Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kyoko Abe

Yuji Nagatomo

Takahiro Sanada

Tomoya Adachi

Naoki Nakatake

Takeshi Yamashita

Tomohiro Kubota

Takafumi Miyazaki

Shoh Tsuritani

Shinji Aoki

Yoshiyuki Shimizu

Yasuhiro Fujiwara

Yasuhide Matsuno

Rumi Miyazaki

Yoshie Iwakura

Hitoshi Fujiwara

Masato Tsuji

Shintaro Yamada

Atsushi Takehara

Yutaka Naitoh

Minoru Toyoda

Tomohiko Fujii

Hiroaki Katoh

Keiji Kunimi

Yasuharu Kawarasaki

Akinori Harada

A powder container is provided. The powder container includes a powder storage and a conveyer. The powder storage stores a powder to be used for image formation and has a vent hole to pass air between an inside and an outside of the powder storage. The conveyer conveys the powder inside the powder storage. The vent hole is on an upper surface of the powder storage facing the conveyer.

Powder container, developing device, process unit, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a photoconductor, an irradiator, a developing device including a developing roller, a development bias applying device, a toner supplying roller and a supply bias applying device, and a controller. The controller changes supply bias offset by reference to at least one of five parameters including photoconductor travel distance, operation temperature of the developing device, operation humidity of the developing device, continuous operating time of the developing device, and color information of image to be produced. After changing the supply bias offset, the controller forms plural toner patterns for image density adjustment on the photoconductor by changing the development bias, and sets the development bias to a certain bias based on the image densities of the plural toner patterns so that the image produced by the developing device has a targeted image density.

Image forming apparatus that utilizes toner roller bias voltages for image density adjustments

A seal is provided to contact a rotating body installed in an image forming apparatus. Pencil hardness of the sealing element is about 2H or more and a water drop contact angle thereof is about 90 degrees or more.

Seal, cleaning unit with seal, transfer unit with seal, developing unit with seal, process cartridge with seal, image forming apparatus with seal, and image forming method

A fixing device includes a nip formation pad disposed opposite an inner circumferential surface of an endless belt and a pressing rotary body pressed against the nip formation pad via the endless belt to form a fixing nip between the endless belt and the pressing rotary body, through which a recording medium is conveyed. The pressing rotary body has a diameter increasing from a center to each lateral end in an axial direction thereof. The nip formation pad includes a projection disposed downstream from a rotation axis of the pressing rotary body in a recording medium conveyance direction. The projection projects toward the pressing rotary body in an amount increasing from each lateral end to a center in a longitudinal direction of the nip formation pad parallel to the axial direction of the pressing rotary body.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device to form a toner image according to image data, a density adjustment toner pattern, and a timing adjustment toner pattern on an image bearer, a detector to detect the density adjustment toner pattern and the timing adjustment toner pattern, and an image density adjustment unit to execute image density adjustment based on an amount of toner adhering to the density adjustment toner pattern detected by the toner amount detector. The image density adjustment unit causes the image forming device to form the timing adjustment toner pattern before the density adjustment toner pattern is formed, and the image density adjustment unit adjusts a detection timing of the density adjustment toner pattern based on a detection timing of the timing adjustment toner pattern detected by the toner amount detector.

Image forming apparatus

Provided is a color image forming apparatus that includes: image carriers that form toner image of black and other colors; an intermediate transfer body that makes contact with the image carriers; and transfer units that transfer the toner images on the image carriers to the intermediate transfer body. A line velocity difference is set between the image carriers and the intermediate transfer body. An accelerated cohesion degree of toner is equal to or larger than 54%. A linear velocity difference Xbetween the image carrier for black and the intermediate transfer body satisfies a relation of 0&#x3c;X&#x2266;1.2 mm/sec. A linear velocity difference Xbetween the image carriers for the colors and the intermediate transfer body satisfies a relation of 2.1&#x2266;X&#x2266;4.0 mm/sec.

Color image forming apparatus with a line velocity difference set between image carriers

An image forming apparatus including a latent image bearing member, a charger, a latent image forming device, a developing device, and a transfer device is provided. The transfer device is adapted to transfer a toner image formed on the latent image bearing member onto an intermediate transfer member or a recording medium by action of a transfer elected field in a transfer position where the latent image bearing member faces the transfer device. When a non-charged portion of the latent image bearing member that has not been charged to a predetermined potential by the charger passes through the transfer position, a strength of the transfer electric field is lowered than that in transferring the toner image.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method

An image developing device includes a developer supporting body; a first conveyance path in which a first conveyance member is arranged; a second conveyance path in which a second conveyance member is arranged; and a partition member that partitions the first conveyance path and the second conveyance path and that has a first communication port and a second communication port. The first communication path and the second communication path communicates with each other through the first communication port and the second communication port. The image developing device includes a developer amount detection unit that includes an optical detection unit arranged in the second conveyance path and that optically detects an amount of the developer in the image forming device. The developer is caused to accumulate in the vicinity of the developer amount detection unit.

Image developing device, process cartridge including image developing device, and image forming device including image developing device

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Kyoko Abe