JP2002082510A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To record an image of high quality by efficiently transferring a toner image formed on a photoreceptor by developing with liquid developer to a transfer body, and to enhance a cleaning effect by reducing the residual toner on the photoreceptoy. SOLUTION: An oil applying unit 200 is arranged on the downstream side of a cleaning device 100A for the photoreceptor drum 10 in the drum rotating direction, and an oil recovering unit 300 is arranged on the upstream side of a driving roller 14A for an intermediate transfer belt 14 in the drum rotating direction, and releasing agent is applied on the peripheral surface of the drum by the oil applying unit 200 before the toner image is formed, and the excessive releasing agent on the toner image which is not transferred yet is recovered by the oil recovering unit 300 to adjust the amount of oil to an appropriate level.

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 for forming a color image by superimposing a plurality of toner images developed using a liquid developer on an image forming body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a liquid developing system recently called an E-Print system has been technically developed because of a high developing speed and a good image transfer efficiency as an electrostatic latent image developing system. It is getting attention.

A commonly used liquid developer uses a silicon solvent as a carrier and disperses a toner having a particle diameter of several microns in an appropriate concentration ratio. The developed toner image has a relatively low temperature. There is an advantage that a high quality image can be obtained because the image is efficiently transferred by pressing.

[0004]

In addition, if a release agent is applied to a toner image carrier such as an image forming body or an intermediate transfer body before the toner image is formed, the toner image formed on the toner image is transferred. The cleaning performance is extremely high, and the effect of cleaning residual toner after transfer is also improved.

The present invention focuses on the fact that a silicon solvent used as a carrier of a liquid developer has a proper releasing property, and applies and deposits silicone oil on an image carrier to form, transfer, and form a toner image. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which the quality of an image is always formed and the transfer thereof is performed by controlling the amount of silicon oil in an adhered state according to each process such as cleaning.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to repeatedly form a toner image on an image forming body by repeating charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer, and transfer the toner image to the image forming body. Wherein the same solvent as the liquid developer is applied to the image forming body before the first charging step after the cleaning. Invention), and an image forming apparatus in which charging, image exposure, and development with a liquid developer are repeated on the image forming body to form a superposed toner image, and the image forming body is cleaned after transferring the toner image. An image forming apparatus (invention according to claim 3), wherein a solvent of a liquid developer applied to the image forming body before the transfer step is collected by a sponge roller. And an image forming apparatus that repeats charging, image exposure, and development with a liquid developer to form a toner image on the image forming body, and performs cleaning on the image forming body after the transfer of the toner image. An image forming apparatus (invention according to claim 4), wherein a solvent of the liquid developer applied to the image forming body is collected by a sponge roller before the next charging step after the step.
And charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer are repeated on the image forming body to form a superimposed toner image, the toner image is transferred to a transfer material via an intermediate transfer body, and then the intermediate transfer body is cleaned. Wherein the same solvent as the liquid developer is applied to the intermediate transfer member before the next transfer step after the cleaning (an invention according to claim 5). And charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer are repeated on the image forming body to form a superimposed toner image, the toner image is transferred to a transfer material via an intermediate transfer body, and then the intermediate transfer body is cleaned. In an image forming apparatus that performs
An image forming apparatus, wherein a solvent of a liquid developer applied to the intermediate transfer body is collected by a sponge roller during a period after the transfer of the toner image to the intermediate transfer body and before the transfer to a transfer material. And a toner image is superimposed on the image forming body by repeating charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer, and the toner image is collectively transferred to an intermediate transfer body at a first transfer position. In the image forming apparatus for transferring to a transfer material at a second transfer position, the intermediate transfer member is a belt-shaped member, and
T ₁ the control temperature at the transfer position, when the control temperature in the second transfer position and the T _2, the image forming apparatus, characterized in that the T _2> T ₁ (invention according to claim 7) Achieved.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Prior to the description of each embodiment, the structure and functions of a color image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. FIG.

Each of the above color image forming apparatuses transfers a color toner image formed by superimposing a toner image on an image forming body onto a belt-shaped intermediate transfer body, and then re-transfers it onto a transfer material. An image forming apparatus according to
It is also possible to form a monochrome image.

A photosensitive drum 10, which is an image forming body, has a transparent conductive layer, a, on the outer periphery of a cylindrical substrate formed of a transparent member such as optical glass or transparent acrylic resin.
A photosensitive layer such as an -Si layer or an organic photosensitive layer (OPC) is formed, and is rotated at a linear speed of, for example, 80 to 400 mm / sec in a direction indicated by an arrow with the conductive layer grounded.

The photosensitive drum 10 is, as shown in FIG.
Flange members 10a and 1 at both ends for engaging and fixing it
The gear G integrated with the flange member 10b is supported by the bearings B1 and B2 fitted to the drum shaft 30 and is rotatably supported by the drum shaft 30 erected and fixed to the apparatus main body. When driven by meshing with the drive gear, it is rotated at a constant speed in a predetermined direction.

The means for forming a toner image on the image forming body includes:
It comprises a charger 11 serving as a charging unit, an exposure optical system 12 serving as an image writing unit, and a developing unit 13 serving as a developing unit. These units constitute a set of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and Four photoconductor drums 10 are provided for the image forming process of each color of black (K) and indicated by arrows.
Are arranged in the order of Y, M, C, and K with respect to the rotation direction.

A charger 11 serving as a charging means for each color has a control grid maintained at a predetermined potential and a discharge electrode composed of, for example, a sawtooth electrode.
And a charging action (minus charging in the present embodiment) by corona discharge having the same polarity as that of the toner, thereby giving a uniform potential to the photosensitive drum 10. As the discharge electrode, a wire electrode or a needle electrode can also be used.

Exposure optical system 1 as image writing means for each color
2 is arranged inside the photoconductor drum 10 such that the exposure position on the photoconductor drum 10 is located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the photoconductor drum 10 with respect to the charger 11 for each color described above. . As shown in FIG. 2, each exposure optical system 12 includes a plurality of LEDs (light emitting diodes) as light emitting elements of image exposure light (image writing light) arranged in the main scanning direction in parallel with the drum axis 30. An exposure unit including a linear exposure element 12a arranged in an array, a light-converging light transmitter (trade name: Selfoc lens array) 12b as an imaging element, and a lens holder 12c. It is attached to the holding member 20A. The exposure optical system 12 for each color is
An image is written on the photosensitive layer of the photosensitive drum 10 from the back side in accordance with image data of each color read by a separate image reading device and stored in the memory, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 10. As the exposure element 12a, in addition to the LED,
A plurality of light-emitting elements such as FL (phosphor light emission), EL (electroluminescence), and PL (plasma discharge) may be used in an array. The light emission wavelength of the light emitting element for image exposure light (image writing light) is usually Y, M,
A toner having a high transmittance in the range of 780 to 900 nm for the toner of C is used. However, in this embodiment, since the image is written from the back surface, the toner has sufficient transparency for the color toner. Not shorter than 400-78
The wavelength may be 0 nm. Further, since 80% or more of the image exposure light is absorbed by the photosensitive layer of the photosensitive drum 10, the influence of the reflection and absorption by the color toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 10 can be neglected. In general, the order of development of color toners is Y, M,
The order of C and K is preferred. In FIG. 2, WA is a lead wire from a light emitting element (LED) for image exposure light.

Each developing device 13 as a developing means contains a liquid developer composed of toner of each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) and a liquid carrier. Then, the rotation of the developing roller 13A causes the toner component in the developer to adhere to the photosensitive drum 10 side, thereby developing the latent image. As the liquid carrier, for example, silicon oil is used, and the developing roller 13A rotates in the same direction at a very small distance from the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10, and the toner in the carrier is electrically charged by the application of the bias voltage. Reversal development is carried out and adheres to the latent image part,
A toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 10.

The intermediate transfer belt 14, which is an intermediate transfer member, has a volume resistivity of 10 ⁸ to 10 ¹² Ω · cm, preferably 10 ¹⁰ to 10 ¹² Ω · cm.
In ~10 ¹¹ Ω · cm, a surface resistivity (unit: Ω / cm ²⁾ is an endless belt which is 1 to 100 times the value of the volume resistivity, for example modified polyimide, thermosetting polyimide, polyamide-imide, ethylene-tetra A conductive material is dispersed in an engineering plastic such as a fluoroethylene copolymer, polyvinylidene fluoride, or nylon alloy.
Outside the semiconductive film substrate having a thickness of 0.5 to 0.5 mm, preferably as a toner filming preventing layer having a thickness of 5 to 50 mm.
This is a seamless belt having a two-layer structure with a μm fluorine coating. As a base of the intermediate transfer belt 14,
In addition, a semiconductive rubber belt having a thickness of 0.3 to 2.0 mm in which a conductive material is dispersed in silicon rubber, urethane rubber, or the like can be used. The intermediate transfer belt 14 is
The photosensitive drum 10 is stretched around a drive roller 14A, which is a roller member, a transfer roller 14B placed at a first transfer position, a driven roller 14C, and the like.
It is rotated with the same peripheral speed as. The drive roller 14 </ b> A rotates by receiving drive from a drive motor (not shown), and drives and rotates the intermediate transfer belt 14. Due to the rotation of the intermediate transfer belt 14, the transfer roller 14B and the driven roller 14C are driven to rotate.

A transfer roller 14B, which is a transfer means, has a heater H built therein and is urged by an elastic member, so that the intermediate transfer belt 14 contacts the photosensitive drum 10 at a first transfer position. Also, a bias voltage can be applied, and the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 10 is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 14 by applying a bias voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner to the transfer roller 14B. Done. The surface of the intermediate transfer belt 14 and the photosensitive drum 1
Due to the adhesive force of the toner to the surface of No. 0, the transfer of the bias voltage can be omitted even if no bias voltage is applied, so that the application of the bias voltage can be omitted. On the other hand, the transfer roller 17 on the apparatus main body side, which is placed at the second transfer position, is elastically in contact with the driven roller 14C, and the toner image on the belt peripheral surface is transferred to the driven roller 14C.
Is transferred to the transfer material side described later by the heating effect of the heater H included therein and the application of the bias voltage.

As an original image, an image read by an image pickup device of an image reading apparatus separate from the present apparatus or an image edited by a computer includes yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K). ) Is temporarily stored in a memory as image data for each color.

At the start of image recording, the photosensitive drum 10 is rotated in the direction of the arrow by the start of a photosensitive member driving motor (not shown). Body drum 10
Is started.

After a potential is applied to the photosensitive drum 10, image writing is started by a first color signal, that is, an electric signal corresponding to Y image data by the Y exposure optical system 12, and the photosensitive drum 10 An electrostatic latent image corresponding to the Y image of the original image is formed on the front surface.

The latent image is reversely developed by a Y developing device 13 to form a yellow (Y) toner image on the photosensitive drum 10.

Next, a potential is applied to the photosensitive drum 10 from above the Y toner image by a charging action of a magenta (M) charger 11, and a second color signal, that is, an M image is emitted by an M exposure optical system 12. Image writing is performed by an electric signal corresponding to the data, and a magenta (M) toner image is formed on the yellow (Y) toner image by reversal development by the M developing unit 13.

By the same process, the cyan (C) toner image corresponding to the third color signal is further superimposed by the cyan (C) charger 11, the exposure optical system 12 of C, and the developer 13 of C. The black (K) toner image corresponding to the fourth color signal is sequentially formed thereon by the black (K) charger 11, the K exposure optical system 12, and the K developing device 13. And the photosensitive drum 1
Within one rotation of 0, a superimposed color toner image of four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) is formed on the peripheral surface.

These Y, M, C and K exposure optical systems 12
Image writing on the photosensitive layer of the photosensitive drum 10 is performed from the inside of the drum through the above-described translucent substrate. Therefore, the writing of the images corresponding to the second, third and fourth color signals is performed without any influence from the previously formed toner image, and is equivalent to the image corresponding to the first color signal. Can be formed.

The superimposed color toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 10 as an image forming body by the above-described image forming process is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 14 by the transfer operation of the transfer roller 14B at the above-described first transfer position. After being once transferred to the peripheral surface, it is conveyed to the above-described second transfer position.

On the other hand, in parallel with this, the recording paper P
Is carried out of the paper feed cassette 15 by the rotation of the carry-out roller 16, and the timing roller 18 operates to synchronize the recording paper P with the second position of the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 14.
Is fed to the transfer position.

At the second transfer position, the intermediate transfer belt 1 is pressed onto the recording paper P by pressing and heating the transfer roller 14C.
The color toner image on 4 is transferred, fixed at the same time, and discharged onto a tray 20 via a discharge roller 19.

(Embodiment 1) An embodiment of the invention according to claims 1 to 4 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The photosensitive drum 10 provided in the color image forming apparatus of the present invention has a first transfer position, that is, a peripheral surface of an area on the transfer roller 14B in contact with the intermediate transfer belt,
The yellow charger 11Y located on the downstream side in the rotation direction
The cleaning device 100A and the oil application unit 200 are sequentially arranged from the upstream side in the rotation direction of the drum on the peripheral surface of the drum between them, and are located on the peripheral surface facing the black developing device 13K and on the downstream side in the rotational direction. Drive roller 14A
The oil recovery unit 300 is arranged on the drum peripheral surface between the two.

The oil application unit 200 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the cross-sectional view of (a), the roller 200 is composed of a rigid supply roller 201 and an ironing roller 202 housed in a container 200A, and an elastic sponge roller 203 abutting on both rollers. Container 200A
The sponge roller 203 is impregnated with the release agent S stored at the bottom of the sponge roller 203 via the peripheral surface of the supply roller 201, is adjusted to an appropriate amount by the ironing roller 202, and contacts the peripheral surface of the sponge roller 203 to the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10. Are sequentially applied.

Since the release agent S is preferably a non-polar solvent having high electrical insulation, the viscosity used as a solvent for the toner in the liquid developer is 100 to 50,000.
C. S. Dimethyl silicone oil is suitably used. According to the experiment, the A4
If the coating amount can be controlled to be about 0.5 mg or more and 5 mg or less per area in charge of the printing, the transferability of the toner image to the intermediate transfer belt 14 and the cleaning effect of the photosensitive drum 10 after the transfer of the toner image can be improved. It has been confirmed that it is significantly increased.

If the release agent S is previously applied by the oil application unit 200 and the development is repeated a plurality of times and the solvent becomes excessive, the formed toner image is subjected to the oil collection prior to transfer. The unit 300 removes and collects excess solvent.

The oil recovery unit 300 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the cross-sectional view of (b), the photosensitive drum 10 includes a hard ironing roller 302 and an elastic sponge roller 303 housed in a container 300A. The release agent S in an excessively adhered state is adsorbed on the sponge roller 303 in contact with the release agent S and is collected in the container 300A via the ironing roller 302. At this time, a bias voltage having the same polarity as that of the toner on the drum is applied to the sponge roller 303 so that the toner sponge roller 3
03 is prevented from adhering.

As a result, since the toner image always contains an appropriate amount of solvent, the effect of the release agent S is exerted in the transfer, and a high-quality transfer image can be obtained. It will be easier.

The above oil recovery unit 300 is
If the shape is changed so as to be adapted to the position of the peripheral surface of the drum to be arranged, and then arranged between each developing unit 13 and the next charging unit 11, the residual potential of the photoconductor between charging and image exposure, A decrease in sensitivity is suppressed to a small level, a sufficient potential contrast is obtained, and disturbance of the developed toner image is also prevented.

(Embodiment 2) An embodiment of the invention according to claims 5 and 6 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The intermediate transfer belt 14 provided in the color image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a second transfer position, that is, a belt peripheral surface in a region where the transfer roller 14C contacts, and a drive roller 14A located downstream of the belt in the conveyance direction. The oil applying unit 200 is disposed on the belt peripheral surface between the first transfer position and the second transfer position located on the downstream side in the transport direction of the oil transfer unit 200 on the belt peripheral surface. The collection unit 300 is arranged.

The intermediate transfer belt 14 is provided on the photosensitive drum 10
Prior to the transfer of the upper color toner image, an appropriate amount of the release agent S is applied to the belt peripheral surface by the oil application unit 200, so that the color toner image on the photosensitive drum 10 is transferred by the transfer roller 14B at the first transfer position. Is efficiently transferred, and the excess release agent S that is no longer needed after the transfer is removed and collected in the oil recovery unit 300, and is transferred to the recording paper P by the transfer roller 14C at the second transfer position and is fixed at the same time. . When transferring the toner image, a bias voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied to the transfer roller 14B and the pressing roller 17 so that the toner image is transferred from the photosensitive drum 10 to the intermediate transfer belt 14 and from the intermediate transfer belt 14 to the recording paper P, respectively. Is transferred to

The oil application unit 200 and the oil recovery unit 300 arranged on the peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt 14 are used after modifying the shape and the layout of each roller so as to correspond to the belt peripheral surface position facing the oil transfer unit 200.

(Embodiment 3) An embodiment of the invention according to claims 7 to 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

The driving roller 14A of the intermediate transfer belt 14 provided in the color image forming apparatus of the present invention and the above-described transfer rollers 14B provided at the first and second transfer positions.
And 14C each include a heater H, and the amount of heat generated by each heater H is controlled so that the peripheral surface temperature of the belt at each transfer position is maintained at an appropriate temperature.

That is, the intermediate transfer belt 14 sets the peripheral surface temperature at each of the first and second transfer positions to T ₁ and T _2.
When, for example, T ₁ = 30 ° C. to 100 ° C., T ₂ = 70
The temperature difference (T ₂ −T ₁ ) between the second transfer position and the first transfer position is in the range of 50 ° C. to 100 ° C.
By controlling the amount of heat generated by each of the heaters H as described above, the peripheral surface temperature of the photosensitive drum 10 at the first transfer position can be kept relatively low, so that the photosensitive characteristic deteriorates due to the temperature. Therefore, good photosensitive characteristics are maintained for a long time, and the color toner image on the drum is efficiently transferred to the peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt 14 by applying the bias voltage. At the second transfer position, the temperature of the peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt 14 is raised to a temperature sufficient to fix and dry the toner image on the recording paper P, so that the solvent evaporates quickly. As a result, the toner image is quickly fixed on the recording paper P while maintaining the image quality.

The control of the peripheral surface temperatures T ₁ and T ₂ at the first transfer position and the second transfer position of the intermediate transfer belt 14 is performed only by increasing or decreasing the energizing time to each heater H included in the roller. However, since it is not easy to control the temperature of the belt while coping with the movement of the belt, a heating means and a cooling means are provided in the belt conveyance path, and the auxiliary heating is performed together with the heating by the heater H. In addition, by performing the cooling operation, it is possible to accurately and promptly set each peripheral surface temperature to a predetermined temperature.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the above-mentioned heating means and cooling means, and shows the outer peripheral surface of the belt between the second transfer position and the driving roller 14A on the upstream side in the belt conveyance direction. Radiator plate (heat plate) HP as heating means
Is set close to the belt, and the driving roller 14
The belt surface of the intermediate transfer belt 14 heated by the heater H of A is further heated by the radiant heat of the heat radiating plate HP and has a predetermined peripheral surface temperature T until it reaches the second transfer position.
_The temperature is raised in advance near ₂ . Therefore deterministically rises to a predetermined circumferential surface temperature T ₂ at the same time start the transfer action of the recording paper on P toner image by heating of the heater H to the transfer roller 14C is included in the second transfer position, the toner image The appropriate transfer operation is performed. Although the evaporation of the solvent on the belt peripheral surface is accelerated by the heating of the heat radiating plate HP, the solvent vapor is absorbed by the duct D1, and the solvent vapor is condensed by the cooling unit F1 provided in the exhaust passage. The intake air that has passed through the cooling unit F1 is discharged to the outside of the device by the fan f1 through the filter.

On the other hand, on the outer peripheral surface of the belt between the second transfer position and the first transfer position downstream of the belt transfer direction, a duct D2 having a wide open end and a powerful fan f2 are installed as cooling means. The hot air, which has been heated by the radiant heat from the belt peripheral surface whose temperature has been increased by the heaters H and the heat radiating plates HP described above, passes through the duct D2 and the fan f2.
, And is forcibly exhausted and dissipated outside the apparatus. As a result, at the first transfer position, the belt peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt 14 quickly drops to the predetermined peripheral surface temperature T ₁ , so that the photosensitive member is prevented from being overheated. A cooling section F2 is provided in the exhaust path of the duct D2, so that the hot air is cooled and the solvent vapor remaining in the hot air is solidified and collected. As a cooling unit in the cooling unit F2, a heat pipe, an air-cooling type cooling unit, or the like is used.

[0045]

According to the present invention, the toner image on the photosensitive drum is transferred with extremely high transfer efficiency without remaining on the drum surface. Therefore, there is almost no transfer residual toner, so that the cleaning of the drum can be effectively performed. (Claims 1 to 4).

Further, even when the toner image is transferred to a transfer material via an intermediate transfer belt, the toner image is transferred with high transfer efficiency without remaining on the belt surface and there is almost no transfer residual toner. This is performed effectively (claims 5 and 6).

Further, since the peripheral surface temperature of the intermediate transfer belt is controlled to the set temperature (claims 7 to 10), as a result, the photosensitive drum retains excellent photosensitive characteristics and forms a high quality toner image. On the other hand, the intermediate transfer belt has provided an image forming apparatus capable of transferring and fixing a high-quality image on a transfer material with high transfer efficiency and recording.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus provided with means for applying and collecting a release agent.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the image forming body.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing means for applying and collecting a release agent.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus provided with respective units for heating and cooling the intermediate transfer member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 photoconductor drum 11 charger 12 exposure unit 13 developing device 14 intermediate transfer belt 14A drive roller 14B transfer roller 14C transfer roller (driven roller) 15 paper feed cassette 16 carry-out roller 17 transfer roller (pressure contact roller) 18 timing roller 20 tray 21 Manual paper feed table 22 Manual paper feed roller 100A, 100B Cleaning device 200 Oil application unit 203, 303 Sponge roller 300 Oil recovery unit H Heater S Release agent P Recording paper

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (Reference) G03G 15/16 G03G 15/20 109 2H078 15/20 109 15/24 15/24 21/00 21/00 15 / 10 113 F term (reference) 2H030 AA04 AD01 AD03 BB02 BB27 BB42 BB46 BB52 BB61 BB71 2H032 AA05 AA14 BA04 BA09 BA23 BA27 CA15 2H033 BA29 BB01 BE09 CA27 CA35 CA45 CA53 2H034 AA07 DA01 DA03 2H07A03 A03 2A03 DD57

Claims (10)

[Claims] An image forming apparatus configured to repeatedly form a toner image on an image forming body by repeating charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer, and to clean the image forming body after transferring the toner image; Wherein the same solvent as the liquid developer is applied to the image forming body before the first charging step after the cleaning. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming body has an image exposing unit disposed therein. 3. An image forming apparatus, wherein a toner image is superimposed and formed on an image forming body by repeating charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer, and the image forming body is cleaned after transferring the toner image. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a solvent of the liquid developer applied to the image forming body before the transfer step is collected by a sponge roller. 4. An image forming apparatus, wherein a toner image is superposed and formed on an image forming body by repeating charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer, and the image forming body is cleaned after transferring the toner image. Wherein the solvent of the liquid developer applied to the image forming body is recovered by a sponge roller before the next charging step after the developing step. 5. A method of forming a toner image on an image forming member by repeating charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer to form a superposed toner image, transferring the toner image to a transfer material via an intermediate transfer member, and then performing the intermediate transfer An image forming apparatus for cleaning a body, wherein the same solvent as a liquid developer is applied to the intermediate transfer body before the next transfer step after the cleaning. 6. A toner image is superimposed on an image forming member by repeating charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer, and the toner image is transferred to a transfer material via an intermediate transfer member, and then the intermediate transfer is performed. In an image forming apparatus that performs cleaning on a body, a sponge roller collects a solvent of a liquid developer applied to the intermediate transfer body after transfer of the toner image to the intermediate transfer body and before transfer to a transfer material. An image forming apparatus comprising: 7. A toner image is superimposed on the image forming body by repeating charging, image exposure and development with a liquid developer, and the toner image is collectively transferred to an intermediate transfer body at a first transfer position. In the image forming apparatus for transferring to a transfer material at a second transfer position, the intermediate transfer body is a belt-like member, and the control temperature at the first transfer position is T ₁ , and the control temperature at the second transfer position is T ₁ when was the T _2, the image forming apparatus, characterized in that the T _2> T _1. 8. The control temperature is T ₂ −T ₁ = 50 ° C.-10
The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the temperature is 0C. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a heating unit upstream of the second transfer position. 10. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a cooling unit downstream of the second transfer position.
Item 10. The image forming apparatus according to item 1.