Wet-type electrophotography apparatus, using non-volatile, high viscosity, high concentration liquid toner

A wet-type electrophotography apparatus using as a liquid developer a non-volatile, high-viscosity, high-concentration liquid toner obtained by dispersing a predetermined concentration of toner particles in a liquid carrier said apparatus comprising:

• an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed;
• prewetting solution applying means for applying a film of prewetting solution on the surface of the image carrier;
• a developing roller for feeding the liquid developer while making contact with the image carrier, and causing toner particles in the liquid developer to adhere to the image carrier in accordance with an electric field formed between the developing roller-and the image carrier;
• recovery means for recovering the liquid developer remaining on the surface of the developing roller as a liquid toner of a diluted concentration;
• means for regenerating the liquid toner having a predetermined concentration as the liquid developer by mixing the recovered liquid toner of diluted concentration with a high-concentration liquid toner in which toner particles are dispersed at a concentration higher than the predetermined concentration at a predetermined ratio;
• and
• means for using the regenerated liquid toner as the liquid developer,
• wherein the means for regenerating the liquid toner comprises means for calculating printing duty on the basis of printing data, and means for determining the replenishments of the carrier and the toner particles by calculating the consumption of the liquid toner on the basis of the developing efficiency and the printing duty supplied by the calculating means.

A wet-type electrophotography apparatus using a non-volatile, high-viscosity, high-concentration liquid toner as a liquid developer and comprising:

• an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed,
• prewetting solution applying means for applying a film of prewetting solution on the surface of the image carrier;
• a developing roller feeding the liquid developer while making contact with the image carrier, and causing toner particles in the liquid developer to adhere to the image carrier in accordance with an electric field formed between the developing roller and the image carrier so that a toner image formed on the image carrier is transferred directly to a printing medium, or to a printing medium via an intermediate transfer medium;
• and
• an oil removal roller making contact with the toner image surface on the image carrier and removing oil having excess prewetting solution and excess carrier solution of the liquid toner in the toner layer by causing to adhere to the roller surface, and means making contact with the roller for removing the oil adhered to the roller surface.