Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Tetsurou Sasamoto

Yuichi Aoyama

Takuma Nakamura

Masafumi Yamada

Koichi Suzuki

Katsuaki Miyawaki

Makoto Obu

Shunichi Abe

Takanori Inadome

Kazuya Nagao

Tsuneo Kurotori

Yukimichi Someya

Yasuo Katano

Soh Noguchi

Masayuki Shoshi

Takeshi Hihara

Yamada Masafumi

An inkjet image forming apparatus is provided. The inkjet image forming apparatus includes a recording unit, a selection heater, a heater, and a processor. The recording unit forms an ink image on a recording medium being conveyed. The selection heater is disposed downstream from the recording unit relative to a direction of conveyance of the recording medium, and selectively heats the ink image formed on the recording medium. The heater is disposed downstream from the selection heater relative to the direction of conveyance of the recording medium, and heats the recording medium on which the ink image has been selectively heated. The processor controls the recording unit, the selection heater, and the heater, and sets an output of the selection heater in view of an occurrence of cockling on the recording medium.

Inkjet image forming apparatus

A dryer for drying an ink image formed on a recording medium is provided. The dryer includes a selective heating dryer, a uniform heating dryer, and a controller. The selective heating dryer is disposed on an upstream side of a feeding path of the recording medium, and performs a first-time drying of the ink image under an output condition in which an amount of cockling becomes equal to or less than a given amount. The uniform heating dryer is disposed on a downstream side from the selective heating dryer on the feeding path, and performs a second-time drying of the ink image after the selective heating dryer performs the first-time drying. The controller changes the output condition of the selective heating dryer in accordance with image information of the ink image, when the ink image is formed with a conductive-particle-containing ink.

Dryer and inkjet image forming apparatus

A silicone compound represented by the following Chemical Structure 1: wherein Y represents a substituted or non-substituted alkyl group having one to ten carbon atoms, X1, X2, and X3 independently represent methyl groups or any of Substituents A-1 to A-7, and l, m, and n are independently zero or an integer of from 1 to 6.

Silicone compound, photocurable liquid ink using the silicone compound, and method of manufacturing the ink

A disclosed fixing device applying a bubble-like fixing liquid to resin-containing particles adhered to a medium so that the resin-containing particles are fixed to the medium, the bubble-like fixing liquid being formed by transforming a fixing liquid into foam that dissolves or swells at least a part of the resin, includes a control device that, based on a difference between a moisture content included in the medium after fixing and a target value of the moisture content, adjusts an application amount of the fixing liquid for a next medium.

Fixing device, image forming apparatus, and fixing method

A fixing device includes a foam fixer generator unit generating a foam fixer containing a softener softening toner by dissolving or swelling part of resin of the toner, an application roller carrying and transferring the foam fixer onto a recording sheet, a pressure roller applying pressure to a toner image on the recording sheet via the foam fixer on the application roller to fix the toner image on the recording sheet, a cleaning device removing residual components remaining on the application roller, a recording sheet detector unit detecting presence or absence of the recording sheet, a remover unit being in contact with and separated from the application roller to remove the foam fixer on the application roller, and a control unit controlling the contact-separation operation of the remover unit based on a detected result of a front end and/or a rear end of the recording sheet.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus

A disclosed fixing device for fixing resin particles softened by applying a foam fixer thereon to a recording medium includes a foam fixer generator unit to introduce air bubbles into a liquid fixer containing a softener for softening the resin particles by dissolving or swelling a part of the resin particles to generate the foam fixer, a fixer application member to be brought into contact with a facing member facing the fixer application member to form an application nip and transfer the generated foam fixer to the application nip by moving its surface while carrying the foam fixer to apply the foam fixer to a surface of the recording medium carrying the resin particles at the application nip, and a foam accumulation detector unit to detect a foam accumulation formed of the foam fixer accumulated at an entrance side of the application nip.

A disclosed cleaning device for removing adhering matter from a surface of a member subject to cleaning includes a belt-shaped film member arranged in a stretched configuration capable of being wound or endlessly move in a direction opposite to a surface movement direction of the member subject to cleaning while being in contact with the surface of the member subject to cleaning, and a cleaning blade configured to abut on the surface of the member subject to cleaning via the belt-shaped film member at a position where the belt-shaped film member is brought into contact with the member subject to cleaning.

An image forming apparatus suppresses several kinds of inconveniences caused by unnecessary contact of a belt-formed member with opposing members and drives the belt-formed member accurately even when the belt-formed member separated from a part of a plurality of opposing members. In an image forming apparatus having a belt-formed member supported by a plurality of supporting rollers and a plurality of opposing members located side by side in a line to oppose and contact the belt-formed member, a pivot mechanism is employed to temporarily separate the belt-formed member from a part of the opposing members for color image formation. The image forming apparatus also includes a tension roller dive mechanism to increase a relative distance between the tension roller and other supporting rollers to suppress a decrease in a tension of the belt-formed member during the above-described separation of the belt-formed member from the plurality of opposing members.

Belt device and unit device including belt device and image forming apparatus using the belt device and unit device

Conserving a resource in an image-forming device is accomplished by reducing a wasteful or unused portion in a thin layer of liquid toner developer. Based upon the size of an image-carrying medium, the thin layer of the liquid toner developer is variably formed.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Tetsurou Sasamoto