Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp.

Ryo Fukuno

Makoto Kanno

Daisuke Uchimitsu

Tomoyuki Hamachi

Toshiaki Suzuki

Yasutomo Ishii

Yoshihisa Nakao

Hiroaki Okuma

Taiyou Uehara

Katsumi Yamada

Shinichi Kuramoto

Keisuke Kubo

Kiyohito Horii

Shunichiro Shishikura

Shinji Okuyama

Daisuke Nakai

Kenjo Nagata

Ryota Tomishi

A printer including: a powder housing chamber that houses powder including a color material and carrier; a supplying conveying unit that conveys the powder while supplying the powder to a powder holder that holds the powder, by forward rotation; a detection unit that detects the amount of powder within the powder housing chamber, upstream in a conveyance direction from a discharge unit that discharges surplus powder, downstream in the conveyance direction from the supplying conveying unit, and above a rotary shaft of the supplying conveying unit; and a control unit that controls at least one of the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the supplying conveying unit on the basis of a detection result of the detection unit.

Printer having powder detection and supply conveyor control

A powder storage height detection device includes: a main body that includes a transport path along which powder is transported; a powder transport unit that is disposed to rotate in the transport path and includes a transporter provided spirally around a rotational shaft; a swinging unit that comes into contact with a surface of the powder transported in the transport path, and swings by following at least a storage height of the surface; a detection unit that detects a state of swinging of the swinging unit; and a determination unit that determines presence or absence of the powder based on a detection signal outputted from the detection unit. The transport unit includes a non-transport portion in which the transporter is not present, and which is formed as an eccentric shaft having a shaft center displaced from the rotational shaft, the swinging unit is located and disposed to swing in the non-transport portion, and the determination unit samples the detection signal at an interval, and when a proportion of the detection signal lower than or equal to an output level becomes greater than or equal to a threshold value, outputs a signal indicating determination of absence of the powder, the interval being obtained by dividing a required time for one rotation of the transport unit by a predetermined number, the output level defining that the storage height is relatively low.

Powder storage height detection device and powder replenishing device

A powder storage height detection device includes: a main body that has a transport path along which powder is transported; a powder transport unit that is disposed to rotate in the transport path and includes a transporter provided spirally around a rotational shaft; a swinging unit that comes into contact with a surface of the powder transported in the transport path, and swings by following at least a storage height of the surface; and a detection unit that detects a state of swinging of the swinging unit. The transport unit includes a non-transport portion in which the transporter is not present, and the swinging unit is located and disposed to swing in the non-transport portion, and an upper portion located above a contact portion to be in contact with the powder is configurated by an upward convex curved surface.

A developer supply device includes a developer container, an adjustment mechanism, and a controller. The developer container is configured to supply developer by rotating. The adjustment mechanism is configured to adjust a rotation angle of the developer container. The controller is configured to control the rotation angle of the developer container by the adjustment mechanism according to a developer remaining amount in the developer container.

Developer supply device and image forming apparatus

An image forming device includes: a developer holder that is rotatably arranged opposing a latent image holder holding an electrostatic latent image, holds developer including carrier and toner charged to a predetermined regular polarity, has a potential of the same polarity as the regular polarity applied thereto, and develops the electrostatic latent image using the toner; an opposite electrode that is arranged opposing the developer holder with a predetermined gap therebetween; and a controller that changes at least one of a potential applied to the opposite electrode and a rotation direction of the opposite electrode in accordance with an area coverage of the electrostatic latent image of the latent image holder.

Image forming device

An image forming apparatus includes a developing device. The developing device transports a two-component developer by a transporting unit so that the two-component developer passes through a developing roller. The two-component developer is stored in a storage chamber provided with a transporting path. The transporting unit rotates in the transporting path. The developing device causes a portion of the two-component developer to overflow from a discharge port provided at the transporting path, and to discharge the two-component developer. The image forming apparatus has a period in which a first operation is executed, the first operation of reversely rotating the transporting unit at a high speed so that a rotational direction of the transporting unit is an opposite direction to that at a time of development and a rotational speed of the transporting unit is higher than that at the time of development.

Image forming apparatus

A powder material storage container includes: a cylindrical body member that extends in one direction and includes a storage chamber for storing powder material; a transport member that transports the powder material to an end of the storage chamber; a cylindrical end member that is attached to the body member, extends in the one direction and includes a passage chamber through which the powder material is passed, and a discharge outlet through which the powder material is discharged; a pillar member that is disposed in the passage chamber, extending in the one direction, and rotates in a circumferential direction of the passage chamber along the wall surface, and transports the powder material adhering to the wall surface to the discharge outlet; and a beam member that is laid across the discharge outlet and extends from an upstream side to a downstream side of a rotation direction of the pillar member.

Powder material storage container and image forming apparatus

A developing device includes a container that contains a developer including a carrier and a toner; a transport member that is rotatably disposed in the container and that agitates and transports the developer in a rotation-axis direction thereof; a discharge outlet that has an opening in a side wall of the container facing in a direction perpendicular to the rotation-axis direction, the discharge outlet allowing the developer to be discharged to an outside of the container when a height of a surface of the developer becomes greater than a height of a lower surface of the discharge outlet; and a magnetic member that is disposed at a position that is above the lower surface of the discharge outlet and that overlaps the lower surface in an up-down direction, the magnetic member attracting a part of the developer that is lifted up by the transport member.

Developing device and image forming apparatus

A developing device includes a developer carrier that has a cylindrical shape and that rotates while carrying developer to supply the developer to an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a container that contains the developer carrier, and a discharge-path forming member that is provided along an outer peripheral surface of the developer carrier, that covers a top portion of a path along which the outer peripheral surface moves, the top portion being located at an uppermost position of the path, and that forms a discharge path, through which air is discharged from inside of the container to outside of the container, between the discharge-path forming member and an inner wall surface of the container, the discharge path having an outlet located closer to the developer carrier than the top portion.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Ryo Fukuno