Optimal doctor blade design considering contact stress and toner properties

Abstract

The Doctor Blade is mounted to a toner cartridge and applies consistent pressure to the development roller. This part enables the toner adhering to the development roller to form a layer of consistent thickness. The contact pressure between the development roller and the Doctor Blade is an important factor determining not only image quality, but also toner cartridge durability. In this study, test points were extracted using a central composite design method and contact analysis was carried out using NASTRAN, an FEM tool. In addition, based on measurements of toner weight by unit area and image concentrations through sample production and experiments under various conditions, approximated models were derived using the response surface method. With approximated modeling of contact pressure set as an objective function, and approximated modeling in relation to experimental values set as constraint conditions, the optimal solution was derived by applying the optimization technique of genetic algorithms. Moreover, by applying the optimal solution to an actual sample, its reliability was verified through comparison of the optimal results of genetic algorithms with the actual solutions.