Dual Cleaning Blade Toner Supply via Patch Image Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Image forming apparatuses with blades on both intermediate and secondary transfer sections face challenges in maintaining stable toner supply, leading to blade turning issues and reduced productivity due to increased toner consumption and potential print operation suspensions.
Innovation Solution
An image forming apparatus with a controller that forms a patch toner image on a non-image area, allowing selective supply of the patch image to both the intermediate and secondary transfer blades via bias power control, ensuring efficient toner distribution and prevention of blade turning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a blade is provided on both intermediate transfer member and secondary transfer section, then cleaning coverage is improved, but toner supply stability deteriorates leading to blade turning
Solution Approach 1:
The system forms a patch toner image in advance on the image carrier at a position corresponding to the transfer material clearance area before the cleaning operation. This preliminary toner deposition ensures that when the blades move through the clearance area, toner is already available on the image carrier surface, preventing blade turning without requiring complex real-time toner supply mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patch toner image acts as an intermediary toner reservoir between the main toner supply system and the blades. Instead of directly supplying toner to each blade individually, the system creates a intermediate toner deposit (patch image) that serves both blades, simplifying the toner distribution mechanism while ensuring stable supply.
2Reliability
If patch toner image is formed to supply toner to blades, then blade turning is prevented, but toner consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly distributing toner across the entire image carrier, the system concentrates toner locally in the specific clearance area where the blades pass through. This localized patch toner image ensures efficient toner utilization by placing material only where it is needed, minimizing waste while preventing blade turning.
Solution Approach 2:
The system forms a partial patch toner image only in the clearance area rather than covering the entire image carrier surface. This partial action approach provides sufficient toner for blade operation while avoiding excessive toner consumption that would result from full-surface toner deposition.
3Reliability
If toner is supplied to blades continuously, then cleaning performance is maintained, but productivity decreases due to print operation suspensions
Solution Approach 1:
The patch toner image is formed in advance during the transfer material clearance period, before the actual printing operation resumes. This preliminary toner preparation allows the blades to function continuously without interrupting print operations for toner replenishment, thereby maintaining both cleaning performance and productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables continuous blade operation by ensuring toner is always available in the clearance area through the patch image mechanism. This eliminates the need to suspend print operations for toner supply, maintaining uninterrupted productive action throughout the imaging process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables stable toner supply to both blades, preventing turning and maintaining high productivity by optimizing toner usage and extending the multiplicity of uses in image forming processes.
Implementation Method 1
a bias power supply connected electrically to the secondary transfer section
Implementation Method 2
an exposure device that forms a line image for supplying toner serving as a lubricant to the transfer belt
Implementation Method 3
a developer image on the image carrier that transfers toner to the transfer belt
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming apparatus includes: a cleaning blade provided on an intermediate transfer member to which a toner image formed on at least one image forming section is primary transferred and on a secondary transfer section which transfers the toner image transferred on the intermediate transfer member onto a transfer material, respectively, which cleans the toner image remained thereon, respectively; a bias power source which is electrically connected to the secondary transfer section; and a controller which causes the image forming section to form a patch toner image onto a non-image area on the image carrier corresponding to an area between adjoining two transfer materials, and causes the bias power source to conduct a power control in synchronization with a positional movement timing of the patch toner image, to supply selectively the patch toner image to the intermediate transfer member and the secondary transfer section.