Image forming apparatus with high release characteristic of a toner image
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
InventorsMitsunaga Saito, Masahiro Hosoya, Yasushi Shinjo, Hitoshi Yagi, Koichi Ishii
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Abstract
An image forming apparatus with high release characteristic of a toner image, which can acquire a good imprint for a long time, is provided. In the image forming apparatus using the liquid development method, by giving release agent under the visible image formed by the liquid development, which forms release layer on latent image support before development, and is, the image forming apparatus with high release characteristic of a toner image, which can acquire good transfer characteristic for a long time, is realized.
Claims25
An image forming apparatus using a liquid development agent and configured to form a visible image on an image carrier, comprising:
- a latent image retaining layer;
- a release agent providing unit configured to provide a release agent on the latent image retaining layer, wherein the release agent has a surface energy lower than a surface energy of the liquid development agent and releases the liquid development agent from the latent image retaining layer;
- a latent image formation unit configured to form an electrostatic latent image on the latent image retaining layer;
- a liquid development unit configured to provide the liquid development agent on the latent image retaining layer having the electrostatic latent image and the release agent, and to develop a visible image on the latent image retaining layer from the electrostatic latent image;
- and
- a transfer unit configured to transfer the visible image from the latent image retaining layer to the image carrier.
An image forming apparatus using a liquid development agent and configured to form a visible image on an image carrier, comprising:
- a latent image retaining layer;
- a cleaning unit configured to clean the latent image retaining layer and to provide a release agent on the latent image retaining layer, wherein the release agent has a surface energy lower than a surface energy of the liquid development agent and assists to release the liquid development agent from the latent image retaining layer;
- a latent image formation unit configured to form an electrostatic latent image on the latent image retaining layer;
- a liquid development unit configured to provide the liquid development agent on the latent image retaining layer having the electrostatic latent image and the release agent, and to develop a visible image on the latent image retaining layer from the electrostatic latent image;
- and
- a transfer unit configured to transfer the visible image from the latent image retaining layer to the image carrier.
A developing engine using a liquid development agent, comprising:
- a latent image retaining layer;
- a release agent providing unit configured to provide a release agent on the latent image retaining layer, wherein the release agent has a surface energy lower than a surface energy of the liquid development agent and releases the liquid development agent from the latent image retaining layer;
- a latent image formation unit configured to form an electrostatic latent image on the latent image retaining layer;
- and
- a liquid development unit configured to provide a liquid development agent on the latent image retaining layer having the electrostatic latent image and the release agent, and to develop a visible image on the latent image retaining layer from the electrostatic latent image on the latent image retaining layer.
A developing engine using a liquid development agent, comprising:
- a latent image retaining layer;
- a cleaning unit configured to clean the latent image retaining layer and to provide a release agent on the latent image retaining layer;
- a latent image formation unit configured to form an electrostatic latent image on the latent image retaining layer;
- and
- a liquid development unit configured to provide the liquid development agent on the latent image retaining layer having the electrostatic latent image and the release agent, and to develop a visible image on the latent image retaining layer from the electrostatic latent image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.