Liquid image formation apparatus and liquid developing device

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, wherein
• said rotation driving unit has a latent image carrier end gear disposed in the end part of said latent image carrier;
• and
• a sweep roller end gear disposed in the end part of said sweep roller so as to be engaged with said latent image carrier end gear, and
• said sweep roller end gear drives to rotate said sweep roller.

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, said liquid developing device further comprising:
• a development voltage applying unit configured to apply a development voltage to said developer carrier, said development voltage producing a development electric field between an image portion of said latent image carrier and said developer carrier, and said development electric field having a direction that moves toner to said image portion, wherein
• said sweep voltage produces a sweep electric field having a direction that attracts stray excess toner present between a background of said latent image carrier and said sweep roller to said sweep roller, and said sweep electric field not being strong enough to peel said toner adhering to said image portion.

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, wherein
• said cleaning unit is a cleaning blade having a contact position with respect to said sweep roller that is a central position or lower in the vertical direction, and
• said cleaning blade is disposed so that said cleaning blade is in contact with said sweep roller at a position having an angle θ formed with a horizontal surface of said sweep roller, and said cleaning blade is in contact with said sweep roller at an angle α formed between a tangential direction at a contact point of said blade with said sweep roller and said blade, and the angle θ is made greater than the angle α.

A liquid developing device according comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, wherein
• said cleaning unit is a cleaning blade having a contact position with respect to said sweep roller that is a central position or lower in the vertical direction, said liquid image formation apparatus further comprising:
• a conveying unit, which moves toner after being removed in an axial direction, disposed close to said cleaning blade.

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, wherein
• said cleaning unit is a cleaning blade having a contact position with respect to said sweep roller that is a central position or lower in the vertical direction, and
• said cleaning blade and an associated holding part are electrically floated from the main body of said liquid developing device, and a bias is applied to said cleaning blade so that the potential is substantially the same as that of said developer carrier.

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, wherein
• said cleaning unit is a cleaning blade having a contact position with respect to said sweep roller that is a central position or lower in the vertical direction, and
• said cleaning blade and an associated holding part are electrically floated from the main body of said device when the material of said cleaning blade has an electrical resistivity of 1012 ohms or above, and this part is grounded.

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, wherein said elastic body is formed with silicone base resin as its main component.

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, said liquid developing device further comprising:
• a development voltage applying unit configured to apply a development voltage to said developer carrier, said development voltage producing a development electric field having a direction that moves liquid developer to said latent image carrier when a latent image on said latent image carrier is developed with said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, wherein
• said sweep voltage produces a sweep electric field having a direction that attracts excess liquid developer or toner to said sweep roller in order to remove said excess liquid developer or toner adhering to or floating around the surface of said latent image carrier or its periphery after development, and said sweep electric field not being strong enough to peel said toner adhering to the developed latent image on said latent image carrier.

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, wherein
• said toner contains pigment, and a thickness of a liquid developer to be applied to said developer carrier is set so that a pigment content in said toner carried on the surface of said developer carrier per square cm is within a range from 0.1 μg to 2 μg.

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, wherein
• said developer carrier is formed of urethane base resin so as to have conductivity, said liquid developing device further comprising:
• a development voltage applying unit configured to apply a development voltage to said developer carrier, said development voltage producing an electric field having a direction that moves said liquid developer to said latent image carrier when a latent image on said latent image carrier is developed with said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, wherein
• said sweep voltage produces a sweep electric field having a direction that attracts excess liquid developer or toner to said sweep roller in order to remove said excess liquid developer or toner adhering to or floating around the surface of said latent image carrier or its periphery after development, and said sweep electric field not being strong enough to peel said toner adhering the developed latent image on said latent image carrier.

A liquid developing device comprising:

• at least one developer carrier which carries a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein;
• and
• an applying member which applies said liquid developer to said developer carrier, said liquid developing device for developing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier by said liquid developer carried on said developer carrier, further comprising:
• at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body for removing excess developer on said latent image carrier after development, located downstream said developer carrier in a direction in which the surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• a nip forming unit which forms a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• a sweep voltage applying unit which applies a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• a rotation driving unit which drives to rotate said sweep roller;
• a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• a cleaning unit which cleans said sweep roller, wherein
• said developer carrier is formed of urethane base resin so as to have conductivity, said liquid developing device, and
• said toner contains pigment, and a thickness of a liquid developer to be applied to said developer carrier is set so that a pigment content in said toner carried on the surface of said developer carrier per square cm is within a range from 0.1 μg to 2 μg.

A method, comprising:

• providing and moving a latent image carrier;
• forming a latent image on the latent image carrier;
• providing at least one developer carrier;
• applying a highly viscous and highly concentrated liquid developer consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed therein to said developer carrier;
• applying the developer from the developer carrier to the latent image carrier to develop the latent image on the latent image carrier;
• providing at least one sweep roller formed of an elastic body, the sweep roller being located downstream of said developer carrier in a direction in which a surface of said latent image carrier moves;
• forming a nip between said sweep roller and said latent image carrier;
• applying a sweep voltage to said sweep roller;
• rotating said sweep roller and removing excess developer on said latent image carrier;
• with the sweep roller after development of the latent image on the latent image carrier
• providing a contact/separation unit which brings said sweep roller into contact with and separates said roller from said latent image carrier;
• and
• cleaning said sweep roller with a cleaning unit having a cleaning material with an elastic constant within a range from 100 MPa to 5000 MPa.