Electrophotography – Cleaning of imaging surface – Plural diverse
Patent
1997-11-03
1998-11-03
Smith, Matthew S.
Electrophotography
Cleaning of imaging surface
Plural diverse
399350, 1525651, G03G 2100
Patent
active
058323554
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a cleaning mechanism for the photoconductive drum of a printer or copier device.
For cleaning the photoconductive drum of a printer or copier device of adhering toner dust after the transfer printing process, it is standard practice to utilize cleaning stations that suction the remaining toner dust from the photoconductive drum with the assistance of a rotating brush and with underpressure suction. Given simply constructed laser printers for low printing speeds, stripper blades are used instead of the rotating cleaning brushes (see, for example the European Patent Document EP-B1 0 464 032). Motor-driven cleaning fleece can be utilized when an especially good cleaning is required.
All of these cleaning means serve the purpose of removing residual toner from the surface of the photoconductive drum.
Users of high-performance printers are employing recycled paper to an ever-increasing extent. The raw material for the manufacture of recycled paper also contains sticky constituents that cannot be completely removed in the manufacturing process. During printing, the sticky substances contained in the recycled paper can remain adhering to the photoconductive drum. Toner particles or larger particles of the sticky substances that deteriorate the transfer printing process can collect thereat. Lighter sections, i.e. light spots in the print format are produced as a consequence. For eliminating this malfunction, the photoconductive drum must be removed from the printer and cleaned. In addition to the considerable outlay required for such removal, there is the risk that the photoconductive drum will be damaged, this significantly shortening its average useful life.
This problem did not hitherto arise in printer or copier devices which use a cleaning fleece since the fleece eliminates the sticky spots and the adhering particles during the cleaning process. It is thereby disadvantageous that fine striations that considerably deteriorate the printing quality arise in the photoconductive layer due to fleece cleaning.
Cleaning brushes with denser and thicker fibers can in fact improve the cleaning of the drum surface but do not remove the sticky residues.
In printers that employ a stripper element for the photoconductive drum instead of the cleaning brush, these in fact largely strip the contamination off; such stripper elements are only conditionally employable or are completely out of the question for reasons of wear at high printing speeds given employment of high-grade toner material, for example, a polyester based toner and giver the use of inorganic photoconductive material.
European Patent Document EP-A-0432 453 discloses a cleaning mechanism for the photoconductor of an electrophotographic device having a brush cleaning station and a stripper element with a stripper edge of polyurethane following this station and lying against a photoconductor band opposite the running direction. The stripper element is arranged in a clamp mechanism of a mechanism that can be swivelled in and out. The stripper element lies on the photoconductor band with a seating force of 0.5-0.8N per 100 mm of edge length, namely in a seating angle between 0 and 9 angular degrees.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,124, further, discloses a cleaning mechanism for the photoconductor of an electrophotographic device wherein first a brush and then a plastic film arranged opposite the running direction of the photoconductive drum act on the photoconductor. The plastic film is of polyester and is of a thickness of 0.25 mm.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide low-wear and functionally dependable cleaning mechanism for the photoconductive drum of a printer or copier device that is suitable for cleaning the photoconductive drum of adhering toner dust as well as for removing adhering glue residues without thereby damaging the photoconductive drum.
This and other objects and advantages of the invention are provided by a cleaning mechanism for cleani
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Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme Aktiengesellschaft
Smith Matthew S.
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