Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Yuushi Hirayama

Shinji Kato

Shin Hasegawa

Kayoko Tanaka

Kohta Fujimori

Kazumi Kobayashi

Takashi Enami

Naoto Watanabe

Shinji Kobayashi

Nobutaka Takeuchi

Hitoshi Ishibashi

Fukutoshi Uchida

Osamu Ariizumi

Ryohta Morimoto

Hiroyuki Sugiyama

Mitsuru Takahashi

Kazuosa Kuma

Noboru Sawayama

Yoshihiro Fujiwara

Hideyasu Seki

Taichi Urayama

Ryusuke Mase

Kiichirou Shimizu

Hideki Kamaji

Hiroki Ishii

Kazufumi Kimura

Ryota Kidera

Hideaki Kanaya

Masanori Moro

Yuka Kanatani

Saki Izumi

A liquid applying apparatus includes a liquid applier, a heating device, and a post-processing apparatus. The liquid applier is configured to discharge liquid to a sheet. The heating device is configured to heat the sheet on which the liquid is applied, by the liquid applier. The post-processing apparatus is configured to perform a post-processing operation to the sheet that has passed the heating device. An upstream sheet that is conveyed after the sheet and located upstream from the post-processing apparatus in a sheet conveyance direction stops in an area other than a heat area of the heating device when the post-processing apparatus performs the post-processing operation on the sheet.

Liquid applying apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearer, a charging, a charge power supply to supply a charging bias to the charging device, a developing device, a toner adhesion amount detector, an environment detector, and a controller to determine whether to execute a charging bias adjustment process in which the charging device charges the image bearer to have different potentials, the developing device supplies the toner to the image bearer according to the different potentials, the toner adhesion amount detector detects the amount of toner adhering to the image bearer, and the controller adjusts the charging. The controller includes a memory device to store the environment data, and is configured to compare the environment data with previous environment data stored in the memory device, and determine not to execute the charging bias adjustment process when an environment change amount is not greater than a threshold.

Image forming apparatus and image forming system

An image forming apparatus includes a photoconductor on which an electrostatic latent image is formed by irradiation of the photoconductor with light, a charger, a developing device, a transfer device, a charge removal execution determiner, and a power supply controller. The charger receives a superimposed voltage of a DC voltage and an AC voltage to charge the photoconductor. The developing device develops the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor into a toner image. The transfer device transfers the developed toner image to a recording medium. The charge removal execution determiner issues a charge removal command when a flow of electric charge from the transfer device into the photoconductor has occurred in an image forming outputting operation. The power supply controller applies only the AC voltage to the charger for a predetermined period in a state in which the photoconductor is rotated, when the charge removal command is issued.

Image forming apparatus executing charge removal for photoconductor thereof and control method for same

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrying member, an image forming mechanism, an optical sensor, and a controller. The image forming mechanism performs an image forming operation for forming a reference toner image on the image carrying member under a specific setting associated with the image forming mechanism. The optical sensor is arranged in a vicinity to the image carrying member. The controller performs an optical toner test for checking, by using the optical sensor, optical characteristics of the reference toner image formed on the image carrying member and to adjust the specific setting based on a result of the optical toner test.

Image forming apparatus capable of reducing a lengthy duration of an adjustment control

An image forming apparatus and corresponding method, the image forming apparatus including a belt member supported by at least two rollers, an image forming member configured to form a patch pattern of image data on a surface of the belt member, a belt supporting member configured to support the belt member on a contact area thereof with respect to the belt member at a position higher than a tangent line of the at least two rollers, and a sensor configured to detect the patch pattern formed on the surface of the belt member at the contact area of the belt supporting member and the belt member.

Method and apparatus for image forming of effectively detecting image data

An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image carriers, an image forming mechanism, a seamless belt-like intermediate transfer body or a transfer material carrier, a detection mechanism, and an optical detecting apparatus. The optical detecting apparatus includes at least a printed board, and a plurality of photodetectors formed of a light-emitting element, a light-receiving element and light-shielding members, which are mounted on the printed board. The optical detecting apparatus is disposed such that it detects a belt surface adjacent to rollers of the intermediate transfer body or the transfer material carrier, and either displacement of a transfer image or image density is detected by a plurality of photodetectors detecting pattern images which are transferred from the plurality of image carriers to the image transfer body or the transfer material carrier.

Method and apparatus for image forming capable of accurately detecting displacement of transfer images and image density

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, an image forming mechanism configured to perform an image formation by performing a first image forming operation to form a first image on the image bearing member and an image transferring operation to transfer the first image onto a recording member, and an image quality controlling mechanism configured to perform an image control by performing a second image forming operation to form a second image on the image bearing member and an image controlling operation to control an image quality according to the second image. The image quality controlling mechanism determines an operation condition of starting the image control according to first information of operations during the image formation and second information of operations during the image control, when the second image forming operation is performed during the first image forming operation.

Image forming apparatus and method of controlling an image quality

An image forming method and apparatus capable of implementing accurately and constantly an improved conversion of the amount of toner adhesion over the entire range of the amount of adhesion. The method includes the steps of computing a normalization value as a relative output ratio of the regular reflection output to a background regular reflection component from the surface extracted from the regular reflection light, in which the regular reflection output is obtained by detecting a plurality of gradation toner patterns with a sensor configured to simultaneously detect regular reflection light and diffuse reflection light; obtaining a diffuse reflection output conversion factor by either (1) subtracting the normalization value multiplied by the diffuse reflection output voltage generated by the surface from the diffuse reflection output voltage, or (2) subtracting the normalization value multiplied by a diffuse reflection output voltage increment, which is computed as the difference between the diffuse reflection output voltage and another diffuse reflection output voltage obtained when a light emitting device is turned off, from the diffuse reflection output voltage increment; and subjecting the relation between the diffuse reflection output conversion factor and the amount of adhesion to a polynomial approximation.

Image forming method and apparatus with improved conversion capability of amount of toner adhesion

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Sagamihara, Japan

Yuushi Hirayama