Konica Corporation

Takahiro Tuchiya

Yukio Okamoto

Kunihisa Yoshino

Mitsuo Motohashi

Jun-ichi Hamada

An image forming apparatus which detects deterioration of developer contained in a developing unit, and if it is the case, the toner is discharged out of the developing unit through a surface of an image carrying member. The apparatus is provided with a sensor to measure toner concentration in developer contained in the developing unit, a drive controller to control a supply amount of toner into the developing unit based on the toner concentration, a calculating unit to obtain average toner supply during a predetermined period, a detecting unit to detect the deterioration of the developer by comparing the average toner supply with a reference data stored in a memory.

Growing community of inventors

Hachioji, Japan

Takahiro Tuchiya