The Use of Conductive Core Fibers in the Constuction of Cleaning Brushes for Electrophotographic Engines

摘要

The higher speed electrophotographic engines are migrating toward conductive fur brush cleaning as alternatives to either vacuum fur brush or magnetic brush cleaning. The typical fiber construction is either a conductive sheath of carbon loaded polymer surrounding an insulating polymer core, or a composite of carbon or other conductive material dispersed throughout the polymer matrix. In this paper we report the use of fibers that have an insolating exterior with a carbon loaded conductive core for use in the construction of cleaning brushes. The use of this type of fiber reduces the concerns about loose fibers interrupting the process, as well as loss of conductivity due to wear. It has also been demonstrated that Paschen breakdown, that will tend to discharge toner can be effectively quenched using this fiber construction.