JP2000135813A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing lowering of image quality due to variation of a quantity of toner applied between rows of toner passing holes. SOLUTION: This image forming apparatus comprises a toner carrier that moves by carrying toner, a plurality of toner passing holes 4 for passing the toner therethrough, control electrodes 10 each being provided so as to surround at least the circumference of the toner passing hole 4, a toner passing control means for controlling the passing of the toner by applying an image signal to the control electrode 10. The toner passing holes 4 and control electrodes 10 are arranged in a line in a direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the toner carrier at an adequate pitch and deflection electrodes 11a, 11b are provided both sides of each toner passing hole 4. The toner is supplied to plural positions at one toner passing hole 4 so that a precise image can be formed and the toner supplying conditions to the toner passing holes can be equalized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus applied to a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a toner passage control means controlled by an image signal to transfer toner from a toner carrier to a back electrode. Control the flight,
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image by attaching toner to an image receiving unit located between a toner passage control unit and a back electrode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the improvement of personal computer capabilities and the advancement of network technology, there has been an increasing demand for printers and copiers capable of handling a large amount of documents and capable of handling color documents. ing. However, an image forming apparatus capable of outputting satisfactory high-quality black and white or color documents and having a high processing speed is under development and is expected to appear.

As one of them, there is a so-called "toner jet (registered trademark)" type image forming technique in which toner is caused to fly onto image receiving means such as recording paper or an intermediate image carrying belt by the action of an electric field to form an image. Are known.

An image forming apparatus of this kind is disclosed in
No. 4-26333 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,935.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 60-20747 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-500842 are known. One example is Japanese Patent Application No. 10-100780.
What is disclosed in the above item will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 31 denotes a grounded toner carrier which carries and conveys charged toner, and 32 denotes a regulating blade which controls the toner on the toner carrier 31 in one to three layers and further charges the toner. . A supply roller 33 supplies the toner to the toner carrier 31 and charges the toner. Numeral 34 denotes a toner passage control means.
5 are formed, and a control electrode 36 is provided therearound. A voltage corresponding to an image signal is applied to the control electrode 36 from a control power supply 37. 38 is a back electrode, 39
Is a back electrode power supply. Reference numeral 40 denotes an image receiving unit such as a recording paper conveyed on the back electrode 38.

In the above-described configuration, the supply roller 33 and the toner carrier 31 are operated to form a uniform toner layer on the toner carrier 31 by the regulating blade 32 and to convey the toner. Apply voltage to 38,
When a voltage corresponding to an image signal is applied to the control electrode 36 by a control power supply 37 such as a drive IC while moving the image receiving means 40 in synchronization with the movement, the toner on the toner carrier 31 responds to the image signal. Then, the toner flies and adheres to the image receiving means 40 through the toner passage hole 35, and a required image is formed on the image receiving means 40.

By the way, for example, 6
In order to form a fine image of 00 dpi (a density of 600 dots per inch), it is necessary to arrange the toner passage holes 35 at such a pitch in the toner passage control means 34. As shown in FIG. 6, a large number of rows (eight rows in the illustrated example) of the toner passage holes 35 and the control electrodes 36 are arranged. The toner passage hole 35 and the control electrode 36 are circular, and connection electrodes connected to the respective control electrodes 36 extend on both sides in the moving direction of the toner carrier 31 to avoid mutual interference, and drive I and V output control voltages.
It is connected to the C lead.

However, such a configuration requires a large number of toner passage holes 35 and a large number of drive ICs, resulting in a very high cost. Most of the toner on the toner carrier 31 is consumed, and the toner density becomes lower in the subsequent rows.
A so-called white line noise (hereinafter referred to as WL) in which light and shade lines are generated in the direction in which the toner carrier 31 moves in the direction in which the toner carrier 31 moves.
N may be abbreviated).

In recent years, for example, Ove Larso
n, "New Multiplexing Meth
Od Makes TonerJet even mo
reLow Cost Manufacturing "
("Journal of the Institute of Electrophotography", Vol. 36, No. 2, P46-4
9, 1997), a deflection electrode 4 separate from the control electrode 36 is provided around the toner passage hole 35.
There has been proposed an arrangement in which a plurality of dots are provided in one toner passage hole 35 by disposing the toner trajectories 1a and 41b to deflect the flight trajectory of the toner left and right.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, FIG.
In the lower part of the control electrode 36 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, a pair of deflection electrodes 41a and 41b are disposed on both left and right sides of the toner passage hole 35, and as shown in FIG. By sequentially switching between a state in which no voltage is applied to the electrodes 41a and 41b and a state in which a voltage is applied to the other deflection electrode 41b, the flying position of the toner is changed to 42a,
It is configured to select one of 42b and 42c. Since the image receiving means 40 moves while the voltage application timing is sequentially switched, the deflection electrodes 41a and 41b are arranged in a row of the toner passage holes 35 so as to compensate for the movement amount as shown in FIG. 8B. Tan θ with respect to the center line of
Is applied to the deflecting electrode 41a or 41b which is displaced to the upper side in the moving direction of the image receiving means 40, in such a manner as to face the angle θ which becomes 1/3, that is, the direction inclined by 18.4 °. It is configured to be.

With the above arrangement, for example, when the toner passage holes 35 are arranged in two rows as shown in the figure, when forming an image of 600 dpi, the arrangement pitch P of the toner passage holes 35 is two.
It is 54 μm, and the opening area of the toner passage hole 35 is sufficiently ensured, so that the flying control of the toner can be stably performed and the processing can be performed at low cost.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which the image receiving means 40 is made of a recording paper or the like, and an image is formed directly on the recording paper. However, the recording paper or the like varies in thickness, changes in properties due to humidity, and movement. In the case of a color printer, there are problems such as difficulty in synchronizing the image forming timing of each color due to variations in recording paper conveyance and deterioration of image quality. As disclosed in JP-A-100780, it may be preferable to use an intermediate image carrying belt as the image receiving means 40 and to transfer the images formed on the image carrying belt to recording paper or the like at once. .

Referring to FIG. 9, reference numeral 43 denotes an endless image carrying belt as an image receiving means 40, which is formed of a film having a resistance of about 10 ¹⁰ Ω · cm in which a conductive filler is dispersed in a resin. It is wound between the rollers 44a and 44b. Reference numeral 45 denotes a pickup roller for feeding the recording paper 46 one by one from a paper feed tray, 47 a timing roller for synchronizing the image position with the fed recording paper 46, and 48 a toner image formed on the image carrying belt 43. The image bearing belt 43 is a transfer roller for transferring to the recording paper 46.
Is pressed toward the roller 44a with a transfer voltage applied therebetween. A fixing device 49 fixes the toner image on the recording paper 46 by heating and pressing the recording paper 46 onto which the toner image has been transferred.

[0014]

By the way, in the image forming apparatus having the above configuration, even if the toner passage holes 35 are arranged in two rows as shown in FIG. A large amount of toner is consumed in the toner passage hole 35 on the upper side, and the amount of toner carried on the toner carrier 31 in a state of reaching the toner passage hole 35 on the lower side is reduced, so that WLN occurs. There is a problem that image quality is deteriorated.

Further, the toner passage hole 35 is
If a plurality of rows are formed in the moving direction of 1, the distance between the toner carrier 31 and the toner passage hole 35 changes between rows, so that the amount of toner applied to the recording paper 46 differs between rows, which may degrade image quality. There is also a problem that there is.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described conventional problems, and has as its object to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a decrease in image quality due to a difference in the amount of applied toner between rows of toner passage holes.

[0017]

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention has a toner carrier which carries charged toner and moves, and a plurality of toner passage holes through which the toner passes so as to surround the periphery thereof. A toner passage control unit that controls the passage of toner by applying an image signal to a control electrode provided, an image receiving unit to which the passed toner is applied,
In an image forming apparatus having a back electrode disposed on the back of an image receiving means and sucking toner, a toner passage hole and a control electrode are arranged in a line at an appropriate pitch in a direction orthogonal to a moving direction of a toner carrier. In addition, deflection electrodes are disposed on both sides of each toner passage hole in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the toner carrier. In general, it is necessary to use a single row of toner passage holes to form a required fine image. Although it is necessary to make the arrangement pitch of the passage holes so small that it cannot be realized, since the deflection electrode is provided to supply the toner to a plurality of positions with one toner passage hole, the arrangement pitch of the toner passage holes is increased. The toner supply holes from the toner carrier to each of the toner passage holes are limited to all of the toner passage holes since the toner passage holes are arranged in a line. At It becomes, it is possible to form an image of good quality.

Further, when the toner passage holes are constituted by long holes in which the length in the moving direction of the toner carrier is larger than the width in the direction perpendicular thereto, the toner passage holes are arranged in one row as described above. Even if the pitch is small, the size of the toner passage hole in the width direction is reduced accordingly, while the length of the toner passage hole is increased, so that the opening area can be secured and the toner clogging can be reliably prevented.

When the connection electrodes connecting the control electrodes and the drive IC extend in the same direction along the moving direction of the toner carrier for all the control electrodes, the electric field from the connection electrodes causes the toner on the toner carrier to move. Is uniformized in all the toner passage holes, and a high-quality image can be formed.

On the other hand, when connecting electrodes for connecting the control electrodes and the driving IC are alternately extended to the upper side and the lower side in the moving direction of the toner carrier, the arrangement pitch of the connecting electrodes can be widened and the arrangement of the driving IC can be increased. Installation becomes easy.

In addition, when dummy electrodes are extended in parallel between the control electrodes extending downward from the control electrodes and the connection electrodes extending upward, the connection electrodes and the dummy electrodes extend to all the toner passage holes. The force acting on the toner on the toner carrier by the electric field from the electrodes is uniformized to the position of the toner passage hole, and a high-quality image can be formed.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a toner carrier which carries and conveys the charged toner 2 and comprises a rotatable sleeve which is grounded. The removed toner 2 is adsorbed in a thin state of one to three layers. Numeral 3 denotes a toner passage control means, which is constituted by a flexible printed circuit board whose effective width corresponds to the effective width of the toner carrier 1. As shown in FIG.
A large number of toner passage holes 4 are formed in a row at predetermined pitch intervals in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the toner. The arrangement pitch P of the toner passage holes 4 is, for example, 127 μm when an image of 600 dpi is formed. The row 5 of the toner passage holes 4 is arranged such that the toner passage control means 3 extends from the axis of the toner carrier 1.
300 to 500 μm with respect to the center line O vertically lowered
The toner carrier 1 is disposed at a position on the lower side in the moving direction.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a back electrode disposed so as to face the toner carrier 1 with the toner passage control means 3 interposed therebetween. Reference numeral 7 denotes a fixed electrode between the back electrode 6 and the toner passage control means 3. An image receiving unit such as a recording paper or an image carrying belt conveyed on a path.

As shown in FIG. 1, the toner passage control means 3 includes a main film 8 having a thickness of about 50 μm and
10 pasted with an adhesive layer of about 0 to 15 μm thickness
It is composed of a three-layer polyimide resin film composed of upper and lower cover films 9a and 9b having a thickness of about 30 μm. Of course, the material and dimensions of each film, the number of constituent layers, and the like are not limited thereto, and may be arbitrarily designed.

A control electrode 10 is provided on the upper surface of the main film 8 so as to surround the toner passage hole 4, and a pair of deflection electrodes 11 a is provided on the lower surface of the main film 8 so as to surround the toner passage hole 4 from both sides. , 11b are provided. These electrodes 10, 11 a, and 11 b are formed on the main film 8 with a pattern formed on the main film 8 and having a thickness of about 8 to 20 μm.
It is composed of a u film.

As shown in FIG. 4, the planar shape of each of the toner passage holes 4 is such that the length L in the moving direction of the toner carrier 1 is larger than the width W in the direction perpendicular to the toner carrying member 1. It has been. This may be a shape such as an oval or an ellipse. Dimensionally, the length L is 100 μm in the illustrated example.
And the width W is set to about 70 to 80 μm.
Further, it is desirable that the minimum radius of curvature of the corner of the peripheral edge of the toner passage hole 4 be equal to or larger than the average particle diameter of the toner 2, for example, 6 to 15 μm. In addition, the surface roughness R of the inner peripheral wall surface of the toner passage hole 4 is 0.1 to 0.
It is 5 μm or less. Hole processing with such a surface roughness R can be performed by drilling with an excimer laser or press processing, or by using a YAG laser or CO ₂
After drilling with a laser or the like, post-processing such as etching may be performed.

The control electrode 10 around the toner passage hole 4 is also rectangular in shape corresponding to the planar shape of the toner passage hole 4, and the width t1 in the major axis direction of the toner passage hole 4 is larger than the width t2 in the minor axis direction. Is set. Also, a pair of deflection electrodes 11
a, 11b are disposed in an L-shape on both sides of each toner passage hole 4, and the angle θ formed by a straight line connecting the effective centers thereof and the center line of the row 5 of the toner passage holes 4 is tan θ = 1 /
3, that is, to face in a direction inclined by 18.4 °. Note that the deflection electrodes 11a and 11b are shared by the adjacent toner passage holes 4, so that the actual shape is alternated between the toner passage holes 4 and 4 with respect to the vertical electrode portions extending in the moving direction of the toner carrier 1. The T-shaped horizontal electrode portion is formed at the upper and lower positions of the toner passage hole 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the control electrode 10 and its drive IC are alternately connected by connection electrodes 12a and 12b extending upward and downward in the direction of movement of the toner carrier 1. ing. Further, the deflection electrodes 11a and 11b and their driving ICs extend upward or downward respectively from the center position of the horizontal electrode portion of the T-shaped electrode to the opposite side to the vertical electrode portion. The connection electrodes 13a, 13b are connected.

Further, the connection electrodes 12a of the control electrode 10
Dummy electrodes 14a and 14b each having an appropriate length extend from the side opposite to the extending direction of 12b toward the upper side and the lower side in the moving direction of the toner carrier 1, respectively. Its length is
It is set in an area that substantially affects the toner 2 on the toner carrier 1 by the electric field generated from them. The lengths of the vertical electrode portions of the deflection electrodes 11a and 11b are also considerably longer than the toner passage hole 4 so that their edges do not affect the portion of the toner passage hole 4. Also, preferably,
The surfaces of the portions 12a and 14a on the upstream side in the moving direction of the toner carrier 1 from the toner passage hole 4 of the connection electrode and the dummy electrode, and the portion on the upstream side in the moving direction of the control electrode 10 are formed with rough surfaces.

In the above configuration, the applied voltage Vp to each control electrode 10 is, for example, -50 V, 200 V, 25
Between 0 V, the applied voltages V _{DD -L} and V _{DD -R} to the deflection electrodes 11 a and 11 b are, for example, 150 V, 0 V, and −150 V.
3 is switched at the timing shown in FIG. 3, and the applied electrode to the back electrode 6 is, for example, 1000
V.

In FIG. 3, the deflection electrodes 11a, 11b
Are 0 V, the control electrode 10 is set to −50 V, and the electric field generated by the back electrode 6 is applied to the toner 2 adsorbed on the toner carrier 1.
First, +150 V is applied to the left deflection electrode 11a, and -150 V is applied to the right deflection electrode 11b.
In a state in which the charged toner 2 is deflected to the left by applying V, a voltage of 250 V is first applied to the control electrode 10 to peel off the toner 2 adsorbed on the toner carrier 1, and then the 200 V By applying the voltage of
As shown in FIG. 2A, the toner 2 passes through the toner passage hole 4 and deflects and flies to the left, and flies, for example, about 40 μm to the left of the position facing the toner passage hole 4 on the image receiving means 7. The toner is applied to the displaced position. Next, while the left and right deflection electrodes 11a and 11b are both at 0 V, a voltage is applied to the control electrode 10 in the same manner as described above, so that the toner passing through the image receiving means 7 is changed as shown in FIG. The toner 2 is applied to a position facing the hole 4.
Next, while applying -150 V to the left deflection electrode 11a and +150 V to the right deflection electrode 11b to deflect the negatively charged toner 2 to the right, a voltage is applied to the control electrode 10 in the same manner as described above. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2C, the toner is applied to a position on the image receiving means 7 which is displaced by about 40 μm to the right of the position facing the toner passage hole 4. Thus, the control electrode 10 and the deflection electrode 11
The toner is applied to three points, that is, the left, right, and center in one toner passage hole 4 by sequentially switching the applied voltages to a and 11b.

When the toner 2 is prevented from passing through the toner passage hole 4, the voltage applied to the control electrode 10 is temporarily changed from -50V to 0V as shown by a virtual line, so that the The control electrode moves in such a manner that the toner 2 charged to the opposite polarity (+ polarity) and deposited on the surface of the toner passage control means 3 is attracted to the toner carrier 1 and returns to the negatively charged toner 2 side. The negatively charged toner 2 accumulated above the core 10 prevents the charged toner 2 from accumulating around the toner passage hole 4 and causing clogging of the toner passage hole 4.

As described above, if the surface of the control electrode 10, the connection electrode 12a, and the dummy electrode 14a on the upper side in the moving direction of the toner carrier 1 with respect to the toner passage hole 4 is roughened, the toner passage hole The movement of the toner 2 at the upper portion of the toner passage hole 4 is activated by the electric field concentration on the electrodes on the upper side of the toner 4, and the toner density is improved and averaged by repeating the aggregation and dispersion of the toner 2. it can.

According to the configuration of the present embodiment described above, the toner passage holes 4 are arranged in a line, and the toner passage holes 4 are provided with the deflecting electrodes 11a and 11b so that one toner passage hole 4 is provided.
Is applied to a plurality of positions, so that the arrangement pitch of the toner passage holes 4 can be set to 1 which can be realized as described above.
Since a fine image of 600 dpi can be formed at a pitch of 27 μm and the toner passage holes 4 are arranged in one line, the toner supply condition from the toner carrier 1 to each toner passage hole 4 is limited to all toner passage holes. 4, the same image quality can be formed. In addition, since the toner passage hole 4 is formed by a long hole whose length L in the moving direction of the toner carrier 1 is larger than the width W in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction.
By arranging the toner passage holes 4 in one line as described above, even if the arrangement pitch is reduced to 127 μm, the width dimension W of the toner passage holes 4 can be reduced accordingly, and The toner consumption areas can be prevented from interfering with each other. On the other hand, by increasing the length L of the toner passage hole 4, the opening area can be secured, and toner clogging can be reliably prevented.

Since the width t1 of the control electrode 10 in the major axis direction of the toner passage hole 4 is larger than the width t2 of the minor axis direction, the amount of toner collected by the control electrode 10 in the toner passage hole 4 is reduced in the major axis direction. In the short diameter direction, toner bridges in the short diameter direction, which are likely to occur in the long toner passage hole 4, can be prevented, and clogging of the hole can be further prevented. Further, since the surface roughness of the inner peripheral wall surface of the toner passage hole 4 is set to be equal to or less than the average particle diameter of the external additive of the toner 2, the toner 2 is less likely to adhere to the inner peripheral wall surface of the toner passage hole 4, and the hole clogging is further prevented. Can be prevented.

The connecting electrodes 12a and 12b for connecting the control electrode 10 and the driving IC extend alternately to the upper side and the lower side in the moving direction of the toner carrier 1, so that the connecting electrodes 12a and 12b The drive pitch can be widened and the drive IC
And the dummy electrode 14a extends in parallel between the control electrode 10 extending the connection electrode 12b to the lower side and the connection electrode 12a extending to the upper side. The force acting on the toner on the toner carrier 1 due to the electric field from the connection electrode 12a or the dummy electrode 14a with respect to the toner passage hole 4 is uniformized to the position of the toner passage hole 4, and a high-quality image can be formed. .

In the above embodiment, the connection electrodes 12a and 12b are alternately extended from the control electrode 10 to the upper side and the lower side. All the control electrodes 10 may extend in the same direction along the moving direction of the toner carrier 1. Then, an electric field from the connection electrode causes the toner carrier 1
The force acting on the upper toner is made uniform in all the toner passage holes 4, and a high-quality image can be formed.

[0039]

According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, as is apparent from the above description, the toner passage holes and the control electrodes are arranged in a line at an appropriate pitch in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the toner carrier. And deflecting electrodes are arranged on both sides of each toner passage hole in the direction orthogonal to the direction of movement of the toner carrier, so that even if the toner passage holes are arranged in a line, one deflecting electrode allows one toner passage. The toner can be applied to a plurality of positions by the holes, so that it is possible to realize fine image formation while arranging the toner passage holes at a pitch that can be realized. The toner supply condition to each toner passage hole is the same for all the toner passage holes, and a high quality image can be formed.

Further, if the toner passage hole is constituted by a long hole whose length in the direction of movement of the toner carrier is larger than the width in the direction perpendicular to the toner passage hole, even if the arrangement pitch of the toner passage holes is small, the toner passage hole can be adjusted accordingly. By reducing the width dimension of the passage hole and increasing the length dimension, an opening area can be secured and toner clogging can be reliably prevented.

When the connection electrodes connecting the control electrodes and the drive IC extend in the same direction along the moving direction of the toner carrier for all the control electrodes, the toner on the toner carrier is caused by the electric field from the connection electrodes. Is uniformized in all the toner passage holes, and a high-quality image can be formed.

On the other hand, when connecting electrodes for connecting the control electrodes and the driving IC are alternately extended to the upper side and the lower side in the moving direction of the toner carrier, the arrangement pitch of the connecting electrodes can be widened and the arrangement of the driving IC can be increased. Installation becomes easy.

When dummy electrodes are extended in parallel between the control electrodes extending downward from the control electrodes and the connection electrodes extending upward, the connection electrodes and the dummy electrodes extend to all the toner passage holes. The force acting on the toner on the toner carrier by the electric field from the electrodes is uniformized to the position of the toner passage hole, and a high-quality image can be formed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a main part of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing three operation states in an arbitrary toner passage hole of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart of voltages applied to electrodes and deflection electrodes in the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows an arrangement state of each electrode in the embodiment;
(A) is a plan view showing an arrangement state of electrodes, and (b) is a plan view showing an arrangement state of deflection electrodes.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the arrangement of toner passage holes and electrodes in the conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional front view and a vertical sectional side view showing three operation states in an arbitrary toner passage hole of another conventional example.

FIG. 8 shows an arrangement state of each electrode in the conventional example,
(A) is a plan view showing an arrangement state of electrodes, and (b) is a plan view showing an arrangement state of deflection electrodes.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram illustrating an overall configuration of another conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 toner carrier 2 toner 3 toner passage control means 4 toner passage hole 5 row of toner passage holes 6 back electrode 7 image receiving means 10 control electrodes 11a, 11b deflection electrodes 12a, 12b connection electrodes 14a, 14b dummy electrodes

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (71) Applicant 597063831 Owneds Brygga 13 421 57 Vestro Fround a Sweden (72) Inventor Yoshitaka Kitaoka 1006 Odakadoma, Kadoma, Osaka Pref. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kumon Akira 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Fukano 1006 Okadoma Kadoma, Kadoma City Osaka Pref. AH03 AH15 AH19 AJ16 AJ24 CA02 CA03 CA12 CA25 2H029 AA01 AB07 AC02

Claims (5)

[Claims] An image signal is applied to a control electrode having a plurality of toner passage holes through which a charged toner is moved and a plurality of toner passage holes for allowing the toner to pass therethrough. A toner passage control means for controlling the passage of the toner, an image receiving means to which the passed toner is applied, and a back electrode disposed on the back of the image receiving means for sucking the toner. And control electrodes are arranged in a row at an appropriate pitch in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the toner carrier, and deflection electrodes are arranged on both sides of each toner passage hole in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the toner carrier. An image forming apparatus comprising: 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the toner passage hole is formed by an elongated hole whose length in the moving direction of the toner carrier is larger than its width in a direction orthogonal to the toner carrying member. 3. The image according to claim 1, wherein connection electrodes for connecting the control electrodes and the drive IC extend in the same direction along the moving direction of the toner carrier for all the control electrodes. Forming equipment. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein connection electrodes for connecting the control electrodes and the drive IC alternately extend to the upper side and the lower side in the moving direction of the toner carrier. . 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a dummy electrode extends in parallel between the control electrode extending downward from the control electrode and the connection electrode extending upward.