Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Cleaning device, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge
- Patent Title (中): 清洁装置,图像形成装置和处理盒
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Application No.: US12030608Application Date: 2008-02-13
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Publication No.: US08041281B2Publication Date: 2011-10-18
- Inventor: Naomi Sugimoto , Hidetoshi Yano , Kenji Sugiura , Osamu Naruse , Yasuyuki Yamashita
- Applicant: Naomi Sugimoto , Hidetoshi Yano , Kenji Sugiura , Osamu Naruse , Yasuyuki Yamashita
- Applicant Address: JP Tokyo
- Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
- Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
- Current Assignee Address: JP Tokyo
- Agency: Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, L.L.P.
- Priority: JP2007-033713 20070214
- Main IPC: G03G21/00
- IPC: G03G21/00

Abstract:
A cleaning device removes residual toner particles from a cleaning target, such as a photoconductor, which has a moving surface. The cleaning device includes a cleaning brush, a power circuit, and a cleaning member. The cleaning brush includes a brush rotation shaft, and the power circuit applies a first voltage of a first polarity to the brush rotation shaft. The cleaning member applies a second voltage of the first polarity to the cleaning brush. If the first polarity is negative, the cleaning member electrostatically removes toner particles having a positive polarity from the cleaning target. Then, the cleaning brush is triboelectrically charged to a second polarity, which is opposite to the first polarity, by contacting the cleaning target. Accordingly, the cleaning brush also removes residual toner particles having a negative polarity. Thus, the cleaning device removes both positively and negatively charged toner particles to clean the cleaning target.
Public/Granted literature
- US20080193178A1 CLEANING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND PROCESS CARTRIDGE Public/Granted day:2008-08-14
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