Image forming apparatus
AssigneeKonica Minolta, Inc.
InventorYu MUKOBAYASHI
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes: a photoreceptor that forms a toner image on a surface of the photoreceptor; a charger that charges the surface of the photoreceptor; an exposure device that exposes the surface of the photoreceptor; a developer that supplies toner to the surface of the photoreceptor; an intermediate transfer belt for transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor; a density sensor that detects a density of the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt; and a controller that controls the image forming apparatus.
Claims17
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a photoreceptor that forms a toner image on a surface of the photoreceptor;
- a charger that charges the surface of the photoreceptor;
- an exposure device that exposes the surface of the photoreceptor;
- a developer that supplies toner to the surface of the photoreceptor;
- an intermediate transfer belt for transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor;
- a density sensor that detects a density of the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt;
- and
- a controller that controls the image forming apparatus,
- wherein the controller
- changes a light amount of the exposure device a plurality of times to expose a plurality of parts on the surface of the photoreceptor with different light amounts,
- allows the developer to form toner images for inspection for respective parts on the surface of the photoreceptor exposed with the different light amounts,
- detects densities of the toner images for inspection transferred to the intermediate transfer belt based on an output from the density sensor, and
- compares the densities of the respective toner images for inspection to estimate a life of the photoreceptor based on a change amount of the densities of the toner images for inspection caused by a change in light amount of the exposure device.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a photoreceptor that forms a toner image on a surface of the photoreceptor;
- a charger that charges the surface of the photoreceptor;
- an exposure device that exposes the surface of the photoreceptor;
- a developer that supplies toner to the surface of the photoreceptor;
- an intermediate transfer belt for transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor;
- a density sensor that detects a density of the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt;
- and
- a controller that controls the image forming apparatus,
- wherein the controller
- allows the charger to charge the surface of the photoreceptor while changing a charging potential a plurality of times,
- allows the exposure device to expose respective portions with different charging potentials of the surface of the photoreceptor,
- allows the developer to form toner images for inspection for respective exposed parts on the surface of the photoreceptor,
- detects densities of the toner images for inspection transferred to the intermediate transfer belt based on an output from the density sensor, and
- compares the densities of the respective toner images for inspection to estimate a life of the photoreceptor based on a change amount of densities of the toner images for inspection caused by a change in charging potential of the photoreceptor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.