Image forming apparatus and powder transport unit

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a powder container to contain powder used for image forming and including an inlet through which the powder is supplied;
• a powder supply unit including an outlet that is removably connected to the inlet, the powder supply unit supplying the powder to the powder container with the outlet connected to the inlet of the powder container;
• a powder amount detector to detect whether a present powder level in the powder container is equal to or greater than a threshold;
• and
• a controller to control an amount of powder supplied from the powder supply unit, the controller controlling the present powder level in the powder container after replenishment to maintain in a range from the threshold to a position corresponding to an upper edge of the inlet,
• wherein at least one of the inlet and the outlet includes a shutter to open and close the at least one thereof.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a powder container to contain powder used for image forming and including an inlet through which the powder is supplied;
• a powder supply unit including an outlet that is removably connected to the inlet, the powder supply unit supplying the powder to the powder container with the outlet connected to the inlet of the powder container;
• a powder amount detector to detect whether a present powder level in the powder container is equal to or greater than a threshold;
• a controller to control an amount of powder supplied from the powder supply unit, the controller controlling the present powder level in the powder container after replenishment to maintain in a range from the threshold to a position corresponding to an upper edge of the inlet;
• and
• a cover rotatably attached thereto,
• wherein the powder container includes multiple powder containers and the powder supply unit includes multiple powder supply units,
• wherein the multiple powder supply units are integrally provided in the cover, to be attached to or detached from the inlet of each of the multiple powder containers,
• wherein the outlet of the multiple powder supply units is attached to or detached from the inlet of the multiple powder containers according to opening and closing of the cover.