Developing apparatus and image forming apparatus

A developing apparatus used in an image forming apparatus, the developing apparatus comprising:

• a frame in which a developer is stored;
• and
• a developer carrying member that is disposed below a storage chamber of the frame, with the developer being stored in the storage chamber, and that carries the developer, the developer carrying member having a surface for carrying the developer that is configured such that a plurality of dielectric portions are dispersed on a conductive portion, wherein
• an upper region of the storage chamber of the frame is enlarged further in a horizontal direction than a lower region in which the developer carrying member is disposed, and
• the frame has:
• a lower guide surface that guides the developer to the developer carrying member and includes a curved surface having a tangent plane that is inclined at a first angle, which is equal to or greater than a degree of an angle of repose of the developer and less than 90 degrees, relative to a horizontal plane in an inner wall of the lower region;
• and
• an upper guide surface that is coupled to the lower guide surface, guides the developer to the lower region, and includes a curved surface having a tangent plane that is inclined at a second angle that is less than the first angle relative to a horizontal plane.

A developing apparatus used in an image forming apparatus, the developing apparatus comprising:

• a frame in which a developer is stored;
• a developer carrying member that is disposed below a storage chamber of the frame, with the developer being stored in the storage chamber, and that carries the developer, the developer carrying member having a surface for carrying the developer that is configured such that a plurality of dielectric portions are dispersed on a conductive portion;
• and
• a guide surface that is provided in part of an inner wall of the frame that forms the storage chamber and guides the developer to the developer carrying member, wherein
• a tangent plane at a lower end of the guide surface is inclined at a first angle, which is equal to or greater than a degree of an angle of repose of the developer and less than 90 degrees, relative to a horizontal plane, and the guide surface has a portion in which a tangent plane is inclined at a second angle that is less than the first angle relative to the horizontal plane above the lower end.

An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material,

• the image forming apparatus comprising:
• an image bearing member;
• and
• a developing apparatus that develops a latent image formed on the image bearing member as a developer image to be transferred to the recording material, the developing apparatus comprising
• a frame in which a developer is stored;
• and
• a developer carrying member that is disposed below a storage chamber of the frame, with the developer being stored in the storage chamber, and that carries the developer, the developer carrying member having a surface for carrying the developer that is configured such that a plurality of dielectric portions are dispersed on a conductive portion,
• wherein an upper region of the storage chamber of the frame is enlarged further in a horizontal direction than a lower region in which the developer carrying member is disposed, and the frame has:
• a lower guide surface that guides the developer to the developer carrying member and is inclined at a first angle, which is equal to or greater than a degree of an angle of repose of the developer and less than 90 degrees, relative to a horizontal plane in an inner wall of the lower region;
• and
• an upper guide surface that is coupled to the lower guide surface, guides the developer to the lower region, and is inclined at a second angle that is less than the first angle relative to the horizontal plane in an inner wall of the upper region.