Belt drive device

A method for operating a belt drive device, comprising:

• rotating an endless belt;
• detecting a position of a connection portion in which both ends of a reinforcing tape, provided on an outer surface of an edge of the belt in a width direction orthogonal to a rotation direction of the belt, in a longitudinal direction along the edge of the belt are overlapped and connected;
• contacting an outer surface of the belt and an outer surface of the reinforcing tape with a blade, extendable in the width direction;
• and
• controlling rotating the belt based on a detection result obtained such that when rotating the belt by a constant length in a reverse direction from one end of the reinforcing tape overlapped inside toward another end of the reinforcing tape overlapped outside at the connection portion from a state in which the belt is stopped, rotating the belt in a forward direction to a rotation position where the other end of the reinforcing tape does not contact the blade by a reverse rotation and stopping the belt before the belt is reversely rotated.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a plurality of photosensitive drums configured to form toner images of respective colors based on color-separated image data;
• a transfer belt that overlaps and transfers the toner images of the respective colors formed on surfaces of the plurality of photosensitive drums;
• a transfer device that transfers, to a sheet, color images overlapped on the transfer belt;
• a fixing device configured to fix, to the sheet, the color images transferred to the sheet;
• a belt drive device, comprising:
• a drive component configured to rotate the transfer belt;
• a detector configured to detect a position of a connection portion in which both ends of a reinforcing tape, provided on an outer surface of an edge of the belt in a width direction orthogonal to a rotation direction of the belt, in a longitudinal direction along the edge of the belt are overlapped and connected;
• a blade configured to contact an outer surface of the belt and an outer surface of the reinforcing tape, extendable in the width direction;
• and
• a controller configured to control driving of the drive component based on a detection result obtained by the detector such that when the drive component rotates the belt by a constant length in a reverse direction from one end of the reinforcing tape overlapped inside toward another end of the reinforcing tape overlapped outside at the connection portion from a state in which the belt is stopped, the drive component rotates the belt in a forward direction to a rotation position where the other end of the reinforcing tape does not contact the blade by a reverse rotation and stops the belt before the belt is reversely rotated.