Method for Cleaning Photoreceptor of Image Forming Apparatus

The present invention relates to a cleaning method for a photoreceptor provided in image forming apparatus such as an electrostatic copying machine.

On the periphery of a photosensitive drum provided in image forming apparatus, the main charger, developing unit, image transfer device, separating device, cleaning device, etc. are disposed in that order in the direction of rotation.

The above-mentioned cleaning device is equipped with a cleaning means such as a cleaning blade or fur brush. Taking for example, the cleaning blade adopted for a copying machine having an image forming apparatus, the blade is so designed that it is turned on at the start of the copying action, comes in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum so as to remove the residual toner from the surface of the drum and is turned off at the end of the copying action (see unexamined Patent Publication No. 46580/1985 for example).

However, when replacing a developing unit by another unit containing toner of a different colour to change the colour of copying and starting the copying action, it sometimes happens that the colour of the residual toner of a previous developing unit is mixed in a copied image. The cause of this kind of mixing of the colour of residual toner in the copied image is as follows. When the cleaning blade is turned off at the end of the copying action before the replacement of the developing unit, part of the residual toner accumulated at the upstream of the edge of the cleaning blade passes to the downstream side of the edge of the cleaning blade. Next, when starting copying operation by actuating the cleaning blade after replacing the developing unit, the residual toner at the downstream of the edge of the above-mentioned blade adheres to the photosensitive drum. This toner is then carried by the rotation of the drum to attach to a sealing member for protection against splashing provided at the top of the case of the developing unit. After that, this attached toner is adsorbed by an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum and, as a result, transferred to the copying paper.

In the case of a cleaning device using a fur brush, the brush is made to come in contact with a photosensitive drum as it turns and the toner scraped down by the brush is exhausted by a fan. The part surrounding the fur brush is sealed with a sealing member. It sometimes occurs that the toner attaches to the downstream side face of the sealing member and, as a result, is mixed in the image as in the case of the replacement of the developing units mentioned above.

By such action, deterioration of the quality of the copied image occurs sometimes with the conventional type of multicolour developing unit when it is replaced by another unit of different colour, and an improvement in this respect has been strongly demanded.

The invention has as its object to provide a method for cleaning photoreceptor of an image forming apparatus by overcoming the above-mentioned technical problems, namely preventing a mixing of the colour of the previous toner into the copied picture, after replacement of a developing unit by another unit containing a toner of different colour for change of colour, in order to avoid a deterioration of the quality of a toner image.

Namely, this invention makes it possible to always obtain a clear monochrome toner image even if the image forming action is made after changing a developing unit by another unit containing toner of a different colour, by adsorbing the residual toner attached to the sealing member for protection against splashing of the developing unit by a charged area of the photoreceptor, before it passes to the normal image forming action, and carrying it to the cleaning blade area of the cleaning device. This thus prevents deterioration of the quality of a toner image. The present invention also provides a cleaning method easily adaptable to conventional image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a photosensitive drum and its surroundings of an electrostatic copying machine using a photoreceptor cleaning method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the cleaning method of the photoreceptor.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the cleaning method of the photoreceptor.

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a photosensitive drum and its surroundings on an electrostatic copying machine using a photoreceptor cleaning method in accordance with the present invention.

In FIG. 1, there are a discharge lamp 2 for removing a residual electric charge, a main charger 3 including a corona charging unit, etc., a blank lamp 4 for erasing electric charge on an unnecessary part of the photosensitive drum 1 depending on the size of copying paper, a developing unit 5, an image transfer device 6, a separating device 7, a cleaning device 8, etc. disposed around a photosensitive drum 1 in the direction of rotation. An exposure area is provided on the photosensitive drum between the main charger 3 and the blank lamp 4.

The above-mentioned developing unit 5 includes a toner hopper 9 and a developing unit 10. The toner hopper 9 is provided at its lower end with a feed outlet 9a for supplying toner to the developing unit 10 and a feed roller 9b at the position opposite to the feed outlet 9a in the toner hopper 9. The developing unit 10 is provided with a developing roller 10a to supply the powder of the developing toner to the photosensitive drum 1 and develop the electrostatic latent image formed by the above exposure into a toner image, an agitating roller 10b for agitating the toner supplied from the toner hopper 9, a guide plate 10c for guiding the toner adhering to the developing roller 10a to the agitating roller 10b, and a sealing member 10d for preventing developer contained in the developing unit 10 from escaping from the unit. On the upstream side of the image transfer device 6, timing rollers 11a and 11b are provided for feeding copying paper to the image transfer device 6. The image transfer device serves to electrostatically transfer toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 to copying paper conveyed by the timing rollers 11 a, 11b. The separating device 7 includes a corona charging unit, etc. and serves to detach copying paper from the photosensitive drum 1 after the image transfer. The cleaning device 8 has a blade 8a and scrapes off residual toner from the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 after image transfer and separation. Now referring to the block diagram of FIG. 2 and the timing chart of FIG. 3, the cleaning method will be described in the copying action after replacement of a developing unit 5 by another unit 5' containing toner of a different colour, which is adopted for removing residual toner adhering to the sealing member 10 as mentioned above.

To change the colour of a copy, the developing unit 5 is replaced by another unit containing toner of different colour. When the developing unit 5 is changed, a loading signal indicating that the developing unit has been changed (signals are provided for each developing unit to show what colour toner is in a developing unit loaded in the copying machine) is sent to a terminal of the copying machine. The terminal is connected to a processing circuit, etc. and is provided to receive a loading signal. After that, the print key 21 provided on the copying machine is operated. Accordingly, when operating the print key 21 after receiving a loading signal, the following actions are performed.

The control unit 22 receives a print key signal indicating that the print key 21 has been operated as shown in FIG. 3 (a), and drives the main motor 23 at the timing as shown in FIG. 3 (b) in response to the print key signal to turn the photosensitive drum 1, and at the same time actuates the cleaning blade 8a at the timing as shown in FIG. 3 (c). In the case that the photosensitive drum 1 is rotated while the cleaning blade 8a is held in contact with the drum this way, it sometimes happens that residual toner which has moved to the downstream side of the edge of the cleaning blade 8a and adhered to the photosensitive drum 1 in the OFF time of the cleaning blade 8a reaches the developing unit 5 and then adheres to the sealing member 10d. If copying operation is executed with such residual toner adhering to the sealing member 10d, the residual toner is attracted to an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 and the latent image is transferred. As a result, the colour of the residual toner is mixed in a copied image.

To prevent this, when the residual toner carried on the photosensitive drum 1 from the cleaning blade 8a passes through the main charger 3, a certain area of the photosensitive drum 1 is charged. For example, after a given time t1 after turn-on of the cleaning blade 8a as shown in FIG. 3 (d), the main charger unit 3 is put into operation for time t2 to charge a given area of the photosensitive drum 1. The area is not required to be any larger than that which is sufficient to allow toner adhering to the sealing member 10d to electrostatically move to the photosensitive drum 1. Rotation of the photosensitive drum 1 causes the charged area to reach the sealing member 10d and the residual toner adhering to the said sealing member 10d is electrostatically attracted to the above-mentioned area. After time t3 from the end of the action of the the time t2 as shown in FIG. 3(d) (time during which the above-mentioned area is passed through the exposure area) the control unit 22 actuates again the main charger 3 to perform a normal copying action. Thereafter, a latent image area of the photosensitive drum 1 for forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the content of original document from the optical system 24 is charged. After that, the control unit 22 operates the optical system 24 to transmit light corresponding to the content of the document to the said latent image area and to form an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image is changed into a toner image by the developing unit 5, and the toner image moves toward the image transfer device 6.

On the other hand, after the time t4 (time from the charging of the latent image area to the irradiating of the light from the optical system 24 to an edge of the latent image area), the timing rollers 11a, 11b are driven to feed the transfer paper to the image transfer device 6. In other words, the timing roller 11a is driven at the time as shown in FIG. 3(e). Simultaneously as the copying paper transported by the said timing roller 11a/11b enters the image transfer device 6, the said toner image also enters the image transfer device 6 by the rotation of the photosensitive drum 1. The toner image is then electrostatically transferred to the copying paper and then the transferred copying paper is separated from the photosensitive drum 1 by the separating device 7.

The residual toner electrostatically attracted to the area of the photosensitive drum 1 passes through the image transfer device 6 with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 1 before the copying paper is carried to the image transfer device 6. Then, the residual toner is scraped off by the cleaning blade 8a.

As mentioned above, when starting the copying operation after replacement of a developing unit by another unit containing toner of a different colour to change the colour of the copy, the residual toner adhering the sealing member 10d is attracted by a charged area on the photosensitive drum 1. When copying paper is transferred, the charged area passes the image transfer device 6. Consequently, the colour of the toner used before the replacement of the developing unit is not left on the copying paper.

In the illustrated embodiment, the main charger 3 is operated for the time t2 to charge a certain area of the photosensitive drum 1. However, a similar effect can be obtained by operating the main charger 3 for the time t3 and then operating the blank lamp 4 for a time. It is noted, however, that the blank lamp 4 is operated so as to remove the charge of the particular area from the photosensitive drum 1 which corresponds to the area formed at time t3.

Moreover, in the illustrated embodiment, the time t3 is provided which is a time for suspending the main charger 3. However, if the above-mentioned area is charged immediately before forming an electrostatic latent image for usual copying, there is no need to provide the period of time t3.

In the illustrated embodiment, the replacement of developing units 5 is detected by using loading signals. However, this detection can also be attain by using the output power of a safety switch which is used for stopping the copying machine and which is actuated when a front cover of the copying machine is opened to replace a developing unit 5. The same effect is obtainable by cleaning the residual toner adhering to the sealing member 10d each time the print key 21 is operated without using loading signals or the output power of the safety switch. Moreover, referring to the above-mentioned area to be charged on the photosensitive drum 1, to prevent the residual toner carried to the photosensitive drum 1 from sealing member from causing mixing in a fur-brush cleaning system, a charge area is desirably set according to the position of the residual toner.