Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20080205944 | BELT MEANDER PREVENTING DEVICE, TRANSFER UNIT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING THE SAME - A transfer unit of an image forming apparatus includes at least one support roller; a transfer belt driven and supported by the support roller; and a meander preventing unit to prevent the transfer belt from leaning to one side with respect to an axial direction of the support roller. The meander preventing unit includes a guide rail disposed between one side of the belt and the support roller supporting the belt to guide the belt running; and a belt pressing member disposed on the opposite side of the belt to compensate for the belt leaning caused by the guide rail. | 08-28-2008 |
20080205945 | GUIDE ROLLER UNIT, GUIDING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A guiding roller unit has a holder to be mounted on a mount, and a guiding roller rotatably supported by the holder. The holder includes a base, two bearings and widening preventing plates attached respectively to the bearing. The base, the bearings and the widening preventing parts are integral to each other. The base is mounted on the mount. The bearings stand from opposite ends of the base and rotatably support the roller. The widening preventing plates extend in directions opposite to facing directions of the bearings. The holder enables the roller to be attached and detached with leading ends of the bearings elastically widened with respect to base ends thereof connected with the base while being detached from the mount, whereas it prohibits widening of the leading ends of the bearings by contacting the mount in response to forces acting in widening directions while being mounted on the mount. | 08-28-2008 |
20080219714 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ELECTROSTATIC IMAGE TRANSFER - An imaging system, method and apparatus for producing an image by sensitizing a charge retentive surface of a photoreceptor, image-wise exposing the charge retentive surface to produce an electrostatic latent image, and then transferring the latent image away from the photoreceptor. An intermediate transfer belt carries the latent image to a proximally located development assembly to accommodate deposit of a toner complex onto the latent image to produce a toned image. The toned image is carried to a proximally located toner image transfer assembly that is located a distance from the photoreceptor. The toned image is transferred or transfused to a media carried by a toner image transfer belt located proximally to the intermediate transfer belt. | 09-11-2008 |
20080219715 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING THE TRANSFER DEVICE - An image forming apparatus capable of preventing meandering of a transfer belt. The image forming apparatus includes a main body, including an image forming unit; and a transfer device to transfer an image formed by the image forming unit to a printing medium. The transfer device includes a transfer belt; at least one pair of rollers to rotatably support the transfer belt; a supporting unit to rotatably support both ends of the pair of rollers; and an eccentric unit to movably support a first end of a first roller of the pair of rollers with respect to the supporting unit, the first end deviating from an axis of the first roller. | 09-11-2008 |
20080240799 | DESKTOP COLOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME - The present invention relates to an electrophotographic color image forming apparatus using a tandem-drum development, an indirect image-transfer method, and a vertical sheet supply path. An intermediate image-transfer member is angled relative to a horizontal line such that a rear side of the intermediate image-transfer member away from a recording sheet is lifted and a front side of the intermediate image-transfer member closer to the recording sheet is lowered. Further, image creating mechanisms of the tandem-drum development are aligned and arranged in parallel to a moving image transfer bed of the intermediate image-transfer member, such that one of the image creating mechanisms firstly forming an image faces the rear side of the moving image transfer bed and another one of the image creating mechanisms lastly forming an image faces the front side. | 10-02-2008 |
20080240800 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS WITH SELECTIVELY MOVABLE TRANSFER ROLLERS - Rotation of photosensitive drums | 10-02-2008 |
20080267673 | BELT DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In a belt device, a first detecting unit detects a widthwise displacement of a belt, and a correcting unit corrects displacement of the belt in the width direction during a period starting from turning power on and ending with completion of drive preparation of the belt based on the widthwise displacement. Moreover, a second detecting unit detects whether the belt has displaced in the width direction by an amount that is greater than a threshold, and a belt stopping unit stops running of the belt when the second detecting unit detects that the belt has displaced by an amount that is greater than the threshold. | 10-30-2008 |
20080298856 | Image Forming Device and Semiconductor Device - In an image forming device including a first rotary member arranged to drive an intermediate transfer belt, a first motor arranged to rotate the first rotary member, and a second rotary member arranged to transfer a toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt to a recording sheet, a torque command value detecting unit detects a torque command value to the first motor. A setting unit sets up a lower limit of the torque command value. A judgment unit determines whether a detected torque command value exceeds the lower limit. A control unit controls driving of the second rotary member when the detected torque command value exceeds the lower limits so that a difference between a surface speed of the intermediate transfer belt and a peripheral speed of the second rotary member falls within a predetermined range. | 12-04-2008 |
20080298857 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT UNIT USE IN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - This invention provides an image forming apparatus including a belt member which is shaped like a belt and has a belt surface and to which a toner image corresponding to image data is transferred, a roller member for moving the belt surface at a constant velocity in a predetermined direction while giving a predetermined tension to the belt member, a roller drive device which rotate the roller member at a predetermined rotational velocity, and a drive force stabilizing device which is located between the roller member and a structural body supporting the roller member and which absorb a rotation irregularity component or a velocity change occurring in the belt member. | 12-04-2008 |
20080304877 | Image-forming apparatus equipped with specified intermediate transfer member - An image-forming apparatus comprises an intermediate transfer member having a hard release layer on the surface that receives a primarily transferred toner image from a latent image-supporting member on the hard release layer and secondarily transfers the toner image to an image-receiving medium, wherein,
| 12-11-2008 |
20080304878 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus ( | 12-11-2008 |
20080310890 | IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS EQUIPPED WITH INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER MEMBER - An image-forming apparatus, comprises:
| 12-18-2008 |
20080310891 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus that adjusts an inclination angle of a supporting roller for regulating pulling of a belt member serving as an intermediate transfer belt or a recording-material supporting belt. The image forming apparatus changes a method of adjusting an inclination angle of the supporting roller in accordance with a winding angle of the belt member with respect to the supporting roller. | 12-18-2008 |
20080317517 | Image Forming Apparatus - The image forming apparatus is provided with: an image carrier that carries an image; an intermediate transfer belt that is arranged as opposed to the image carrier, and that rotationally moves in a predetermined direction; a primary transfer member that is arranged as opposed to the image carrier through the intermediate transfer belt, and that primarily transfers the image on the image carrier to the intermediate transfer belt; a secondary transfer member that secondarily transfers the image on the intermediate transfer belt to a recording medium; first, second and third hanging members that hang the intermediate transfer belt; and a drive device that transmits drive force to the first and the second hanging members such that drive force by the second hanging member is larger than drive force by the first hanging member. | 12-25-2008 |
20080317518 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes a transparent image forming unit having a transparent image carrier; plural color image forming units arranged on a downstream side in a process direction of the transparent image forming unit, the color image forming units having color image carriers; a black image forming unit arranged between the transparent image forming unit and the color image forming unit or on the downstream side of the color image forming units, the black image forming unit having a black image carrier; an intermediate transfer member to which the toner images formed in the respective image carriers are transferred; a retracting mechanism that brings the transparent image carrier into contact with or separates it from the intermediate transfer member; and a moving unit that brings the intermediate transfer member into contact with or separates it from the color image carrier. | 12-25-2008 |
20080317519 | TRANSFER UNIT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS EMPLOYING THE SAME - A transfer unit, which transfers a toner image formed on at least one image support to a printing medium, and an image forming apparatus employing the same. The transfer unit includes: an intermediate transfer body to the toner image from the image support, which has a curved transfer surface and an ASKER-A hardness of from about 25° to 40°; a transfer member, which has an ASKER-C hardness of from about 45° to 70°, and which contacts the intermediate transfer body, with a printing medium being interposed therebetween, and transfers the toner image from the intermediate transfer body to the printing medium. The transfer unit may further include: a de-electrifying member having a DC power and an AC power concurrently applied thereto, to de-electrify the printing. | 12-25-2008 |
20090003894 | BELT ASSEMBLY, AND A TRANSFER UNIT AND AN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING THE SAME - A belt assembly in an image forming apparatus includes a belt which includes a guiding rail on one side, a first roller which includes a receiving part which supports the guiding rail, and a second roller which includes one end which does not interfere with the guiding rail, wherein the belt is supported and rotated by the first roller and the second roller. The intermediate transfer belt has a flatness such that image errors such as crinkles or irregular horizontal bands can be prevented. | 01-01-2009 |
20090035031 | BELT TRANSPORTING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND BELT MEMBER TRANSPORTING METHOD - The belt transporting apparatus is provided with: a belt member that is rotated; a first roll member that holds the belt member; a second roll member that is provided apart from the first roll member by a first distance, holds the belt member together with the first roll member and is movable toward the first roll member; and a third roll member that is provided apart from the second roll member by a second distance and holds the belt member together with the second roll member. The second distance is longer than the first distance. | 02-05-2009 |
20090067894 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The present invention provides an image forming apparatus comprising at least an image holding member, an charging unit, a latent image forming unit, a developing unit, an intermediate transfer belt, a primary transfer unit, a secondary transfer unit, a fixing unit, and a cleaning unit, wherein a surface hardness of a side, of the intermediate transfer belt, contacting with the image holding member being 10 to 30, a carrier in the developer having at least two resin-coated layers on a surface of a core material containing ferrite, and the core material having a surface roughness Sm of 2.0 μm or less, a surface roughness Ra of 0.1 μm or more, and an average a circularity degree of 0.975 to 1.000. | 03-12-2009 |
20090080947 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an intermediate transfer body; a plurality of image forming portions; a secondary transfer unit; a recording medium accommodating container; a waste toner accommodating container; a first electrical part; and a second electrical part. | 03-26-2009 |
20090148199 | Image forming apparatus and image transferring method therefor - An image forming apparatus and an image transferring method therefor are provided. The apparatus includes a plurality of photosensitive units, an intermediate transfer member, and a sheet-conveying unit. Each of the photosensitive units bears a first toner image. The intermediate transfer member is in contact with the photosensitive units, onto which the first toner images are transferred from the photosensitive units and superimposed to form a second toner image. The intermediate transfer member is rotationally driven at a first speed. The sheet-conveying unit is used for transporting a sheet past the intermediate transfer member at a second speed different from the first speed, so that the second toner image on the intermediate transfer member is transferred onto the sheet. | 06-11-2009 |
20090148200 | BELT TRANSFER DEVICE FOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In a belt transfer device according to an embodiment, rotation of a rear side detection roller or a front side detection roller, which contacts with a rib of a transfer belt and is rotated, is converted into linear driving by using a worm gear. The movement of a linear movement shaft is transmitted to a steering roller through a slider. The steering roller is tilted and meandering of the transfer belt is regulated. | 06-11-2009 |
20090148201 | BELT MEMBER, TRANSFER UNIT INCORPORATING SAME, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME, AND METHOD OF EVALUATING SAME - A multi-layer endless belt member with a high-resistance surface layer for use in an image forming apparatus. A volume resistivity thereof ranges from approximately 8.0 to approximately 11.0 in log[Ω·cm]. An amount of resistivity change of a first surface thereof is greater than an amount of resistivity change of a second surface thereof by 0.05 or greater in log [Ω/square], where the amount of resistivity change of the first surface indicates a difference between surface resistivity values measured after a given voltage is applied for 1 second and for 100 seconds on the first surface thereof and the amount of resistivity change of the second surface indicates a difference between surface resistivity values measured after a given voltage is applied for 1 second and for 100 seconds on the second surface thereof. | 06-11-2009 |
20090162113 | ARCHITECTURE FOR A MULTI TONER PRINTING SYSTEM - A xerographic printing system and method of printing that includes two photoreceptor drums, each configured to enable printing with a different type of toner, a first pathway that connects the two photoreceptor drums, a second pathway that bypasses either of the photoreceptor drums, and an intermediate transfer belt, configured for either a one or two pass architecture, for transferring an image created by the toner to print media. This system and method of printing is specially adapted to enable efficient use of different combinations of toners within one printing system. In one embodiment, this system is able to limit use of a special toner to situations where one photoreceptor drum is not in bypass mode, thus conserving the more expensive special toner. | 06-25-2009 |
20090169274 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: a rotating belt which rotates around a roller; a drive section which rotates the belt; a detection section which detects a position of the belt in a width direction; a moving section which moves the belt in the width direction; a control section which corrects a deviation of the belt by controlling the moving section. The control section conducts a preparatory operation in which the control section changes an amount of control to be given to the moving section under the condition where the belt is rotated to obtain a correction data showing a relation between the amount of control and a change of a position of the belt in the width direction detected by the detection section, stores the correction data in a memory section, and then corrects the deviation based on the correction data stored in the memory section. | 07-02-2009 |
20090169275 | TRANSFER MEMBER IN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The transfer member in an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention is a transfer member in an image forming apparatus for transferring a toner image obtained by developing an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier onto a material to be transferred, wherein the transfer member includes a base material having thereon a surface layer for temporarily holding on the surface thereof the toner image to be transferred onto the material to be transferred and comprising a resin containing a diamond fine particle in the range of from about 0.01% to about 40%. | 07-02-2009 |
20090214273 | Image Forming Apparatus - An image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer belt having an insulating substrate layer, an electrode layer provided on the insulating substrate layer, and a semiconductor layer provided on the electrode layer; a transfer-voltage applying device that applies a predetermined bias voltage to the electrode layer of the intermediate transfer belt; and a secondary transfer roller which is in contact with the outer circumference of the intermediate transfer belt to form a nip region and to which a predetermined bias voltage is applied. The image forming apparatus has not a member that opposes the secondary transfer roller to nip the intermediate transfer belt therebetween. | 08-27-2009 |
20090238614 | IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS BELT, BELT STRETCHING UNIT AND IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS - An image formation apparatus belt, includes: a belt that includes a belt main body, the belt having a recess; and a detected part for position detection that is located in a side margin of the belt, the detected part being placed in the recess provided in the belt. | 09-24-2009 |
20090245893 | ANNULAR BODY, ANNULAR BODY STRETCHING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The invention provides an annular body provided at an image forming apparatus, the annular body has at least an outermost periphery layer and an innermost periphery layer, each of which comprise carbon black, and a content of carbon black contained per unit of volume of the outermost periphery layer being smaller than a content of carbon black contained per unit of volume of the innermost periphery layer. The invention further provides an annular body stretching device, having at least the annular body and a plurality of annular body stretching units rotatably stretching the annular body at an inner surface of the annular body. The invention further provides an image forming apparatus having at least an image holder, a charging device, an exposing device, a developing device, a first transferring device, a second transferring device, and a fixing device, in which the intermediate transfer belt is the annular body. | 10-01-2009 |
20090245894 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS BELT, BELT STRETCHING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus belt includes a belt main body; a guiding member that is fixed to the belt main body along at least a side edge on one side of the belt main body; and a detected portion for position detection that is provided in a slit of the guiding member. | 10-01-2009 |
20090252541 | TONER TRANSFER BELT WITH TEXTURED SURFACE FOR ENHANCED TRANSFER AND METHOD OF FORMING TEXTURED SURFACE - An intermediate toner transfer belt includes an endless member made of a layer of a material having an endless functional surface adapted to transfer a toner image. The layer of material is textured so as to define a multiplicity of protruding portions of the material spaced apart from each other and integral with and extending outwardly from a remaining base portion of the material. The protruding portions have outer tips spaced apart from one another with outer surfaces thereon also spaced apart from one another such that the endless surface of the endless member is formed by the spaced apart outer surfaces of the outer tips of the protruding portions of the material. Further, the protruding portions are irregular in pattern and shape relative to one another and generally undulate toward and away from the remaining base portion of the material. | 10-08-2009 |
20090279924 | ANNULAR BODY, ANNULAR BODY STRETCHING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The invention provides an annular body having an inner surface including a base material layer, the base material layer having a resin and a conductive agent, and the inner surface comprising a carbonized region. The invention further provides an annular body stretching device having: the annular body; and a stretching unit pushing outward the annular body with tension from an inner circumferential side of the annular body. The invention further provides an image forming apparatus having the annular body as an intermediate transfer body provided thereto. The invention further provides a method for forming the annular body, having forming a carbonized region by a process to give conductivity to the inner surface of the annular body. | 11-12-2009 |
20090297232 | POLYIMIDE INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER COMPONENTS - An intermediate transfer belt that includes a thermosetting polyimide and a conductive component, and where the polyimide is rapidly cured. | 12-03-2009 |
20090311013 | TRANSFER BELT UNIT FOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A flywheel is coupled to a driven roller to support, at a secondary transfer position, an intermediate transfer belt that, together with a secondary transfer roller, nips and conveys a sheet. A direction of a shaft of the flywheel has an angle of 90° with respect to a direction of a shaft of the driven roller, and the flywheel is arranged in a hollow inside of the intermediate transfer belt. A second belt of a link mechanism is twisted, and the flywheel is coupled to the driven roller. | 12-17-2009 |
20090324304 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT AND METHODS FOR MAKING THE SAME - An image forming apparatus having an improved intermediate transfer belt, and processes for making the same. More specifically, there is provided an intermediate transfer belt having one or more steering ribs formed into the belt such that a separate steering rib need not be employed. | 12-31-2009 |
20090324305 | Image Forming Apparatus, Control Apparatus, Computer Readable Medium and Control Method - The image forming apparatus is provided with: a toner image carrying member that moves while carrying a toner image; a transferring member that transfers, on a recording medium, the toner image that the toner image carrying member carries; a transporting unit that transports the recording medium along a transport path that passes through a transfer region where the transferring member transfers the toner image onto the recording medium; and a controller that controls a movement speed of the toner image carrying member. The controller changes the movement speed of the toner image carrying member in accordance with a position, on the transport path, of the recording medium that the transporting unit transports. | 12-31-2009 |
20100008703 | Electrophotographic Belt, Electrophotographic Apparatus, Process for Producing the Electrophotographic Belt, and Intermediate Transfer Belt - An electrophotographic belt is disclosed including a base layer which contains a thermoplastic resin and has a mass loss percentage of 0.30% or more after a Taber abrasion test (ASTM D-1175; at a load of 4.9 N and 500 revolutions) and a cured resin film which has been formed on the base layer by coating, contains conductive particles and has a thickness of from 0.5 μm or more to 3.0 μm or less. The cured resin film has at its surface a mass loss percentage of 0.050% or less after the Taber abrasion test. The electrophotographic belt has volume resistivity ρv (Ωcm) and surface resistivity ρs (Ω/square) which satisfy the following expressions (1), (2) and (3): | 01-14-2010 |
20100021216 | ENDLESS BELT MEMBER, TRANSFER UNIT INCORPORATING SAME, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A multi-layer endless belt member, which can be incorporated in a transfer unit for use in an image forming apparatus, includes a base layer and a surface layer disposed on the base layer and having a higher resistivity and has a first resistivity of a first surface thereof and a second resistivity of a second surface thereof opposite the first surface different from the first resistivity. The second resistivity of the second surface ranges from approximately 9.0 to approximately 12.5 in a common logarithm value (log[Ω/square]) when measured after 500V is applied for 10 seconds. An amount of resistivity change in the first resistivity ranges from approximately 0.5 to approximately 1.5 after application of 100V and is 0.2 or smaller after application of 500V. An amount of resistivity change in the second resistivity is 0.1 or smaller after application of 100V and 500V. | 01-28-2010 |
20100028059 | TREATED CARBON BLACK INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER COMPONENTS - An intermediate transfer media such as a belt that includes a poly(vinylalkoxysilane) surface treated carbon black. | 02-04-2010 |
20100034565 | Intermediate transfer device, image forming apparatus and secondary transfer method - An intermediate transfer device including an intermediate transfer body having a primary transfer portion and a secondary transfer portion which bears a secondary image formed by transferring a primary image from an image bearing member; a pair of secondary transfer rollers having a secondary transfer roller and a support roller provided in contact with each other via the intermediate transfer body at the secondary transfer portion, which transfers the secondary image to a recording medium at the secondary transfer portion; a variation detection device that detects an amount of variance occurring to a transfer rotation body when the recording medium is transferred to the secondary transfer portion; and an adjustment device that adjusts the distance between the pair of the secondary transfer rollers according to the amount of variance detected by the variation detection device. | 02-11-2010 |
20100054825 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit to transfer a toner to a printing medium, and a waste toner recovery unit to convey a waste toner recovered from the transfer unit. A first driving source for driving the transfer unit is configured independently of a second driving source for driving the waste toner recovery unit, so that deterioration in the quality of image caused by the waste toner recovery unit can be minimized. | 03-04-2010 |
20100111577 | RELEASE LAYER - An apparatus and method transfer imaging material using a release layer having a bulk swelling capacity between 120% and 145% in Isopar L. | 05-06-2010 |
20100158583 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER MEMBER - An intermediate transfer member is provided which enables to maintain superior secondary transferability and enhanced cleaning capability and is also capable of continuing to obtain toner images of superior text reproduction and high quality without causing lack of text images even when making prints of a large number of sheets (e.g., 160,000 sheets). The intermediate transfer member for use in an image forming apparatus having a device capable of transferring a toner image carried on the surface of an electrophotographic photoreceptor primarily to an intermediate transfer member, and secondarily transferring the toner image from the intermediate transfer member to a transfer material, wherein the intermediate transfer member is provided with an elastic layer on the circumference of a resin substrate and further thereon a surface layer, the surface layer exhibits a layer thickness of 10 to 500 nm, the Young's modulus of the surface of the intermediate transfer member which is determined by a nanoindentation method is 0.1 to 5.0 GPa and is 0.0 to 2.0 GPa greater than the Young's modulus of the elastic layer which is determined by a nanoindentation method. | 06-24-2010 |
20100189475 | Intermediate Transfer Belt Steering System - Disclosed are embodiments that use multiple, belt-steering systems to control and maintain alignment of an endless belt. The position of the edge of the belt is measured by multiple belt edge sensors and then corrected by at least two steering rollers connected to corresponding steering mechanisms. The steering mechanisms tilt the rollers in order to selectively adjust the lateral position of the belt. Steering can be controlled independently with the tilt of each steering roller being adjusted based solely on information obtain from a corresponding belt edge sensor. Alternatively, steering can be controlled dependently with the tilt of each steering roller being adjusted based on information obtain from multiple sensors at multiple locations and further based on the predictable impact of the simultaneous movement of both rollers on belt positioning. In addition, at least one of the steering rollers can also be configured as a drive roller. | 07-29-2010 |
20100196062 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS FOR USE IN ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY - An intermediate transfer belt for use in electrophotography including plural linear convexities is provided. The plural linear convexities have a height of from 0.01 to 1 μm and a width of from 0.5 to 5 μm. | 08-05-2010 |
20100232843 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT AND IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS - An intermediate transfer belt provided with an elastic layer and an outermost surface layer formed on the elastic layer, with the outermost surface layer being prepared as inorganic compound layer having a surface roughness Rz from 2 to 20 μm, and an image-forming apparatus equipped with the intermediate transfer belt. | 09-16-2010 |
20100239332 | ELECTRO-CONDUCTIVE BELT, FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF, AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - There is provided an electro-conductive belt including a resin material and conductive particles, the electro-conductive belt including: an innermost layer that contains none of the conductive particles; a first conductive layer that is adjacent to the innermost layer at an outer side thereof, a concentration of the conductive particles being highest in the first conductive layer; and a second conductive layer that is adjacent to the first conductive layer at an outer side thereof, the second conductive layer containing the conductive particles in a concentration lower than in the first conductive layer and higher than in the innermost layer. | 09-23-2010 |
20100239333 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING LESS DECREASE IN PRIMARY TRANSFER EFFICIENCY OF TONER IMAGE - The decrease of the transfer efficiency of transferring a toner image from a photosensitive drum onto an intermediate transfer belt is suppressed by the structure of an image forming apparatus comprising: a photosensitive drum holding member that pivotally supports the photosensitive drum at both ends thereof; a transfer roller holding member that pivotally supports a primary transfer roller at both ends thereof; and a transfer roller holding unit that determines a relative position between the photosensitive drum holding member and the transfer roller holding member by guiding the transfer roller holding member in a direction substantially perpendicular to a running surface of the belt and abutting an opposing part of the photosensitive drum holding member and an opposing part of the transfer roller holding member with each other, the opposing parts opposing each other, the transfer roller holding unit includes: a guide member having a reference surface; and a plate spring operable to force the transfer roller holding member toward the reference surface so as to be brought in contact with the reference surface, and when viewed in an axis direction of the transfer roller, one of the opposing parts has a straight linear outline parallel to a running direction of the belt, and the other of the opposing parts has a convex curved outline. | 09-23-2010 |
20100247167 | TRANSFER BELT LATERAL POSITION CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD - According to aspects described herein, there is disclosed an apparatus and method for controlling a position of a belt in a printing system. The apparatus including a roller assembly for engaging at least a portion of a belt, a pair of laterally spaced support arms and an actuating assembly for pivotally moving at least one support arm. The belt being generally moveable in a process flow direction within the printing system, wherein a lateral direction extends substantially along the belt and substantially perpendicular to the process flow direction. The roller assembly extending laterally across the belt. The pair of laterally spaced support arms each rotatably supporting opposed ends of the roller assembly. Each support arm being pivotally coupled to the printing system for movement about a pivot axis extending substantially in the lateral direction. The pivotal movement pivoting one support arm relative to the other. | 09-30-2010 |
20100247168 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier having an endless circumferential surface on which a latent image is formed due to an electrostatic potential difference; a developing device that attaches a toner to the image carrier to form a toner image; an endless intermediate transfer belt that is entrained around a plurality of roll members and moves circumferentially, and contacts the image carrier to transfer the toner image to the intermediate transfer belt; a transferring device that further transfers the toner image that has been transferred to the intermediate transfer belt, to a recording sheet; and a load applying member that cooperates with one of the roll members placed inside the intermediate transfer belt, to nip the intermediate transfer belt to apply a load to the intermediate transfer belt, the load applying member contacting a non-image region of the intermediate transfer belt. | 09-30-2010 |
20100247169 | TUBULAR BODY, TUBULAR BODY SUPPORTING APPARATUS, IMAGE FIXING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A tubular body includes: a substrate including concave portions on a surface thereof; a surface layer formed on the surface of the concave portion-including side of the substrate; and a particle positioned at an interface between the substrate and the surface layer in each of the concave portions. | 09-30-2010 |
20100247170 | OFFSET CORRECTING DEVICE, INTERMEDIATE TRANSFERRING DEVICE, TRANSFERRING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An offset correcting device includes: an endless belt-like member having an endless belt-like shape; a rotation supporting member that has a rotation shaft in which an axial direction extends along a width direction of the endless belt-like member, and that is rotated while supporting the endless belt-like member; an interlocking member that is supported by one end portion of the rotation shaft to be movable along the axial direction, and that is capable of being contacted with a width direction edge of the endless belt-like member; and a shaft displacing member as defined herein. | 09-30-2010 |
20100247171 | ANNULAR BODY, CARTRIDGE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The invention provides an annular body having a resin layer. The resin layer has a resin and particles. The particles are at least one of conductive or magnetic. A surface of the resin layer has a first region and a second region. The first region is different from the second region in at least one of the surface resistivity or the magnetic flux density. The second region has a resin region and a high density region. The resin region is provided at an outer side with respect to the high density region in the thickness direction of the resin layer and is substantially free of the particle. The high density region has a higher content of the particles comparing to the resin region and the first region. The invention further provides a cartridge having the annular body. The invention further provides an image forming apparatus having the annular body. | 09-30-2010 |
20100247172 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus including a transfer belt on which an image is transferred, a belt suspension roller that suspends the transfer belt, a transfer roller that is arranged to face the belt suspension roller with the transfer belt in between and includes a shaft portion and a concave portion formed in a shaft direction, and a support member that is arranged on the shaft portion of the transfer roller and includes a first circumferential portion arranged in the concave portion as seen from a shaft direction of the transfer roller, a second circumferential portion arranged at one side of the concave portion in a rotation direction, and a third circumferential portion arranged at the other side of the concave portion in the rotation direction. | 09-30-2010 |
20100247173 | Image Forming Apparatus - An image forming apparatus includes: an intermediate transfer belt to which a toner image formed on a photosensitive drum is primarily transferred; a driving roller configured to supply a driving force to the belt; a tension roller provided to be movable with respect to the driving roller to apply tension to the belt; a secondary transfer roller configured to transfer the toner image transferred to the belt onto a sheet; and a guide member configured to guide the sheet to a nip position between the secondary transfer roller and the belt. The driving roller is provided to support a downstream end of the belt in a direction in which the toner image is conveyed. The secondary transfer roller opposes the tension roller. The guide member is connected to the tension roller so as to follow a movement of the tension roller. | 09-30-2010 |
20100303515 | IMAGE TRANSFER DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE TRANSFERRING METHOD - According to one embodiment, an image transfer device includes an endless transfer belt which is belted movably around a pair of separate supporting members to form a belt loop, a transfer member facing an image carrier via the transfer belt, to transfer a developed image formed on the image carrier onto the transfer belt, and a belt pressing member configured to act the transfer belt to increase an area of the transfer belt contacting the image carrier. | 12-02-2010 |
20100310283 | BELT UNIT AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE EQUIPPED THEREWITH - There is provided a belt unit including: a fixed frame at which a transfer roller is provided; plural fixed side supporting rollers provided at the fixed frame; a movable frame that is swingably mounted to the fixed frame, and at which plural transfer rollers are provided; a movable side supporting roller provided at the movable frame; and an endless belt stretched around the fixed side supporting rollers and the movable side supporting roller, and contacting the transfer roller provided at the fixed frame and the transfer rollers supported at the movable frame, and contacting plural photoreceptor drums, wherein a swinging center of the movable frame is a center of belt portions at both sides of the swinging center, and in a monochrome mode, the movable frame is swung and moves the belt away from the photoreceptor drums other than the photoreceptor drum that is used in the monochrome mode. | 12-09-2010 |
20100310284 | VELOCITY DETECTING DEVICE AND MULTI-COLOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A velocity detecting device includes an image-pattern acquiring unit that includes a laser light source and an area sensor that acquires a one-dimensional or a two-dimensional image. The image-pattern acquiring unit includes a lens between a moving member and the area sensor, irradiates a beam emitted from the laser light source to the moving member to make a scattering light of the moving member scattered from the moving member on the area sensor by using the lens, and acquires an image pattern at a predetermined time interval in association with movement of the moving member. A velocity calculating unit calculates the velocity of the moving member by computing the image pattern acquired by the image-pattern acquiring unit. The lens is a reduced optical system that projects a reduced object onto the area sensor. | 12-09-2010 |
20100310285 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an image forming apparatus using an intermediate transfer tandem method, image forming unit is divided into two parts and toner images superimposed on an intermediate transfer belt included in one of the image forming unit is once secondary transferred onto toner images superimposed on an intermediate transfer belt included in the other image forming unit. Then the secondary transferred images are collectively transferred (tertiary transferred) onto a recording material at once. | 12-09-2010 |
20100310286 | BELT MEMBER DRIVING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING BELT MEMBER DRIVING APPARATUS - A belt driving apparatus for rotationally driving a belt member, the belt member driving apparatus includes a stretching member for stretching the belt member; steering means including a steering member having a rotatable portion which is rotatable with rotation of the belt member, a frictional portion slidable relative to the belt member and provided at each of longitudinally outsides of the rotatable portion, and further including supporting means supporting the steering member, and a rotation shaft rotatably supporting the supporting means, the steering means being effective to steer the belt member by inclining the steering member by a force produced by sliding between the frictional portion and the belt member; and resisting force applying means for applying a resisting force against inclination of the steering member, the resisting force increases with increase of rate of change of an inclination angle of the steering member with respect to time. | 12-09-2010 |
20100316419 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - The transfer portion for use in an image forming apparatus includes: an intermediate transfer belt having a toner image temporarily transferred from a photoreceptor drum; roller members that support and stretch the intermediate transfer belt; and strip-like guide elements that guide conveyance of the intermediate transfer belt. The guide elements are provided on the inner peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt with the first and second ends opposed to and arranged a predetermined gap apart from each other. Each of the first and second ends is formed with a first (second) perpendicular surface that is perpendicular to the advancing direction of the belt and a first (second) inclined surface that is inclined relative to the belt advancing direction. The first and second perpendicular surfaces are formed in such a position that the first and second ends become tapered by the first and second inclined surfaces, respectively. | 12-16-2010 |
20100316420 | IMAGE-SUPPORTING MEMBER AND IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS - An image-supporting member, having at least one thin film layer on an outer circumferential surface of the image-supporting member,
| 12-16-2010 |
20110008077 | SCALABLE PRINTING SYSTEM HAVING MULTIPLE INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELTS - A printing system for creating multi-color images on print media. The printing system includes a plurality of marking modules, wherein each marking module creates a single color separation of a multi-color image. The printing system also includes a first image collection member that collects superimposed color separations produced by a first set of marking modules and a second image collection member that collects superimposed color separations produced by a second set of marking modules. The printing system further includes a media transport that conveys print media along a defined direction. A first set of color separations is simultaneously transferred from the first image collection member to a print media at a first location on the transport and a second set of color separations is simultaneously transferred from the second image collection member to the media at a second location on the transport. Further, at least one of the sets of color separations consists of at least two color separations. | 01-13-2011 |
20110008078 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a first image forming unit, a second image forming unit, and an intermediate transfer medium. The first image forming unit includes at least one image bearing member on which a first image is formed. The second image forming unit includes an image bearing member on which a second image is formed. The first image is primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer medium. When the intermediate transfer medium is moved to a first position, the first image is secondarily transferred onto the image bearing member of the second image forming unit and tertiarily transferred onto a transfer medium from the image bearing member. When the intermediate transfer medium is moved to a second position, the second image is transferred onto the transfer medium from the image bearing member of the second image forming unit. | 01-13-2011 |
20110013950 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a first image carrier, a second image carrier, an intermediate transfer member disposed facing the second image carrier, a conveyance belt to transport a transfer sheet, disposed facing both the first image carrier and the intermediate transfer member, a first transfer member to transfer a first toner image formed on the first image carrier onto the transfer sheet, a second transfer member to transfer a second toner image formed on the second image carrier onto the intermediate transfer member, and a third transfer member disposed downstream from the second image carrier in a rotation direction of the intermediate transfer member, to transfer the second toner image from the intermediate transfer member onto the transfer sheet transported by the conveyance belt. The first image carrier and the intermediate transfer member inflect the conveyance belt at a first inflection angle and a second inflection angle, respectively. | 01-20-2011 |
20110013951 | BELT DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS PROVIDED WITH THE SAME - A belt device includes an endless belt bearing a toner image having a plurality of different colors superimposed one on another, a plurality of rollers on which the belt is mounted, a meandering correcting member correcting the meandering of the belt in a belt width direction, a sensor detecting the position of an end surface of the belt in a width direction of the belt, an adjusting mechanism adjusting the movement of the meandering correcting member, and a controller controlling the adjusting mechanism based on the position detection of the belt end surface by the sensor. The controller controls the adjusting mechanism so that the belt end surface approaches a specified target position and lies within a specified position range including the specified target position. The specified position range is set based on the magnitude of fluctuation of the position of the belt end surface. | 01-20-2011 |
20110013952 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT AND ELECTRO-PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS WITH INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT - An intermediate transfer belt is built in an electro-photographic image forming apparatus. A toner image formed on a photosensitive element is primary transferred on the intermediate transfer belt. The intermediate transfer belt secondary transfers the primary transferred toner image on a recording medium being conveyed at a secondary transfer unit. The intermediate transfer belt has streaks formed by surface roughening on the surface thereof and directed so as to have an angle relative to the driving direction of the intermediate transfer belt within a range from 40 to 140 degree. This angle setting enables stable transfer of an image without causing any character missing. | 01-20-2011 |
20110026983 | BELT CONVEYING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A typical belt conveying apparatus and a typical image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes: an endless belt; a supporting member that rotatably supports the belt; a sensor that detects a predetermined breakage at one end of the belt in a belt width direction; and a detecting mechanism that detects a predetermined breakage at the other end of the belt in the belt width direction by the use of the sensor. | 02-03-2011 |
20110044731 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND TRANSFER APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including: an image carrier that has a belt-like shape and carries an image; an image forming section that forms the image on the image carrier; a driving roller around which the image carrier is looped, the driving roller being rotationally driven by a first driving source to drive the image carrier; a roller around which the image carrier is looped; a transfer roller having a partially hollow peripheral surface and being rotationally driven by a second driving source, the transfer roller abutting on the image carrier to form a transfer nip at a position at which the image carrier is looped around the roller; a first tension roller that abuts on the image carrier between a position of the driving roller and a position of the roller to adjust a tensile force of the image carrier; and a second tension roller that abuts on the image carrier to adjust a tensile force of the image carrier, the second tension roller abutting on the image carrier on an abutting position opposite to that of the first tension roller so as to interpose the transfer nip between the first and second tension rollers. | 02-24-2011 |
20110052276 | BELT DRIVING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS EQUIPPED WITH THE SAME - In a belt driving device, the width of a belt member is larger than the width of a driven roller portion in the rotation axis direction of the driven roller portion. The belt driving device includes a movement unit configured to, when a load is generated in friction members at both ends of the driven roller portion, rotate and move the friction members in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the belt member. | 03-03-2011 |
20110064487 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING SAME - A transfer device includes a plurality of rollers, a rotatable intermediate transfer belt wound around and stretched between the rollers, a transfer member disposed in the inner loop of the belt and facing an image bearing member of an image forming apparatus disposed at an outer circumference of the belt, to transfer an image formed onto the surface of the image bearing member when contacting the intermediate transfer belt, and a position adjuster to adjust the position of the intermediate transfer belt at different positions relative to the image bearing member. The positions include a contact state in which the intermediate transfer belt applied with a predetermined tension contacts the image bearing member, a first separation state in which the tensioned intermediate transfer belt separates from the image bearing member, and a second separation state in which the intermediate transfer belt separates further away from the image bearing member. | 03-17-2011 |
20110064488 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including a conveyance unit to convey a transfer medium, a first image forming unit to form a monochrome image transferred at a first transfer position onto the transfer medium, and a second image forming unit disposed downstream from the first image forming unit in a direction of conveyance of the transfer medium, including an intermediate transfer body to form a multi-colored toner image on the intermediate transfer body. The multi-colored toner image is transferred onto the transfer medium at a second transfer position. The conveyance unit is separated from the intermediate transfer body at the second transfer position in a monochrome mode to form the monochrome image using only the first image forming unit, and contacts the intermediate transfer body at the second transfer position in a full-color mode to form a full-color image using both the first and second image forming units. | 03-17-2011 |
20110110691 | Belt driving device and image forming apparatus using the same - A steering controller uses a photointerrupter that detects the position of a filler when a steering roller is in a predetermined reference inclined position. The steering controller drives a steering motor to bring the steering roller to the reference inclined position based on a detection result obtained by the photointerrupter every time predetermined adjustment timing arrives or every time the power is turned on. Using the rotation angle of the steering motor in this condition as a reference rotation angle, the steering controller controls the rotation of the steering motor. | 05-12-2011 |
20110116846 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member; an image forming portion for forming a toner image on the image bearing member; an intermediary transfer belt for carrying the toner image transferred from the image bearing member; a transfer belt for carrying and conveying a recording material; an attraction portion for electrostatically attracting the recording material to the transfer belt; a transfer portion for transferring the toner image from the intermediary transfer belt onto the recording material attracted to the transfer belt; and an electrode member, disposed downstream of the attraction portion and upstream of the transfer portion with respect to a movement direction of the transfer belt, being contacted to an inner surface of the transfer belt. | 05-19-2011 |
20110129263 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including a secondary transfer section of a roller transfer method which transfers a toner image supported on an intermediate transfer belt onto a sheet of paper, wherein the image forming apparatus includes a transfer roller and a backup roller which suspends the above intermediate transfer belt, and opposes to the above transfer roller via the intermediate transfer belt, the surface of the above backup roller has Asker C hardness of 10 degrees or more and less than 45 degrees, and a driving roller driving the above intermediate transfer belt is arranged downstream of a primary transfer section transferring a toner image onto the intermediate transfer belt and upstream of the above secondary transfer section. | 06-02-2011 |
20110135348 | SIMPLE ITB STEERING RIB APPLICATOR - This invention provides a steering rib for an ITB. These steering rib or ribs are applied to the ITB by placing the rib around a cylindrical fixture. The rib is held in place by a vacuum that is applied to the rib to hold it against the fixture until the rib is adhered to the inside surface of an ITB. Once the rib or ribbing is adhered to the ITB, a series of apertures directs compressed air against the rib and the ITB to release them from the fixture. | 06-09-2011 |
20110158712 | Apparatus And Methods For Image And Print Blanket Life Enhancement - Apparatus and methods for improving print quality and print blanket life in liquid electrostatic printing, for example, forming a first toner image on an image surface; first transferring the first image to an intermediate transfer member; then transferring of the first image from the intermediate transfer member to a final substrate; affixing the first image on the final substrate; rotating the first image to create a second image; and, repeating the method using the second image. | 06-30-2011 |
20110217090 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member; a rotatable belt member for carrying a toner image transferred from the image bearing member or for carrying a recording material carrying a toner image transferred from the image bearing member; a rotatable supporting roller for stretching the belt member; a steering roller for stretching the belt member and for moving the belt member in a widthwise direction by inclining operation; detecting means for detecting a position of the belt member with respect to the widthwise direction; first control means, responsive to an output of the detecting means, for controlling an amount inclining operation of the steering roller to control a force of moving the belt member in the widthwise direction; and second control means, responsive to an output of the detecting means, for controlling an amount inclining operation of the steering roller to displacing the belt member in the widthwise direction. | 09-08-2011 |
20110236080 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER MEMBER AND IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS - An intermediate transfer member has an elastic layer and a surface layer formed on the elastic layer, said intermediate transfer member exhibiting 25 to 75% of Er/Ep ratio (wherein Ep is a product of a pushing displacement (μm) and a testing force (mN) at the time of compressing the surface layer by means of an indenter, and Er is a product of a pushing displacement (μm) and a testing force (mN) at the time of releasing the indenter from the surface layer). An image-forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer member; an image-forming unit for forming a toner image on the intermediate transfer member; and an transferring unit for transferring the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer member onto a recording material, wherein the intermediate transfer member is the same as the one mentioned above. | 09-29-2011 |
20110243617 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING TRANSFER RESIDUAL TONER ONTO IMAGE BEARING MEMBER - There is a charge member which charges secondary transfer remaining toner on an intermediate transfer member to a polarity opposite to a normal charge polarity. The transfer remaining toner charged by the charge member is moved in the direction opposite to that of normal toner by a transfer bias and moved from the intermediate transfer member onto an image bearing member. A BK station is arranged on the downstream of other stations. In a continuous BK monochromatic mode, by applying a reverse bias to transfer portions of the other stations and applying the transfer bias only to the BK station, waste toner can be collected into the BK station (simultaneously with the transfer). In a full-color mode, since each transfer bias is applied to all stations, the waste toner is collected into the station on the uppermost stream. Thus, the image bearing member for collecting the transfer remaining toner on the intermediate transfer member is made different according to the mode, thereby suppressing that the collection of the waste toner is concentrated on one image bearing member. | 10-06-2011 |
20110249993 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including; an image carrier carrying a toner image; a transfer belt making pressure contact with the image carrier through a sheet of paper and transferring the toner image onto the sheet of paper; a plurality of supporting rollers stretching and supporting the transfer belt; and a transfer roller to which transfer electrical current is applied, as well as making pressure contact of the transfer belt with the image carrier from a back surface of the transfer belt, wherein at least one roller of the supporting rollers is formed in an inverted crown shape with a size of the center portion is smaller than a size of the end portion, and the transfer belt is rotationally driven for a prescribed time without applying transfer electrical current both or in either of before and after transfer of a toner image. | 10-13-2011 |
20110274472 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including: guide portions provided in strips on opposite ends of an inner circumferential surface of an endless belt; a driving roller supporting the endless belt; a driven roller supporting the endless belt; first restriction members having first contact surfaces which come into contact with the guide portions when the endless belt moves in a belt width direction; and second restriction members having second contact surfaces which come into contact with the guide portions when the endless belt moves in the belt width direction, the second contact surfaces are placed nearer to a center in the belt width direction than the first contact surfaces, and an angle between the first contact surfaces and the inner circumferential surface in the belt width direction is larger than an angle between the second contact surfaces and the inner circumferential surface in the belt width direction. | 11-10-2011 |
20110286773 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Provided is an image forming apparatus whose primary transfer roller is structured in a way as to move from a transfer position along a locus of a rotational motion of a radius r about a rotational center of a photosensitive drum as a rotational axis so that the transfer position is set to a position shifted downstream in a belt moving direction from a position of contact between the photosensitive drum and an intermediate transfer belt by a shift amount f. Accordingly, even when there is an error the upward/downward movement of the primary transfer roller to shift the position of contact, the distance of the primary transfer roller from the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum is constant, so that the shift amount f which is the tangent of the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum and the circumferential surface of the primary transfer roller is always set constant. | 11-24-2011 |
20110293336 | CAM DRIVING MECHANISM, AND BELT TRANSPORTING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS THEREWITH - A cam driving mechanism has: a cam; a motor which drives the cam; a gear train which transmits, while reducing the speed of, the output of the motor to the cam; a pulse disk which is formed integrally with a gear coupled in the gear train and in which a plurality of slits are formed at equal intervals; a home position detecting member which is arranged coaxially with the pulse disk so as to be rotatable independently thereof and which, by meshing with another gear coupled in the gear train, rotates at a lower rotation speed than the pulse disk; and a cam position detecting sensor which has a detecting portion including a light-emitting portion and a light-receiving portion, the cam position detecting sensor detecting the amount of driving of the cam based on the number of slits of the pulse disk that have passed through the detecting portion, the cam position detecting sensor detecting the home position of the cam based on the timing with which the home position detecting member shields the detecting portion. | 12-01-2011 |
20110318066 | Image Forming Apparatus - An image forming apparatus comprising: a rotary body which rotates in accordance with an image forming operation; a rotation shaft of the rotary body; a through hole which is provided in an end portion in an axial direction of the rotation shaft; a stabilizing member which is provided to rotate together with the rotary body and stabilize the rotary body by reducing fluctuations of rotation of the rotary body under inertia, and which has an inserted portion into which the rotation shaft is inserted; a holding member which is disposed so as to be adjacent to the stabilizing member in the axial direction to hold the stabilizing member on the rotation shaft; a through hole which is formed in the longitudinal portion correspondingly to the through hole provided in the rotation shaft; and a clamp member which passes through the through hole provided in the longitudinal portion and the through hole provided in the rotation shaft. | 12-29-2011 |
20120039640 | Transfer belt driving controller and electrophotographic image forming apparatus having the same - A transfer belt driving controller includes an idle roller that is installed on a rotating shaft of one of a plurality of supporting rollers in such a way that the idle roller may freely rotate, and is wrapped and rotated by a transfer belt, where the plurality of supporting rollers are arranged in the transfer belt and to be a predetermined distance apart from each other; an encoder wheel that rotates with the idle roller; an encoder that detects information regarding rotation of the encoder wheel; and a control unit that controls a linear velocity of the transfer belt by feedback controlling a driving source for driving the supporting rollers based on the information regarding rotation of the encoder wheel detected by the encoder. | 02-16-2012 |
20120045257 | ENDLESS BELT, INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT UNIT, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE ENDLESS BELT - An intermediate transfer belt includes a belt body and a first and a second travelling guide ribs. The first and the second travelling guide ribs are respectively provided in a first edge portion and a second edge portion in width direction in an internal perimetric face of the belt body. A first joint of the first travelling guide rib and a second joint of the second travelling guide rib are disposed so as to be apart from each other in a circumferential direction of the belt body at least not less than a distance corresponding to a semicircle of an intermediate transfer belt drive roller. | 02-23-2012 |
20120070201 | DRIVING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A driving device includes a stretched member, and a first rotation member and a second rotation member that support the stretched member in a stretched manner. The first rotation member has a first rotation axis, and the second rotation member has a second rotation axis. The first rotation member includes a plurality of members arranged in an axial direction of the first rotation axis. | 03-22-2012 |
20120082488 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER MEMBER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - An intermediate transfer member including a base layer as first layer, an elastic layer as second layer, and a particle layer as third layer and containing fine spherical particles arranged in plane direction thereof where the particle layer has a concavo-convex pattern formed by the fine spherical particles, the elastic layer and the particle layer being formed on the base layer in this order, wherein the intermediate transfer member has a Martens hardness of 1.0 N/mm | 04-05-2012 |
20120082489 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a belt member; a toner image forming portion for forming a toner image on the belt member; a transfer portion where the toner image formed on the belt member is to be transferred onto a recording material; a recording material supplying portion for supplying the recording material to the transfer portion; a steering portion for adjusting a widthwise position of the belt member by being tilted; and an adjusting portion for adjusting a conveyance direction of the recording material supplied by the recording material supplying portion so that a conveyance direction of the belt member when the steering portion is tilted is the same as the conveyance direction of the recording material supplied by the recording material supplying portion. | 04-05-2012 |
20120114397 | BELT DRIVING APPARATUS, BELT UNIT, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A belt driving apparatus includes an endless belt stretched around a driving roller that drives the belt, a receiving roller that receives an external force through the belt, driven rollers arranged upstream of the receiving roller and downstream of the driving roller in a rotational direction of the belt, at least one of the driven rollers being supported to be movable in radially inward and outward directions of the belt in accordance with a tension in the belt. A braking unit performs braking by pressing a frictional member against a rotational shaft of one of the driven rollers and generating a frictional force, and converts a displacement of the movably supported driven roller in the radially outward direction into a relative displacement between the rotational shaft and the frictional member, the displacement being caused when the external force is applied to the receiving roller so as to decelerate rotation thereof. | 05-10-2012 |
20120141172 | BELT DRIVING UNIT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Provided is a belt driving unit including a plurality of rollers including a driving roller; an endless belt stretched round the rollers; a driving unit that conveys the endless belt by driving the driving roller; a control unit that controls the driving of the driving roller; and a detection unit that detects the position of the endless belt in a widthwise direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the endless belt. The driving roller includes a first driving roller and a second driving roller. A direction in which the first driving roller forwards the endless belt and a direction in which the second driving roller forwards the endless belt are nonparallel. The control unit controls the position of the endless belt in the widthwise direction by driving the first driving roller and the second driving roller at different speeds on the basis of the detection result of the detection unit. | 06-07-2012 |
20120189358 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including an endless intermediate transfer member stretched over a plurality of rollers; a first biasing member; a secondary transfer roller to be pressed against a surface of the intermediate transfer member by the first biasing member; an opposed roller disposed opposite the secondary transfer roller to thus form a secondary transfer nip at which the toner image carried on the intermediate transfer member is transferred onto a recording medium; and a second biasing member to bias the opposed roller. The secondary transfer roller and the opposed roller are movable along a line connecting respective axes of the rollers and a pressure F | 07-26-2012 |
20120207519 | SEAMLESS INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT - An intermediate transfer belt for an electrostatographic device and methods for making the intermediate transfer belt can include the use of polyamide-imide and carbon nanotubes and nanosheets, for example multi-walled carbon nanotubes, single-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene, graphite, and two or more of these as an electrically conductive filler. | 08-16-2012 |
20120207520 | ENDLESS FLEXIBLE MEMBERS CONTAINING PHOSPHORUS FOR IMAGING DEVICES - Flexible members for use in imaging devices comprise a polyamideimide comprising phosphorus. | 08-16-2012 |
20120207521 | Endless flexible bilayer members containing phosphorus for imaging devices - Flexible members for use in imaging devices comprise two layers with the superior or second layer comprising a polyamideimide comprising phosphorus. | 08-16-2012 |
20120213558 | Skew Aligning Interacting Belts Apparatus - Aligning image transfer assembly belts using two driven image-bearing belts simultaneously engaged with a driven transport belt. Each image-bearing belt conveys image-forming marking material formed thereon, wherein the transport belt is selectively engageable by the two image-bearing belts. The selective engagement of each image-bearing belt being independent from the other, wherein the two image-bearing belts are remote from one another. The method and apparatus also output signals representing at least one detected lateral positions of an edge of a measured belt using at least one edge sensor. The detected lateral position measured can be achieved by one or two edge sensors, wherein the two edge sensors would be disposed remote from one another along an extent across which the edge of the measured belt moves. Then a skew indication of the simultaneously engaged two image-bearing belts is determined based on a the output edge sensor(s) signals. | 08-23-2012 |
20120213559 | Dual-Axis Belt Steering - According to aspects described herein, there is disclosed an apparatus and method for steering a belt in an image transfer assembly. The apparatus includes a image-bearing belt, at least two image transfer nips and at least two belt steering rollers. The image-bearing belt receives portions of image-forming marking material, wherein the image-bearing belt is supported by rollers. The image-bearing belt moves in a process direction for conveying the received portions of the image-forming marking material. The at least two image transfer nips transfer at least one portion of the image-forming marking material to the image-bearing belt, wherein the image-bearing belt extends continuously between the at least two image transfer nips. The belt steering rollers being disposed remote from each other along the process direction of the image-bearing belt, wherein the belt steering rollers include idler rollers directly engaging the image-bearing belt. | 08-23-2012 |
20120224892 | BELT UNIT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A belt unit includes a belt whose surface has critical surface tension in a range from 15 N/m to 36 N/m, and a plurality of rollers around which the belt is stretched. With such a configuration, high image quality can be obtained. | 09-06-2012 |
20120237272 | IMAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD - An intermediate transfer member ( | 09-20-2012 |
20120243916 | TUBULAR MEMBER, TUBULAR MEMBER UNIT, INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER MEMBER, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A tubular member formed of a polyamide resin layer includes carbon black and a semi-aromatic polyamide resin having at least a repeating unit structure derived from an aromatic dicarboxylic compound and an aliphatic diamine compound with the alkyl carbon number in the range of from 9 to 13. | 09-27-2012 |
20120251194 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an endless belt-like image holding member holding a visible image, a first offset correcting member rotatably supporting the endless belt-like image holding member and tilting a first rotation shaft in a direction in which an offset is corrected, an endless belt-like transport member supporting and transporting a medium, and a second offset correcting member rotatably supporting the endless belt-like transport member and tilting a second rotation shaft in a direction in which an offset is corrected, wherein the image holding member and the transport member satisfy a conditional expression of μ | 10-04-2012 |
20120294657 | BELT-SHAPED MEMBER FOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A belt-shaped member for image forming apparatus, satisfying the following relationships: | 11-22-2012 |
20120308272 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a movable intermediary transfer member; a first photosensitive member forming a first nip with the intermediary transfer member; a second photosensitive member forming a second nip with the intermediary transfer member; a first transfer roller contacting the intermediary transfer member to form a first contact portion at a position away from the first nip toward downstream; and a second transfer roller contacting the intermediary transfer member to form a second contact portion at a position away from the second nip toward downstream; wherein a length of the second contact portion is longer than a length of the first contact portion, measured in the moving direction. | 12-06-2012 |
20120315067 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An intermediate transfer belt having a circumferential length not less than 2,000 mm and is driven at a linear speed not less than 350 mm/sec and an inner circumferential surface having a surface roughness Ra of from 0.2 to 0.4 nm (JIS B0601: '01), and including a substrate layer and a high-resistivity layer having a resistivity higher than that of the substrate layer, wherein the high-resistivity layer has a surface resistivity higher than that of the substrate layer by 0.3 to 2.5 log Ω/□ in common logarithm value when applied with a voltage of 500 V. | 12-13-2012 |
20120328337 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum; an image forming device for forming a toner image on the drum; an endless belt; first and second rollers supporting the belt; a first sensor for detecting a widthwise position of the belt; a first displacing device for displacing the first roller in accordance with an output of the first sensor; a second sensor for detecting a widthwise position of the belt; a second displacing device for displacing the second in accordance with an output of the second sensor; an adjuster for adjusting first and second reference positions such that a tangent line direction of the drum at a position at which the drum contacts the belt is parallel with a moving direction the belt. | 12-27-2012 |
20130004212 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - To provide an intermediate transfer belt, which contains a base layer, and an elastic layer formed on the base layer, wherein the base layer contains polyimide which has a constitutional unit derived from pyromellitic acid and a constitutional unit derived from diaminodiphenyl ether, wherein the intermediate layer has a curling amount of 1.5 mm or less in an absolute value, and wherein the intermediate transfer belt is configured to receive, by transferring, a toner image formed by developing, with a toner, a latent image formed on an image bearing member. | 01-03-2013 |
20130011169 | ANNULAR INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER MEMBERS, APPARATUS, AND USE - An annular intermediate transfer member can be used to transfer toner particles. This annular intermediate transfer member comprises an innermost non-metallic core, a cushioning layer, and an outermost toner-carrying layer. The innermost non-metallic core has 1) a mounting force of equal to or less than 15 lb | 01-10-2013 |
20130058687 | BELT DRIVING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A belt driving apparatus includes: an endless belt having a stepped region at its edge; a driving member for driving the endless belt; a moving member for moving the endless belt in a widthwise direction; a mark provided at a part of the endless belt with respect to a circumferential direction and located at a position corresponding to the stepped region of the endless belt with respect to a rotational direction; a mark detecting member for detecting the mark during rotation of the endless belt; an edge position detecting member for detecting a widthwise position of at least one of edges of the endless belt during rotation; and a controller for controlling, after the mark detecting member detects the mark, the moving member on the basis of a detection result of the edge other than the stepped region of the endless belt. | 03-07-2013 |
20130064581 | BELT DRIVING DEVICE - A belt driving device includes an endless belt, a tension roller, a shaft member, deviation transfer members, and biasing members. The deviation transfer members are fitted over the shaft member in such a manner as to adjoin respective of opposite ends of the tension roller in an axial direction of the tension roller. Of the deviation transfer members, at least that deviation transfer member which is located on a downstream side in a deviation direction along the axial direction is movable together with the endless belt along the shaft member. Each of the biasing members has an acting end pivotally supported on an associated one of the deviation transfer members and a base end pivotally supported on an associated one of apparatus frames at a predetermined position. | 03-14-2013 |
20130071149 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF PERFORMING SAME - An image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer belt; a plurality of photosensitive bodies on which a toner image is formed, wherein the photosensitive bodies are disposed to contact the intermediate transfer belt so as to form respective transfer regions which are used to transfer the toner image to the intermediate transfer belt, wherein a first photosensitive body is disposed in the most upstream side in a proceeding direction of the intermediate transfer belt, and a transfer current density of the first transfer region is greater than a transfer current density of the remaining transfer regions. | 03-21-2013 |
20130071150 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS CAPABLE OF SUPPRESSING - An image forming apparatus has a belt stretched and wound around a driving roller and multiple driven rollers; multiple image formation units arranged in a running direction of the belt including photoconductors to form toner images of different colors; multiple transfer rollers opposed to the photoconductors via the belt; an engagement/disengagement device to bring at least one of the multiple transfer rollers in contact with and separate from the belt in accordance with an image formation mode; a steering controller to correct displacement of the belt in a widthwise direction by inclining one of the multiple driven rollers in a prescribed direction as a steering roller not to change a perimeter of the belt at least in the first image formation mode in which all of the multiple transfer rollers contact the belt; at least one position adjustment roller; and a belt position adjuster. | 03-21-2013 |
20130078011 | BELT DRIVING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE BELT DRIVING APPARATUS - A belt driving apparatus includes: an endless belt member; a belt driving portion for driving the belt member to move the belt member in an endless path at a variable traveling speed; a steering roller, provided tiltably while stretching the belt member, for steering the belt member during traveling; a steering driving portion for tilting the steering roller at a variable tilting speed; and a controller for setting the tilting speed, when the steering roller is tilted through a certain angle, so as to be higher when the traveling speed of the belt member is a first traveling speed than when the traveling speed of the belt member is a second traveling speed lower than the first traveling speed. | 03-28-2013 |
20130101321 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an apparatus which controls the bias of an intermediate transfer belt, the position shift of the width direction between a toner image and a recording material is reduced. Based on the results of estimating the variation moving in the width direction of the intermediate transfer belt, the position in the width direction of the recording material conveyed to a transfer position is changed to match the positions in the width direction of the toner image and the recording material. | 04-25-2013 |
20130101322 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An endless belt is held by a first roller and a second roller each having an axis extending in an axial direction. A transfer member is disposed opposite to an image supporting member with the belt therebetween. The transfer member is configured to transfer a developer image supported by the image supporting member to a sheet conveyed by the belt. The image supporting member extends in the axial direction. The belt and the transfer member each have a width in a direction parallel to the axial direction. A first portion of the image supporting member and a first portion of the transfer member directly oppose each other without the belt therebetween. A second portion of the image supporting member opposes a first surface of the belt, and a second portion of the transfer member opposes a second surface of the belt, which is opposite to the first surface. | 04-25-2013 |
20130101323 | BELT DRIVING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING BELT DRIVING DEVICE - A belt member driving device includes an arm configured to be movable with movement of a belt member in a width direction thereof while being in contact with an end of the belt member in the width direction thereof, a first detected portion provided on the arm, a second detected portion provided on the arm and disposed in a position different from that of the first detected portion in a direction perpendicular to a movement direction of the arm on a plane where the arm is moved, a first sensor configured to detect the first detected portion, and a second sensor configured to detect the second detected portion. The second sensor and the first sensor partly overlap each other in the movement direction of the arm as viewed in a direction perpendicular to the movement direction of the arm. | 04-25-2013 |
20130129395 | BELT FOR AN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - To provide a belt for an image forming apparatus, which contains: a base layer; an elastic layer; and spherical particles, wherein the belt for an image forming apparatus is provided across a plurality of rollers of the image forming apparatus to rotate, wherein the belt for an image forming apparatus has a laminate structure where at least the base layer and the elastic layer are provided in this order, wherein the spherical particles are partially embedded in an exposed surface of the elastic layer, and wherein, relative to a width direction of the belt for an image forming apparatus, a thickness of an edge portion of the belt for an image forming apparatus is 50% to 95% of a thickness of a center portion of the belt for an image forming apparatus, and an edge curling amount of the belt is 4 mm or less. | 05-23-2013 |
20130136509 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an image forming apparatus, one of a plurality of support members supporting an intermediate transfer belt is a guide member configured to regulate the rotational direction of the intermediate transfer belt while being held in sliding contact with the intermediate transfer belt at a position opposite the secondary transfer member across the intermediate transfer belt. This guide member is equipped with a first resistor portion in sliding contact with the intermediate transfer belt and a second resistor portion of a higher electrical resistance than the first resistor portion, with the second resistor portion provided upstream of the first resistor portion in the rotational direction of the intermediate transfer belt. | 05-30-2013 |
20130164049 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member unit including a toner image carrying member; a transfer unit including a movable endless belt for transferring the toner image from the carrying member onto a transfer material, a plurality of stretching members for stretching the endless belt, and a supporting portion, provided at a end portion with respect to a widthwise direction, for supporting the stretching members; and a main assembly frame provided at a position opposing the supporting portion and including a positioning portion for determining a positions of the plurality of stretching members, wherein the supporting portion is movable relative to the main assembly frame. | 06-27-2013 |
20130164050 | BELT UNIT, TRANSFER UNIT AND IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS - A belt unit includes rolls being rotatably supported and a belt to be conveyed by the rolls. In a dynamic viscoelasticity test with conditions of tensile load set in a frequency range of 0.01 to 100 [Hz], the belt unit satisfies 1≦G | 06-27-2013 |
20130189001 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An intermediate transfer device includes an intermediate transfer member, intermediate transfer member support members, and two frame members each including first and second positioning members each having a positioning portion. At least one of the frame members satisfies a condition L | 07-25-2013 |
20130223894 | ROTATION SHAFT COUPLING STRUCTURE, INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER UNIT INCLUDING THE SAME, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A rotation shaft coupling structure includes a roller drive shaft including a recessed portion having an internal thread; a rotation roller including a coupling member housing the recessed portion of the roller drive shaft; and a coupling shaft extending through the rotation roller in the axial direction. The coupling shaft includes a threaded portion at a first end portion thereof, the threaded portion mating with the internal thread of the recessed portion, and the coupling shaft couples the roller drive shaft and the rotation roller to each other. The first end portion of the coupling shaft in the axial direction is joined to the roller drive shaft and the rotation roller in the coupling member of the rotation roller, and a second end portion of the coupling shaft in the axial direction is a free end that allows the coupling shaft to extend and contract in the axial direction. | 08-29-2013 |
20130236218 | ENDLESS BELT FOR IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS, ENDLESS BELT UNIT, IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR FORMING IMAGE - An endless belt for an image-forming apparatus includes, as an outermost layer, a resin layer having substantially hemispherical protrusions distributed over an outer surface thereof. | 09-12-2013 |
20130259543 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In existing image forming apparatuses, it is difficult to maintain each of a primary transfer member and a secondary transfer member at an optimum potential. | 10-03-2013 |
20130266348 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The image forming apparatus includes a transfer rotary member for forming a primary transfer portion (N) between a photosensitive drum and an intermediate transfer belt. The transfer rotary member includes multiple rotary members whose diameters are different, into which the transfer rotary member is divided in a direction orthogonal to a moving direction of the intermediate transfer belt. The transfer rotary member is arranged so as to contact a surface of the intermediate transfer belt on a side opposite to a surface with which multiple photosensitive drums come into contact at the primary transfer portions (N), on a downstream side in the moving direction of the intermediate transfer belt with respect to a contact portion between the intermediate transfer belt and each photosensitive drum, the intermediate transfer belt being arranged so as to protrude on the photosensitive drum side. | 10-10-2013 |
20130322934 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including a main assembly; an intermediary transfer unit including an endless intermediary transfer belt, a plurality of rollers including a driving roller for applying a driving force to the intermediary transfer belt and stretching the intermediary transfer belt, and an intermediary transfer frame integrally supporting the rollers; a main assembly rail member, fixed to the main assembly, for guiding the intermediary transfer unit, the main assembly rail member regulating and positioning at least the driving roller and a roller around which the intermediary transfer belt is wound with a wrapping angle not less than 90° in a state that intermediary transfer unit is mounted in the main assembly. | 12-05-2013 |
20130336681 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus comprising an image carrying member for carrying a toner image; a intermediary member for carrying the toner image transferred from said image carrying member; a first transfer member for transferring the toner image from said intermediary member onto a sheet, said first transfer member having first resistance and being contacted to said intermediary member; a second transfer member for transferring the toner image from said intermediary member onto the sheet, said second transfer member having second resistance higher than the first resistance and being contacted to said intermediary member at a position downstream of said first transfer member; and voltage applying means, connected to both of said first transfer member and said second transfer member, for applying the same voltage to said first transfer member and to said second transfer member to transfer the toner image onto the sheet. | 12-19-2013 |
20140023412 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - It has been difficult to ensure satisfactory secondary transfer performance while ensuring satisfactory primary transfer performance by passing a current in the circumferential direction of an intermediate transfer belt from a current supply member. | 01-23-2014 |
20140079445 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT AND PRODUCING METHOD THE SAME, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An intermediate transfer belt including a base layer, and an elastic layer on the base layer containing spherical particles on a surface thereof and containing an elastic layer ingredient, wherein the elastic layer contains a fatty acid in an amount of 0.001 parts by mass to 0.040 parts by mass relative to 100 parts by mass of the elastic layer ingredient. | 03-20-2014 |
20140093286 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus having a system speed of from 400 to 2,000 mm/sec, including an endless rotational member having an elastic layer, to transfer a sheet-shaped medium bearing a toner image; and a transfer electric field forming member facing the rotational member, to form a transfer electric field relative to the sheet-shaped medium. A toner of the toner image includes a parent particulate material formed of a colored particulate material granulated by emulsifying or dispersing a toner material solution in an aqueous medium to prepare an emulsion or a dispersion, and removing a solvent therefrom; an external additive on the surface of the parent particulate material; and a charge controlling agent. The external additive is an inorganic particulate material, polymeric particulate material or a polymeric particulate material formed of a thermoplastic resin. The toner is subjected to a surface treatment with a fluidizer to be uniformly charged. | 04-03-2014 |
20140112689 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier having an electrostatic latent image that is formed on the image carrier and that is developed into a toner image, an intermediate transfer belt to which the toner image on the image carrier is transferred, and a second transfer belt that transfers the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt to a transfer member via a second transfer section. The intermediate transfer belt and the second transfer belt are made of a thermoplastic resin. The hardness of the second transfer belt is set to be equal to or larger than that of the intermediate transfer belt. The contact angle of a pure water droplet on a surface of the second transfer belt is set to be larger than that on a surface of the intermediate transfer belt. | 04-24-2014 |
20140119783 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFERRER, TRANSFER DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A volume resistivity RA of an elastic layer of an intermediate transferrer is larger than a volume resistivity RB of a base layer of the intermediate transferrer under a HT/HH environment, and is smaller than RB under a LT/LH environment. A transfer device includes the intermediate transferrer. A volume resistivity RC of a transfer member of the transfer device is smaller than RA and RB under any temperature or humidity environment. An image forming apparatus includes the transfer device. The apparatus can suppress the occurrence of a transfer failure due to a change in temperature or humidity. | 05-01-2014 |
20140126938 | Hybrid Architecture for an Electrophotographic Imaging Device - An imaging device is shown, including a plurality of color imaging units, each color imaging unit selectively depositing toner forming a distinct color toner image; an intermediate transfer member for cooperating with the color imaging units such that the color toner images are deposited thereon; and a black imaging unit for depositing black toner having a photoconductive member on which the black toner is deposited to form a black toner image. The intermediate transfer member and the black imaging unit are configured so that during a color print operation, color toner images deposited on the intermediate transfer member are deposited therefrom onto the photoconductive member of the black imaging unit, and the color toner images and the black toner image are subsequently deposited onto a to media sheet. | 05-08-2014 |
20140161495 | ENDLESS BELT, BELT DRIVING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An endless belt includes: an endless belt body; and a tape which is wound around the endless belt body through more than full circumference on an outer peripheral surface of each of end portions of the endless belt body with respect to a widthwise direction crossing a circumferential direction of the endless belt body and which is provided so that said tape overlaps a winding start portion with a slack. | 06-12-2014 |
20140178110 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Provided is an image forming apparatus including an image bearing member, an intermediate transfer member, and secondary transfer member having a plurality of protrusions which come into contact with the intermediate transfer member. A superficial layer of the intermediate transfer member includes a superficial layer and a plurality of insulating particles buried in the superficial layer so as to be partially exposed from she superficial layer. In the case where the insulating particles are present in a contact region in which the protrusion brings into contact with the intermediate transfer member, a portion in which the protrusion brings into direct contact with the superficial layer is present in the contact region. | 06-26-2014 |
20140178111 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image bearing member, an intermediary transfer belt containing an ion conductive agent, a secondary transfer member, and a charging device. With respect to the intermediary transfer belt, when a difference in number of digits between resistivity measured by using a metal probe and resistivity measured by using a sputtering electrode is ΔM, a difference in number of digits between resistivity in a first environment and resistivity in a second environment higher than the first environment in temperature or humidity is ΔE, a length of the secondary transfer portion with respect to the movement direction of the intermediary transfer belt is La, and a distance from the charging portion to the primary transfer portion with respect to the movement direction is Lb, the following relationship is satisfied: | 06-26-2014 |
20140241762 | ENDLESS BELT FOR IMAGE FORMING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE HAVING THE SAME - An endless belt for an image forming device includes a base member that is shaped in a loop and is to be rotated around a center of the loop, and a reinforcement tape that is attached to a side of the base member, has two ends that are overlapped with each other, and has a bonding portion between the two ends in the overlapped portion. The bonding portion has an outer portion, an inner portion and a center portion between the inner and outer portions. A length of the center portion in a rotating direction of the base member is greater than a length of the inner portion and a length of the outer portion. | 08-28-2014 |
20140248068 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A transfer device includes an intermediate transfer belt that is stretched by multiple rollers, and transports a toner image on an outer peripheral surface, a second transfer member that performs second transfer that transfers the toner image to a recording medium at a second transfer position, an opposed member that abuts an inner peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt, and is opposed to the second transfer member at the second transfer position, and an abutment member that is rotatably arranged so as to contact the inner peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt at a contact point, the contact point being located on the second transfer member side of a region defined by an imaginary line extended orthogonally to an imaginary normal, the imaginary normal connecting a center of the opposed member and a center of the second transfer member at the second transfer position. | 09-04-2014 |
20140248069 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND METHOD OF PRODUCING BELT MEMBER USED IN THE APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearer; an image developer developing a latent image formed on the image bearer with a toner to form a toner image thereon; a ring-shaped intermediate transfer belt rotatably stretched by plural tension rollers, and the toner image is first transferred on; a curving roller contacting an outer surface of the intermediate transfer belt the toner image is transferred on and curving the belt inside; and a transferer secondly transferring the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt to a recording medium. The intermediate transfer belt has a double-layered structure formed of an inner layer and an outer layer each including a same resin. | 09-04-2014 |
20140248070 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT AND METHOD OF PREPARING THE SAME, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An intermediate transfer belt includes a polyimide resin or a polyamideimide resin including only γ-butyrolactone of from 5 to 5,000 ppm as a residual solvent. | 09-04-2014 |
20140255063 | BELT CONTROLLER, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM STORING IMAGE FORMING CONTROL PROGRAM - A belt controller, an image forming apparatus, a belt controlling method, and a recording medium storing an image forming control program adjust a position of a belt. Each of the belt controller, the image forming apparatus, the belt controlling method, and the recording medium storing an image forming control program detects a position of the belt and transmits a position detection signal, determines whether a degree of misalignment of the belt is equal to or greater than a specified threshold before the belt starts moving based on the position detection signal, presses the belt to reduce the degree of misalignment of the belt when the degree of misalignment of the belt is equal to or greater than the specified threshold, and performs feedback control to adjust the position of the belt according to the degree of misalignment of the belt after pressing the belt. | 09-11-2014 |
20140286682 | TRANSFER MEMBER AND IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS - A transfer member having high durability while having an excellent transfer function is provided. An image formation apparatus in which high quality images can be obtained for an extended period of time is also provided. A transfer member having an endless belt shape and constituting an image formation apparatus of an electrophotographic system includes an elastic body layer and a surface layer formed thereon. The surface layer contains metal oxide fine particles subjected to a surface treatment, in a cured resin obtained by curing an active energy ray-curable composition that contains three ingredients of a multifunctional (meth)acrylate, a polyurethane acrylate and a polymerizable component having a low surface energy group. | 09-25-2014 |
20140294451 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A transfer device includes an endless intermediate transfer belt that moves circularly, a first rotating body pressed into contact with the inner surface of the belt, and a second rotating body disposed at a position facing the first rotating body to contact with the outer surface of the belt. The belt includes a first pressing section that is in contact with the second rotating body due to a first pressure from the first rotating body such that a toner image that has been first-transferred to the outer surface of the belt is second-transferred onto a recording medium that passes between the belt and the second rotating body and a second pressing section that is in contact with the second rotating body due to a second pressure smaller than the first pressure on the upstream side of the first pressing section in the belt movement direction. | 10-02-2014 |
20140294452 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer body onto which developer images are transferred, a second transfer unit that transfers the developer images on the intermediate transfer body onto a recording medium, support members including first and second support members, and a contact member. The first support member faces the second transfer unit with the intermediate transfer body therebetween and causes the recording medium to be nipped between the intermediate transfer body and the second transfer unit. The second support member is disposed upstream of the first support member in a rotation direction of the intermediate transfer body and outwardly stretches the intermediate transfer body. The contact member contacts a trailing end of the recording medium in a transport direction when the recording medium is nipped. The trailing end of the recording medium moves along the contact member toward the intermediate transfer body when the recording medium is nipped. | 10-02-2014 |
20140294453 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus, in a case in which a toner on a transfer belt is checked through a sensing unit, is capable of preventing a rotation of a guide roller, which is configured to guide the transfer belt, by use of a regulation device, so that a check error occurring due to vibration of the guide roller is reduced. Thus, the toner on the transfer belt is checked with increased accuracy and precision. | 10-02-2014 |
20140301759 | ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC BELT AND ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An electrophotographic belt which enables the suppression of bleeding of an electrolyte while minimizing influence on its surface smoothness. The electrophotographic belt showing electroconductivity resulting from dissociation of an electrolyte is made of a resin composition containing a crystalline resin as a binder resin, an oil-soluble dye and an electrolyte. | 10-09-2014 |
20140334856 | BELT DRIVING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A belt driving apparatus is configured so as to satisfy a relationship μ | 11-13-2014 |
20140369721 | BELT DRIVING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A belt driving device for driving an endless belt includes rollers configured to stretch the belt, the rollers including first and second steering rollers being provided in an upstream side and a downstream side of an image receiving surface of the belt for receiving a image, respectively, and being configured to change a position of the belt in a direction crossing with a moving direction of the belt by inclining respectively; a pivoting unit configured to pivot the first and second steering rollers, respectively; a detecting unit for detecting an inclination amount of the belt with respect to a feeding direction of the belt; and a controller configured to pivot the first and second steering rollers in the same direction by the pivoting unit on the basis of a result of detection of the detecting unit. | 12-18-2014 |
20150063879 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus, including: a contact-separation mechanism configured to change over from a fully separated position in which an intermediate transfer member is separated from a first and a second image bearing members to a partly contacted position in which the intermediate transfer member is separated from the first image bearing member in contact with the second image bearing member to a fully contacted position in which the intermediate transfer member is in contact with the first and the second image bearing members; and a control portion configured to rotationally drive the first image bearing member when the contact-separation mechanism passes through the fully contacted position in association with an image formation for forming a toner image by only the second image bearing member in the partly contacted position. | 03-05-2015 |
20150078791 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER MEMBER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An intermediate transfer member, including:
| 03-19-2015 |
20150078792 | BELT CONVEYANCE APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A belt conveyance apparatus includes an endless belt and a plurality of rollers around which the belt is stretched, and receives an image on the endless belt at a predetermined image receiving surface in a conveyance direction of the belt. At least one of the plurality of rollers is a steering roller arranged on a downstream side of an image receiving position and capable of changing an arrangement angle thereof with respect to the belt by being tilted. If an area of the belt between the steering roller and the image receiving position in an opposite direction of the conveyance direction of the belt is assumed to be a predetermined area, a tilt axis of the steering roller is arranged on the predetermined area side of a rotational axis of the steering roller when viewing in the tilt axis direction. | 03-19-2015 |
20150139703 | BELT,TRANSFER BELT, TRANSFER BELT UNIT, AND IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS - A belt formed of a single resin layer and having cavities within the resin layer. The belt may be a transfer belt that is arranged opposed to an image carrier which carries a developer image on a surface, and in which the developer image is transferred thereon from the image carrier. | 05-21-2015 |
20150147100 | TRANSFER DEVICE - Preventing link members for monochrome and for color from coming off while suppressing the occurrence of an increase of a rotatory torque and a deficiency of clutch capacity for transmitting a driving force to a cam shaft is sought. Coming-off protection sections (second and third coming-off protection sections ( | 05-28-2015 |
20150338789 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An intermediate transfer belt used for an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system includes: an elastic layer; and a surface layer formed on the elastic layer, wherein stress relief time τ [ms] of a material used for the elastic layer and hardness H [MPa] of the surface layer satisfy a first condition that 0.48<τ<0.75 and 5011-26-2015 | |
20150346645 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The image forming apparatus is equipped with an intermediate transfer belt, a toner image forming portion, a biasing member, a support roller, a rotator, a power supply, a guide portion, and a press member. The press member is arranged upstream from the nip portion in the direction of rotation of the intermediate transfer belt and adjacent to the nip portion, and elastically presses an inner side surface of the intermediate transfer belt. A press force by which the press member presses the intermediate transfer belt is greater than a tension that the biasing member applies to the intermediate transfer belt. | 12-03-2015 |
20160004191 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT - An intermediate transfer belt for use in electrophotography is provided. The intermediate transfer belt includes a thermoplastic resin having a vinylidene difluoride (VdF) structure. The intermediate transfer belt has a degree of crystallinity in the range of 17% to 39%. | 01-07-2016 |
20160004192 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus has a system speed of from 400 to 2,000 mm/sec and includes an endless intermediate transfer belt to transfer a sheet-shaped medium bearing an image formed of a toner. The intermediate transfer belt includes a first layer including at least a substrate; a second layer; and an electric resistance controlling material and has a surface resistivity of from 1×10 | 01-07-2016 |
20160041513 | POLYIMIDE SEAMLESS BELT FOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A polyimide seamless belt for an image forming apparatus, which contains: polyimide containing a segment derived from aromatic diamine, and a segment derived from aromatic tetracarboxylic acid; and two types of carbon black, which are high-structure carbon black capable of imparting high conductivity, and acidic carbon black, where the two types of the carbon black are dispersed in the polyimide seamless belt, wherein the polyimide seamless belt has surface resistivity of 10 | 02-11-2016 |
20160062278 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a rotation input section that is supported to one side roller axis so as to freely rotate integraly with an intermediate transfer belt in contact with the intermediate transfer belt when it has meandered to one side in an axial direction from a predetermined travel position, a rotation output section that is connected to the rotation input section via a speed reduction mechanism, a rotation gear section that is connected to the rotation output section, a fixed rack bar section that is engaged with the rotation gear section, and an urging member that urges the rotation gear section to return to an initial position when there is no rotation input, wherein an axis center of a meandering correction roller inclines in the state in which the rotation gear section so that the intermediate transfer belt meanders the one side in the axial direction. | 03-03-2016 |
20160070221 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: a belt member configured to be rotationally operated at least during performance of a job; an adjustment mechanism configured to adjust the position of the belt member; a detection unit configured to detect the position of the belt member; and a control unit configured to control the adjustment mechanism during performance of a job, and perform steering control for correcting deviation of the belt member, the control unit comparing the position of the belt member at the end of a job, and a determination threshold for determining deviation of the belt member from a belt reference position, and selecting a control mode relating to the steering control, according to a result of the comparison. | 03-10-2016 |
20160085184 | TUBULAR MEMBER, TUBULAR MEMBER UNIT, INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER MEMBER, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A tubular member includes a resin layer containing a thermoplastic resin and a conductive material, and the resin layer forming a sea part in which the thermoplastic resin becomes a matrix phase, wherein an area ratio of the sea part to a portion in a range of 5 μm respectively to a front surface portion side and a rear surface portion side with a central portion of the resin layer in a thickness direction as a center is greater by 3% to 15% than a greater area ratio between an area ratio of the sea part to a portion in a range of 10 μm from a front surface portion of the resin layer in the thickness direction and an area ratio of the sea part to a portion in a range of 10 μm from a rear surface portion in the thickness direction. | 03-24-2016 |
20160091835 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an image forming apparatus including a pressing member arranged on an inner circumferential surface of an intermediate transfer belt, configured to correct a position of the intermediate transfer belt in the width direction to be fit within a movable region, positions of both ends of the pressing member in the width direction are respectively arranged outside positions of both ends of the movable region. | 03-31-2016 |
20160170332 | INTERMEDIATE TRANSFER BELT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | 06-16-2016 |
20160170334 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING TRANSFER AND FIXING PARTS WITH DIFFERENT WIDTHS | 06-16-2016 |
20160170336 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | 06-16-2016 |
20160378036 | BELT, TRANSFER BELT UNIT, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A belt has an endless shape, and is driven to rotate by a driving roller provided on an inner side thereof. The belt includes a detection target portion on an outer surface at an end of the belt in a widthwise direction of the belt. The detection target portion includes an uneven pattern. | 12-29-2016 |
20220137536 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to form a toner image, an intermediate transfer belt configured to transfer the transferred toner image to a recording material at a secondary transfer position, a first cleaning unit arranged downstream of the secondary transfer position and upstream of the primary transfer position in a conveyance direction of the intermediate transfer belt and configured to clean the intermediate transfer belt, a second cleaning unit arranged downstream of the secondary transfer position and upstream of the first cleaning unit in the conveyance direction of the intermediate transfer belt and configured to clean the intermediate transfer belt, a conveyance unit provided opposite to the first and the second cleaning units at a position below the first and the second cleaning units and configured to convey the recording material, and a third space from which the first and the second spaces are accessible. | 05-05-2022 |