Konica Minolta, Inc.

Yasuo Shiokawa

Takahiro Okubo

Yoshiteru Kawakami

Akihiko Kakita

An image forming apparatus forms a stable image on a recording material by using toner containing a release agent. A toner image can be formed on the recording material using a fixer, and a reverse transport path arranged on a downstream side of the fixer can reverses and transports the recording material after fixing. A reverse roller provided on the reverse transport path can reverse and send out the recording material by reversely transporting the recording material. A transporter can be provided between the fixer and the reverse roller on the reverse transport path, and a release agent remover removes the release agent adhering to the reverse roller. In embodiments, the transporter can include a release agent adhesion preventer that prevents the release agent from adhering to the transporter.

Stable image formation apparatus utilizing toner release agents

The image forming apparatus includes a transfer section that transfers an image to a sheet; a sheet conveying member that is provided on an upstream side of the transfer section in a conveying direction of the sheet and that conveys the sheet; and a hardware processor that controls displacement of the sheet conveying member such that the sheet is displaced in a width direction of the sheet. The hardware processor causes a detector that detects an edge of the sheet in the width direction to detect the edge of the sheet after displacement of the sheet conveying member has been started, and causes the displacement to be terminated on the basis of the detected result such that the edge of the sheet reaches a target position.

Image forming apparatus and conveyance control method

An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer unit, a fixing unit, a sway roller pair constituted of a pair of rollers, a first detector and a hardware processor. The transfer unit transfers an image onto paper. The fixing unit fixes, to the paper, the image transferred onto the paper by the transfer unit. The sway roller pair conveys the paper to the transfer unit, the paper being conveyed to the sway roller pair. The first detector is provided on a downstream side of the transfer unit but on an upstream side of the fixing unit and detects a position of a side edge of the paper. The hardware processor performs sway control of the sway roller pair based on a detection result of the detection by the first detector.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer section including a transfer body that transfers an image onto a sheet in a transfer nip; a belt position correction section that performs operation of correcting misalignment of a position in an axial direction of a transfer belt in the transfer nip; a sheet conveyance member that is provided on the upstream side of the transfer nip in a sheet conveyance direction and conveys the sheet; and a hardware processor that controls the sheet conveyance member so as to displace the sheet along a width direction of the sheet. The hardware processor controls displacement of the sheet conveyance member so as to follow the position in the axial direction of the transfer belt at the transfer nip.

An image forming apparatus includes: a transferer that forms a transfer nip for transferring an image to a sheet; a conveyance roller pair disposed on an upstream side relative to the transfer nip in a conveyance direction of the sheet; and a hardware processor that controls the conveyance roller pair such that the sheet conveyed to a conveyance nip formed by the conveyance roller pair is conveyed with a predetermined nip pressure so as to cause slack in the sheet between the transfer nip and the conveyance nip in which the hardware processor controls the conveyance roller pair so as to reduce the nip pressure at the conveyance nip in accordance with an increase in a conveyance amount of the sheet at the conveyance nip.

An image forming apparatus includes an image former forming a toner image on a long sheet; a main conveyance path conveying the long sheet to the image former; and a double-side conveyance path which branches off from a first side, in the main conveyance path, downstream of the image former in a conveyance direction of the long sheet, and which conveys the long sheet to a second side upstream of the image former by reversing the conveyance direction at a point of switching back to invert the long sheet. The double-side conveyance path includes, in a downstream side in the conveyance direction before the switching back, a merging pathway connected to the second side upstream of the image former in the main conveyance path, and a first introducer introducing into the merging pathway a head of the long sheet in the conveyance direction before the switching back.

Image forming apparatus for double-sided conveyance

An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer section that transfers an image to a sheet; a sheet conveyance member that is provided on an upstream of the transfer section in a sheet conveyance direction and that conveys the sheet; and a hardware processor that controls the sheet conveyance member to displace the sheet, wherein a preset value defining a displacement condition of the sheet conveyance member for providing a correct position of the image on the sheet is set.

An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer section that transfers an image onto a sheet; a sheet conveying member that conveys the sheet, the sheet conveying member being provided upstream of the transfer section in a sheet conveyance direction; and a hardware processor that controls displacement of the sheet conveying member so that the sheet is displaced along a width direction of the sheet. The hardware processor sets a displacement speed of the sheet conveying member for the sheet during transfer of the image by the transfer section to be lower than the displacement speed of the sheet conveying member for the sheet before the transfer of the image by the transfer section.

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer section that transfers an image onto a sheet, a sheet conveying member that is provided upstream of the transfer section in a sheet conveyance direction and conveys the sheet, and a hardware processor that controls displacement of the sheet conveying member in such a way that the sheet is displaced along the width direction of the sheet. The hardware processor performs first displacement control in which the sheet conveying member is displaced in a direction which is specified in advance with respect to the sheet and in which an edge of the sheet in the width direction is directed toward a target position and second displacement control in which the sheet conveying member is displaced in the direction opposite the direction of the first displacement.

Image forming apparatus for correcting sheet conveyance misalignment

An image forming apparatus includes: a lubricant supply section that supplies a lubricant of a lubricant rod extending along an axial direction of an image bearing member onto the image bearing member; and a hardware processor that controls displacement of a sheet conveyance member so as to displace a sheet along a width direction of the sheet. The hardware processor performs control of changing a position in the axial direction of the toner image formed on the image bearing member on the basis of a distribution status of a toner in the axial direction in a toner image formed on the image bearing member, and controls displacement of the sheet conveyance member after a tip end of the sheet in the conveyance direction enters the transfer section so that a sheet position in a width direction of an image transferred onto the sheet is correct in the transfer section.

Image forming apparatus and image forming control method

An image forming apparatus includes an image former, a conveyance path, a flipping conveyance path, a conveying mechanism and a hardware processor. The flipping conveyance path includes a side path connecting a first branch point in a downstream of the conveyance path to a junction in an upstream of the conveyance path and a re-feeding path connecting a second branch point in the side path to a re-feeding point in an upstream of the conveyance path. The hardware processor controls the conveying mechanism to perform (i) a conveyance operation to convey the sheet along the conveyance path, (ii) a draw-in operation to draw the sheet with the image into the side path, and (iii) a re-feeding operation to convey the sheet in a reverse direction to re-feed the flipped sheet from the re-feeding point to the conveyance path.

An image forming apparatus that highly precisely suppresses misregistration of an image relative to a sheet due to sub-scanning skew and a control method are provided. The image forming apparatus includes: displacement rollers including at least a pair of rollers conveying a sheet that is being conveyed, toward a transfer section; a detection section that detects a position of a side end part of the sheet; and a hardware processor that performs processing for displacing the displacement rollers based on displacement control information and correcting the displacement control information for next and subsequent sheets based on a detection result of detection by the detection section after the displacement of the displacement rollers.

Image forming apparatus and control method

An image forming apparatus includes an image former, a fixing device, an image forming path, a circulation path and a hardware processor. Along the image forming path, paper is conveyed to the image former and the fixing device. The circulation path (i) diverges from the image forming path on a downstream side of the fixing device in a paper conveying direction and (ii) meets the image forming path on an upstream side of the image former in the paper conveying direction so as to circulate the paper such that an image forming side of the paper is unchanged. The hardware processor performs paper heating control to (i) make the paper pass through the fixing device without image forming on the paper, thereby heating the paper, and (ii) re-convey the paper via the circulation path to the image former.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method with paper heating control

A sheet feeding apparatus, including: a pair of sheet feeding rollers; a pair of conveyance rollers; and a controller, wherein when a first condition regarding a sheet position is fulfilled in the sheet feeding, the controller makes one of the first conveyance roller and the second conveyance roller move in a direction opposite to the other conveyance roller and when a second condition regarding the sheet position is fulfilled in the sheet feeding, the controller makes the one conveyance roller move in a direction toward the other conveyance roller.

Sheet feeding apparatus and image forming apparatus

An electrophotographic image formation apparatus capable of forming an image on a recording medium, comprising: a first swinging roller and a first deviation sensor disposed between a secondary transfer roller and a first bent portion; a second bent portion disposed upstream of the first bent portion and changing the direction in which the recording medium is transported; a second swinging roller and a second deviation sensor disposed between the first bent portion and the second bent portion; and a control unit which controls an amount of movement of the first swinging roller based on a first detected positional value of the recording medium sensed by the first deviation sensor and controls an amount of movement of the second swinging roller based on a second detected positional value of the recording medium sensed by the second deviation sensor.

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Tokyo, Japan

Yasuo Shiokawa