Process for cleaning and image forming apparatus therefor
View Patent ↗There is provided a process for cleaning wherein a cleaning sheet fed through an image forming apparatus is heated and pressured by at least one of a fixing belt and a fixing roller, and the cleaning sheet removes stains, wherein the cleaning sheet has a support and a layer containing a thermoplastic resin over the support, and satisfies at least one of the following formulae: L 1 (cm)>L 2 (cm) and L 1 (cm)>L 3 (cm) wherein L 1 is a length of the cleaning sheet in a direction of feeding the cleaning sheet, L 2 a perimeter of the fixing roller, and L 3 a perimeter of the fixing belt, and the process satisfies at least one of the following formulae: L 2 (cm)>L 4 (cm) and L 3 (cm)>L 4 (cm) wherein L 4 represents a length of a smallest electrophotographic image-receiving sheet in a direction of feeding the electrophotographic image-receiving sheet.
1. A process for cleaning, comprising:
heating and pressuring a cleaning sheet with a heating and pressuring means, the cleaning sheet being fed through an image forming apparatus such that stains are removed,
wherein the heating and pressuring means is at least one of a fixing belt and a fixing roller; and
the cleaning sheet has a support and a layer containing a thermoplastic resin over the support,
wherein the cleaning sheet is in a form of a roll which is used after being cut so as to satisfy at least one of the following formulae:
L1 (cm)>L2 (cm) and
L1 (cm)>L3 (cm),
wherein L 1 is a length of the cleaning sheet in a direction of feeding the cleaning sheet, L 2 a perimeter of the fixing roller, and L 3 a perimeter of the fixing belt, and wherein the process satisfies at least one of the following formulae:
L2 (cm)>L4 (cm) and
L3 (cm)>L4 (cm)
wherein L 2 and L 3 are the same as L 2 and L 3 above, respectively, and L 4 represents a length of a smallest electrophotographic image-receiving sheet in a direction of feeding the electrophotographic image-receiving sheet.
2. A process for cleaning according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning sheet is a same sheet as an electrophotographic image-receiving sheet which is used for the image forming apparatus.
3. A process for cleaning according to claim 1 , wherein L 1 is larger than one of L 2 and L 3 by from 0.5 cm to 15 cm.
4. A process for cleaning according to claim 1 , wherein the stains comprise a thermoplastic resin which is adhered on the heating and pressuring means after fixing.
5. A process for cleaning according to claim 1 , wherein a size of the cleaning sheet is selected from the group consisting of L-size, A6-size, A4-size, B4-size, A3-size, B5-size, postcard-size, and business card-size.
6. A process for cleaning according to claim 1 , wherein the heating and pressuring means is a belt-fixing smoothing device which includes:
the fixing roller;
the fixing belt; and
a cooling device.
7. A process for cleaning according to claim 1 , wherein a fixing temperature at which toner is fixed on an electrophotographic image-receiving sheet in the image forming apparatus differs from a temperature during cleaning at a portion of the image forming apparatus where fixing is conducted.
8. A process for cleaning according to claim 1 , wherein a transport speed when toner is fixed on an electrophotographic image-receiving sheet in the image forming apparatus differs from a transport speed during cleaning at a portion of the image forming apparatus where fixing is conducted.
9. A process for cleaning according to claim 1 , wherein the fixing belt comprises:
a heat resistant support film; and
a releasing layer formed over the support film.
10. A process for cleaning according to claim 9 , wherein the releasing layer is one of a layer of fluorocarbon siloxane rubber and layers comprising a layer of silicone rubber and a layer of fluorocarbon siloxane rubber disposed in this sequence.
11. A process for cleaning according to claim 10 , wherein the fluorocarbon siloxmne rubber comprises a main chain which includes at least one of a perfluoroalkyl ether group and a perfluoroalkyl group.
12. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
a heating and pressuring means which fixes toner on an electrophotographic image-receiving sheet which has a support and a toner image-receiving layer containing a thermoplastic resin on the support,
wherein the heating and pressuring means is at least one of a fixing belt and a fixing roller; and
a cleaning sheet for removing stains adhered on the heating and pressuring means,
wherein the cleaning sheet is in a form of a roll, and
the electrophotographic image-receiving sheet may be used as the cleaning sheet formed to a size satisfying at least one of the following formulae:
L1 (cm)>L2 (cm) and
L1 (cm)>L3 (cm),
wherein L 1 is a length of the cleaning sheet in a direction of feeding the cleaning sheet, L 2 a perimeter of the fixing roller, and L 3 a perimeter of the fixing belt, and wherein the image-forming apparatus satisfies at least one of the following formulae:
L2 (cm)>L4 (cm) and
L3 (cm)>L4 (cm)
wherein L 2 and L 3 are the same as L 2 and L 3 above, respectively, and L 4 represents a length of a smallest electrophotograpbic image-receiving sheet in a direction of feeding the electrophotographic image-receving sheet.
13. An image forming apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein L 1 is larger than one of L 2 and L 3 by from 0.5 cm to 15 cm.
14. An image forming apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the heating and pressuring means is a belt-fixing smoothing device which includes:
the fixing roller;
the fixing belt; and
a cooling device.
15. An image forming apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising a sheet cutting means which cuts the roll of cleaning sheet such that a sheet cut off from the roll satisfies at least one of the following formulae:
L1 (cm)>L2 (cm) and
L1 (cm)>L3 (cm).