Konica Minolta, Inc.

Eri Yoshida

Noritoshi Hagimoto

Junji Murauchi

Yoshiki Nakane

A cleaning apparatus includes a cleaning member having an abutment member being attached to a tip end portion of a support member. The support member includes a bent portion, an abutment-side support portion, and a fixed-side support portion. The abutment member abuts on a surface of an image carrying member. A point of fixation of the support member fixed to a fixing member is located downstream in a direction of movement relative to a normal at a point of abutment of the abutment member. With an angle of bending &#x3b1; at the bent portion being set to 90&#xb0;&#x3c;&#x3b1;&#x3c;180&#xb0;, the abutment-side support portion is curved in a form of a crest toward downstream in the direction of movement whereas the fixed-side support portion is curved in a form of a crest toward upstream in the direction of movement.

Cleaning apparatus and image formation apparatus

A cleaning device includes a cleaning member configured to move in the opposite direction from a moving direction of an image carrier and come into contact with a surface of the image carrier to remove residual matter from the surface of the image carrier, wherein the cleaning member includes a supporting member formed with a metallic plate spring and a contact member formed with an elastic material and bonded to an end of the supporting member, an edge portion at an end of the contact member being brought into contact with the surface of the image carrier, the end of the contact member protrudes from the end of the supporting member, and the end of the supporting member is located on an upstream side of a normal line of the image carrier at the contact position of the edge portion in the moving direction of the image carrier.

Cleaning device and image forming apparatus

A power supply applies a first charged voltage to a charging section disposed near an image carrier during a predetermined process and applies second charged voltages sequentially to the charging section in obtaining a predetermined peak-to-peak voltage value for an alternating-current voltage of the first charged voltage. Each of the second charged voltages includes an alternating-current voltage having a peak-to-peak voltage value varying between a forward discharge range and a back discharge range. A current sensing section senses the alternating-current running through the charging section upon application of each of the second charged voltages. A control section derives a first approximation function and a second approximation function on the basis of the alternating-current values sensed by the current sensing section and sets a peak-to-peak voltage value as the predetermined peak-to-peak voltage through a difference function representing a difference value between the first approximation function and the second approximation function.

Image forming apparatus with a power supply applying charged voltage to a charging section

An image forming device including a photoreceptor with a protective layer, a contact charger; and a metal cleaning blade, wherein the cleaning blade includes a first region and a second region facing the photoreceptor, the first region is of a predefined roughness, and J&#x3e;h&#xd7;(cos &#x3b1;/sin &#x3b2;)&#xd7;d, where &#x3b1; is an angle between the first region and a tangent plane of the second region, &#x3b2; is an angle between the first region and a tangent line of the surface of the photoreceptor at a point of contact with the cleaning blade, h is an amount of depletion of the cleaning blade in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the photoreceptor at the point of contact when the surface of the photoreceptor travels a unit of distance, and d is a predicted total travel distance of the surface of the photoreceptor in a defined time period.

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Toyokawa, Japan

Eri Yoshida