Image forming apparatus, transfer belt unit, cleaning device and cleaner unit used for image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner supporting member that moves with charged toner supported on a surface thereof;
• a cleaner member that is rotated while being pressed onto said toner supporting member;
• a potential supplying means for supplying a potential for electrically attracting said toner from said toner supporting member to said cleaner member;
• and
• a frictionally charging member that is pressed onto said toner supporting member upstream from said cleaner member in the moving direction of said toner supporting member;
• wherein said frictionally charging member is electrically grounded.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner supporting member that moves with charged toner supported on a surface thereof;
• a cleaner member that is rotated while being pressed onto said toner supporting member;
• a potential supplying means for supplying a potential for electrically attracting said toner from said toner supporting member to said cleaner member;
• and
• a frictionally charging member that is pressed onto said toner supporting member upstream from said cleaner member in the moving direction of said toner supporting member;
• wherein said frictionally charging member is a rotatable roller that is in contact only with said toner supporting member, and said frictionally charging member and said toner supporting member move at different speeds from each other at the contact portion therebetween.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner supporting member that moves with charged toner supported on a surface thereof;
• a cleaner member that is rotated while being pressed onto said toner supporting member;
• a potential supplying means for supplying a potential for electrically attracting said toner from said toner supporting member to said cleaner member;
• and
• a frictionally charging member that is pressed onto said toner supporting member upstream from said cleaner member in the moving direction of said toner supporting member;
• wherein said frictionally charging member is separable from said toner supporting member, and a driving force is transmitted from a driving portion of said toner supporting member to said frictionally charging member.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner supporting member that moves with charged toner supported on a surface thereof;
• a cleaner member that is rotated while being pressed onto said toner supporting member;
• a potential supplying means for supplying a potential for electrically attracting said toner from said toner supporting member to said cleaner member;
• and
• a frictionally charging member that is pressed onto said toner supporting member upstream from said cleaner member in the moving direction of said toner supporting member;
• wherein an opposing electrode is provided at a position facing said frictionally charging member while sandwiching said toner supporting member between said opposing electrode and said frictionally charging member.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner supporting member that moves with charged toner supported on a surface thereof;
• a cleaner member that is rotated while being pressed onto said toner supporting member;
• a potential supplying means for supplying a potential for electrically attracting said toner from said toner supporting member to said cleaner member;
• and
• a frictionally charging member that is pressed onto said toner supporting member upstream from said cleaner member in the moving direction of said toner supporting member;
• wherein said frictionally charging member is a rotatable roller having a surface roughness Ra of 5-20 μm.

A transfer belt unit comprising, as an integrated unit:

• a high resistance intermediate transfer belt which is supported rotatably, and on which toner charged with a predetermined polarity is transferred to a toner image by primary transfer, and further said toner image is transferred onto a recording paper by secondary transfer;
• a cleaner roller which is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt downstream from said secondary transfer position in the rotation direction of said intermediate transfer belt and to which a voltage with a polarity opposite to said predetermined polarity of said toner is applied;
• and
• a frictionally charging member that is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt between said secondary transfer position and said cleaner roller;
• wherein said integrated unit can be detachably attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus;
• and
• said frictionally charging member is electrically grounded.

A transfer belt unit comprising, as an integrated unit:

• a high resistance intermediate transfer belt which is supported rotatably, and on which toner charged with a predetermined polarity is transferred to a toner image by primary transfer, and further said toner image is transferred onto a recording paper by secondary transfer;
• a cleaner roller which is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt downstream from said secondary transfer position in the rotation direction of said intermediate transfer belt and to which a voltage with a polarity opposite to said predetermined polarity of said toner is applied;
• and
• a frictionally charging member that is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt between said secondary transfer position and said cleaner roller;
• wherein said integrated unit can be detachably attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus;
• said frictionally charging member is a rotatable roller that is in contact only with said toner supporting member, and said frictionally charging member and said toner supporting member move at different speeds from each other at the contact portion therebetween;
• and
• said frictionally charging member is a rotatable roller that is in contact only with said toner supporting member, and said frictionally charging member and said toner supporting member move in the same direction at the contact portion therebetween.

A transfer belt unit comprising, as an integrated unit:

• a high resistance intermediate transfer belt which is supported rotatably, and on which toner charged with a predetermined polarity is transferred to a toner image by primary transfer, and further said toner image is transferred onto a recording paper by secondary transfer;
• a cleaner roller which is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt downstream from said secondary transfer position in the rotation direction of said intermediate transfer belt and to which a voltage with a polarity opposite to said predetermined polarity of said toner is applied;
• and
• a frictionally charging member that is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt between said secondary transfer position and said cleaner roller;
• wherein said integrated unit can be detachably attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus;
• and
• an opposing electrode is provided at a position facing said frictionally charging member while sandwiching said intermediate transfer belt between said opposing electrode and said frictionally charging member.

A transfer belt unit comprising, as an integrated unit:

• a high resistance intermediate transfer belt which is supported rotatably, and on which toner charged with a predetermined polarity is transferred to a toner image by primary transfer, and further said toner image is transferred onto a recording paper by secondary transfer;
• a cleaner roller which is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt downstream from said secondary transfer position in the rotation direction of said intermediate transfer belt and to which a voltage with a polarity opposite to said predetermined polarity of said toner is applied;
• and
• a frictionally charging member that is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt between said secondary transfer position and said cleaner roller;
• wherein said integrated unit can be detachably attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus;
• and
• said frictionally charging member is a rotatable roller having a surface roughness Ra of 5-20 μm.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner supporting member that moves with charged toner supported on the surface thereof;
• a cleaner member that is rotated while being pressed onto said toner supporting member;
• and
• a potential supplying means for supplying potential for electrically attracting said toner from said toner supporting member to said cleaner member;
• wherein said cleaner member is made of metal and has a high-resistance layer on the surface thereof;
• and
• said toner supporting member is an intermediate transfer belt, comprising a toner image forming means for forming a toner image charged with a predetermined polarity on said intermediate transfer belt, and a transfer means for transferring said toner image from said intermediate transfer belt onto a recording paper, wherein said cleaner member is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt between said transfer means and said toner image forming means;
• said apparatus further comprising a conductive pretreatment member that is electrically grounded and is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt between said transfer means and said cleaner member.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner supporting member that moves with charged toner supported on the surface thereof;
• a cleaner member that is rotated while being pressed onto said toner supporting member;
• and
• a potential supplying means for supplying potential for electrically attracting said toner from said toner supporting member to said cleaner member;
• wherein said cleaner member is made of metal and has a high-resistance layer on the surface thereof;
• and
• said toner supporting member is a transfer belt for conveying a recording paper, comprising a toner image forming means for forming a toner image charged with a predetermined polarity on said recording paper, a peeling means for peeling said recording paper from said transfer belt, wherein said cleaner member is pressed onto said transfer belt between said peeling means and said toner image forming means;
• said apparatus further comprising a conductive pretreatment member that is electrically grounded and is pressed onto said transfer belt between said peeling means and said cleaner member.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner supporting member that moves with charged toner supported on the surface thereof;
• a cleaner member that is rotated while being pressed onto said toner supporting member;
• and
• a potential supplying means for supplying potential for electrically attracting said toner from said toner supporting member to said cleaner member;
• wherein said cleaner member is made of metal and has a high-resistance layer on the surface thereof;
• wherein said toner supporting member is an intermediate transfer belt, comprising a toner image forming means for forming a toner image charged with a predetermined polarity on said intermediate transfer belt, and a transfer means for transferring said toner image from said intermediate transfer belt onto a recording paper, wherein said cleaner member is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt between said transfer means and said toner image forming means;
• said apparatus further comprising a pretreatment roller that is electrically grounded and which is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt between said transfer means and said cleaner member, and a pretreatment roller disjunction mechanism for separating said pretreatment roller from said intermediate transfer belt.

A transfer belt unit comprising, as an integrated unit:

• an intermediate transfer belt which is supported rotatably, and on which toner charged with a predetermined polarity is transferred to a toner image by primary transfer, and further said toner image is transferred onto a recording paper by secondary transfer;
• a cleaner roller made of metal and having a high resistance layer on the surface thereof, which is rotated while being pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt at the downstream from said secondary transfer position in the rotation direction of said intermediate transfer belt;
• a potential supplying means for supplying a potential for electrically attracting said toner to said cleaner roller;
• and
• a scraper for scraping off said toner while being pressed onto the surface of said cleaner roller;
• wherein said integrated unit can be attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus detachably;
• said transfer belt unit further comprising a conductive pretreatment member that is electrically grounded and is pressed onto said intermediate transfer belt between said secondary transfer position and said cleaner roller.