Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha

Yamanashi Electronics Co., Ltd.

Takeshi Takada

Chiaki Tanaka

Naohiro Watanabe

Takaaki Ikegami

Akihiro Sugino

Masahiro Ohki

Ryohta Inoue

Eiji Kurimoto

Masahide Yamada

Sonoh Matsuoka

Naoki Ito

Yasuyuki Yamashita

Akinori Saitoh

Keisuke Shimoyama

Hideo Nakamori

Hiroshi Yamashita

Kazukiyo Nagai

Masayoshi Suzuki

Shinichi Kawamura

Masanori Suzuki

Hidetoshi Kami

Yasuaki Iwamoto

Toyoshi Sawada

Yohichiroh Watanabe

Naohiro Toda

Satoshi Mochizuki

Tsunemi Sugiyama

Masashi Nagayama

Takuya Saito

Hajime Suzuki

Keiko Shiraishi

Shinji Nohsho

Kohsuke Yamamoto

Takayuki Koike

Michio Kimura

Shinsuke Miyamoto

Akihiro Takami

Hideki Nakamura

Hiroyoshi Takikawa

Keiichiro Utsunomiya

Toshihiko Koizumi

Kouji Shimasaki

Takaai Ikegami

An electrophotographic photoconductor including a conductive support and a photosensitive layer, wherein the photosensitive layer contains a charge generation agent, a charge transport agent and a binder resin, and wherein the charge generation agent contains an asymmetric disazo pigment represented by General Formula (I), the charge transport agent contains a triphenylamine compound represented General Formula (IX), and the mass ratio of the charge transport agent to the binder resin is 0.3 to 2.0,  where Rand Reach represent a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, alkoxy group, aryl group or heterocyclic group, provided that Rand Rare different,  where Rto Reach represent hydrogen, a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, which may have a substituent, an alkoxy group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, which may have a substituent, or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms.

Electrophotographic photoconductor and electrophotographic apparatus

An image forming apparatus at least containing an electrophotographic photoconductor, a latent electrostatic image forming unit, a developing unit, a transferring unit, and a fixing unit, wherein a glass transition temperature of an outermost layer of the electrophotographic photoconductor is 100&#xb0; C. or more, wherein the toner is obtained by dissolving and/or dispersing the toner material containing at least an active hydrogen group-containing compound and a polymer reactive with the active hydrogen group-containing compound in an organic solvent to form a solution and/or a dispersion, emulsifying and/or dispersing the solution and/or the dispersion in an aqueous medium containing resin fine particles, allowing the active hydrogen group-containing compound and the polymer reactive with the active hydrogen group-containing compound to react in the aqueous medium, and removing the organic solvent, wherein a glass transition temperature of the resin fine particles is 65&#xb0; C. to 85&#xb0; C.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus containing an electrophotographic photoconductor, a charging unit, an exposing unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit and a cleaning unit, 

Electrophotographic photoconductor, and image forming apparatus, process cartridge and image forming method using the same

An electrostatic latent image bearing member is provided including a substrate and a photosensitive layer located overlying the substrate, wherein the outermost layer of the electrostatic latent image bearing member includes a cross-linked resin formed from a cross-linking reaction between a charge transport polyol having a specific formula and an isocyanate compound; and the use of the electrostatic latent image bearing member in an image forming apparatus, a process cartridge, and an image forming method.

Electrostatic latent image bearing member, and image forming apparatus, process cartridge, and image forming method using the same

A photoreceptor is provided having an electroconductive substrate and a photosensitive layer located overlying the electroconductive substrate, wherein an outermost layer of the photoreceptor contains a binder resin, wherein the binder resin solution satisfies the following relationship 2&#x2266;(T&#x2212;T)/C wherein Trepresents a initial transmittance (%) at 400 nm of the binder resin solution; Trepresents a transmittance (%) at 400 nm of the binder resin solution which has been allowed to settle for 400 hours under conditions of 23&#xb0; C. and 40% RH; and C represents the concentration of the binder resin solution; and an image forming method, an image forming apparatus and a process cartridge including the photoreceptor.

Electrophotographic photoreceptor, image forming method, image forming apparatus and process cartridge for the image forming apparatus

An apparatus for holding a plurality of solar cell units includes a mounting member to be fixed onto a roof, a plurality of fixtures, and a frame member having to-be-sandwiched portions to be sandwiched and fixed between the mounting member and the fixtures, and grooves that support the ends of the plate-shaped solar cell units. The to-be-sandwiched portions of the frame members are positioned inside projection plane regions that project the solar cell units and the grooves immediately below, whereby the distance between adjacent solar cell units reduces.

Solar cell unit attaching apparatus

An electrostatic latent image bearer, comprising a substrate; a photosensitive layer overlying the substrate; and a protective layer overlying the photosensitive layer, wherein the protective layer includes a binder resin comprising a polyol, a polyisocyanate and an organic silicon compound having a hydroxyl or a hydrolyzable group.

Electrostatic latent image bearer, and image forming method, image forming apparatus and process cartridge using the electrostatic latent image bearer

A terminal box of an output part of a solar cell module, including a case and an outer lid that are molded with a thermoplastic resin and an removal cable cover that is of a knockout type and is arranged in the case includes an inner lid that covers to close an electric circuit that is housed in the case.

Terminal box

Disclosed is an image forming apparatus for lowering friction coefficient and lowering surface energy of photoconductor surface in particular, which comprises an electrophotographic photoconductor, charging unit, light exposure unit, developing unit, transferring unit, and fixing unit,

Image forming apparatus, image forming process, and process cartridge for image forming apparatus

A toner including a binder; a colorant; and a wax, wherein the binder includes a polyester resin; and a reaction product of a polymer having a group capable of reacting with an active hydrogen with a compound having an active hydrogen, wherein the polyester resin includes tetrahydrofuran(THF)-soluble resin components in an amount of from 50 to 85% by weight; and chloroform-insoluble components in an amount of from 0 to 30% by weight, and wherein the toner satisfies the following relationship (1):5% by weight&#x3c;(C1-C2)&#x3c;60% by weight &#x2003;&#x2003;(1)wherein C1 represents a content of chloroform-insoluble components in the toner in units of % by weight and C2 represents a content of the colorant therein in units of % by weight.

Toner and method or preparing the toner

A toner including toner particles comprising a binder resin; and at least two kinds of particulate resins which are located on at least a surface of the toner particles, wherein the toner satisfies at least one of the following relationships (TgA-TgB)&#x2267;20&#xb0; C., wherein TgA and TgB represent glass transition temperatures (Tg) of a particulate resin (A) having a highest Tg and a particulate resin (B) having a lowest Tg among the at least two kinds of particulate resins, respectively; and 100,000&#x2266;Mwc&#x2266;6,000,000 and 8,000&#x2266;Mwd&#x2266;800,000, wherein Mwc and Mwd represent weight average molecular weights (Mw) of a particulate resin (C) having a highest Mw and a particulate resin (D) having a lowest Mw among the at least two kinds of particulate resins, respectively, wherein Mwc&#x3e;Mwd.

Toner, method for manufacturing the toner, developer including the toner, toner container containing the toner, and image forming method, image forming apparatus and process cartridge using the toner

A toner including toner particles comprising a binder resin; and at least two kinds of particulate resins which are located on at least a surface of the toner particles, wherein the toner satisfies at least one of the following relationships (TgA&#x2212;TgB)&#x2267;20&#xb0; C., wherein TgA and TgB represent glass transition temperatures (Tg) of a particulate resin (A) having a highest Tg and a particulate resin (B) having a lowest Tg among the at least two kinds of particulate resins, respectively; and 100,000&#x2266;Mwc&#x2266;6,000,000 and 8,000&#x2266;Mwd&#x2266;800,000, wherein Mwc and Mwd represent weight average molecular weights (Mw) of a particulate resin (C) having a highest Mw and a particulate resin (D) having a lowest Mw among the at least two kinds of particulate resins, respectively, wherein Mwc&#x3e;Mwd.

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoconductor comprising a photoconductive layer, a protective layer, and a conductive support, wherein the protective layer is disposed as the outermost layer of the photoconductive layer, and 20% by volume to 60% by volume of fine particles of fluorine-contained resin and at least one compound selected from amine aromatic compounds and hydroxy aromatic compounds are incorporated into the protective layer. According to the present invention, high durability may be achieved, image degradation such as lags may be controlled from the increase of residual potential and decrease of charging, and high quality images may be formed stably even after the prolonged and repeated usage. The present invention also relates to an electrophotographic process, an electrophotographic apparatus and a process cartridge for the electrophotographic apparatus which utilize the electrophotographic photoconductor respectively.

Electrophotographic photoconductor, electrophotographic process, electrophotographic apparatus, and process cartridge

A toner is prepared by dissolving and/or dispersing a modified polyester resin in an organic solvent to yield a solution or dispersion, the modified polyester resin being reactive with a compound having an active hydrogen group, mixing the solution or dispersion with an aqueous medium containing resin particles, and subjecting the modified polyester resin to crosslinking and/or elongation in the aqueous medium. The binder resin further includes a crystalline polyester resin in addition to the modified polyester resin.

Toner and developer for electrostatic development, production thereof, image forming process and apparatus using the same

A toner for developing an electrostatic image having a good combination of hot offset resistance and low temperature fixability. The toner includes (1) a resin having at least one group that can react with a compound having an active hydrogen in an amount of 2 pieces per molecule of the resin, and a colorant. The toner satisfies the following relationship: 3&#x2266;G=R&#x2212;R&#x2266;20, where G represents a ratio of a weight of components other than the colorant and the resin that are insoluble in the organic solvent to total weight of the toner, R represents a weight ratio of components included in the toner that are insoluble in the organic solvent to the total weight of the toner, and Rrepresents an ideal weight ratio of the colorant and the resin, which is calculated from a formula of the toner.

Toner for developing electrostatic image, method for manufacturing the toner, developer including the toner, container containing the toner, and color image forming method using the toner

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Takeshi Takada