The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 28, 2018
Filed:
Nov. 07, 2017
Daisuke Nii, Shizuoka, JP;
Noriyasu Saito, Shizuoka, JP;
Kazuhiro Egawa, Shizuoka, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a photoconductor, a charger, an exposure device, a transfer device, a first and a second surface voltmeter, and a processor. At the first rotation of the photoconductor, the charger charges a charge area on the photoconductor, the exposure device exposes a part of an exposure area in an axial direction of the photoconductor, and the transfer device charges an exposed and unexposed area. At the second rotation, the charger charges the charge area, and the exposure device exposes the exposed and unexposed area at the first rotation. After the exposure at the second rotation, the first surface voltmeter measures a surface potential Vof the unexposed area at the first rotation, and the second surface voltmeter measures a surface potential Vof the exposed area at the first rotation. The processor evaluates a life of the photoconductor based on the surface potentials Vand V