Cleaning a silicon photoconductor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10331073-B2
Application number	US-201816032949-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2018
Priority date	Sep 18, 2014
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

In an example implementation, a method of cleaning a silicon photoconductor includes contacting the silicon photoconductor with a base-peroxide solution, rinsing the silicon photoconductor with a liquid, and heating the silicon photoconductor to evaporate the liquid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of cleaning a silicon photoconductor comprising:
contacting the silicon photoconductor with a base-peroxide solution;
rinsing the silicon photoconductor with a liquid; and
heating the silicon photoconductor to evaporate the liquid,
wherein heating the silicon photoconductor comprises engaging the silicon photoconductor with a heated print blanket to bring the silicon photoconductor to an operating temperature of the heated print blanket.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base-peroxide solution comprises ammonia and hydrogen peroxide in a carrier liquid.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base-peroxide solution is at a temperature of at least 70° C. during the contacting with the silicon photoconductor.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising wiping liquid off of the silicon photoconductor before heating the silicon photoconductor, wherein the liquid used in rinsing the silicon photoconductor comprises water.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting the silicon photoconductor with the base-peroxide solution comprises transferring the silicon photoconductor from an electrophotographic printing device to a cleaning station, and heating the silicon photoconductor comprises transferring the silicon photoconductor back from the cleaning station to the electrophotographic printing device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein heating the silicon photoconductor comprises heat cycling the silicon photoconductor in the electrophotographic printing device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the silicon photoconductor comprises heat cycling the silicon photoconductor up to an evaporation temperature within a range of 90° C. to 250° C.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base-peroxide solution comprises deionized water, NH 4 OH, and aqueous H 2 O 2 .

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the deionized water, the NH 4 OH, and the aqueous H 2 O 2 have a ratio of about 5:1:1, respectively.

10. A system for cleaning a silicon photoconductor comprising:
an electrophotographic printing device;
a silicon photoconductor removable from the electrophotographic printing device;
a cleaning station comprising a base-peroxide solution and a rinsing solution, the cleaning station to receive the silicon photoconductor, contact the photoconductor with the base-peroxide solution, and rinse the photoconductor with the rinsing solution; and
a photoconductor heating mechanism to heat the photoconductor to evaporate the rinsing solution from the photoconductor,
wherein the system is adapted to automatically transfer the silicon photoconductor from the electrophotographic printing device to the cleaning station, clean the silicon photoconductor by contacting the silicon photoconductor with the base-peroxide solution and rinsing it with the rinsing solution, and transfer the silicon photoconductor from the cleaning station back to the electrophotographic printing device.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the removable silicon photoconductor comprises an amorphous silicon photoconductor.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the photoconductor heating mechanism comprises a heated printing blanket on the electrophotographic printing device brought into contact with the photoconductor.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising a heat cycling module to control the contact of the printing blanket against the photoconductor.

14. The system of claim 10 , the base-peroxide solution comprises deionized water, NH 4 OH, and aqueous H 2 O 2 .

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the deionized water, the NH 4 OH, and the aqueous H 2 O 2 have a ratio of about 5:1:1, respectively.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor of a printing device, cause the printing device to:
receive a silicon photoconductor that is cleaned and rinsed by a cleaning solution and a rinsing solution, respectively;
in response to receiving the silicon photoconductor, performing heat cycling to evaporate remaining rinsing solution from the silicon photoconductor.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein performing heat cycling comprises:
heating a print blanket with a heating mechanism;
engaging the heated print blanket with the silicon photoconductor in a first heat cycle by rotating the heated print blanket and the silicon photoconductor together on drums;
disengaging the heated print blanket from the silicon photoconductor; and
reengaging the heated print blanket with the silicon photoconductor in a second heat cycle.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the cleaning solution uses a base peroxide solution.

Assignees

• Hp Indigo Bv

Inventors

• Diamant Reut
• Moalem Sasi
• Tagansky Boaz

Classifications

• G03G21/0058 Primary

  using a roller or a polygonal rotating cleaning member; Details thereof, e.g. surface structure (G03G21/0064 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G03G21/007

  Arrangement or disposition of parts of the cleaning unit · CPC title

• G03G21/0005

  for removing solid developer or debris from the electrographic recording medium · CPC title

• G03G21/0094 Primary

  fatigue treatment of the photoconductor · CPC title

• G03G5/005 Primary

  Materials for treating the recording members, e.g. for cleaning, reactivating, polishing · CPC title