toning apparatus for toning an electrostatic latent image, having image and background portions at different potentials on an imaging surface. The apparatus comprises an endless toning surface coated with a layer of concentrated toner and engaging the imaging surface at a toning region. The apparatus additionally comprises a source: of voltage connected to the toning surface and electrifying the toning surface to a voltage operative to selectively transfer at feast a portion of the layer to image: portions on the imaging surface. A developed mass per unit area (DMA) controller having an input indicative of the DMA on the imaging surface is operative to adjust the DMA on the toning surface in response to the input.
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25. Squeegeeing apparatus for use in liquid imaging to squeegee an endless moving surface, comprising:
a squeegee roller having a squeegee surface associated with said endless moving surface, and a source of pressure applied to a central portion of the squeegee surface and arranged such that the pressure urges the squeegee surface against said endless surface.
0. 28. toning apparatus for toning an electrostatic latent image, having image and background portions at different potentials, on an imaging surface comprising:
a toning surface, coated with a layer of concentrated liquid developer having a toner layer thickness, engaging the imaging surface at a toning region; a source of voltage connected to the toning surface and electrifying the toning surface to a voltage operative to selectively transfer a portion, but not all, of the thickness to image portions on the imaging surface.
1. toning apparatus for toning an electrostatic latent image, having image and background portions at different potentials, on an imaging surface comprising:
a source of liquid develops having a given concentration of toner material; an toning surface, coated wilt a layer of concentrated liquid developer having a higher toner concentration than the given concentration and derived from the source of liquid develops and engaging the imaging surface at a toning region; a source of voltage connected to the toning surface and electrifying the toning surface to a voltage operative to selectively transfer at least a portion of the layer to image portions on the imaging surface; and a developed mass per unit area controller having an input indicative of the mass of tone material per unit area (DMA) on the imaging surface and operative to adjust the DMA on the toning surface, without changing the given concentration, in response to the input.
2. Apparatus according to
an applicator which receives liquid developer from the source and coats a layer of said concentrated liquid developer having a toner concentration greater than said given concentration onto the toning surface.
3. Apparatus according to
4. Apparatus according to
a squeegee roller associated with the toning surface and charged to a squeegee voltage different from that of the toning surface, said squeegee voltage being controlled by the controller, whereby the controller is operative to control the DMA on the imaging surface.
5. Apparatus according to
a leaf spring fixedly mounted on a first end portion thereof and having a resilient pad mounted on a second end portion thereof, said resilient pad being urged against said squeegee roller by said leaf spring thereby urging the squeegee roller against said toning surface.
6. Apparatus according to
7. Apparatus according to
8. Apparatus according to
9. Apparatus according to
10. Apparatus according to
11. Apparatus according to
12. imaging apparatus comprising:
an imaging surface having a latent electrostatic image thereon; and toning apparatus according to any of the preceding claims operative for toning the image portions of the late image with a layer of liquid developer.
13. imaging apparatus according to
a charging station operative for charging the photoconductive surface to a first voltage; and an exposure station operative for selectively discharging portions of the charged photoconductive, thereby creating a latent image comprising image portions at a first voltage and background portions at a second voltage.
14. A replaceable toning cartridge comprising:
a housing adapted for mounting on a toner station of as imaging apparatus in operative association with an imaging surface thereof; and toning apparatus according to
15. Apparatus according to
a squeegee roller associated with the toning surface and charged to a squeegee voltage different from that of the toning surface, said squeegee voltage being controlled by the controller, whereby the controller is operative to control the DMA on the imaging surface.
16. Apparatus according to
17. Apparatus according to
18. Apparatus according to
19. Apparatus according to
20. Apparatus according to
21. Apparatus according to
22. Apparatus according to
23. Apparatus according to
24. imaging apparatus comprising:
an imaging surface having a latent electrostatic image thereon; toning apparatus according to an intermediate transfer member which receives the toned image from the: imaging surface and transfers it to a further surface, wherein the DMA sensor comprises an optical sensor associated with the toning surface for measuring the optical density on a preselected portion of the toning surface.
26. Apparatus according to
27. Apparatus according to
0. 29. Apparatus according to
0. 30. Apparatus according to
a source of liquid developer having a concentration of toner particles; and an applicator that receives liquid developer from the source and coats said layer of concentrated developer on the toner surface, said layer having a greater concentration of toner particles than the liquid developer received from the source.
0. 31. Apparatus according to
0. 32. Apparatus according to
0. 33. Apparatus according to
a squeegee roller associated with the toning surface and charged to a squeegee voltage different from that of the toning surface, said squeegee voltage being controlled by the controller, whereby the controller is operative to control the DMA on the toning surface.
0. 34. imaging apparatus comprising:
an imaging surface having a latent electrostatic image formed thereon; and toning apparatus according to any of claims 28-33 operative for toning the image portions of the latent image with said concentrated liquid developer.
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Reference is now made to
The apparatus of
In operation, drum 10 rotates and surface 16 is charged by a charger 18 to a generally uniform, predetermined, voltage typically on the order of -900 to -1000 volts. Charger 18 may be any type of charges known in the art, such as a corotron, scorotron or charging roller.
Continued rotation of drum 10 brings charged surface 16 into image receiving relationship with an exposure means such as a light source 19, which may be a laser or LED scanner (in the case of a printer) or the projection of an original (in the case of a photocopier). Light source 19 forms a desired electrostatic latent image on charged photoconductive surface 16 by selectively discharging portions of the photoconductive surface, image portions being at a first voltage and background portions at a second voltage. The discharged portions preferably have a voltage of between zero and about (-200) volts.
Other methods of providing an electrostatic latent image on the imaging surface (and other types of imaging surfaces) are also useful in the practice of the invention. For example the imaging surface may be an electrostatic master in which case the light source is omitted, or an ionographic or other system as is known in the art may be substituted for the photoreceptor, charger and light source.
Continued rotation of drum 10 brings charged photoconductive surface 16, bearing the electrostatic latent image, into operative engagement with the surface 21 of a toning roller 22 which is part of a toning assembly 23, more fully described blow with reference to
Toning roller 22 rotates is a direction opposite that of drum 10, as shown by arrow 13, such that there is substantially zero relative motion between their respective surfaces at the point of contact. Surface 21 of toning roller 22 is preferably composed of a soft polyurethane material, preferably made more electrically conductive by the inclusion of conductive additives, while the bulk of toning roller 22 may be composed of any suitable electrically conductive material and preferably includes a metal core. Alternatively, drum 10 may be formed of a relatively resilient material, and in such a case surface 21 may be composed of either a rigid or compliant material.
As described below, surface 21 is coated with a thin layer of liquid toner, preferably having a high concentration of charged toner particles. In the present example the charges art assumed to be charged negatively. Developer roller 22 is charged to a voltage which is intermediate the voltage of the charged and discharged areas on photoconductive surface 16, preferably in the order of -500 to -600 volts.
When surface 21 bearing the layer of liquid toner is engaged with photoconductive surface if of drum 10, the difference in potential between toning roller 22 and surface 16 causes selective transfer of the layer of concentrated liquid toner to surface 16, thereby toning the latent image. Depending on the choice of toner charge polarity and the use of a "write-white" or "write-black" system, the layer will be selectively attracted to either the charged or discharged areas of surface 16, and the remaining portions of the toner layer will continue to adhere to surface 21. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the concentration of toner on surface if is between 20 and 40 percent solids, more preferably between 25 and 30 percent solids.
For multicolor systems, as shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
In one preferred mode of operation, hereinafter referred to as the binary mode, attracted portions of the toner layer are completely transferred to the photoreceptor surface. Alternatively, in another preferred mode of operation, hereinafter referred to as the quasi-binary mode, the selective transfer of toner from surface 21 to surface 16 is only partial. The quasi-binary mode is achieved when the voltage difference between the image portions and the voltage of surface 21 is relatively low and/or the developed mass per unit area (DMA) on surface 21 is relatively large (typically 0.2 milligram per square centimeter). However even in the quasi-binary mode, the resultant DMA on surface 16 is strongly dependent upon the DMA on surface 21 of toning roller 22.
For the quasi-binary system, the difference in potential (i.e. the voltage) between the image areas on surface 16 and surface 21 is chosen so that only the desired amount of charged toner particles are transferred to charged portions of surface 16. In this system the voltage and the total charge on the particles in the toner layer are chosen such that the direction of the electric field reverses itself within the layer. That portion of the layer which is between the reversal plane and surface 16 will be attracted to surface 16 and the rest of the layer will be attracted to surface 21 If the viscosity and cohesiveness of the layer art not too high, the layer will split along the reversal plane. Providing the charge per unit mass is kept constant, the DMA which is transferred to surface 16 will be more uniform then that on surface 21. However, the DMA on imaging surface 16 is dependent on the thickness and DMA of the layer on surface 21.
The latent image toned by means of the processes described above may then be directly transferred to a desired substrate in a manner well known in the art. Alternatively as shown in
Intermediate transfer member 40 receives the toner image from photoconductive surface 16 and transfers it to a final substrate 42, such as paper. A heater 45 may be disposed internally of intermediate transfer member 40, to heat intermediate transfer member 40, as is known in the art. Transfer of the image to intermediate transfer member 40, is preferably aided by providing electrification of intermediate transfer member 40 to provide an electric field between intermediate transfer member 40 and the image areas of imaging surface 16. Intermediate transfer member 40, preferably has a conducting layer 44 underlying an elastomer layer 46, which is preferably a slightly conductive resilient polymeric layer.
Various types of intermediate transfer members are known and are described, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,238, PCT Publication WO 90/04216 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,027, the disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the various layers of intermediate transfer member 40 are formed by the following method:
Blend A is prepared by diluting 100 grams of adhesive (preferably Chemlok 218 distributed by Lord Chemical) with 100 grams of MEK solvent. 5.2 grams of conductive carbon black (preferably Printer XE2, distributed by Degussa). The mixture is charged into an 01 attritor (Union Process) and ground for 5 hours at 10°C C.
Blend B is prepared by mixing 30 grams of SylOff 7600 (Dow Corning with 3 grains of SylOff 7601 (Dow Corning) and 450 grams of n-Hexene and shaking the mixture well.
Blend C is prepared by blending 90 grams of Polyurethane resin (Monotane A20) with 90 grams of Monotone A30 (C.I.L., England) and heating and stirring the blend undo vacuum at 80°C C., for 16 hours and at 120°C C., for an additional hour.
A metal core for the intermediate transfer member is coated with the required layers by the following process:
The metal core is painted with a thin layer of Blend A and dried for one hour at 110°C C.,
The inner side of a mold having a diameter approximately 4 millimeters larger than the: core is dip coated with Blend B. The coated mend is cured for one hour at 110°C C.
The coated mold and the coated core are preheated to 80°C C. before casting. The hot mold is filled with hot (120°C C.) Blend C. The core is carefully inserted into the mold and the system is cured for 8 hours at 135°C C. Removal of the cured intermediate transfer member is aided by dripping Isopar I. (Exxon) or the inner side (edge) of the mold.
A 3 micrometer thick release layer is added to the intermediate transfer member by dip coating the member in RTV 236 dispersion (Dow Corning) and curing the layer.
The resulting layer has a thickness of approximately 2 millimeters and the resistivity of the Blend C material at 50°C C. is about 109 ohm-cm.
Following the transfer of the toner image in substrate 42 or to intermediate transfer member 40, photoconductive surface 16 engages a cleaning station 49, which may be any conventional cloning station. A scraper 56 completes the removal of any residual toner which may not have been removed by cleaning station 49. A lamp 58 then completes the cycle by removing any residual charge, characteristic of the previous image, from photoconductive surface 16.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention a pre-transfer discharge lamp (not shown) is used to reduce charge on the portion of the photoreceptor behind the toner (i.e., on the image portions), it being noted that the background portions are discharged during the formation of the latent image. This reduces the amount of arcing which occurs during transfer of the image to the intermediate transfer member. A preferred embodiment of a pre-transfer discharge lamp is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 5,166,734, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present inventors have found that, if such a pre-transfer lamp is used and a roller charger is used for charger 18, then lamp 58 may be omitted.
Reference is now made to
In operation, agitator 66 rotates in a preselected direction constantly agitating the toner in sump 77, thereby ensuring the homogeneity of the toner throughout the toning process. Agitator 66 is preferably powered through an input shaft 68, as seen particularly in FIG. 3A. Input shaft 68 is preferably also associated with toner pumping apparatus which will be described in detail below.
Reference is now also made to
During operation of assembly 23, toner is pumped by pump 100 out of sump 77 and into application manifold 108. As seen in
The voltage difference between electrode 112 and toning roller 22 causes repulsion of the charged toner particles in application region 116 from electrode 112 and attraction of the particles to toning roller 22, thereby coating toning roller 22 with a layer of concentrated liquid toner.
As shown in
Since coating region 116 preferably extends to the vicinity of squeegee roller 78, as can be seen in
Squeegee roller 78 preferably rotates in a direction opposite that of toning roller 22, such that there is substantially zero relative motion between their respective surfaces at the region of contact. To one embodiment of the invention, the common surface spend of rollers 22 and 78 is approximately 2 inches per second, which preferably matches the speed of imaging surface 16.
The excess fluid which is removal by squeegee roller 78 is returned by gravity to sump 77 for reuse.
The solids content of the layer is mainly a function of the mechanical properties of the rollers and of the voltages applied and pressures and is only slightly influenced by the initial toner concentration for a considerable range of initial toner concentrations.
Reference is now made to
It is a feature of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that scratching of squeegee roller 78 is prevented by virtue of pad 92. It should be noted that other techniques and/or apparatus tested in rise past have failed to prevent such wear of the squeegee. Even Teflon coating of the leaf spring has failed to provide adequate protection.
As described above, the layer of liquid toner which is deposited on surface 21 of roller 22 is selectively transferred to photoconductive surface 16 in the process of toning the latent image. In principle, the portions of the toner layer that have not been used in the development of the latent image need not be manual from toning roller 22. However, a cleaning station 84, comprising a sponge or a brush or similar apparatus, is preferably provided to remove the remaining toner concentrate from surface 21 of toning roller 22, especially if the toner is of a type which is discharged by the electric fields in the interface between the surfaces of toning roller 22 and surface 16. The toner so removed returns by gravity to sump for reuse after being remixed with the remaining liquid toner by agitator 66.
Cleaning station 82 (shown in
It should be appreciated that the different parts of toning assembly 23, as described to detail above, may be constructed of inexpensive materials and contained in a plastic housing 75, such that the entire toning assembly can be replaced when the liquid toner is at the end of its useful lifetime. Thus, it is a feature of the present invention that the toning assembly may be disposable, in contrast to prior art liquid toner systems which are not generally suitable for being disposable apparatus.
Reference is now made to
In both embodiments, the toning control apparatus preferably includes a voltage control unit 120 operative for adjusting the voltage of one or both of application electrode 112 or squeegee roller 78. In the apparatus of
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the DMA is optically measured on the intermediate transfer member. This measurement has been found to be more accurate than measuring the DMA in other places.
DMA monitor 122 preferably compares the output of optical sensor 124 to a pre-determined value which is indicative of the desired DMA required. While the optical density may be measured on either roller 21 or surface 16, either measurement may be rotated to a desired DMA and optical density on the imaging surface. If the optical density is measured on the imaging surface, a patch is generally toned on the imaging surface to act as a reference.
In the apparatus of
Alternatively, the proportion of printed to non-printed area on each of the cycles is calculated and the amount of carrier liquid and toner particles per page is determined. In this embodiment the concentration calculation would be improved over that of the previous embodiment.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the usage indicator and/or DMA calculator are at least partially comprised in a "smart chip" which is part of the cartridge. In this case the smart chip stores specific concentration information for the cartridge. This allows replacement of cartridges without having to reset any counts on the computer. For example, it is sometime useful to print with inks having special properties, such as fluorescent inks or non process color inks. Since these cartridges are used only intermittently and must be removed when another special color is to be printed, it is very useful to have the concentration information attached to the cartridge itself.
The accuracy of the calculation of toner particle usage may be improved by using the DMA measurement to more accurately determine the amount of toner particles per unit printed area. A level detector in the sump may be used to determine the amount of liquid toner which has been removed from the sump. This determination, together with the determination of the amount of toner particles used is printing can be used to give a very accurate determination of the concentration.
The DMA is a function of the charge per unit mass of the toner, the solids concentration and the temperature. Therefore, in an alternative embodiment of the invention, the develops usage indicator is replaced by a toner concentration sensor 128 which provides an electric output responsive to the solids concentration in the liquid toner. Toner concentration sensor 128 may include a toner viscosity senses 129 which may be a differential pressure sensor. Alternatively, the concentration sensor may include an optical sensor for measuring the optical density of the tone in the sump, as ultrasonic sensor or a permitivity sensor for measuring properties of the toner concentrate which are related to the solids concentration in the sump.
The toner temperature affects both the viscosity and charge density (Q/M) of the toner and, thus, the DMA. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the development control system includes a toner temperature sensor 130, preferably located ice the tone sump. Temperature sensor 130 provides DMA calculator 126, in the embodiment of
Additionally, the charged and discharged voltage on the photoreceptor may be measure or calculated (based on usage of the photoreceptor) using methods which are well known in the art. The charging voltage may then be adjusted as may be the voltage of roller 22. This generally requires the adjustment of the applicator and squeegee voltages as well. It is also possible to use the applicator and squeegee voltage to compensate for aging effects is the photoreceptor.
It is a feature of a preferred embodiment d the present invention that liquid toner can be used ova a wide range of concentrations. By proper compensation of the voltages of squeegee roller 78 and electrode 112, the DMA on toning roller 22 (and hence of imaging surface 16) can be maintained substantially constant. This can be appreciated from
A preferred toner for use in the invention is prepared as follows:
865.4 grams of Surlyn 1605 ionomer (DuPont), 288.5 grams of Mogul-L (Cabot), 28.8 grams of copper Phtalocynin (Cookson Pigments) and 17.3 grams of Aluminum tristearate (Merck) are compounded on an Idon two roll mill at 150°C C., for 40 minutes.
1000 grams of the result of the compounding step and 1500 grams of Marcol 82 mineral oil (EXXON) are charged into a Ross double planetary mixer (two gallon size), preheated to 200°C C., (hot oil heating). The material is heated without mixing for one hour. Mixing is then started as low speed (speed control setting 2) for 50 minutes, then raised to a higher speed (SCD 4) for an additional 50 minutes. By this time the material is completely solubilized and homogeneous. The material is discharged from the mixer while still warm After cooling the material is passed though a cooled meat grinder three times.
862.5 grams of ground material from the previous step (at 40% non-volatile solids concentration) and 1437.5 grams of Marcol 82 are loaded into a 1S attritor (Union Process) equipped with {fraction (3/16 )}" carbon steel balls. The mixture is ground at 250 RPM for 30 hours at 55°C C. The material is manually recycled through the system three times. The material is then diluted to the required concentration (normally 8-12% non-volatile solids) with Marcol 82 and screened through a 300 micrometer screen. The material is magnetically treated to remove metal contamination as is known in the art.
The resulting concentrated toner is charged with the following combination of materials.
1-Lubrizol 890 (Lubrizol Corporation) is added at a level of 80 milligrams per gram solids and 1 milligram per gram of Marcol 82; and
2-Petronate L (Witco) is added at a level of 20 milligrams per gram solid. The system is left to equilibrate overnight before use.
Other color liquid toners are produced by a similar process.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather, the scope of the present invention is defined only by the following claims:
Lavon, Amiran, Chatow, Ehud, Lior, Ishaiu
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