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:
Dec. 29, 1992
Filed:
Oct. 19, 1990
Noriyuki Usui, Kawasaki, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A cleaning control device incorporated in electrophotographic image forming equipment for controlling the removal of toner remaining on a photoconductive element or image carrier after image transfer. Before the removal of the remaining toner, the surface potential of the photoconductive element is controlled to a predetermined value on the basis of the amount of remaining toner. Since the reference potential of the photoconductive element is determined in association with the amount of remaining toner, a minimum electric field capable of effecting cleaning is applied at all times. The reference potential is changed in response to aging. The remaining amount of toner is detected by a photoelectric transducer, while the electric field for cleaning is controlled in response to the detected amount of remaining toner. Further, the reference potential is changed in response to the instantaneous humidity around the photoconductive element.