US 6,643,485 B2 · Electrophotographic apparatus

Abstract

An electrophotographic apparatus having a development unit for forming a toner image by developing an electrostatic latent image formed at a surface of a latent image holding member by liquid developer, a drying unit for vaporizing a portion of liquid carrier included in the developer by supplying drying gas to the liquid developer at the surface of the latent image holding member, a heating unit for heating the toner image formed on the surface of the latent image holding member and a transfer unit for transferring the heated toner image from the surface of the latent image holding member to a recording medium, further including a cover for a gas flow path guiding the supplied drying gas to a heated area of the surface of the latent image holding member heated by the heating unit along the latent image holding member and having liquid carrier recovery unit for recovering the drying gas guided to the heating area thereby to prevent vapor of the liquid carrier produced at plural locations from leaking out and in a small-sized apparatus.

Claims26

Dependent claims

An electrophotograpic apparatus using liquid developer comprising:

a latent image holding member to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the latent image holding member;
a development unit which develops the electrostatic latent image with the liquid developer containing liquid carrier and toner particles, and forms a toner image on the surface of the latent image holding member;
a gas supply unit which supplies gas to evaporate a part of the liquid carrier and generate a vapor of the liquid carrier;
an image transfer unit which transfers the toner image from the latent image holding member to a recording medium;
a cover which covers a part of the image transfer unit and a part of the latent image holding member;
a heater which heats the toner image on the image holding member or the toner image on the image transfer unit in a region bordered by the cover;
and
a recovery system which collects the gas with the vapor of the liquid carrier from the region,
wherein the gas supply unit supplies the gas to the region through a first portion of the cover, and the recovery system collects the gas with the vapor of the liquid carrier from the region through a second portion of the cover close to the heated area by the heater.

6 more elements

An electrophotographic apparatus using liquid developer comprising:

a latent image holding member to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the latent image holding member;
a development unit which develops the electrostatic latent image with the liquid developer containing liquid carrier and toner particles, and forms a toner image on the surface of the latent image holding member;
a gas supply unit which supplies gas to evaporate a part of the liquid carrier and generates a vapor of the liquid carrier;
an intermediate transfer body which transfers the toner image from the latent image holding member to a recording medium and heats the region in which the toner image is formed;
a cover which encloses a region bordered by the cover, a part of the intermediate transfer body, and a part of the latent image holding member;
and
a recovery system which collects the gas with the vapor of the liquid carrier from the region,
wherein the cover leads the gas with the vapor of the liquid carrier to a part of the region connected with the recovery system, and
wherein heating the intermediate transfer body and evaporating the liquid carrier prevent a discharge of the liquid carrier outside said electrophotographic apparatus.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Electrophotographic apparatus

Life of this patent

Electrophotographic apparatus

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims26