Charger cleaning device, charger cleaning method and image forming apparatus
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorEiji Gumbe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention drives cleaning member moving devices for moving cleaning members of a plurality of chargers at the same time by a single cleaning motor to miniaturize an image forming apparatus and reduce the cost. Further, at the end time of cleaning, all the cleaning members are shifted to a predetermined area by the cleaning member moving devices, and the cleaning motor is stopped, thus the cleaning members remain in a charging area, and uneven charging is prevented.
Claims21
A charger cleaning device comprising:
- a plurality of cleaning members sliding respectively on wire-shaped corona discharge members of a plurality of chargers arranged side by side for removing foreign substances of the corona discharge members;
- a plurality of cleaning member moving means for moving the plurality of cleaning members respectively along the corona discharge members;
- a single drive source for driving the plurality of cleaning member moving means for the plurality of chargers at the same time;
- a plurality of drive transferring means for transferring driving force of the single drive source respectively to the plurality of cleaning member moving means;
- and
- releasing means for releasing, when the cleaning members are returned to predetermined positions for the plurality of chargers, the transfer of the driving force of the drive source by the drive transferring means,
- wherein in all the chargers, when the cleaning members are returned to the predetermined positions, the drive source is stopped.
A charger cleaning device comprising:
- a plurality of cleaning members sliding respectively on wire-shaped corona discharge members of a plurality of chargers arranged side by side for removing foreign substances of the corona discharge members;
- a plurality of cleaning member moving devices to move the plurality of cleaning members respectively along the corona discharge members;
- one drive source to drive the plurality of cleaning member moving devices for the plurality of chargers at the same time;
- a plurality of drive transferring devices to transfer driving force of the one drive source respectively to the plurality of cleaning member moving devices;
- and
- releasing devices to release, when the cleaning members are returned to predetermined positions for the plurality of chargers, the transfer of the driving force of the drive source by the drive transferring devices,
- wherein in all the chargers, when the cleaning members are returned to the predetermined positions, the drive source is stopped.
A charger cleaning method for sliding cleaning members respectively installed on cleaning member moving means on wire-shaped corona discharge members of a plurality of chargers arranged side by side and removing foreign substances of the corona discharge members, comprising:
- driving the cleaning member moving means for the plurality of chargers by one drive source;
- detecting that the cleaning members are returned to predetermined positions for the plurality of chargers;
- releasing the driving of the cleaning member moving means by the drive source in the chargers in which the cleaning members are returned to the predetermined positions;
- and
- stopping the drive source when it is detected that the cleaning members are returned to the predetermined positions in all the chargers.
An image forming apparatus including a plurality of image forming units arranged side by side in which chargers having wire-shaped corona discharge members around image carrying members, exposure positions, developing units, and photoconductor cleaning devices are arranged, comprising:
- cleaning members sliding respectively on the wire-shaped corona discharge members of the chargers for the respective image forming units and removing foreign substances of the corona discharge members;
- cleaning member moving devices to respectively move the cleaning members along the corona discharge members for the respective image forming unit;
- one drive source to drive the plurality of cleaning member moving devices for the respective image forming units at the same time;
- a plurality of drive transferring devices to transfer driving force of the one drive source respectively to the plurality of cleaning member moving devices;
- and
- releasing devices to release, when the cleaning members are returned to predetermined positions for the respective image forming units, the transfer of the driving force of the drive source by the drive transferring devices, wherein:
- in all the image forming units, when the cleaning members are returned to the predetermined positions, the drive source is stopped.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.