Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Yohei Miura

Kazuhiko Kobayashi

Toshiyuki Andoh

Joh Ebara

Yuji Matsuda

Hiromichi Matsuda

Nobuto Yokokawa

Takuya Uehara

Takuya Murata

Hiroshi Okamura

Masato Yokoyama

Kenji Tomita

Ryoji Imai

Masahiro Ishida

Keisuke Sugiyama

Toshiyuki Uchida

Kimiharu Yamazaki

Kimihiro Tanaka

Narumi Sugita

Noriaki Funamoto

Yuichiro Ueda

Kouji Amanai

Shinya Shimizu

Tadashi Shinohara

Hiroaki Nieda

Jun Hosokawa

Kentaro Uji

Nobumitsu Samukawa

Masata Yokoyama

Toshiyuki Yakahashi

A moving device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a cam, a moving body, a biasing body, a drive source and a drive transmission device. The moving body is configured to be moved by the cam. The biasing body is configured to apply a biasing force to bias the moving body toward the cam. The drive source is configured to apply a driving force to the cam. The drive transmission device is configured to transmit the driving force to the cam and includes a load applying body configured to apply a load to a rotation of the cam.

Moving device and image forming apparatus incorporating the moving device

A drive device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a drive source, a drive switching device configured to switch between a transmission state and a halting state, a first rotary body having a rotary shaft, a first drive transmission passage through which a driving force is transmitted to the first rotary body, a second rotary body, a second drive transmission passage through which the driving force is transmitted to the second rotary body, a drive transmission body rotatably mounted on the rotary shaft of the first rotary body, and an input drive transmission body mounted on the rotary shaft of the first rotary body and configured to input the driving force to the rotary shaft of the first rotary body, the input drive transmission body configured to rotate together with the drive transmission body as a single unit.

Drive device and image forming apparatus incorporating the drive device

A fixing device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a heater, a heating target body, a biasing body, a pressure body, a moving body, a drive source, and a drive transmitter. The heating target body is configured to be heated by the heater. The biasing body is configured to apply a biasing force. The pressure body is configured to be pressed by the biasing body toward the heating target body. The moving body is configured to move the pressure body away from the heating target body against the biasing force applied by the biasing body. The drive source is configured to apply a driving force. The drive transmitter is configured to transmit the driving force of the drive source to the moving body and includes a planetary gear device and a worm gear.

Drive transmission mechanism having a high reduction ratio for use in a fixing device

A drive transmitter, including a first rotational axis transmitting a drive force of a drive source to a first rotator, a second rotational axis transmitting a drive force of the drive source to a second rotator, and an idler gear configured to transmit a drive force to the second rotational axis; wherein the first rotational axis penetrates the idler gear with a gap therebetween.

Drive transmitter and image forming apparatus

A synchronized drive unit, including a drive member including a pulley; a driven member including a pulley; a relay member including to transmit a power; and timing belts hung around the drive and driven members through the relay member with tension and rotates the drive and driven members in synchronization, wherein each of the timing belts is formed of plural narrow timing belts parallely placed in a rotational axis direction of the pulley and the narrow timing belts are located on the driven member so as to counteract their eccentric components each other.

Synchronized drive unit and image forming apparatus having the synchronized drive unit

An image forming apparatus includes: a first image carrier; a first image forming unit that forms an image; an intermediate transfer belt; a primary transfer unit that primarily transfers the image onto the intermediate transfer belt; a secondary transfer unit that secondarily transfers the image transferred further onto a recording medium; a second image carrier that transfers the image onto the recording medium; a second image forming unit that forms an image on the second image carrier; a direct transfer unit that directly transfers the image onto the recording medium; a recording medium carriage belt, and a driving roller that drives the recording medium carriage belt; a speed fluctuation detecting unit; and a drive control unit that controls driving of the driving roller so as to reduce the cyclic speed fluctuation of the carriage belt based on a detection result of the speed fluctuation detecting unit.

Image forming apparatus having a primary transfer unit, a secondary transfer unit, and a direct transfer unit

A drive transmission device including at least one drive source, a drive transmission member, and a drive gear train. The drive transmission member includes an engaging part that engages a first rotary body provided within a unit detachably attachable to an image forming apparatus and a gear part that engages a motor gear attached to the at least one drive source. The engaging part and the gear part are formed together as an integrated unit. The drive gear train that transmits a driving force from the at least one drive source to a second rotary body provided within the unit includes a first gear and a second gear. The first gear engages the motor gear and the second gear is attached to the drive transmission member.

Drive transmission device and image forming apparatus including same

An image forming apparatus includes a recording medium transport belt which is suspended by a plurality of roller members. An image is secondarily transferred from a first image carrier through an intermediate transfer body to a recording medium. An image is directly transferred from a second image carrier to the recording medium. The image forming apparatus further includes a pattern image sensing unit which senses a pattern image transferred from the first image carrier and the second image carrier finally to the recording medium transport belt. Each of a distance from a secondary transfer position to a sensing position and a distance from a direct transfer position to the sensing position in a recording medium transport belt rotation direction is a natural number times a circumferential length of a roller member causing a speed change in the recording medium transport belt among the plurality of roller members.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a primary transfer device that primarily transfers a first image from a first image bearer onto a first belt unit at a primary transfer position, a secondary transfer device that secondarily transfers the first image from the first belt unit onto a printing medium at a secondary transfer position, and a direct transfer device that directly transfers a second image from a second image bearer onto the printing medium at a direct transfer position. A second belt unit is rotatably suspended by plural second rollers and carries and conveys the printing medium through the direct transfer position and the secondary transfer position. An interval between the direct transfer position and the secondary transfer position is prescribed natural number times of a circumference of one of the plural second rollers, which fluctuates a velocity of the second belt unit.

Image forming apparatus including first and second image forming devices and first and second belt units

A rotary drive device includes a motor including a rotary shaft, a planetary gear mechanism, and a rotation position detector. The planetary gear mechanism decelerates a rotation output of the motor at a reference reduction ratio and includes an outer gear, multistage gears, and an output shaft. The outer gear is fixed to a housing of the motor. The multistage gears are provided inside the outer gear. The output shaft transmits the decelerated rotation output of the motor to an outside of the rotary drive device. The rotation position detector detects a rotation position of the output shaft to control rotation of the motor. The motor, the planetary gear mechanism, and the rotation position detector are combined into a single integrated unit and aligned in an axial direction of the rotary shaft of the motor.

Rotary drive device and image forming apparatus

A driving-force transmitting member is formed of a material having a linear expansion coefficient larger than that of a sleeve bearing, and &#x394;xrt&#xd7;a&#x2212;Rt&#xd7;b is satisfied, where Ris inner radius of the sleeve bearing, ris outer radius of a rotary shaft unit, &#x394;xis difference between the inner radius Rand the outer radius rat a reference temperature, &#x394;t is maximum amount of temperature change of the driving-force transmitting member relative to the reference temperature, a is linear expansion coefficient of the sleeve bearing, and b is linear expansion coefficient of the driving-force transmitting member.

Driving-force transmission device and image forming apparatus

In an image forming apparatus, during a rotation of an intermediate transfer belt performed after a contact-state-changing rotation in which the number of photoconductors contacting the intermediate transfer belt has changed, a control unit of a belt driving device controls the driving speed of a belt driving motor based on a period of the intermediate transfer belt determined in the rotation immediately before the contact-state-changing rotation instead of a period determined in the contact-state-changing rotation.

Belt driving device and image forming apparatus

A driving control device for use in an image forming apparatus includes a control unit that analyzes any one of a speed variation pattern and a thickness variation pattern of an endless belt member of the image forming apparatus per at least one rotation of the endless belt member while endlessly moving the endless belt member by a driving rotating unit, and starts to execute, based on a result of analysis, a driving-speed-control-pattern updating process to update a driving speed control pattern of the driving rotating unit per at least one rotation of the endless belt member, after a power of an image forming apparatus is turned on and within a preparation period in which a predetermined preparation process is completed so that an image forming operation can be started based on an image formation command from an operator.

Driving control device and image forming apparatus including the same

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to form a toner image on an image bearing member, an endless belt configured to transfer and carry the toner image thereon, a transfer unit configured to transfer the toner image carried by the endless belt onto a recording sheet, a sensing unit configured to sense the toner image transferred onto the endless belt, a blocking unit mounted between the sensing unit and the endless belt and configured to block the sensing unit, a contact and separation unit configured to cause the transfer unit to reciprocally contact and separate from the endless belt. With this configuration, the blocking unit and the contact and separation unit are configured to be driven by an identical drive source.

Image forming apparatus having a sensor blocking device

A common driving source transmits a drive force to a driving unit that drives a feeding unit and a conveying unit. The driving source is a motor that rotates in either of a normal direction and a reverse direction. The feeding unit includes a mechanical drive-blocking mechanism in its driving sequence. The conveying unit includes a two-system driving sequence and a mechanical drive-blocking mechanism in the driving sequence so as to rotate in one direction regardless of a rotating direction of the driving source. A reduction ratio of each driving sequence in the conveying unit is identical.

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Tokyo, Japan

Yohei Miura