IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

• Main Author: FUJITA TOSHIKI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: 16.02.2023
• Subjects: CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS

To provide an image forming apparatus that can suitably clean a surface of an image carrier, while preventing deformation of a cleaning member and generation of abnormal sound.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus comprises a photoreceptor drum 21, a charging unit 22, an exposure unit, a developing unit 23, a transfer unit, a discharging unit 24, a drum cleaning unit 25, and a control unit. The discharging unit 24 eliminates electric charges remaining on a surface of the photoreceptor drum 21 from which a toner image is transferred to a sheet by the transfer unit. The drum cleaning unit 25 is arranged on the downstream side in a direction of rotation of the photoreceptor drum 21 with respect to the discharging unit 24, and removes residual material remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 21. The control unit predicts an amount of residual material on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 21 during image formation, and according to a result of prediction and the charging polarity of toner, switches on and off of the discharging unit 24 in executing a residual material removal process with the drum cleaning unit 25.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3 【課題】クリーニング部材の変形や異音の発生を抑制しつつ、像担持体の表面を好適にクリーニングすることが可能な画像形成装置を提供する。【解決手段】画像形成装置は、感光体ドラム２１と、帯電部２２と、露光部と、現像部２３と、転写部と、除電部２４と、ドラムクリーニング部２５と、制御部と、を備える。除電部２４は、転写部によって用紙にトナー像が転写された感光体ドラム２１の表面に残留する電荷を除去する。ドラムクリーニング部２５は、除電部２４に対して感光体ドラム２１の回転方向下流側に配置され、感光体ドラム２１の表面に残留する残留物を除去する。制御部は、画像形成時に、感光体ドラム２１の表面の残留物の量を予測し、予測結果及びトナーの帯電極性に応じて、ドラムクリーニング部２５による残留物の除去工程を実行する際の除電部２４のオンオフを切り替える。【選択図】図３