Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp.

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Ajinomoto Co., Ltd.

Chihiro Hagiwara

Takashi Sato

Keiji Sanekata

Masayuki Shimoda

Kiyoshi Sako

Shinji Mitsui

Yoshifumi Ozaki

Takayuki Tanaka

Kento Terashima

Takuya Iwamura

Junichi Ishibashi

Haruno Nagumo

Hideki Ooyama

A developing device includes a housing in which a circulation path is formed by a first path through which a developer passed to a developing roll flows, a second path disposed offset from the first path in a direction of gravity, a pair of connecting ports connecting the first path and the second path, and a transport member that operates in the housing. The transport member transports the developer in a determined direction, or a reverse direction to the determined direction, in the circulation path according to a load applied for driving the transport member.

Developing device and image forming apparatus capable of shortening time required to circulate developer in circulation path

A toner container includes: a container that accommodates toner and transports, by rotating, the toner to an opening disposed at a first end portion in a direction of a rotation axis; a support portion that covers a periphery of the container near the first end portion, and supports the container to be rotatable in a circumferential direction, the support portion being attached to an image forming apparatus body and having a sealant interposed between the support portion and the container; and a fixing portion that fixes the container and the support portion to each other while the sealant is compressed when the support portion is rotated relative to the container in a first circumferential direction.

Toner container and image forming apparatus

A developing device includes: a storage part in which a developer is stored; a transport body that includes a spiral blade and transports the developer via a rotation thereof; a developing body to which the developer is supplied from the transport body; an attachment part which is disposed between the transport body and the developing body and includes an opening allowing the developer supplied from the transport body to the developing body to pass and to which a sealing member sealing the opening is detachably attached; and a connection portion which extends to cross the opening at a spiral angle of the blade as viewed from the developing body toward the transport body and of which one end portion and the other end portion are connected to the attachment part.

Developing device and image forming apparatus

A sensor cleaning device includes: a cleaning member including an inclined portion that wipes and cleans an entire surface of a sensor, which includes a long side portion extending in a longitudinal direction and a short side portion extending in a lateral direction intersecting with the longitudinal direction, while moving relative to the surface of the sensor in the longitudinal direction of the surface of the sensor and is disposed obliquely to a wiping direction so that an upstream end portion of the inclined portion in the wiping direction is positioned outside the surface of the sensor in the lateral direction; and a moving mechanism that moves the cleaning member in the wiping direction and in a direction opposite to the wiping direction.

Sensor cleaning device and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier configured to carry an image; a developing unit configured to develop the image carried by the image carrier with a developer; and a developer replenishing unit configured to supply the developer to the developing unit, the developer replenishing unit being configured to predict, in advance, an amount of developer consumed by the image carrier at a start or an end of image formation apart from developer consumed in the image formation, to replenish the predicted amount of the developer.

Image forming apparatus with developer amount prediction

An image forming apparatus includes a first plurality of image forming sections that form a first toner image for adjustment and transfer the first toner image for adjustment to a medium; a second plurality of image forming sections that form a second toner image for adjustment and transfer the second toner image for adjustment to the medium; and a detection device configured to detect a misregistration between the first toner image for adjustment transferred to the medium and the second toner image for adjustment transferred to the medium.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes image forming units, supply devices, and a speed changing unit. The image forming units form toner images of different colors. Each of the image forming units includes a developing device containing toner of a corresponding one of the different colors. The supply devices supply toner to the developing devices. In a high development mode, the speed changing unit changes a drive rotational speed of the developing device or a speed of an image formation operation to a lower speed compared with a case of a normal mode. The normal mode is a mode in which a toner image is formed with a normal amount of toner adhesion. The high development mode is a mode in which at least one of the image forming units forms a toner image with a large amount of toner adhesion.

Image forming apparatus including a speed changing unit

An image forming apparatus includes image forming units, secondary transfer units, and first and second detection devices. Each image forming unit includes image forming devices, and a primary intermediate transfer body. Toner images formed by the image forming devices are primarily transferred to the primary intermediate transfer body. The secondary transfer units are provided for the image forming units, respectively. Each secondary transfer unit is configured to secondarily transfer the toner images on a corresponding one of the primary intermediate transfer bodies to a transfer body. The first detection device is configured to detect the toner images downstream of the most downstream secondary transfer position. The second detection device is provided in at least one of the image forming units. The second detection device is configured to detect the toner images between the most downstream primary transfer position in the primary intermediate transfer body and a secondary transfer position.

Image forming apparatus including a first detection device and a second detection device

An image forming apparatus includes: plural image forming units that each include plural image forming sections and a first intermediate transfer body to which toner images formed by the plural image forming sections are transferred through first transfer; plural second transfer sections provided in correspondence with the plural image forming units to transfer the toner images on the first intermediate transfer body to a recording medium through second transfer; and a detection device that detects the toner images downstream of a most downstream one of the second transfer sections.

An image forming apparatus includes image forming sections each including a developing section having a developer bearing member and a developer supply unit and a transfer unit that transfers an image developed on a photoconductor by the developing unit onto a transfer body, a controller that controls a driving time of the developer bearing member so that developer is born on the developer bearing member during a period when image formation is not performed and the developer attached to the transfer body by the image forming sections does not overlap, a detector that detects the attached developer by each image forming section, and a specification unit that specifies the image forming section which attaches the developer to the transfer body, on the basis of a time from when the controller starts driving the developer bearing member to when the detector detects the developer attached to the transfer body.

Image forming apparatus having unit specifying which image forming section attaches developer

An image forming apparatus includes a latent image forming unit, a developing unit, replenishing unit, and a control unit. The latent image forming unit forms an electrostatic latent image corresponding to an image information signal on an image carrier. The developing unit develops the electrostatic latent image using a two-component developer in which magnetic carriers are mixed with toner to form a visible image. The replenishing unit replenishes the toner to the developing unit. The control unit controls switching between first processing, which includes idling processing for replenishing at least part of residual toner, which is to be replenished to the developing unit and remains without being replenished to the developing unit, to the developing unit and stirring the toner within the developing unit, and second processing, which includes the idling processing and density correction processing for correcting a density of the toner within the developing unit.

Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and non-transitory computer readable medium

A developing device includes a first transport path and a second transport path. In the first transport path, a developer containing toner and a magnetic material is transported in the axial direction of a first transport member that opposes a developer holding element by rotation of the first transport member. The second transport path includes plural flow paths that extend along the axial direction, and plural second transport members provided in the plural flow paths to transport the developer. The plural flow paths each have a length in the axial direction that is shorter than the length of the first transport path in the axial direction. Respective end portions of the first and second transport path are connected such that the developer which has flowed into the second transport path from one end of the first transport path flows into the other end of the first transport path.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Chihiro Hagiwara