Image forming apparatus having aperture electrodes with lubricating layer thereon
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorMasataka Maeda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image forming apparatus uses an electrode member with apertures therein through which toner is passed according to an image. The electrode member has a lubricant layer contacting the surface of a toner carrier. The lubricant layer is made of molybdenum disulfide. Friction between the surface of the lubricant layer directly contacting the toner carrier and the toner particles carried thereon is so small that the adhesion of the toner particles is negligibly disturbed. Therefore, the switching control voltage for forming the image can be small.
Claims20
A image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a toner carrier having charged toner particles for supplying the charged toner particles;
- a toner flow control member having openings therein with control electrodes formed around said openings, said toner flow control member controlling a flow of the charged toner particles from said toner carrier through said openings with an electric field, and said toner flow control member having a lubricant layer disposed on a surface directly contacting said toner carrier;
- and
- a back electrode confronting said toner flow control member and attracting charged toner particles that have passed through said openings, wherein said back electrode and said toner flow control member are positioned to sandwich an image receiving medium therebetween.
A image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a toner supply that supplies charged toner particles and includes a toner carrier member;
- an image support that supports an image formed of charged toner particles based on image data;
- and
- a toner flow control member disposed between said toner supply and said image support, said toner flow control member having a surface directly contacting a surface of said toner carrier member, said toner flow control member including a plurality of apertures surrounded by control electrodes that create an electric field to selectively draw charged toner particles through said apertures, wherein a friction force between the surface of said toner flow control member directly contacting said toner carrier member and the toner particles is smaller than a friction force between the surface of said toner carrier member directly contacting said toner flow control member and the toner particles.
A image forming apparatus, comprising:
- toner charging means for charging toner particles;
- toner carrier means for carrying the charged toner particles charged by said toner charging means;
- toner flow control means having openings therein and control electrodes formed around said openings, said toner flow control means for controlling a flow of the charged toner particles from said toner carrier means through said opening using an electric field, and said toner flow control means having a lubricant means disposed on a surface directly contacting said toner carrier means;
- image support means for supporting image data formed of charged toner particles based on the image data;
- and
- back electrode means confronting said toner flow control member, said back electrode means for attracting charged toner particles that have passed through said openings, wherein said back electrode and said toner flow control member are positioned to sandwich an image support means therebetween.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.