Cleaning unit, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsTakeshi Shintani, Naohiro Kumagai, Masato Yanagida, Toshio Koike, Eisaku Murakami, Masanori Kawasumi, Atsushi Sampe, Masami Tomita
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cleaning unit cleans residual toner on the surface of a rotatable image carrier. The cleaning unit includes a cleaning blade that is in contact with the image carrier in such a manner that amplitude of a waveform at an edge of the cleaning blade is not greater than 40 μm with respect to a downstream side of a direction of movement of the image carrier.
Claims34
A cleaning unit that cleans residual toner on a surface of an image carrier in an image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a cleaning blade that is in contact with the surface of the image carrier, wherein an amplitude of a waveform at an edge of the cleaning blade is not greater than 40 μm with respect to a downstream side of a direction of movement of the image carrier.
A process cartridge in an image forming apparatus, the process cartridge comprising:
- a cleaning unit that includes
- a cleaning blade that is in contact with a surface of an image carrier and that cleans residual toner from the surface, wherein an amplitude of a waveform at an edge of the cleaning blade is not greater than 40 μm with respect to a downstream side of a direction of movement of the image carrier;
- and
- at least one selected from
- an image carrier;
- a charging unit that charges a surface of the image carrier uniformly;
- and
- an exposing unit that writes a latent image on the surface of the image carrier.
A image forming apparatus comprising a process cartridge, the process cartridge including
- a cleaning unit that has
- a cleaning blade that is in contact with a surface of an image carrier and that cleans residual toner from the surface, wherein an amplitude of a waveform at an edge of the cleaning blade is not greater than 40 μm with respect to a downstream side of a direction of movement of the image carrier;
- and
- at least one selected from
- an image carrier;
- a charging unit that charges a surface of the image carrier uniformly;
- and
- an exposing unit that writes a latent image on the surface of the image carrier.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.