JP2000075745A - Cleaning device or process cartridge or image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning device capable of providing images of good quality with no cleaning failure throughout its life by restraining a cleaning brush that abuts against an image carrier from converting into a toner roller, and thus keeping the function of the cleaning brush in its initial condition. SOLUTION: A cleaning device, for removing a toner that remains, after transfer, on the surface of an image carrier 2 carrying a toner image, includes at least a cleaning brush 8d rotating in contact with the image carrier 2 and a flexible scraping member 8e for scraping the toner adhering to the cleaning brush 8d. The amount by which the cleaning brush 8d advances onto the image carrier is set to be smaller than the amount by which the scraping member 8e advances onto the cleaning brush 8d.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus which is used in an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic recording system, such as a copying machine and a laser printer, and particularly has a cleaning brush for cleaning an image carrier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional general electrophotographic recording type image forming apparatus, an image carrier is uniformly charged by a charging means such as a charging roller, and a laser beam is irradiated onto the image carrier to irradiate an electrostatic latent image. Have gained. This latent image is reversely developed with toner by developing means such as a developing device disposed opposite thereto, and is visualized as a toner image. This toner image is electrostatically transferred to the recording medium by a transfer unit such as a transfer roller, and then fixed to the recording medium by applying predetermined heat and pressure by a fixing unit such as a heat fixing device. The toner remaining on the image carrier without being transferred after the transfer is removed by a cleaning device, and is prepared for the next image forming step.

Conventionally, as a method for cleaning the transfer residual toner, cleaning with an elastic blade made of polyurethane or the like has been often used because of its good cleaning property.

The physical properties of the cleaning blade and the manner in which the cleaning blade contacts the image carrier are greatly affected by the ease of cleaning and the surface properties of the image carrier due to the degree of adhesion of the transfer residual toner to the image carrier. Further, the cleaning property is greatly affected by the physical properties such as the toner shape, particle diameter, and material, so that it is necessary to select a blade suitable for the cleaning property and set an appropriate angle and a contact load with respect to the image carrier. In the actual selection and setting of the cleaning blade, it is the present situation that trial and error are repeated to find the optimum conditions.

On the other hand, the cleaning performance and the degree of wear of the surface layer of the image carrier differ depending on the actual operating environment, especially the fluctuation of temperature and humidity. For this reason, there is a type in which a cleaning brush that rotates while being in contact with the image carrier is provided as a cleaning auxiliary member.

Normally, the cleaning brush is disposed upstream of the cleaning blade in the rotation direction of the image carrier, and scrapes off the transfer residual toner on the image carrier after the transfer.
It also has the purpose of facilitating cleaning of the cleaning blade. Therefore, the cleaning brush may be grounded to weaken the adhesion of the transfer residual toner to the image carrier,
Some of them apply a bias.

In recent years, various types of image forming apparatuses for obtaining a color image by using four color toners of YMCK have been proposed. There is. When such a toner is used, it is effective to provide the cleaning brush as a cleaning auxiliary member as described above, since the transfer blade easily passes through the cleaning blade if the transfer residual toner is firmly attached to the image carrier. It is.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional cleaning apparatus, there is a problem that the performance of the cleaning brush is deteriorated with time due to durability even though good cleaning performance is initially exhibited.

That is, while the residual toner is scraped off, the toner gradually accumulates in the cleaning brush and becomes clogged (the cleaning brush becomes a toner roll), and the outer diameter of the cleaning brush decreases. I will. In the cleaning brush in such a toner roll state, the effect of removing electricity and the scraping performance for weakening the adhesion of the transfer residual toner to the drum are lost, and the cleaning brush cannot function as a cleaning auxiliary member.

When the toner roll is in the state, the toner conveying function of the cleaning brush is also lost, so that the scraped toner collects between the cleaning brush and the cleaning blade, and finally, a so-called punctured state. Will appear on the image as cleaning failure due to cleaning.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and the function of the cleaning brush is maintained in an initial state by suppressing the toner brush of the cleaning brush contacting the image bearing member. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device capable of obtaining a high-quality image free from defects and the like.

[0012]

In order to solve the above problems, a typical configuration of a cleaning device according to the present invention is as follows.
What is claimed is: 1. A cleaning device for removing toner remaining after being transferred onto an image carrier carrying a toner image, the cleaning device comprising: a cleaning brush rotatably contacting at least the image carrier; and a flexibility for scraping off the toner attached to the cleaning brush. Wherein the amount of penetration of the cleaning brush into the image bearing member is set smaller than the amount of penetration of the scraping member into the cleaning brush.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment A first embodiment of a cleaning device and an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIGS. 2 and 3 are conceptual diagrams illustrating toner, FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a cleaning device, and FIG.
6 is a partially enlarged view illustrating a cleaning brush, FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view illustrating a cleaning blade, and FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a cleaning effect based on the amount of penetration of the cleaning brush.

(Overall Configuration) An image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an electrophotographic color copying machine for forming an image on a recording medium S in accordance with an image signal sent from a computer or the like (not shown). The image carrier 2 of the image forming apparatus 1 is formed by applying a photosensitive material such as OPC to an outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical base such as aluminum.

The image carrier 2 is uniformly charged to about -600 V as a dark portion potential VD by the charging means 3 as a contact charging means while being rotationally driven at a peripheral speed of 117 mm / sec. Next, the laser oscillator 4 scans and exposes the laser beam 5 whose ON / OFF is controlled in accordance with the image information, and an electrostatic latent image of about -200 V is formed on the image carrier 2 as a light portion potential VL. .

The electrostatic latent image formed in this manner is developed and visualized by the rotary developing device 6 with toner as a developer. The rotary developing device 6 includes a first developing device 6y containing a yellow toner as a first color toner, a second developing device 6m containing a magenta toner as a second color toner, and a third color toner. The third developing device 6c containing cyan toner and the fourth developing device 6k containing black toner as the fourth color toner are integrated.

First, the first electrostatic latent image is developed and visualized by a first developing device 6y containing a yellow toner as a first color toner. As a developing method, a jumping developing method, a two-component developing method, an FEED developing method, or the like is used, and a combination of image exposure and reversal developing is often used. In this embodiment, a jumping development method using a non-magnetic one-component toner is used.

The visualized first color toner image is applied to the surface of the intermediate transfer member 7 at a first transfer portion 7a facing the intermediate transfer member 7 as a second image carrier that is driven to rotate. Is electrostatically transferred (primary transfer). The intermediate transfer member 7 is formed of a conductive elastic layer and a surface layer having releasability, has a peripheral length slightly longer than the length of the maximum transportable recording medium, and has a predetermined pressing force against the image carrier 2. While being pressed against each other, is rotated in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the image carrier 2 (that is, the same direction at the contact portion) at a peripheral speed substantially equal to the peripheral speed of the image carrier 2. You.

An intermediate transfer member 7 is provided with a high-voltage power supply 7
As a result, a voltage (primary transfer bias) having a polarity opposite to the charge polarity of the toner is applied to the intermediate transfer member 7.
The toner image is primarily transferred to the surface. The toner remaining on the surface of the image carrier 2 after the primary transfer is removed by a cleaning device 8 described later. Subsequently, the above-described steps are repeated for each color, so that toner images of four colors are transferred and superimposed on the intermediate transfer member 7.

The recording medium S is loaded on the cassette 9, is separated and fed one by one by a pickup roller 10, and after the skew is corrected by the registration roller pair 11, the recording medium S reaches the transfer portion 7b. Then, the transfer belt 12 that has been separated from the surface of the intermediate transfer member 7 is pressed against the surface of the intermediate transfer member 7 with a predetermined pressing force and is driven to rotate. The transfer belt 12 includes a bias roller 12a and a tension roller 12
b, a voltage (secondary transfer bias) having a polarity opposite to the polarity of the charged toner is applied to the bias roller 12a by the high voltage power supply 12c.

As a result, the intermediate transfer member 7 is placed on the surface of the recording medium conveyed at a predetermined timing to the second transfer portion 7b.
The upper toner image is collectively transferred (secondarily transferred), and then sent to a fixing unit 14 where heat and pressure are applied to fix the image, and then discharged outside the apparatus by a discharge roller pair 15. The toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer body 7 after the completion of the secondary transfer is removed at a predetermined timing by the intermediate transfer body cleaning device 13 which comes into contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer body 7.

(Image Carrier) The image carrier 2 has an outer diameter of about
An undercoat layer is provided on a core bar made of 60 mm aluminum,
A charge generating layer made of a phthalocyanine compound having a thickness of about 0.1 μm is formed thereon, and a 25 μm thick
As a binder, a so-called organic photoreceptor having a charge transport layer in which hydrazone compound is dispersed in polycarbonate is used.

The charge transport layer of the image carrier 2 is made of Teflon (trade name) of fluorine particles having a particle size of about 0.3 μm.
Is dispersed by 10%. Teflon functions as a lubricating substance and improves the slipperiness of the surface of the image carrier, so that the load on the cleaning device 8 is reduced and the spherical toner used in the present embodiment is easily cleaned. When the amount of the fluorine particles added to the surface release layer is excessively added, light passing through the charge transport layer at the time of exposure is scattered by the Teflon particles, so that a high-quality latent image is hardly formed. Become. Therefore, the upper limit of the dispersion amount of Teflon to the charge transport layer is preferably 20%.

When the contact angle and the slipperiness of the surface of the image bearing member used in this embodiment with water were measured, the contact angle was 10
At 0 °, the slipperiness was 0.85. The slipperiness as used herein is measured by a slipperiness tester manufactured by Haydon Co., Ltd., and the slipperiness of an object to be measured when the slipperiness of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is set to 1 is indicated by a PBT ratio. The smaller the value, the better the slipperiness.

(Toner) Toner T used in this embodiment
Is a non-magnetic one-component toner containing 5 to 30 (% by weight) of a low softening substance, having a shape factor SF1 of 100 to 150, a shape factor SF2 of 100 to 140, and a particle diameter of 5 to 8 μm, which is substantially spherical. . In the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, spherical toner having good transferability is used because the image is transferred twice, that is, primary transfer and secondary transfer.

As shown in FIG. 2, the shape factor SF1 is a numerical value indicating the ratio of the roundness of the shape of the spherical material, and is the maximum length of an elliptical figure formed by projecting the spherical material on a two-dimensional plane. It is expressed as the value obtained by dividing the square of MXLNG by the figure area AREA and multiplying by 100 π / 4. That is, it is defined by the following equation SF1 = ｛(MXLNG) ² / AREA｝ × (100π / 4).

As shown in FIG. 3, the shape factor SF2 is a numerical value indicating the proportion of irregularities in the shape of a substance, and the square of the perimeter PERI of a figure formed by projecting a substance on a two-dimensional plane is represented by a figure area AR.
Divided by EA and multiplied by 100 π / 4. That is, it is defined by the following equation SF2 = {(PERI) ² / AREA} × (100π / 4).

In this embodiment, SF2 is FE manufactured by Hitachi, Ltd.
-Using a SEM (S-800), a toner image is randomly sampled 100 times, and the image information is introduced into a Nicole image analyzer (LUSEX3) via an interface, analyzed, and calculated from the above equation. It was done.

The toner T used in the present embodiment is manufactured by a polymerization method. The toner T has a substantially spherical shape due to the manufacturing method. The core contains an ester wax, and the resin layer thereon has styrene-butyl acrylate, The outer shell is composed of styrene-polyester, and its specific gravity is about 1.05. Silica or the like is externally added to stabilize the charged performance against environmental fluctuations.

In the present embodiment, the spherical toner having good transferability is described by a polymerization method. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the spherical toner is prepared by a conventional mechanical pulverization and classification method. Alternatively, a thermally or mechanically post-processed, rounded toner may be used. In addition, a two-component toner or a magnetic toner may be used.

(Cleaning Device) Next, a cleaning device 8 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The cleaning device 8 includes a cleaning blade 8a supported by a sheet metal 8f, a toner collecting sheet 8b, a waste toner collecting container 8c, a cleaning brush 8d, a brush scraper 8e as a scraper member, and the like.

As described above, the toner T remaining on the surface of the image carrier 2 having undergone the primary transfer is removed by the cleaning device 8.
Are removed from the image carrier 2 by the cleaning blade 8a and the cleaning brush 8d, and are stored in the waste toner collecting container 8c without being scattered outside the cleaning device 8 by the waste toner collecting sheet.

The cleaning brush 8d has a conductive fiber planted on a base cloth and wound on a φ6 core 8h to form a φ16 brush.
h is grounded. In this embodiment, as the conductive fiber, a conductive yarn of rayon having a thickness of 3 deniers is used, and a fiber implanted in a base fabric with a W weave so as to have a fiber density of 200 K / inch ² is formed into a sheet, and the core is formed. It is spirally wound so as to ensure conduction with the gold 8h.

The cleaning brush 8d is used for the image carrier 2
5 is disposed upstream of the cleaning blade 8a in the rotation direction, and the penetration amount α = 1 mm into the image carrier 2 (FIG. 5).
), And is rotatably disposed, and is driven to rotate at a speed of 30 rpm in the direction of arrow B, which rotates in the same direction as the image carrier 2 (that is, the image carrier 2 and the cleaning brush 8d). , At the point of contact). At this contact portion, the transfer residual toner on the image carrier 2 after the primary transfer is scraped off, or the adhesion of the transfer residual toner to the image carrier 2 is weakened, and the cleaning with the cleaning blade 8a described later is facilitated. I have.

Further, if the cleaning operation is repeatedly performed, the cleaning brush 8d causes clogging of the brush fibers to form a toner roll, thereby lowering the cleaning performance. To prevent this, a brush scraper 8e, which is a member for scraping off the toner T accumulated in the brush fibers, is provided. In this embodiment, a flexible PET sheet having a thickness of 0.1 mm is affixed to a sheet metal 8g as a brush scraper 8e, its free length is 3 mm, and the penetration amount β into the cleaning brush 8d is 1.5 mm (see FIG. 5). )
Is set to

If the penetration amount β is set too large, the scraper sheet may be turned over due to endurance at night even in the material, thickness and free length of the scraper sheet. In the configuration of the present embodiment, it has been found that turning is performed when β is set to 2.5 mm or more. Further, when the scraper is made of a hard material, for example, in the case of a sheet metal having a thickness of 1 to 2 mm, the brush falls down on the contrary, the outer diameter of the brush tends to be small, and the function of the original brush cannot be performed. Occurs. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the selection and setting of the scraper in consideration of these points.

As the scraper sheet, any material having a property of bending to some extent may be used, and a high-density polyethylene sheet having high slidability may be used with emphasis on durability. In addition, by using a material having a releasability by itself as a material in the form of a sheet or a sheet having a high release silicone coat formed on the surface thereof, especially when the cleaning brush 8d is used at high speed rotation. Can also be prevented from sticking to the sheet, which may occur during printing.

On the other hand, the cleaning blade 8a is
f, which is made of polyurethane rubber and is held integrally with the image carrier 2 under the conditions of a predetermined penetration amount δ and a set angle θ as shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, as a result of finding the optimum condition by repeating trial and error, a rubber hardness of 68 ° (JIS A) was used, θ = 32 °, δ = 1.45.
With this setting, the contact thickness with the image carrier 2 is about 70 g / cm.

In order to confirm the effect of the present embodiment, it is necessary to determine the effects of low temperature and low humidity (15 ° C./10%), normal temperature and normal humidity (23 ° C./60%), and high temperature and high humidity (30 ° C./85%). In an endurance test of 15,000 sheets using continuous color printing, an experiment was conducted to examine cleaning properties and other problems. Durability is 2500
The test was performed for 6 days at a number of sheets / day.

As a result, in the configuration of the present embodiment, no trouble such as cleaning failure occurred once during the durability, and a high quality image could be formed throughout the life of the image carrier 2. When the cleaning brush 8d was observed after the endurance, clogging with time was observed, but the state of contact with the image carrier 2 was well maintained.
Further, when the cleaning performance before and after the passage of the cleaning brush at the time of cleaning the transfer residual toner was confirmed, the initial state was substantially maintained, and the toner roll could be suppressed. For these reasons, the transfer residual toner can be reliably removed.

Comparative Example 1 A similar test was performed for comparison.
With the brush removed, cleaning was performed in a low-temperature, low-humidity environment where cleaning was severe. FIG. 7 shows the result.

When the brush is removed, it can be seen that cleaning failure (x) has occurred at a very early stage of durability. This is presumed to be due to the fact that the fine particle toner used in the present embodiment is spherical and easily slips through the cleaning blade 8a, and that the transfer residual toner is strongly adhered to the image carrier 2.

When a similar test was conducted with a toner obtained by a conventional pulverization and classification method having a non-spherical shape, no cleaning failure occurred throughout the durability.

(Comparative Example 2) For comparison, a similar test was carried out in the case where the penetration amount β of the scraper into the brush was changed and the case where the penetration amount α of the brush into the image carrier 2 was changed. I tried it in a low humidity environment. The result is shown in FIG.

The circles in the table indicate that no troubles such as poor cleaning occurred during the durability, and that the performance of the cleaning brush 8d after the durability was almost the same as the initial performance. Could be suppressed.

The crosses in the table indicate that cleaning failure has occurred. When β = 0.5 mm, cleaning failure occurred due to the lack of a scraping function for scraping off the toner T originally collected on the brush fibers. Others occurred at the time when the endurance advanced about 10,000 sheets.

When the cleaning brush 8d was checked at the time when these problems occurred, in any case, the toner T was clogged with the cleaning brush 8d, and the outer diameter was reduced by about 1.5 to 2 mm. Was.
Further, the toner T stays on the image carrier 2 between the cleaning brush 8d and the cleaning blade 8a in the container so as to cover the toner carrier, and the so-called cleaner is punctured.

From the table of FIG. 7, the amount of penetration α of the cleaning brush 8d into the image carrier 2 is determined by the brush scraper 8e.
It can be seen that when the setting is larger than the penetration amount β with respect to the cleaning brush 8d, cleaning failure occurs. This is because, with such a setting, the toner T collected in the brush fibers scraped from the drum cannot be completely scraped, and the hair fall when the toner T contacts the image carrier 2 is always returned to the initial state. It is presumed that it is difficult.

As described above, when the penetration amount β of the brush scraper 8e, which is the scraper member, into the cleaning brush 8d is set to be larger than the penetration amount of the brush scraper 8e into the image carrier 2, the cleaning brush is used throughout the durability life. The function of 8d can be maintained in the initial state.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the cleaning device or the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the cleaning device according to the present embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given to the same portions as those in the first embodiment, and the description will be omitted.

In the cleaning device 8 according to this embodiment, the solid lubricant 8i is brought into contact with the cleaning brush 8d and is applied to the surface of the image carrier 2 via the cleaning brush 8d. By smoothing the surface of the image carrier in this way, particularly movement of the cleaning blade 8a such as chatter is suppressed, and the cleaning effect is improved even with the spherical toner used in the present embodiment.

In this embodiment, a zinc stearate rod, which is a metal salt of a higher fatty acid, is used as the solid lubricant 8i. In order to confirm the effect of applying the lubricant, the above-described slip property was measured. The slipperiness of the surface of the image bearing member was 0.8, which is higher than that before coating.

In order to confirm the effect after the durability, the contact angle and the slipperiness of the surface of the image bearing member with respect to water after the 10,000 sheets durability were compared in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Approximately 80 °, Slippery: Approximately 1.0 Lubricant application… Contact angle: Approximately 90 °, Slippery: Approximately 0.9, showing the effect of lubricant application.

From the above results, by applying the lubricant to the drum surface, deterioration of the drum surface due to durability can be suppressed, and the load on the cleaning device 8 can be reduced.
Therefore, it is possible to provide the cleaning device 8 that is less likely to cause a problem such as a cleaning failure and is stable for a longer period. Further, by applying a lubricant, the toner image carrier 2, indirectly the intermediate transfer body 7
Also, the transferability is improved because the adhesive force to the toner is reduced.

The lubricant may be a metal salt of a higher fatty acid other than zinc stearate used in the present embodiment (so-called metal soap), or a solid wax mainly composed of an ester of a higher fatty acid and a higher alcohol. I don't care. For use, the solid lubricant in the form of a block is scraped off with a brush and finely powdered and applied to the image carrier 2.
A similar effect can be obtained as long as the surface is slippery and friction is reduced.

[Third Embodiment] Next, a third embodiment of the cleaning device or the process cartridge according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a process cartridge according to the present embodiment. The same reference numerals are given to the same portions as those in the first or second embodiment, and the description is omitted.

The process cartridge 16 shown in FIG. 9 is one in which the image carrier 2, the charging means 3, and the cleaning device 8 are integrated, and is detachable from the image forming apparatus main body.

By adopting the form of the process cartridge 16 as described above, it is necessary for the user to perform maintenance such as replacement of consumable parts such as the image carrier 2 and the solid lubricant 8i, which are difficult to replace, and processing of waste toner. Disappears. In addition, there is an advantage that a good image without any trouble can be always obtained until the life of the process cartridge 16 and the user can easily replace the life of the process cartridge 16.

When the process cartridge system is employed, the image carrier 2 is selected in accordance with the service life of the process cartridge 16, and the hardness of the solid lubricant and the surface properties of the image carrier 2 are maintained until the service life. Cleaning brush 8
It is designed to optimize the abutment conditions of d and to have the life almost at the same time.

It should be noted that a developing device and the like can be further integrated with the process cartridge 16.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the cleaning brush from becoming a toner roll, reduce the load on the cleaning device, suppress the deterioration of the cleaning performance due to the durability, and maintain the cleaning performance for a long time. It is possible to provide a highly reliable cleaning device capable of forming an excellent image and an image forming apparatus having the same.

Further, by configuring the cleaning device as an integral process cartridge together with the image carrier, maintenance becomes easier and high quality images can be stably provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a toner.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a toner.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a cleaning device.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view illustrating a cleaning brush.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view illustrating a cleaning blade.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a cleaning effect based on the amount of intrusion of the cleaning brush.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a cleaning device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a process cartridge according to a third embodiment.

[Description of Signs] S: Recording Medium 1: Image Forming Apparatus 2: Image Carrier 3 ... Charging Means 4 ... Laser Oscillator 5 ... Laser Beam 6 ... Rotary Developing Device 7 ... Intermediate Transfer Body 7a ... Transfer Part 7b ... Transfer Part 7c ... high-voltage power supply 8 ... cleaning device 8a ... cleaning blade 8b ... toner collecting sheet 8c ... waste toner collecting container 8d ... cleaning brush 8e ... brush scraper 8f ... sheet metal 8g ... sheet metal 8h ... core metal 8i ... solid lubricant 9 ... cassette 10 ... Pickup roller 11 ... Registration roller pair 12 ... Transfer belt 12a ... Bias roller 12b ... Tension roller 12c ... High voltage power supply 13 ... Intermediate transfer body cleaning device 14 ... Fixing means 15 ... Discharge roller pair 16 ... Process cartridge

Continuation of the front page F term (reference) 2H005 AA06 AA15 AA21 CA04 CA08 CA12 CA14 DA07 FA01 FA07 FB02 FB06 FC01 2H034 AA07 BA02 BD01 BD03 BD04 BD07 BD08 BF03 BF05 BF07

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device for removing toner remaining after being transferred to an image bearing member surface carrying a toner image, comprising: a cleaning brush that is in rotational contact with at least the image bearing member; and a toner that adheres to the cleaning brush. A cleaning scraper for scraping the cleaning brush, wherein the amount of penetration of the cleaning brush into the image carrier is set smaller than the amount of penetration of the scraping member into the cleaning brush. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cleaning blade downstream of the cleaning brush in the image carrier rotation direction, the cleaning blade being in contact with the image carrier and scraping toner adhered to the surface of the image carrier. A cleaning device as described. 3. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning brush rotates in the same direction as the image carrier. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a solid lubricant is applied to said cleaning brush by contact, and said lubricant is applied to said image bearing member via said cleaning brush. The cleaning device according to claim 1. 5. The toner according to claim 1, wherein said toner has a shape factor SF1 of 100 to 15.
5. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the shape factor SF-2 is 100 to 140. 6. An image forming apparatus integrally comprising at least an image carrier that carries at least an electrostatic latent image and is developed with toner, and the cleaning device according to claim 1. A process cartridge configured to be detachable from a main body. 7. An image carrier for carrying an electrostatic latent image, developing means for developing the electrostatic latent image with toner, transfer means for transferring the developed toner image to a recording medium, An image forming apparatus comprising: the cleaning device according to claim 5.