Patent Grant
7904012
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image carrier cleaning device which removes residual non-transferred toner after a transfer operation of a toner image, an image carrier cleaning method, and an image forming apparatus including an electrophotographic device such as an electrostatic copy machine, a printer, or a facsimile provided with the image carrier cleaning device.
2. Related Art
Among image forming apparatuses, there is known an image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-A-H04-275569, where the image forming apparatus adopts a charging method in which a surface of a photoconductor is largely charged to a negative polarity by a charging brush after a transfer operation of a toner image and the photoconductor is adjusted to a predetermined negatively charged potential by means of a corona charging operation with a positive polarity using a corona charger in a rotation direction of the photoconductor from the charging brush. According to the charging method of the photoconductor, the amount of produced ozone can be reduced and the photoconductor can be uniformly charged.
However, a residual non-transferred toner and an external additive separated from the toner remain on the photoconductor after the transfer operation of the toner image. In the image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-A-H04-275569, when the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive are removed by a cleaning brush before arriving at the charging brush, the charging brush and the corona charger are prevented from being polluted, and hence a satisfactory charging operation can be continuously carried out.
However, when the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive after the transfer operation of the toner image are removed by the cleaning brush before the charging operation performed by the charging brush, an elevated portion may be formed between the photoconductor and an intermediate transfer belt. In addition, the intermediate transfer belt may be bent or the image may be omitted halfway due to the elevated portion. Particularly, in recent image forming apparatuses, toner having a small particle diameter of 5 μm or less and a high degree of circularity of 0.96 or more has been used for the purpose of obtaining a high definition. However, when such toner is used, the bending phenomenon or the image halfway omission may easily occur.
The reason is as below. That is, when the toner having a small particle diameter of 5 μm or less and a high degree of circularity of 0.96 or more is used, the residual non-transferred toner can easily exit the cleaning blade. For this reason, in order to reliably remove the residual non-transferred toner, a contact pressure applied from the cleaning blade to the photoconductor needs to be larger than that of the known image forming apparatus. However, if the contact pressure of the cleaning blade is large, an external additive is removed as well as the residual non-transferred toner. Additionally, if the external additive is excessively removed by the cleaning blade, most of the external additive exiting the cleaning blade and moving toward a transfer device is removed. For this reason, the elevated portion is easily formed between the photoconductor and the intermediate transfer belt, and hence the bending phenomenon or the image halfway omission occurs.
In addition, when the amount of the external additive exiting the cleaning blade is small, chattering or curling of the cleaning blade occurs due to a large contact pressure.
An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus, an image carrier cleaning method, and an image carrier cleaning device which further effectively removes a residual non-transferred toner remaining on an image carrier after a transfer operation of a toner image, prevents a bending phenomenon of an intermediate transfer belt and an image halfway omission, and suppresses chattering or curling of a cleaning member.
In order to achieve the above-described object, in the image carrier cleaning device, the image carrier cleaning method, and the image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the invention, the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive remaining on the image carrier after the transfer operation of the toner image are charged by a first charging member to the same polarity as that of the toner, so that an electrostatic adsorption force of the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive with respect to the image carrier is set to be large. Additionally, the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive having a large particle diameter are removed and collected by the cleaning member which comes into contact with the image carrier. Further, the external additive having a small particle diameter is allowed to exit the cleaning member by the use of the large electrostatic adsorption force.
Likewise, after the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive are charged by the first charging member, the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive having a large particle diameter can be reliably removed by the cleaning member and the external additive having a small particle diameter can exit the cleaning member. In addition, since the external additive having a small particle diameter exits the cleaning member, it is possible to effectively prevent the cleaning member from being chattered or curled due to the lubricating function of the external additive having a small particle diameter.
Further, the external additive having a small particle diameter exiting the cleaning member is charged by a second charging member to the polarity opposite to the polarity of the toner. Subsequently, at least a part of the external additive having a small particle diameter charged in this way is allowed to move toward a transfer device via an exposure device and a non-contact developing device at the next image forming operation. Subsequently, the external additive having a small particle diameter arriving at the transfer device is allowed to advance to the inside of the nip portion between the image carrier and an intermediate transfer medium. Accordingly, since it is possible to use the external additive having a small particle diameter as a lubricant, it is possible to prevent the elevated portion from being formed between the image carrier and the intermediate transfer medium. Thus, it is possible to prevent the intermediate transfer medium from being bent and to prevent the image from being omitted halfway.
Particularly, when a circumferential speed of the image carrier is set to be different from a circumferential speed of the intermediate transfer medium, the external additive having a small particle diameter advancing to the nip portion is capable of further effectively exhibiting the lubricating function.
Although the above-described elevated portion is easily formed when a fog amount of the toner is small, the above-described elevated portion can be effectively prevented even when the fog amount of the toner is small in such a manner that the external particle additive having a small particle diameter is allowed to actively advance to the nip portion. Accordingly, in the image forming apparatus according to another aspect of the invention, it is possible to suppress an amount of the consumed toner.
The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers reference like elements.
Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In an image forming apparatus 1 shown in the example, an image forming operation is carried out by a negatively charged toner. Of course, the image forming operation may be carried out by a positively charged toner. In the below description, the image forming apparatus 1 uses the negatively charged toner. However, in the case of the positively charged toner, the potential of the charging operation of each of the members to be described later may have the opposite polarity. In addition, the toner includes a toner mother particle and an external additive added to the toner mother particle, but in the below description, the toner mother particle is simply referred to as toner.
As shown in
In the vicinity of the photoconductor 2, a first charger 3, a cleaning member 4, a second charger 5, an exposure device 6, a developing device 7, and a transfer device 8 are sequentially arranged in a rotation direction A (a clockwise direction in
The first charger 3 is a roller charger having a rotatably installed charging roller 3a (corresponding to a first charging member according to the invention). The charging roller 3a is applied with a charging bias V1 (V) of a negative polarity so as to perform a charging operation having the same polarity (i.e., a negative polarity) as that of the toner on the photoconductor 2 subjected to the transfer operation. As the charging roller 3a, a known charging brush roller or a known common charging rubber roller may be used.
The cleaning member 4 is a cleaning blade 4a (corresponding to a cleaning member according to the invention) which comes into contact with the photoconductor 2 having passed through the first charger 3. As the cleaning blade 4a, a known common cleaning blade may be used. In this case, a contact pressure applied from the cleaning blade 4a to the photoconductor 2 is set to be slightly higher than that of the known image forming apparatus in consideration of the negatively charged toner having a small particle diameter of 5 μm or less or a high degree of circularity of 0.96 or more. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the toner particle having a small particle diameter or a high degree of circularity from exiting the cleaning blade 4a.
The second charger 5 is a corona charger 5a (corresponding to a second charging member according to the invention) which does not contact with the surface of the photoconductor 2. In detail, as the corona charger 5a, a scorotron charger is used. A wire charging bias Vw (V) of a positive direct current (DC) is applied to a charge wire 5b of the scorotron charger, and a grid charging bias Vg (V) of a negative direct current (DC) is applied to a grid 5c. Accordingly, when the corona charger 5a applies the electric charge of the positive polarity (which is opposite to the polarity of the toner) to the photoconductor 2 by using the corona discharge with the positive polarity, the potential of the surface of the photoconductor 2 decreases to be uniform, and the potential of the surface of the photoconductor is set to the potential of the negative polarity which is set during the image forming operation. At this time, the external additive having passed through the second charger 5 is charged to the positive polarity which is opposite to the negative polarity of the toner. Alternatively, the external additive which cannot be charged is set to about 0 V.
Additionally, in the image forming apparatus 1 shown in the example, the first charger 3, the cleaning member 4, and the second charger 5 constitute a cleaning device according to the invention.
As the exposure device 6, a known common exposure device may be used. In addition, the developing device 7 is a non-contact developing device in which the developing roller 7a does not contact with the photoconductor 2. As the developing device 7, a known common non-contact developing device may be used. Further, as the transfer device 8, a known common transfer device may be used. In this case, in a contact portion (nip portion) where the transfer device 8 comes into contact with the photoconductor 2 and an intermediate transfer belt, a circumferential speed of the photoconductor 2 is set to be different from a circumferential speed of the intermediate transfer belt 9 so as to prevent a backlash of a driving gear.
Next, an operation (including a cleaning method of the photoconductor 2) of the image forming apparatus 1 shown in the example will be described.
When the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus 1 starts, the photoconductor 2 rotates and the surface of the photoconductor 2 is uniformly charged by the corona charger 5a to the potential of the negative polarity which is set during the image forming operation. Subsequently, the surface of the photoconductor 2 is exposed to the light by means of the exposure device 6 so as to register an image thereon, and the electrostatic latent image having the reduced potential of the negative polarity is formed on the photoconductor 2. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor 2 is developed in a non-contact manner by the negatively charged toner of the developing roller 7a of the developing device 7, thereby forming the toner image on the photoconductor 2. The toner image formed on the photoconductor 2 is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 9 (corresponding to an intermediate transfer medium according to the invention) during the transfer operation performed by the transfer device 8. As in the known image forming apparatus, the toner image transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 9 is transferred onto a transfer material such as a paper sheet by a second transfer device (not shown), and is fixed thereto by a fixing device, thereby forming the fixed image on the transfer material.
After the transfer operation ends, the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive remain on the photoconductor 2. The polarities of the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive are not uniform. Subsequently, by means of the charging roller 3a applied with the bias V1 (V) of the negative polarity, the surface of the photoconductor 2 is charged to the negative polarity (a first charging operation). At this time, the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive remaining on the photoconductor 2 are simultaneously charged to the same polarity as that of the photoconductor 2. Accordingly, the electrostatic adsorption force of the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive with respect to the photoconductor 2 becomes large.
Even when the electrostatic adsorption force of the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive having a comparatively large particle diameter having passed through the charging roller 3a with respect to the photoconductor 2 becomes large, the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive are removed and collected from the photoconductor 2 by the cleaning blade 4a (a cleaning operation). However, when the electrostatic adsorption force of the external additive having a comparatively small particle diameter with respect to the photoconductor 2 is large, the external additive exits the cleaning blade 4a. This is obviously shown in, for example, the paragraph “0010” of JP-A-2006-267510. Likewise, since the external additive having a small particle diameter exits a gap between the photoconductor 2 and the cleaning blade 4a, chattering of the cleaning blade 4a is suppressed.
A portion of the photoconductor 2 arriving at the corona charger 5a is charged by the corona charger 5a to the same potential as the potential which is set during the image forming operation as described above (a second charging operation). Accordingly, the next image forming operation starts. At the same time, the external additive exiting the cleaning blade 4a is charged to the positive polarity which is opposite to the polarity of the negatively charged toner. In addition, the next image is registered on the photoconductor 2 by the exposure device 6 so as to form an electrostatic latent image thereon, and the electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 7, thereby forming a new negatively charged toner image thereon. At this time, the positively charged external additive having a small particle diameter moves in accordance with the rotation of the photoconductor 2, and passes through a gap between the photoconductor 2 and the developing roller 7a of the non-contact developing device. At this time, the external additive having a small particle diameter used in an image pattern having a large white area is not attracted toward the developing roller 7a due to the relationship of an electric field, but is attached to the photoconductor 2.
The new negatively charged toner image and the external additive having a small particle diameter move together toward the transfer device 8. Subsequently, the negatively charged toner image is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 9 by the transfer device 8. At this time, the external additive having a small particle diameter advances to the nip portion between the photoconductor 2 and the intermediate transfer belt 9. Accordingly, the external additive having a small particle diameter serves as a lubricant, thereby preventing an elevated portion from being formed between the photoconductor 2 and the intermediate transfer belt 9. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the intermediate transfer belt 9 from being bent and to prevent the image from being omitted halfway. Particularly, in the image forming apparatus 1 shown in the example, since a circumferential speed of the photoconductor 2 is set to be different from a circumferential speed of the intermediate transfer belt 9, the external additive having a small particle diameter advanced to the nip portion further effectively exhibits a lubricating function. In addition, in the case of the image pattern having a large black area, the positively charged external additive having a small particle diameter can be attracted toward the developing roller 7a. However, since the new negatively charged toner having the external additive added from the developing roller 7a is developed, the new negatively charged toner attached onto the photoconductor 2 serves as a lubricant, thereby preventing an elevated portion from being formed between the photoconductor 2 and the intermediate transfer belt 9.
According to the cleaning device of the photoconductor 2, the cleaning method, and the image forming apparatus 1 shown in the example, the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive remaining on the photoconductor 2 after the transfer operation of the toner image are charged by the charging roller 3a to the negative polarity which is the same as that of the negatively charged toner, so that the electrostatic adsorption force of the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive with respect to the photoconductor 2 is set to be large. Additionally, the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive having a comparatively large particle diameter are removed and collected by the cleaning blade 4a. Further, the external additive having a comparatively small particle diameter is allowed to exit the cleaning blade 4a. At this time, since the electrostatic adoption force of the external additive having a small particle diameter with respect to the photoconductor 2 is set to be large, it is possible to allow the external additive having a small particle diameter to further reliably exit the cleaning blade 4a.
Likewise, after the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive are charged by the charging roller 3a, the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive having a comparatively large particle diameter can be reliably removed by the cleaning blade 4a and the external additive having a small particle diameter can exit the cleaning blade 4a. In addition, since the external additive having a small particle diameter exits the cleaning blade 4a, it is possible to effectively prevent the cleaning blade 4a from being chattered or curled by means of the lubricating function of the external additive having a small particle diameter.
The external additive having a small particle diameter exiting the cleaning blade 4a is charged by the corona charger 5a to the positive polarity. In addition, at least a part of the external additive having a small particle diameter charged to the positive polarity is allowed to move toward the transfer device 8 via the exposure device 6 and the developing device 7 at the next image forming operation. Subsequently, the external additive having a small particle diameter arriving at the transfer device 8 is allowed to actively advance to the inside of the nip portion between the photoconductor 2 and the intermediate transfer belt 9. Accordingly, since it is possible to use the external additive having a small particle diameter as a lubricant, it is possible to prevent an elevated portion from being formed between the photoconductor 2 and the intermediate transfer belt 9. Thus, it is possible to prevent the intermediate transfer belt 9 from being bent and to prevent the image from being omitted halfway. Particularly, in the image forming apparatus 1 shown in the example, since a circumferential speed of the photoconductor 2 is set to be different from a circumferential speed of the intermediate transfer belt 9, the external additive having a small particle diameter advancing to the nip portion is capable of further effectively exhibiting the lubricating function.
However, as in the image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-A-H04-275569, when the residual non-transferred toner after the transfer operation is first removed by the cleaning blade, an elevated portion may be formed between the photoconductor and the intermediate transfer belt. The elevated portion causes a problem in that the intermediate transfer belt is bent or the image is omitted halfway. This is because the residual non-transferred toner and the external additive are excessively removed by the cleaning blade. Accordingly, the external additive having a small particle diameter hardly advances to the nip portion between the photoconductor and the intermediate transfer belt. Particularly, when a fog amount of the toner is small, the elevated portion is easily formed.
The relationship of the fog amount of the toner, the bending phenomenon, and the image halfway omission is obtained from the known various test results. As shown in
On the contrary, in the image forming apparatus 1 shown in the example, the external additive having a small particle diameter further reliably exits the cleaning blade 4a, and a predetermined amount of the external additive having a small particle diameter is allowed to advance to the nip portion between the photoconductor 2 and the intermediate transfer belt 9. Accordingly, even when the fog amount of the toner is a predetermined amount (about 7 g/kp) or less, the bending phenomenon and the image halfway omission do not occur. Accordingly, in the image forming apparatus 1 shown in the example, it is possible to suppress an amount of the consumed toner.
As shown in
Other configurations and advantages of the image forming apparatus 1 shown in the example are the same as those of the image forming apparatus shown in the example in
Next, the cleaning device for the photoconductor 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 according to the invention will be described with reference to examples and comparative examples used for a test. The test was carried out by using a color printer LP9000C manufactured by Seiko Epson Corporation. In this case, only the cleaning device was modified as shown in
First, the test of the bending phenomenon and the image halfway omission in the case of the changed fog amount of the toner will be described. The toner used in the test was a toner in which an external additive formed of silica by a HMDS process to have a volume average particle diameter of 12 nm is added to a toner mother particle formed of a polyester resin using a polymerization method to have a volume average particle diameter of 3 μm. In this case, only the fog amount of the toner was changed, and the other factors were uniformly maintained. The toner fog amounts and the test results according to the examples and the comparative examples are shown in Table 1. The evaluation of the bending phenomenon and the image halfway omission was carried out as below. That is, when the occurrences of the bending phenomenon and the image halfway omission were not visually observed, the evaluation result was marked as “good”. When a slight occurrence of the bending phenomenon and the image halfway omission were visually observed, the evaluation result was marked as “no good”. When significant occurrences of the bending phenomenon and the image halfway omission were visually observed, the evaluation result was marked as “bad”.
As shown in Table 1, the fog amount is 2 g/kp in example 1, the fog amount is 3 g/kp in example 2, the fog amount is 5 g/kp in example 3, the fog amount is 2 g/kp in comparative example 1, the fog amount is 5 g/kp in comparative example 2, and the fog amount is 8 g/kp in comparative example 3. In the evaluation results of the bending phenomenon and the image halfway omission, the bending phenomenon and the image halfway omission were determined as “good” in examples 1 to 3, and the evaluation results of the bending phenomenon and the image halfway omission were determined as “no good” or “bad” in comparative examples 1 to 3.
Next, the test will be described for the occurrences of chattering of the cleaning blade, curling of the cleaning blade, the bending phenomenon, and the image halfway omission in the case of the changed volume average particle diameter of the toner and the changed degree of circularity. The toner used in the test was a toner in which an external additive formed of silica by a HMDS process and made to have a volume average particle diameter of 12 nm is added to a toner mother particle formed of a polyester resin using a polymerization method and a grinding method and made to have various volume average particle diameters and degrees of circularity to be described later. In this case, the volume average particle diameter and the degree of circularity of the toner mother particle were changed, and the other factors were uniformly maintained The volume average particle diameter and the degree of circularity of the toner and the test results according to the examples and the comparative examples are shown in Tables 2 and 3. Table 2 shows the case where the test is carried out by means of the image forming apparatus 1 shown in
As shown in Tables 2 and 3, the same toners were used in the examples and the comparative examples. That is, a polymerized toner was formed by a polymerization method to have a particle diameter of 4 μm and a degree of circularity of 0.97. A polymerized toner was formed by the polymerization method to have a particle diameter of 4.5 μm and a degree of circularity of 0.97. A polymerized toner was formed by the polymerization method to have a particle diameter of 5.5 μm and a degree of circularity of 0.95. A polymerized toner was formed by the polymerization method to have a particle diameter of 5.5 μm and a degree of circularity of 0.96. A polymerized toner was formed by the polymerization method to have a particle diameter of 6.5 μm and a degree of circularity of 0.95. A polymerized toner was formed by the polymerization method to have a particle diameter of 7 μm and a degree of circularity of 0.97. A grinded toner was formed by a grinding method to have a particle diameter of 5 μm and a degree of circularity of 0.93. A grinded toner was formed by a grinding method to have a particle diameter of 7 μm and a degree of circularity of 0.93. A grinded toner was formed by a grinding method to have a particle diameter of 8.5 μm and a degree of circularity of 0.92.
As shown in Tables 2 and 3, any toner in the examples was determined as “good”. Additionally, the toners having a large particle diameter (larger than 5 μm) and a low degree of circularity (substantially lower than 0.96) in the comparative examples were determined as “good” as in the examples. However, the toners having a small particle diameter (5 μm or less) and a high degree of circularity (0.96 or more) were determined as “no good” or “bad”. Based on the evaluation results, it is proven that there is a desired advantage obtained by the cleaning device according to the invention.
Further, the invention is not limited to the above-described examples, but may be modified into various forms in the scope described in claims.
The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-184829, filed Jul. 16, 2008 is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-184829 | Jul 2008 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5850974 | Kettl et al. | Dec 1998 | A |
| 6640080 | Endo et al. | Oct 2003 | B2 |
| 7171151 | Endo et al. | Jan 2007 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 04-275569 | Oct 1992 | JP |
| 10-034031 | Feb 1998 | JP |
| 2003-091142 | Mar 2003 | JP |
| 2005-234247 | Sep 2005 | JP |
| 2006-267510 | Oct 2006 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20100014901 A1 | Jan 2010 | US |
