Electrophotography – Image formation – Development
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-30
2001-03-20
Grimley, Arthur T. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Image formation
Development
C015S256510, C399S251000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06205312
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a squeegee apparatus of a liquid electrophotographic printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a liquid electrophotographic printer such as a color laser printer includes laser scanning units (LSUs)
50
for forming a latent electrostatic image of an image to be developed on a photoreceptor belt
10
by irradiating a laser beam onto the photoreceptor belt
10
, development units
20
for developing the latent electrostatic image into a predetermined image using a developer liquid having a liquid solvent mixed with a powdered toner, a drying unit
30
for drying and removing the liquid solvent remaining on the image after development, and a transfer unit
40
for printing the image developed on the photoreceptor belt
10
on a sheet of printing paper (S).
Here, each of the development units
20
includes a development device having a development roller
21
, a cleaning brush
24
and a developer liquid supply nozzle
23
, and a squeegee apparatus having a squeegee roller
25
, a squeegee backup roller
26
and an air spray nozzle
27
. The squeegee apparatus squeegees the imaging region of the developed image to remove excess developer liquid therefrom. The excess developer liquid which is not used for development is removed from the photoreceptor belt
10
by the squeegee apparatus.
If the excess developer liquid is not sufficiently withdrawn from the photoreceptor belt
10
by the squeegeeing action of the squeegee roller
25
, the operation load of the drying unit
30
is increased. Also, since the image which is not completely dried may migrate to the transfer unit
40
, a clean image quality cannot be obtained. Thus, the overall printing quality is influenced by the efficiency of removing the excess developer liquid by the squeegee roller
25
, that is, the squeegeeing efficiency.
The squeegeeing efficiency varies with the temperature of the photoreceptor belt
10
. When the photoreceptor belt
10
is heated at a temperature of 40 to 45° C., the squeegeeing efficiency is highest. In the printer having the above-described construction, since the photoreceptor belt
10
contacts the respective heated rollers in the drying unit
30
and the transfer unit
40
while the printing operation is carried out, the photoreceptor belt
10
appears to be kept at a high temperature. However, in practice, the photoreceptor belt
10
is rapidly cooled by the heat exchange with the developer liquid while passing through the development units
20
and the contact with the squeegee roller
25
, the development backup roller
22
and the squeegee backup roller
26
. Thus, it is difficult to keep the photoreceptor belt
10
at a temperature higher than 30° C. while squeegeeing.
Therefore, in order to attain an optimum squeegeeing efficiency, there is an increasing demand for means for keeping a photoreceptor belt at a high temperature while a squeegeeing operation is carried out.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved squeegee apparatus of a liquid electrophotographic printer which can heat a photoreceptor belt at a predetermined temperature during a squeegeeing operation.
Accordingly, to achieve the above object, there is provided a squeegee apparatus of a liquid electrophotographic printer having a squeegee roller for pressing a photoreceptor belt to squeegee excess developer liquid from an image developed on the transfer surface of the photoreceptor belt, and a squeegee backup roller for pressing the reverse surface to the transfer surface from the opposite side of the squeegee roller, the squeegee apparatus including a heating means installed in the squeegee backup roller, for heating the photoreceptor belt at a predetermined temperature.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4796048 (1989-01-01), Bean
patent: 5937249 (1999-08-01), Shin
patent: 5978631 (1999-11-01), Lee
patent: 5999775 (1999-12-01), Kim
Grimley Arthur T.
Ngo Hoang
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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