Image drum and method of manufacturing the image drum

Abstract

An image drum for selectively adsorbing toner in a printing apparatus is provided. A method and a configuration of ring electrodes formed on an outside of a drum body is also provided. That is, a control board is mounted inside the drum body, of which a plurality of terminals is externally exposed in the cylindrical drum body, and a photocurable resin is coated on the circumferential surface. Ring electrodes are then formed on circumferential surface of the drum body, by rotating the drum body and allowing an ultraviolet ray through the mask pattern onto the drum body to harden the liquid photocurable resin after contacting a mask-patterned mold mask to the circumferential surface of the drum body.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The above and/or other aspects of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a related art image-forming element;

FIG. 2 is a partial enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating a portion of the circumferential wall of the related art image-forming element;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the internal configuration of a printer using an image drum according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the image drum shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a drum body according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a control board provided to the drum body shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a photocurable resin coated on the outer circumference of the drum body according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating contacting a mold mask with the drum body according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the mold mask shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating an X part of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the drum body of FIG. 5 from which the mold mask is removed; and

FIG. 12 is a perspective view illustrating the drum body of FIG. 5 after development.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing an image drum for selectively adsorbing toner thereon so as to form an image, the method comprising: providing a cylindrical drum body and a control board mounted inside the drum body, wherein the control board has a plurality of terminals which are externally exposed;coating a liquid photocurable resin on a circumferential surface of the drum body;forming a mask pattern on a flat mold mask to allow transmission of an ultraviolet ray at regular intervals;contacting the mold mask with the circumferential surface of the drum body;forming a plurality of ring electrodes which are arranged in parallel with each other on the circumferential surface of the drum body by rotating the drum body and allowing an ultraviolet ray to pass through the mask pattern onto the drum body to harden the liquid photocurable resin;removing unhardened photocurable resin by soaking the drum body in a developing solution;connecting each ring electrode and each terminal; andindividually applying a voltage to each of the ring electrodes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, forming a mask pattern on a flat mold mask comprises coating transmission preventing film on one side of the mold mask for preventing transmission of the ultraviolet ray through the mold mask and a plurality of slits absent of the transmission preventing film is formed thereon at regular intervals.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of slits are formed at regular intervals such that the plurality of ring electrodes has a pitch of about 40 μm.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the transmission preventing film may be made of Chromium.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein removing unhardened photocurable resin further comprises sintering the ring electrode.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein forming a plurality of ring electrodes comprises providing an ultraviolet emitter with a transmission preventing film having a through-hole so that the ultraviolet emitter emits the ultraviolet ray through the through-hole to reach the mold mask.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the photocurable resin contains a metal to be electrically conductive.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the cylindrical drum body and the control board further comprises forming a hollow area in the drum body and a mounting hole passing through the hollow area to provide the control board in the hollow area.

9. An image drum for selectively adsorbing toner thereon to form an image in a printing apparatus, the image drum comprising: a cylindrical drum body including a mounting hole in a longitudinal direction, and a plurality of ring electrodes, on which certain portions of a photocurable resin harden by exposing the certain portions to an ultraviolet ray, wherein the plurality of ring electrodes are electrically insulated from each other and are arranged in parallel on an outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical drum body; anda control board including a control chip having a plurality of terminals, wherein each terminal may be individually connected to each respective ring electrode, and bonded to the mounting hole to externally expose the terminal.

10. The image drum of claim 9, wherein the photocurable resin contains an electrically conductive metal.

11. The image drum of claim 9, wherein the image drum is soaked in a developing solution and an unhardened liquid of the photocurable resin is removed.

12. The image drum of claim 9, wherein the drum body further comprises a hollow area formed in the drum body, and the mounting hole passes through the hollow area to provide the control board in the hollow area.

13. The image drum of claim 9, wherein the control board is formed of a plurality of printed circuit boards, and each terminal on an individual printed circuit board has a regular pitch interval.