US 2010/0142985 A1Published application

Image forming apparatus with transfer nip adjustment function

AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.

InventorsRyuichi MINBE, Katsuya Kawagoe, Kenji Sengoku, Junpei Fujita, Osamu Ichihashi

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Abstract

A secondary transfer facing roller includes a roller part that has a through-hole penetrating in a rotary shaft line direction at a rotation center position, and a penetrating shaft member penetrating the through-hole of the roller part and spinning the roller part on a surface of the penetrating shaft member. Eccentric cams are fixed to both end regions that are not located in the roller part, so as to rotate integrally with the penetrating shaft member. A position regulating cam and an abutting roller form a gap between the intermediate transfer belt and the secondary transfer roller immediately before a transfer sheet enters a transfer nip part. While the gap is formed, current flows between the intermediate transfer belt and the secondary transfer roller via the position regulating cam and the abutting roller.

Claims21

Dependent claims

An image forming apparatus, in which at least either an image carrier or a facing member that faces the image carrier and forms a transfer region is configured by a belt member supported by a support rotating body or a rotating body, a distance between the image carrier and the facing member in the transfer region is adjusted by changing a rotation position of cams provided to a shaft part of the support rotating body or the rotating body, and, in the transfer region, a visible image on the image carrier is transferred to the facing member or to a recording sheet passed through between the image carrier and the facing member,

wherein the support rotating body or the rotating body provided with the cams at the shaft part thereof is configured by at least a main body part that has a through-hole penetrating in a rotary shaft line direction at a rotation center position, and a penetrating shaft member that serves as the shaft part penetrating the through-hole of the main body part and spinning the main body part on a surface of the penetrating shaft member,
and wherein, out of the entire region in a longitudinal direction of the penetrating shaft member, the cams are fixed to both end regions that are not located in the main body part, such that the cams are rotated integrally with the penetrating shaft member.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

an image carrier that carries a toner image and performs surface movement;
a contact member that comes into contact with the image carrier while performing surface movement and forms a transfer nip;
recording body sending means for sending a recording body toward the transfer nip;
transfer voltage application means for starting to apply transfer voltage to the image carrier or the contact member prior to the entry of the recording body into the transfer nip, so as to form a transfer electric field for transferring the toner image on the image carrier to the recording body;
and
gap forming means for separating the image carrier and the contact member from each other to form a gap therebetween immediately before the recording body enters the transfer nip part,
the image forming apparatus further comprising conducting means for conducting electricity so that current induced by the transfer voltage applied by the transfer voltage application means flows between the image carrier and the contact member while the gap forming means separates the image carrier and the contact member from each other to form a gap therebetween.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/628,649Filed 1 Dec 2009
Priority: JP 2008-3093574 Dec 2008
Published: 10 Jun 2010
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

G03G 15/163
Of a toner pattern, e.g. a powder pattern , e.g. magnetic transfer: using the force produced by an electrostatic transfer field formed between the…
G03G 15/161
Using at least one intermediate support: with means for handling the intermediate support, e.g. heating, cleaning, coating with a transfer agent
G03G 15/2032
Structural details of the fixing unit in general, e.g. cooling means, heat shielding means: retractable heating or pressure unit
G03G 5/082
Characterised by the photoconductive material being inorganic: and not being incorporated in a bonding material, e.g. vacuum deposited