Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Tooru Nakata

Yuji Okamoto

Jitsuo Masuda

Yuhi Yui

Hiroshi Kinashi

Itaru Kawabata

Yoshiharu Tsujimoto

Teruhiko Noguchi

Before a photoreceptor for an electrophotographic image forming apparatus is uniformly charged at the beginning of a process for forming a latent electrostatic image thereon, the photoreceptor is exposed to charge-removing light for stabilizing the surface potential such that a high-quality image can be obtained. The level of exposure is modified in view of the fatigue and recovery characteristics of the photoreceptor. During a continuous operation of the photoreceptor, the level is logarithmically reduced. When the photoreceptor is started again after a rest period, the initial level of exposure is adjusted by logarithmically increasing it according to the length of the rest period as well as in view of the level of exposure prior to the rest period.

Method of stabilizing surface potential of photoreceptor for

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Tooru Nakata