HEAT TREATMENT EQUIPMENT AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING TONER

• Main Authors: ISHIGAMI HISASHI, OTSU TAKESHI, IWASAKI YOSUKE, KAJIHARA HISASUKE, YAMASHITA DAISUKE, OCHI KOICHIRO
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: 18.04.2024
• Subjects: CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOIDCHEMISTRY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; PHYSICS; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS; TRANSPORTING

To provide a technique that can prevent, with a simple configuration, fusion of toner particles to a wall surface inside a processing chamber and coalescence and cohesion of toner particles to improve the productivity of toner particles having desired circularity.SOLUTION: Heat treatment equipment comprises: a processing tank that has a processing chamber for executing heat treatment on toner particles; toner particle supply means that supplies the toner particles to the inside of the processing chamber; and hot wind supply means that has a supply port for supplying hot air to the inside of the processing chamber. The hot air supply port is arranged on the ceiling of the processing chamber. The processing tank has a columnar member that is erected in the vertical direction at the center inside the processing chamber, and a convex member having a substantially conical shape that is provided at an upper end of the columnar member and projects toward the ceiling. The columnar member has a cylindrical shape and has a radius of curvature RCP (mm) of 5<RCP<75 at an upper end edge on a vertical section.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2 【課題】簡易な構成により、トナー粒子の融着やトナー粒子同士の合一、合着を抑制し、所望の円形度のトナー粒子の生産性の向上を図ることができる技術を提供する。【解決手段】トナー粒子に熱処理を施すための処理室を有する処理槽と、処理室の内部へトナー粒子を供給するトナー粒子供給手段と、処理室の内部に熱風を供給する供給口を有する熱風供給手段と、を備える熱処理装置において、熱風供給口が、処理室の天井に配置されており、処理槽は、処理室の内部の中央に鉛直方向に立設される柱状部材と、柱状部材の上端に設けられ、天井に向かって突出する略円錐形状の凸状部材と、を有し、柱状部材は、円柱形状を有し、鉛直断面において、上端縁の曲率半径ＲＣＰ（ｍｍ）が、５＜ＲＣＰ＜７５である。【選択図】図２