Patent Grant
10444673
The present disclosure relates to electrophotographic image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, printers, facsimile apparatuses, and multi-function peripherals configured to form images using an electrophotographic technique.
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a photosensitive member is uniformly charged and then exposed to light generated according to image information to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member. The electrostatic latent image is developed with toner to form a toner image, and the toner image is transferred onto a recording material such as a recording sheet by a transfer member. Thereafter, the toner image transferred on the recording material is heated and fixed to the recording material by a fixing device.
In order to convey the recording material to a transfer area formed by the transfer member and the photosensitive member, a guide member configured to guide the orientation of recording materials is disposed upstream of the transfer area in the direction in which the recording materials are conveyed. Image forming apparatuses including such a guide member have been known. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-239617 discusses an image forming apparatus which includes a conveyance guide as the guide member and in which a voltage of a polarity opposite to a toner charging polarity is applied to the conveyance guide. The application of the voltage of the polarity opposite to the toner charging polarity to the conveyance guide prevents leakage of transfer current from a transfer member through a recording material.
However, in a configuration in which the voltage of the polarity opposite to the toner charging polarity is applied to the conveyance guide, normal-polarity toner scattered from a development device may adhere to the conveyance guide. An increase in the amount of toner adhering to the conveyance guide may lead to contamination of recording materials that pass through the conveyance guide.
The present disclosure is directed to a technique for preventing accumulation of toner on a guide member in a configuration in which a voltage of a polarity opposite to a toner charging polarity is applied to the guide member.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member on which an electrostatic latent image is to be formed, a charging member configured to charge the photosensitive member, a developing member configured to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member with toner charged to a predetermined polarity, a transfer member configured to form a transfer area with the photosensitive member and transfer a toner image from the photosensitive member onto a recording material in the transfer area, a transfer power source configured to apply a voltage of a polarity opposite to the predetermined polarity to the transfer member, a guide member located upstream of the transfer area in a direction in which the recording material is conveyed, and configured to come into contact with a back surface of the conveyed recording material to guide the recording material, and an auxiliary power source configured to apply the voltage of the opposite polarity to the guide member, wherein the guide member includes a guide region configured to contact the back surface of the recording material, and the guide region is entirely located on the photosensitive member side of a common imaginary tangent line in a developing area formed by the photosensitive member and the developing member.
Further features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Various exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the sizes, materials, shapes, relative positions, etc. of components described in the exemplary embodiments are to be changed as appropriate according to various conditions and configurations of an apparatus to which the disclosure is applied, and the scope of the disclosure is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described below.
Around the photosensitive drum 1 are disposed a charging member (charging roller) 2, an exposure unit 3, a development unit 4, a transfer unit (transfer roller) 5, and a cleaning unit 6 in this order in the direction in which the photosensitive drum 1 is rotated. Further, a sheet feeding cassette 7 in which recording materials P such as sheets are stored is disposed in a lower portion of the image forming apparatus 100. Further, a sheet feeding roller 8, a pair of conveying rollers 9, a top sensor 10, a pre-transfer guide 50, which is a first guide member, and a post-transfer guide 11, which is a second guide member, are disposed in this order along a path along which the recording materials P are conveyed. Further, a fixing device 12, a sheet discharge sensor 13, a conveying roller 14, a sheet discharge roller 15, and a sheet discharge tray 16 are disposed.
The following describes an image forming process performed by the image forming apparatus 100 configured as described above. The photosensitive drum 1 driven to rotate by the driving source (not illustrated) in the direction of the arrow R1 is uniformly charged to a predetermined polarity and a predetermined potential (Vd: −500 V) by the charging roller 2. The surface of the charged photosensitive drum 1 is exposed by the exposure unit 3 with image exposure light L generated based on image information, and charges of the exposed portion are removed to form an electrostatic latent image (VL: −100 V). The electrostatic latent image is developed by the development unit 4. The development unit 4 includes a development roller 4a, which is a developing member, a development blade 4b, and a toner container 4c. Toner T in the toner container 4c is supplied to the development roller 4a, conveyed to the position of the development blade 4b by the rotation of the development roller 4a, and passed through the development blade 4b to form a uniform toner coat on the development roller 4a. The toner T is charged to the predetermined polarity. In the present exemplary embodiment, the toner T is negatively charged. While being driven with a predetermined difference in peripheral speed from the photosensitive drum 1, the development roller 4a contacts the photosensitive drum 1 to form a developing area Nd. Further, a development bias (−300 V) is applied by a development high-voltage power source (not illustrated) to develop the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 1 to form a toner image.
The toner image is transferred onto a recording material P by the transfer roller 5. The transfer roller 5 is pressed against the photosensitive drum 1 by a transfer pressurizing spring (not illustrated) to form a transfer area Nt between the transfer roller 5 and the photosensitive drum 1. The recording materials P are stored in the sheet feeding cassette 7, fed one by one by the sheet feeding roller 8, conveyed by the pair of conveying rollers 9, and conveyed along a conveyance route A. While being guided by the pre-transfer guide 50, the recording material P is conveyed to the transfer area Nt formed between the photosensitive drum 1 and the transfer roller 5. At this time, the leading edge of the recording material P is detected by the top sensor 10 and is synchronized with the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 1. A transfer voltage of a polarity (in the present exemplary embodiment, positive polarity) opposite to a toner charging polarity is applied to the transfer roller 5 by a transfer voltage source 5a to transfer the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 onto a predetermined position on the recording material P. The voltage applied by the transfer voltage source 5a is controlled by a transfer control unit 5b.
Further, a cleaning blade 6a is included in the cleaning unit 6 to scrape the toner slightly remaining on the photosensitive drum 1 after the transfer so that the photosensitive drum 1 is ready for the next image forming operation.
The recording material P bearing the transferred unfixed toner image on a surface thereof is conveyed along the post-transfer guide 11 to the fixing device 12, and the unfixed toner image is heated and pressed at the fixing device 12 to be fixed onto the surface of the recording material P. The fixing device 12 employs a pressing roller driving method using a flexible endless belt as a fixing film. The fixing device 12 includes a fixing film 12a and a pressing roller 12b. The fixing film 12a is a film-shaped rotary fixing member. The pressing roller 12b is a pressing member which is in contact with the fixing film 12a. The fixing device 12 includes a ceramic heater (hereinafter, “heater”) 12c and a heater holder 12d as main components. The heater 12c heats the toner via the fixing film 12a. The heater holder 12d is a heater support member.
The pressing roller 12b includes a metal core, a heat-resistant elastic layer, such as a silicone rubber, provided on the outer surface of the metal core, and a release layer as the outermost layer made of a material having high releasability, such as fluororesin. The outer surface of the release layer of the pressing roller 12b presses the fixing film 12a upward against the heater 12c with a pressurizing spring (not illustrated) to form a fixing nip area Nf between the pressing roller 12b and the fixing film 12a. The pressing roller 12b is driven to rotate by a driving source (not illustrated) in the direction of an arrow R12b to rotate the fixing film 12a in the direction of an arrow R12a while the inner surface of the fixing film 12a and the downward surface of the heater 12c slide against each other in close contact.
In this state, while the temperature of the heater 12c is increased to a predetermined temperature and is under temperature adjustment, the recording material P bearing the unfixed toner image is introduced, nipped, and conveyed between the fixing nip area Nf formed by the fixing film 12a and the pressing roller 12b. During this nipping and conveying process, the heat of the heater 12c is applied to the recording material P through the fixing film 12a to heat and press the unfixed toner image on the recording material P so that the unfixed toner image is fused and fixed onto the recording material P. The recording material P having passed through the fixing nip area Nf is separated (curvature separation) from the fixing film 12a. The recording material P with the fixed toner image is conveyed by the conveying roller 14 and discharged onto the sheet discharge tray 16 on an upper surface of the main body of the image forming apparatus 100 by the sheet discharge roller 15.
Further, a plurality of components such as the photosensitive drum 1, the charging member 2, the cleaning unit 6, and the development unit 4 are integrated as a process cartridge, and the process cartridge is designed to be attachable to and detachable from the image forming apparatus 100 to enable easy replacement.
In the present exemplary embodiment, the auxiliary power source 50a applies a voltage to the pre-transfer guide 50. This will be described below with reference to
Further, the pre-transfer guide 50 is located in such a manner that a portion of the pre-transfer guide 50 extends toward the photosensitive member 1 from an imaginary line h connecting the transfer area Nt and a nip area Nh (conveyance nip area) of the pair of conveying rollers 9, so as to contact the recording material P. As illustrated in
In order to prevent triboelectric charging which is caused by a frictional sliding against the recording material P, the pre-transfer guide 50 is entirely or partly made of a conductive material such as iron or stainless steel (SUS). In the case where a conductive material is used in the pre-transfer guide 50, when the recording material P arrives at the transfer area Nt, a current may flow from the transfer roller 5 through the recording material P to result in a decreased current (transfer current) flow to the photosensitive drum 1 side in the transfer area Nt. A decrease in transfer current leads to a decrease in transfer efficiency, and this phenomenon is likely to occur especially in the case where the resistance of the recording material P is low. Thus, in the present exemplary embodiment, the auxiliary power source 50a applies a voltage of positive polarity to the pre-transfer guide 50 to prevent leakage of the current from the transfer roller 5 through the recording material P.
An optimum voltage value to be applied from the auxiliary power source 50a to the pre-transfer guide 50 varies depending on charging properties of the toner and latent image settings of the photosensitive drum 1. In the present exemplary embodiment, a voltage in the range of 300 to 500 V with the same polarity as that of the voltage applied by the transfer voltage source 5a and with a small absolute value can be applied, and thus a voltage of 300 V is applied. As described above, in the present exemplary embodiment, a voltage is applied to the pre-transfer guide 50 to prevent occurrence of current leakage and realize favorable transfer efficiency. The photosensitive drum 1 is uniformly charged by the charging roller 2 to a potential (Vd) of the predetermined polarity. In the present exemplary embodiment, the potential Vd is −500 V, which means that a potential difference of 800 V is generated between the pre-transfer guide 50 and the photosensitive drum 1.
Further, the pre-transfer guide 50 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an effective region G on the photosensitive drum 1 side with respect to a common tangent line S (refer to
If the potential on the photosensitive drum 1 is a post-charging potential (Vd), the toner remains on the development roller 4a in the developing area Nd. However, as a result of a repeated sheet feeding and change in the environment, the toner may deteriorate and may be scattered from the developing area Nd instead of being confined by the electric field of the development roller 4a. In general, a strong electric field is applied in the vicinity of the developing area Nd, so that the toner is pulled back to the photosensitive drum 1 or the development roller 4a according to the charge amount (triboelectricity) of the toner. However, weak triboelectric toner generated by deterioration in durability is less likely to be affected by the electric field and may float in a space of the image forming apparatus 100.
Most of the floating toner moves toward the downstream side in the direction of velocity of the common tangent line S of the photosensitive drum 1 and the development roller 4a due to inertia generated when the development roller 4a had been rotated.
Thus, in the present exemplary embodiment, the location of the floating toner is arranged so that the floating toner does not adhere to the pre-transfer guide 50. Specifically, the effective region G of the pre-transfer guide 50 is entirely located on the photosensitive drum 1 side of the common tangent line S so that the floating toner is less likely to adhere to the pre-transfer guide 50 to reduce an accumulation of toner on the pre-transfer guide 50.
An advantage of the present exemplary embodiment was experimentally validated. In the validation of the advantage, letter-sized Xerox Business 4200 sheets (hereinafter, “letter sheets”) were used as the recording materials P. Further, SUS was used as a material of the pre-transfer guide 50.
The letter sheets that had been left under a high-temperature, high-humidity environment with a temperature of 32.5 degrees and a humidity of 80% for 48 hours were prepared as the recording materials P, and halftone (HT) images with a printing ratio of 4% were printed while 200 recording materials P were fed. At this time, a cartridge 80% of which had been used with respect to the lifetime of the cartridge was used.
Contaminations of the pre-transfer guides according to the present exemplary embodiment and the first comparative example after the sheet feeding and contaminations of the recording materials caused by the contaminations of the pre-transfer guides were compared. In both the first exemplary embodiment and the first comparative example, the effective region G is located immediately below the developing area in the vertical direction (height direction), and the pre-transfer guide 50 and the developing area Nd directly face each other (no guide member configured to face the pre-transfer guide and guide a front surface of a recording material P is included).
In the first comparative example, the pre-transfer guide 500 protrudes toward the development unit 4 from the common tangent line S of the photosensitive drum 1 and the development roller 4a, so a portion of the pre-transfer guide 500 exists (extends) in a region where the floating toner is more likely to exist. Since the voltage of the polarity (positive polarity) opposite to the polarity of the floating toner is applied to the pre-transfer guide 500, the floating toner is attracted to the pre-transfer guide 500 and accumulated on the pre-transfer guide 500. Thus, the recording materials P were contaminated in the first comparative example. The larger the effective region G that extends from the common tangent line S toward the development roller 4a is, the more the toner is likely to be accumulated, and the contamination of the recording materials P is more likely to occur.
On the other hand, in the first exemplary embodiment, the effective region G is entirely located on the photosensitive drum 1 side of the common tangent line S to produce an advantage that contamination of the pre-transfer guide 50 is reduced to prevent contamination of the recording materials P.
In the first exemplary embodiment, the image forming apparatus 100 with the pre-transfer guide 50 located below the development unit 4 is described. A second exemplary embodiment is different from the first exemplary embodiment in that the pre-transfer guide 50 is located not below the development unit 4 (not immediately below the development nip area Nd) but in a shifted position from the development unit 4 in the horizontal direction. Further, an image forming apparatus 200 according to the second exemplary embodiment is an image forming apparatus that does not include the cleaning unit 6 according to the first exemplary embodiment and employs a drum-cleanerless method instead in which toner adhering to the photosensitive drum 1 is collected by the development unit 4. Further, the locations of the respective components in the second exemplary embodiment are different from those in the first exemplary embodiment, and thus the conveyance route of the recording materials P will be referred to as a conveyance route B in the second exemplary embodiment.
Further, the image forming apparatus 200 according to the present exemplary embodiment is a drum-cleanerless image forming apparatus. Specifically, residual toner that is not transferred onto a recording material P and remains on the photosensitive drum 1 is moved from the photosensitive drum 1 to the development roller 4a by a potential difference formed between the photosensitive drum 1 and the development roller 4a of the development unit 4. In other words, the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 1 is collected by the development roller 4a instead of by a dedicated cleaning member. Thus, the potential (Vd) of the photosensitive drum 1 charged by the charging roller 2 to the predetermined polarity is set to −800 V and the development bias applied by the development high-voltage power source (not illustrated) is set to −200 V so that the potential difference is larger than the potential difference in the first exemplary embodiment.
In
In the case where the drum-cleanerless method is employed, the development bias is reduced to increase the potential difference as described above, so a larger amount of toner is likely to float than in the first exemplary embodiment. When the amount of floating toner increases, more floating toner is likely to adhere to the pre-transfer guide 50 to which the voltage of positive polarity is applied by the auxiliary power source 50a. However, since the pre-transfer guide 50 is located such that the effective region G of the pre-transfer guide 50 exists on the photosensitive drum 1 side of the common tangent line S, adhesion of floating toner to the pre-transfer guide 50 is prevented as in the first exemplary embodiment.
Further, the pre-transfer guide 50 is located remote from the development unit 4 in the horizontal direction x and on substantially the same level as the developing area Nd formed by the development roller 4a and the photosensitive drum 1 in the vertical direction y. This produces an advantage that adhesion of floating toner to the pre-transfer guide 50 is prevented using the force of gravity.
According to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, adhesion of toner to the guide member is prevented by adjusting the positional relationship between the developing area and the guide member in the configuration in which the voltage of the polarity opposite to the toner charging polarity is applied to the guide member. This prevents recording materials from being contaminated by toner adhering to the guide member.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-192723 | Sep 2016 | JP | national |
The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/719,248, filed on Sep. 28, 2017, which claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-192723, filed Sep. 30, 2016, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6205300 | Sakai | Mar 2001 | B1 |
| 6240269 | Kaya | May 2001 | B1 |
| 20160062259 | Miyagawa | Mar 2016 | A1 |
| 20170343918 | Okayasu | Nov 2017 | A1 |
| Entry |
|---|
| Figures & machine translation of abstract of reference Takeda (JP 02-272,584 A) Pub Date Nov. 7, 1990 (Year: 1990). |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20190079434 A1 | Mar 2019 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15719248 | Sep 2017 | US |
| Child | 16191274 | US |
