Method of cleaning a surface in an image forming apparatus by feeding toner to the surface
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsMasato Yanagida, Atsuo Tokunaga
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an image forming apparatus of the type including a movable belt and a cleaning blade for cleaning the belt, a toner image on the form of an exclusive line is formed on an image carrier between sheets and the transferred to the belt so as to feed toner to the edge of the cleaning blade. The toner prevents the edge of the cleaning blade from being turned over by the belt. The toner is fed to the cleaning blade in amounts different in the widthwise direction of the belt and can therefore be controlled in amount in the above direction.
Claims41
A method of cleaning a belt, comprising the steps of:
- transferring a line of toner to a belt, the line of toner arranged along a width of the belt such that there are different amounts of toner along the width of the belt, the line of toner having a width, as measured in a widthwise direction of the belt, greater than a maximum width of a recording medium, but smaller than a width of a cleaning blade, the line of toner being transferred in order to reduce a coefficient of friction between the belt and the cleaning blade;
- and
- cleaning the line of toner from the belt by contacting the cleaning blade with the belt and moving the belt relative to the cleaning blade.
A method of cleaning in an image forming apparatus, comprising the steps of:
- sensing a humidity;
- transferring toner to a surface in different amounts in a widthwise direction of the surface, at least some of the toner being other than for forming an image and having a primary purpose of preventing damage due to contact between the surface and a cleaning blade, an amount of toner which is transferred being based on the humidity which is sensed;
- and
- cleaning the toner from the surface using the blade.
A method of cleaning a belt in an image forming apparatus, comprising:
- forming an image;
- counting a number of images which have been formed;
- transferring toner to a surface which conveys developed images, at least some of the toner being other than for forming an image and having a primary purpose of preventing damage due to contact between the surface and a cleaning blade;
- and
- cleaning the toner off of the surface using the cleaning blade,
- wherein an amount of toner which has been transferred increases as a number of images formed increases.
A method of cleaning a belt in an image forming apparatus, comprising:
- forming an image;
- measuring an amount of torque associated with moving a belt;
- transferring toner to the belt which conveys developed images, at least some of the toner being other than for forming an image and having a primary purpose of preventing damage due to contact between the belt and a cleaning blade;
- and
- cleaning the toner off of said belt using the cleaning blade,
- wherein an amount of toner which has been transferred increases as the amount of torque which has been measured increases.
A method of cleaning a belt performed within an image forming device, comprising the steps of:
- forming an image on an image carrier;
- developing the image into a toner image;
- transferring the toner image to a recording medium on a belt;
- fixing the image on the recording medium;
- forming an image of a line on the image carrier, the image of the line comprising a straight line inclined by a predetermine angle, other than zero degrees, relative to a cleaning blade, when a toner image of the line is transferred to the belt;
- developing the image of the line into the toner image of the line;
- transferring the toner image of the line to the belt;
- and
- cleaning the toner image of the line from the belt using a blade.
A method of cleaning a belt performed within an image forming device, comprising the steps of:
- forming an image on an image carrier;
- developing the image into a toner image;
- transferring the toner image to a recording medium on a belt;
- fixing the image on the recording medium;
- forming an image of a line on the image carrier, the image of the line comprising a non-straight line;
- developing the image of the line into the toner image of the line;
- transferring the toner image of the line to the belt;
- cleaning the toner image of the line from the belt using a blade.
A method of cleaning a belt performed within an image forming device, comprising the steps of:
- forming an image on an image carrier;
- developing the image into a toner image;
- transferring the toner image to a recording medium on a belt;
- fixing the image on the recording medium;
- forming an image of a plurality of segments on the image carrier;
- developing the image of the plurality of segments into a toner image of the plurality of segments;
- transferring the toner image of the plurality of segments to the belt;
- and
- cleaning the toner image of the plurality of segments from the belt using a blade,
- wherein the plurality of segments are arranged on intersecting diagonal lines.
A method of cleaning a belt performed within an image forming device, comprising the steps of:
- forming an image on an image carrier;
- developing the image into a toner image;
- transferring the toner image to a recording medium on a belt;
- fixing the image on the recording medium;
- forming an image of a plurality of segments on the image carrier;
- developing the image of the plurality of segments into a toner image of the plurality of segments;
- transferring the toner image of the plurality of segments to the belt;
- and
- cleaning the toner image of the plurality of segments from the belt using a blade,
- wherein the plurality of segments are arranged on two parallel lines.
A method of cleaning a belt performed within an image forming device, comprising the steps of:
- forming an image on an image carrier;
- developing the image into a toner image;
- transferring the toner image to a recording medium on a belt;
- fixing the image on the recording medium;
- forming an image of a plurality of segments on the image carrier;
- developing the image of the plurality of segments into a toner image of the plurality of segments;
- transferring the toner image of the plurality of segments to the belt;
- and
- cleaning the toner image of the plurality of segments from the belt using a blade,
- wherein the plurality of segments are arranged on at least four lines which are arranged horizontally across a width of the belt.
A method of cleaning a belt performed within an image forming device, comprising the steps of:
- forming an image on an image carrier;
- developing the image into a toner image;
- transferring the toner image to a recording medium on a belt;
- fixing the image on the recording medium;
- forming an image of a plurality of segments on the image carrier;
- developing the image of the plurality of segments into a toner image of the plurality of segments;
- transferring the toner image of the plurality of segments to the belt;
- and
- cleaning the toner image of the plurality of segments from the belt using a blade,
- wherein the step of cleaning is performed between transferring images to recording media.
A method of cleaning a belt performed within an image forming device, comprising the steps of:
- forming an image on an image carrier;
- developing the image into a toner image;
- transferring the toner image to a recording medium on a belt;
- fixing the image on the recording medium;
- forming an image of a line on the image carrier, the image of the line resembling background contamination;
- developing the image of the line into the toner image of the line;
- transferring the toner image of the line to the belt;
- cleaning the toner image of the line from the belt using a blade.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.