner replenishing roller 33 is transferred to the developing roller 32 which rotates in conjunction with the photosensitive drum 1, and is thinly layered by the doctor blade 35 on the roller surface and frictionally charged.

The toner having a predetermined charge due to frictional charging is transferred from the developing roller 32 onto the image bearing surface 1a by the electrostatic force generated by the potential difference, and the electrostatic latent image formed on the image bearing surface 1a is transferred. Develop into a toner image. This toner image is transferred to the transfer roller 5 as in the case described with reference to FIG.
Is transferred onto a recording paper (not shown).

In the cleaning device 40, 41 is a recovery port 41.
A waste toner tank having a, 42 is a cleaning blade that is a cleaning member, 43 is a holder that is made of a conductive material and supports the cleaning blade 42, and is fixed to the cleaning device 40. Reference numeral 44 denotes a magnetic roller disposed in the waste toner tank 41 near the recovery port 41a, and 45 denotes a scraper having its tip end abutted on the roller surface of the magnetic roller 44.

The cleaning blade 42 removes the magnetic toner remaining on the image bearing surface 1a from the image bearing surface 1a after the transfer of the toner image is completed. The magnetic roller 44 rotates in the direction of the arrow in conjunction with the photosensitive drum 1 and adsorbs the toner separated by the cleaning blade 42. The toner attached to the magnetic roller 44 is scraped off by the scraper 45 and collected in the waste toner tank 41.

Reference numeral 46 denotes a charging brush whose tip portion is supported by the holder 43 so as to come into contact with the image bearing surface 1a, and constitutes a contact type charger together with the conductive holder 43. As shown in FIG. 2, the holder 43 is formed with a bias applying portion 43a protruding laterally of the CTM 20, and the bias applying portion 43a is attached to the mounting position of the CTM 20. Connect to the power terminal of. Here, the holder 43 is fastened and fixed to the mounting surface 40a on the outer surface of the cleaning device 40 by the mounting screw 47 shown in FIG. Therefore, the holder 43 can be removed from the CTM 20 together with the cleaning blade 42 and the charging brush 46 only by removing the mounting screw 47 with a screwdriver or the like without disassembling the cleaning device 40 in a state where the CTM 20 is taken out of the electrophotographic apparatus. In addition, it can be easily fastened and fixed to the CTM 20 by the mounting screw 47.

In the above description, the fixed charging brush 46 is used as the charging member for uniformly charging the image bearing surface 1a,
The cleaning blade 42 is used as a cleaning member that contacts the image bearing surface 1a. However, the charging member is not limited to these, and any other charging member such as a rotating roller charging brush or a charging roller may be used as the charging member, and the cleaning member may be a cleaning member. Needless to say, any other material can be used as long as it can remove toner from the image bearing surface 1a such as a brush.

In the CTM 20 of this embodiment, the image bearing surface 1a
By disposing the charging brush 46 for charging the charging roller 46 in the holder 43 supporting the cleaning blade 42 and integrating the charging brush 46, the cleaning blade 42 and the holder 43,
Since the charging brush 46 and the cleaning blade 42 can be supported by the common holder 43, the number of parts of the CTM 20 can be reduced to reduce the cost, and the cleaning device 40 can be consumed without disassembling. Since the charging brush 46 and the cleaning blade 42, which are parts, can be replaced at the same time, the replacement work of consumable parts can be made efficient.

Since the holder 43 is made of a conductive material and has the bias applying section 43a connected to the power supply terminal of the bias power supply section at the mounting position, the charging brush 46 and the bias power supply are connected to each other. Only cable,
Since members such as connection terminals are not required, it is possible to further reduce the number of parts of the CTM 20 and reduce costs.

[0026]

As described above, according to the image forming process unit of the first aspect, the main body of the image forming process unit is the charging member that uniformly charges the image bearing surface from which the residual toner is peeled off by the cleaning member. The cleaning member is disposed on a supporting member that supports the cleaning member,
By integrating the charging member and the supporting member, the charging member and the cleaning member can be supported by the common supporting member, so that the number of parts of the image forming process unit can be reduced and the cost can be reduced. In addition, since the charging member and the cleaning member, which are consumable parts, can be replaced at the same time, the consumable part replacement work can be made efficient.

According to the image forming process unit of the second aspect, the charging member for uniformly charging the image bearing surface from which the residual toner has been peeled off by the cleaning member is supported by the main body of the image forming process unit. The cleaning member, the charging member, and the supporting member are integrated with each other, and the charging member at the mounting position is connected to the bias power source unit of the electrophotographic apparatus through the supporting member formed of a conductive material. By doing so, the charging member and the cleaning member can be supported by the common supporting member, so that the number of parts of the image forming process unit can be reduced and the cost can be reduced, and it is a consumable part. Since the charging member and the cleaning member can be replaced at the same time, it is possible to efficiently replace the consumable parts. Can further charging member only for connecting the bias power supply unit of the cable, since the members such as the connection terminals is not necessary, it is possible to reduce the cost by reducing the number of parts of the image forming process unit.

Further, according to the image forming process unit of the third aspect, the supporting member for supporting the cleaning member and having the charging member arranged thereon is attached to the mounting portion provided on the outer surface of the main body of the image forming process unit. By detachably attaching the image forming process unit to the outside of the electrophotographic apparatus, the supporting member is attached to the image forming process unit together with the cleaning member and the charging member without disassembling the image forming process unit. Therefore, the cleaning member and the charging member, which are consumable parts, can be replaced easily in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of an image forming process unit of the present invention mounted on an electrophotographic apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of the image forming process unit according to the embodiment of the present invention in a disassembled state.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of an electrophotographic apparatus including a conventional cleaning device and a charging device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Photosensitive drum, 1a ... Image bearing surface, 20 ... CTM (cleaning toner magazine), 30 ... Developing device, 40 ...
Cleaning device, 40a ... Mounting surface, 41 ... Waste toner tank, 42 ... Cleaning blade, 43 ... Holder, 43
a ... Bias applying part, 46 ... Charging brush, 47 ... Mounting screw.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A main body of an electrophotographic apparatus, comprising at least a cleaning member which comes into contact with an image bearing surface of a photoconductor on which a toner image is formed and removes toner remaining on the image bearing surface after completion of transfer of the toner image. In a detachably mounted image forming process unit, a charging member that uniformly charges the image bearing surface from which residual toner has been peeled off by the cleaning member is used as a support member that supports the cleaning member in the image forming process unit main body. An image forming process unit in which a cleaning member, a charging member, and a supporting member are integrated and arranged. 2. A main body of an electrophotographic apparatus, comprising at least a cleaning member which comes into contact with an image bearing surface of a photoconductor on which a toner image is formed and removes toner remaining on the image bearing surface after completion of transfer of the toner image. In a detachably mounted image forming process unit, a charging member that uniformly charges the image bearing surface from which residual toner has been peeled off by the cleaning member is used as a support member that supports the cleaning member in the main body of the image forming process unit. The cleaning member, the charging member, and the supporting member are integrally arranged, and the charging member at the mounting position is connected to the bias power source unit of the electrophotographic apparatus through the supporting member formed of a conductive material. An image forming process unit characterized by that. 3. The supporting member, which supports the cleaning member and on which the charging member is arranged, is detachably attached to an attaching portion provided on an outer surface of the image forming process unit main body. The image forming process unit according to claim 1.