Cleaning Blade Coating Gradient for Low-Friction Toner Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cleaning blades in image forming apparatuses face issues of increased torque and turning up due to friction with the image bearer, leading to inadequate toner removal and potential slipping, which conventional lubrication methods fail to address effectively.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning blade with a coating layer that varies in thickness from the front edge ridge part, increasing with distance, ensuring uniform contact and low friction, preventing turning up and ensuring effective toner removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a cleaning blade is pressed against the image bearer surface, then cleaning performance is improved, but friction increases causing torque increase and blade turning up
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning blade applies local quality by creating a coating layer with non-uniform thickness distribution. The coating is thinner at the front edge ridge part (contact area) and thicker toward the base, providing low friction where contact occurs while maintaining structural integrity elsewhere. This resolves the contradiction by locally optimizing the surface properties at the contact zone without compromising overall blade strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameter of the coating layer thickness systematically. By controlling the coating thickness to increase from the front edge ridge part toward the base, the friction coefficient is reduced at the critical contact area while maintaining adequate material presence for structural support. This parameter optimization resolves the friction-cleaning performance contradiction.
2Reliability
If the cleaning blade contacts the image bearer with sufficient pressure, then toner removal is improved, but the blade turns up due to friction
Solution Approach 1:
The varying thickness coating provides local quality differentiation: the thin coating at the front edge ridge part reduces friction-induced turning up, while the thicker coating toward the base provides structural support. This local optimization allows the blade to maintain proper orientation while effectively removing toner through controlled contact pressure.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the harmful effect of friction into a beneficial outcome. By applying a low-friction coating at the contact area, the friction that would normally cause blade turning up is reduced, allowing the blade to maintain stable contact orientation. The friction force is transformed from a detrimental shape-changing force into a controlled force that enables reliable toner removal without blade deformation.
3Ease of manufacture
If a uniform coating layer is applied to the cleaning blade, then manufacturing is simplified, but friction and turning up cannot be effectively reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention achieves friction control through systematic parameter changes in the coating thickness. By controlling the coating to have varying thickness (thin at front edge, thicker at base) through the dipping angle method, the patent simultaneously maintains manufacturing simplicity while achieving the desired friction reduction. The parameter gradient is created through process control rather than complex multi-step coating.
Solution Approach 2:
The dipping process with controlled angle allows the coating to self-organize into the desired thickness gradient. The coating liquid naturally forms a thinner layer at the leading edge (front edge ridge part) and thicker layer toward the base through the dipping geometry, eliminating the need for complex post-processing or manual thickness control. The process serves itself to create the functional thickness distribution.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The configuration maintains low frictional resistance and uniform contact, preventing toner slippage and blade turning up, thereby ensuring efficient and stable cleaning performance.
Implementation Method 1
a coating layer coating the front edge surface, the front edge ridge part, and the bottom surface... maintaining low frictional resistance
Data Source
AI summary
A cleaning blade includes an elastic member that includes a front edge surface extending in the longitudinal direction of the elastic member and the thickness direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction and a bottom surface extending in the depth direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction and the thickness direction, the bottom surface sharing a front edge ridge part with the front edge surface and facing a cleaning target, and a coating layer coating the front edge surface, the front edge ridge part, and the bottom surface, wherein the front edge ridge part coated with the coating layer is in contact with a surface of the cleaning target, and the coating layer has an average thickness that increases with an increase in a distance from the front edge ridge part in the thickness direction on the front edge surface.