Lubricant coating device and image forming apparatus

A lubricant coating device comprising:

• a lubricant supply unit which supplies a lubricant to an outer peripheral surface of an image carrier that is driven to rotate;
• a lubricant smoothing unit which is disposed on the downstream side in a rotating direction of the image carrier relative to the lubricant supply unit and smoothes the lubricant supplied to the outer peripheral surface,
• a heating unit which heats the lubricant smoothing unit;
• a temperature detecting unit which detects a temperature of the lubricant smoothing unit;
• and
• a temperature control unit which controls the heating unit so as to keep the temperature of the lubricant smoothing unit at a predetermined temperature based on the temperature detection results obtained by the temperature detecting unit;
• wherein the lubricant smoothing unit rotates while being in surface contact with the outer peripheral surface of the image carrier and thereby smoothes the lubricant supplied onto the image carrier by the lubricant supply unit;
• and
• the temperature control unit controls the temperature of the lubricant smoothing unit to 40° C. to 60° C.