Image forming apparatus having a control unit that controls exposure energy and related image forming method

An image forming method, comprising:

• a) applying a test voltage to a transferring member contacting with an image bearing body, and detecting an electric current value generated at the time the test voltage is applied to the transferring member;
• b) determining exposure energy to be used for exposing the image bearing body to light, and a transfer bias to be applied to the transferring member, based on the detected electric current value, wherein when the detected electric current value is low or high, the exposure energy is determined to be large;
• c) forming an electrostatic latent image on the image bearing body by using the determined exposure energy;
• d) developing the electrostatic latent image on the image bearing body;
• and
• e) transferring the developed image to a recording medium by applying the determined transfer bias to the transferring member.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image bearing body;
• an exposure unit for exposing the image bearing body to light so as to form an electrostatic latent image on the image bearing body;
• a developer for developing the electrostatic latent image on the image bearing body;
• a transferring member for transferring the developed image on the image bearing body to a recording medium;
• and
• a control unit for determining a transfer bias to be applied to the transferring member, based on an electric current value generated at the time a test voltage is applied to the transferring member, and controlling exposure energy of the exposure unit, based on said electric current value,
• wherein the exposure unit includes a light emitting diode array, and the control unit controls the exposure energy by controlling a strobe period of time of the light emitting diode array, and wherein when said electric current value is low or high, the control unit causes the exposure energy to be large.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image bearing body;
• an exposure unit for exposing the image bearing body to light so as to form an electrostatic latent image on the image bearing body;
• a developer for developing the electrostatic latent image on the image bearing body;
• a transferring member for transferring the developed image on the image bearing body to a recording medium;
• and
• a control unit for determining a transfer bias to be applied to the transferring member, based on an electric current value generated at the time a test voltage is applied to the transferring member, and controlling exposure energy of the exposure unit, based on said electric current value,
• wherein the exposure unit includes a light emitting diode array, and the control unit controls the exposure energy by controlling a voltage to be applied to the light emitting diode array, and wherein when said electric current value is low or high, the voltage to be applied to the light emitting diode array is caused to be large by the control unit.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image bearing body;
• an exposure unit for exposing the image bearing body to light so as to form an electrostatic latent image on the image bearing body;
• a developer for developing the electrostatic latent image on the image bearing body;
• a transferring member for transferring the developed image on the image bearing body to a recording medium;
• and
• a control unit for determining a transfer bias to be applied to the transferring member, based on an electric current value generated at the time a test voltage is applied to the transferring member, and controlling exposure energy of the exposure unit, based on said electric current value,
• wherein the exposure unit includes a light emitting diode array, and the control unit controls the exposure energy by controlling a voltage to be applied to the light emitting diode array, and wherein when said electric current value is medium, the voltage to be applied to the light emitting diode array is caused to be small by the control unit.