Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp.

Noboru Hirakawa

Yoko Miyamoto

Yoshiyuki Tominaga

Yasuhiro Shimada

Takashi Matsubara

Masaaki Takahashi

Takashi Ochi

Yasuhiko Kinuta

Takashi Ohashi

Yuki Tagawa

Ken Ozaki

Toshimasa Toyama

Kei Tanaka

Kazuyoshi Hagiwara

Satoshi Shigezaki

Kouichi Kimura

Koichiro Yuasa

Masaaki Yamaura

Hideki Kuge

Mitsutoshi Hongo

Takuya Yamamoto

Jun Kuwabara

A charging member includes a conductive base material; an elastic layer that is provided on the conductive base material and has a storage elastic modulus G of 5.0 MPa or less at 100 Hz; and a surface layer that is provided on the elastic layer, in which in a Cole-Cole plot obtained by measuring the charging member in a range of 1 MHz to 0.1 Hz by an alternating current impedance method, a resistance component Ra of a capacitive semicircle including 2.5 kHz is 6.3&#xd7;104&#x3a9; or less.

Charging member, charging device, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an electrophotographic photoreceptor having a friction coefficient of a surface of 0.8 or less; a charging device including a charging member that is in contact with and charges the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor and includes a conductive base material, an elastic layer provided on the conductive base material and having a storage elastic modulus G of 5.0 MPa or less at 100 Hz, and a surface layer provided on the elastic layer; an electrostatic latent image forming device that forms an electrostatic latent image on the charged surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor; a developing device that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor to form a toner image by a developer containing a toner; and a transfer device that transfers the toner image to a surface of a recording medium.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge

An image forming apparatus includes an image holding unit that holds a toner image, a transfer unit that transfers the toner image held by the image holding unit onto a medium in a transfer region, a reduction unit that is positioned further upstream than the transfer region and that reduces an electrical resistance of a first surface of the medium, the first surface being opposite to a second surface of the medium onto which an image is to be transferred, and a control unit that controls the reduction unit in accordance with a type of a medium to be used in such a manner that the electrical resistance of the first surface does not exceed a predetermined range.

Image forming apparatus

A liquid applying device includes a circulation member, an impregnation member, and a support member. The circulation member is configured to circulate in a predetermined direction. The impregnation member is formed in a plate shape. The impregnation member is impregnated with a liquid. The impregnation member is in contact with the circulation member at an end portion thereof in a direction intersecting with a circulating direction of the circulation member so as to apply the liquid to the circulation member. The support member supports a portion including an end portion side of the impregnation member, at an opposite side of the circulation member in a state where the end portion of the impregnation member is in contact with the circulation member.

Liquid applying device for fixing belt

A belt-type transport device includes a belt, a pressure unit, a nip forming unit, a belt stretching roller, an inclination controller, a contact unit, and a support unit. The belt is an endless belt, has an outer circumferential surface and an inner circumferential surface, and is to be rotated. The pressure unit is in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the belt. The nip forming unit presses the belt against the pressure unit so as to form a nip through which a recording medium is to be transported. The belt stretching roller is disposed inside the belt and stretches the belt. The inclination controller controls inclination of the belt stretching roller. The contact unit is provided along a width direction of the belt and is in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the belt. The support unit supports the contact unit such that the contact unit is able to follow inclination of the belt which is changed due to the inclination of the belt stretching roller.

Belt-type transport device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit, a contact unit, and a constant-current controller. The transfer unit nips a recording medium using an image retaining unit and a transfer member and generates a transfer electric field in a transfer region therebetween so as to electrostatically transfer the image onto the recording medium. The contact unit is provided upstream and downstream of the transfer region in a recording-medium transport direction and comes into contact with the recording medium while the recording medium passes through the transfer region, so as to function as an electrode leading to a ground. The constant-current controller performs constant-current control on a transfer current to be fed to the transfer region by using a transfer voltage when the recording medium is a low-resistance recording medium having a predetermined resistance value or lower or having an electrically-conductive layer along a medium base surface.

Image forming apparatus having transfer unit

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit that transfers a toner image to a transfer body; a guide unit disposed upstream of the transfer unit in a direction in which the transfer body is transported, the guide unit guiding the transfer body; a supply unit that supplies a transfer voltage to the transfer unit; and a setting unit that sets the transfer voltage supplied by the supply unit so that a transfer current supplied to the transfer unit is within a predetermined range at the time when the transfer body becomes separated from the guide unit.

A transfer device includes a transfer unit that transfers an image on an image carrier carrying the image onto a first surface of a recording material by applying a voltage containing an alternating-current component to the recording material; and a humidifying unit that humidifies the recording material transported toward the transfer unit from a second surface of the recording material that is opposite to the first surface.

Transfer unit comprising alternating current bias and humidifying unit

An image forming device includes an image carrier, a transfer device, a face-forming member, and a reducing element. The image carrier carries an image. The transfer device is disposed in contact with the image carrier, transports a recording medium, and applies a transfer voltage to a transfer region between the transfer device and the image carrier to transfer the image on the image carrier to the recording medium. The face-forming member is disposed in contact with a back face of the image carrier further upstream than the transfer region, is provided grounded along a direction intersecting the movement direction of the image carrier, and includes a conductive member forming a movement track face of the image carrier leading to the transfer region. The reducing element is provided on a current path going through the face-forming member, and reduces an amount of current leading from the face-forming member to ground.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Noboru Hirakawa