Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080273898 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus that is more capable of preventing the occurrence of image quality deterioration caused by defective charging of a photoreceptor than the conventional one. As a charging device, there is used a member which has: a conductive sheet that causes the surface thereof applied with a predetermined bias to abut against the surface of the photoreceptor after passing through a primary transfer nip obtained by abutment between the photoreceptor and an intermediate transfer belt and before entering a development step performed by a developing device; a conductive brush member that applies a predetermined bias to the surface of the photoreceptor obtained after passing through the position of abutment with the sheet and before entering the development step; and a charging roller that uniformly charges the surface of the photoreceptor after passing through the position of abutment with the brush and before entering the development step. Furthermore, at least during a predetermined first period, a bias having a polarity same as the uniformly charging polarity of the photoreceptor is applied to the conductive sheet and brush member. | 11-06-2008 |
20090067887 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND DEVELOPING DEVICE - An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image carriers, a latent image forming unit, and a plurality of developing units. Each of the developing unit forms an image to have a color difference of equal to or less than about five with respect to an initial unicolor image formed by using a toner not containing a reversely-transferred toner of another color when a toner contained in a toner container is consumed by about 70%. | 03-12-2009 |
20110064473 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier on which a latent image is formed, a charging device that charges the image carrier, an exposing device that irradiates the image carrier, thereby forming a latent image on the image carrier, a developing device that develops the latent image into a visible image by using a monocomponent developer that is carried and transferred by a developer carrier and that is charged to a predetermined polarity, and a toner supply container that is installed in the developing device for toner supply. Used old toner is conveyed from the developing device to the toner supply container and mixed with unused new toner within the toner supply container and thus a mixed toner is produced, and the mixed toner is supplied to the developing device. | 03-17-2011 |
20110188896 | DEVELOPING UNIT, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND PROCESS CARTRIDGE - A developing unit includes: a developer carrier; a toner supplying member having a porous surface layer; a toner storage storing therein toner; a stirring member that is rotated to stir the toner; a toner amount detecting unit that detects an amount of the toner; a toner supplying unit that supplies new toner to the toner storage based on a detection result; and a toner removing member that removes the toner carried in the porous surface layer, wherein the toner removing member is arranged in a separable and contactable manner from and with the porous surface layer, and the developing unit has a stirring mode in which the toner removing member is brought into contact with the porous surface layer, and the toner supplying member is rotated while the stirring member is rotated to stir the toner. | 08-04-2011 |
20110194864 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND TONER SUPPLY METHOD - A toner supplying method for supplying toner from a toner container to a developing part that causes toner to adhere to a latent image formed on a latent image carrying member and develops the latent image, includes detecting a toner amount in the developing part as being equal to or less than a predetermined toner amount value; forming a fog detecting image in a case where the toner amount in the developing part is equal to or less than the predetermined toner amount value, and detecting fog; and determining based on the detected fog whether to execute a toner ejecting process of ejecting the toner remaining in the developing part toward the latent image carrying member before supplying the toner to the developing part from the toner container. | 08-11-2011 |
20110217055 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND TONER SUPPLY METHOD - Toner is supplied from a toner container to a developing part that causes the toner to adhere to a latent image formed on a latent image carrying member and develops the latent image, a pre-toner-supply operation of supplying a predetermined amount of toner to the developing part is carried out, a fog detecting image is formed and fog is detected in the fog detecting image, a toner supply amount to be supplied to the developing part is determined based on the fog detected in the detecting and an operational status of the developing part since the toner was supplied to the developing part the last time, and the toner supply amount of the toner determined in the determining is supplied to the developing part. | 09-08-2011 |
20140153958 | SEALING ASSEMBLY, DEVELOPING DEVICE, PROCESS UNIT, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A sealing assembly to contact a rotator includes a sealing member to slidably contact a surface of an end of the rotator in an axial direction of the rotator. The sealing member has an end in a circumferential direction thereof to contact the surface of the rotator with a first pressure. The end in the circumferential direction is fixed to a bearing surface formed on the opening on at least one of an upstream side and a downstream side in a rotation direction of the rotator. The sealing member has an intermediate portion between an upstream end and a downstream end in the circumferential direction to contact the surface of the rotator with a second pressure lower than the first pressure. | 06-05-2014 |
20140270861 | DEVELOPING DEVICE AND PROCESS UNIT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A developing device includes a toner bearer including a surface in which multiple recesses having a cross-sectional void rate of 50% or smaller are formed, a toner supply member to supply toner to the toner bearer, and a developer regulator disposed facing or in contact with the toner bearer and including a bent tip portion. The toner bearer has a surface roughness Ra within a range from 1.0 μm to 2.0 μm, and a surface area ratio within a range from 2.0 to 4.0. The developing device uses polymerized toner having a weight average particle diameter of 8.0 μm or smaller and an average circularity of 0.98 or greater. | 09-18-2014 |
20150063865 | TONER CONTAINER, PROCESS CARTRIDGE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A toner container includes a substantially tetrahedral toner-containing portion having an openable edge to discharge toner contained in the toner-containing portion, and a reference fold along which the toner container is foldable after the openable edge is opened. The reference fold extends from the openable edge and is provided on medians of two triangular faces of the toner-containing portion adjoining each other along the openable edge. | 03-05-2015 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080227001 | IMAGE FORMING METHOD AND PROCESS CARTRIDGE - An image forming method, including recharging untransferred toner remaining on a latent electrostatic image bearing member by using a recharging member to remove the untransferred toner from the latent electrostatic image bearing member, wherein the recharging member is a conductive member a surface of which has a contact angle of 108° or more with pure water and a Shore D hardness of 50 to 65; the coverage of the surface of the toner by an external additive is 150% or less; and a releasing agent peak ratio obtained by ATR method is 0.02 to 0.1. | 09-18-2008 |
20080232875 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A brush member includes plural raisings and contacts a surface of an image bearer downstream of a transfer station and temporary captures toner remaining on the surface of the image bearer into the brush member in a toner capturing process. The brush member returns the toner to the surface of the image bearer at a prescribed time in a toner returning process. A bending direction of the plural raisings is opposite in the returning process to that in the toner capturing process. | 09-25-2008 |
20090028606 | PROCESS CARTRIDGE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING SAME - A process cartridge includes a latent image carrier, a charging unit, a latent image forming unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, a rotary brush contacting a curved surface of the latent image carrier to form a nip, and a brush housing including a first tip and a second tip, covering the rotary brush such that a place where the rotary brush contacts the latent image carrier is opened. A downstream end of the nip where the rotary brush contacts the latent image carrier in the rotation direction of the rotary brush is not higher than a center of curvature of the latent image carrier where the rotary brush contacts, and the first tip of the brush housing is downstream of the rotary brush, further toward the latent image carrier than a tangent to the surface of the latent image carrier at the downstream end of the nip. | 01-29-2009 |
20100150609 | SEMICONDUCTIVE MEMBER, AND DEVELOPING ROLL, CHARGING ROLL, TRANSFER BELT, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING SAME - A semiconductive member including an alkali metal salt having the formula (M) | 06-17-2010 |
20120033997 | DEVELOPMENT DEVICE, PROCESSING UNIT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A development device includes a developer carrier configured to carry on a surface thereof a developer, the developer carrier being disposed to face a latent image carrier, a developer tank having the developer carrier, a developer container configured to house the developer to be supplied to the developer tank, the developer container being connected to the developer tank through a partition having an opening, and a developer carrier member configured to carry the developer in the developer container, the developer being supplied to the developer tank from the opening while being carried by the developer carrier member, and the amount of developer to be supplied to the developer tank from the opening being gradually increased in a developer carrying direction of the developer carrier member. | 02-09-2012 |