JP2005189556A - Wet image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wet image forming apparatus which prevents the drying of residual liquid developer on an intermediate transfer member and the faulty cleaning by an intermediate transfer member cleaning device caused by the drying of the residual liquid developer on the intermediate transfer member. <P>SOLUTION: When an intermediate transfer belt 43 is driven, a drying preventing roller 92 applies a drying-preventing liquid onto the belt 43 disposed under a 1st storage container 81 in the wet image forming apparatus. When a concentrated toner liquid in the container 81 is depleted, the container 81 is exchanged for the new container 81, and the new roller 92 applies the drying preventing liquid continuously onto the belt 43. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a wet image forming apparatus employed in a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, and the like.

  In a wet image forming apparatus, a liquid developing apparatus that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on an electrostatic latent image carrier (for example, a photoreceptor such as a photosensitive drum) with a liquid developer containing toner as charged particles. Is used. A wet image forming apparatus using a liquid developer forms a thin layer of a liquid developer on a developer carrier (for example, a developing drum), and the liquid developer layer on the developer carrier is formed on the electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image on the surface is visualized by bringing it into contact with the surface of the carrier.

Further, an intermediate transfer member was used to form a multicolor image, and each color developed image formed on the latent image carrier was transferred onto the intermediate transfer member for each color, and formed on the intermediate transfer member. 2. Description of the Related Art Wet image forming apparatuses that transfer multicolor images to a recording medium such as paper are widely known. In the wet image forming apparatus as described above, after a visible image is transferred from the intermediate transfer member to the recording medium, a residual liquid developer (liquid toner) on the intermediate transfer member is cleaned by a cleaning member such as a cleaning blade that contacts the intermediate transfer member. ) Has been removed. As described above, the method of cleaning the intermediate transfer member is generally performed with a cleaning member such as a cleaning blade. However, in the method of cleaning with a single cleaning member, the removal of the residual liquid developer (liquid toner) on the intermediate transfer member is insufficient. If the removal of the residual liquid developer (liquid toner) is insufficient, there is a problem that a mixed color image or a defective image is transferred to a recording medium. In order to solve this problem, in Patent Document 1, a voltage having a polarity opposite to the polarity of the liquid toner is applied to the cleaning member, whereby the residual liquid developer is sucked into the cleaning member to be removed.
JP-A-5-46053

  By the way, in a wet image forming apparatus, for example, when a jam or the like occurs and printing is once interrupted and development is resumed, the residual liquid developer (liquid toner) on the intermediate transfer member is retained for the interruption time. It will dry out. For this reason, there arises a problem that a cleaning failure occurs in which the residual liquid developer on the intermediate transfer member is not sufficiently scraped off by the cleaning member, resulting in color mixing and a defective image. However, Patent Document 1 does not disclose means for solving the problem in such a case.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, prevent the residual liquid developer on the intermediate transfer body from being dried, and clean the intermediate transfer body caused by drying of the residual liquid developer on the intermediate transfer body. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wet image forming apparatus capable of preventing defective cleaning of the apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the invention described in claim 1 is characterized in that a plurality of electrostatic latent image carriers that carry developed images of different colors by developing an electrostatic latent image with a liquid developer, The intermediate transfer member to which the plurality of visible images are primarily transferred, and the residual liquid developer remaining on the intermediate transfer member after the visible images are secondarily transferred from the intermediate transfer member to the recording medium are cleaned. A wet image forming apparatus comprising a cleaning device, wherein a dry prevention device for applying a dry prevention liquid for preventing drying to the intermediate transfer member is provided upstream of the cleaning device. Is a summary.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the drying prevention device is provided in a storage container that stores and replaces the developer.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the drying prevention device is a drying prevention roller provided on a side surface of the storage container and impregnated with a drying prevention liquid.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the anti-drying device is provided on a side surface of the container, and the winding roll is wound around the web impregnated with the anti-drying liquid, and the web is wound from the winding roll. The apparatus includes a winding roll.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the anti-drying liquid is applied to the intermediate transfer member on the upstream side of the cleaning device, the surface of the residual liquid developer is loosened with the anti-drying liquid, and the intermediate of the residual liquid developer. Reduces adhesion to the transfer body. As a result, the residual liquid developer that has not been dried by the cleaning device can be cleaned. Thus, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the residual liquid developer on the intermediate transfer member from being dried, to prevent poor cleaning, and to prevent color mixing and generation of defective images.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the storage container is replaced with a new storage container storing the developer when the stored developer is exhausted. At this time, the drying prevention device provided in the storage container is also replaced. It is exchanged at the same time. As a result, even if deterioration occurs due to long-term use of the drying prevention device, the new drying prevention device is replaced at the same time by replacing the container, so that the residual liquid developer remaining on the intermediate transfer member is removed by the new drying prevention device. Drying can be prevented. In addition, as described above, there is an effect that the drying prevention device can be replaced periodically and in an inexpensive manner as soon as the developer in the container is exhausted without detecting the life of the drying prevention device that causes cleaning failure.

According to the invention of claim 3, the effect of claim 2 can be easily realized by the anti-drying roller.
According to invention of Claim 4, the effect of Claim 2 can be easily implement | achieved by the apparatus containing the winding roll which winds the web which impregnated the drying prevention liquid, and the winding roll which winds up a web from the said winding roll. .

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a tandem color image forming apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a wet image forming apparatus) will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a wet image forming apparatus. 2 is a schematic view of the first image forming means, FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the first container, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a toner supply path, a toner disposal path and a carrier liquid supply path.

  The wet image forming apparatus includes a paper feeding unit 1, a vertical conveying path 2, a registration roller pair 3, a belt conveying unit 4, a first image forming unit 5, a second image forming unit 6, a third image forming unit 7, The image forming unit 8 includes a fourth image forming unit 8, a secondary transfer unit 9, a fixing unit 10, a discharge conveyance path 11, a discharge tray 14, and the like. The paper feed means 1 includes a paper feed cassette 1a and a pickup roller 1b, and transports the paper P in the paper feed cassette 1a to the vertical transport path 2 by the pickup roller 1b. The vertical conveyance path 2 conveys the conveyed paper P to the secondary transfer unit 9 via the registration roller pair 3. The paper P corresponds to a recording medium.

  The belt conveying unit 4 includes a driving roller 41, a driven roller 42, and an endless intermediate transfer belt 43 that is stretched over the two rollers. The intermediate transfer belt 43 maintains an appropriate tension by the tension roller 44. In this state, the driving roller 41 receives driving force from a driving motor (not shown), and the outer peripheral speed of the photosensitive drum 51 in each image forming unit and the outer peripheral speed of the intermediate transfer belt 43 of the belt conveying unit 4 are constant. It is driven to become.

  The first to fourth image forming units 5 to 8 shown in FIG. 1 are for black (BK), magenta (M), cyan (C), and yellow (Y) from the left side in the figure, and are all substantially the same. It is a unit of composition. Here, for convenience of explanation, the configuration of the first image forming unit 5 will be described with reference to FIG. In other image forming units, the same components as those of the first image forming unit 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals. The first image forming means 5 includes a photosensitive drum 51, a main charging device 52, an LPH (LED PRINT HEAD) 53, a liquid developing device 54, a primary transfer means 55, a cleaning device 56, and a charge eliminating lamp 57. By assembling it into the housing made of the above, it becomes one unit and is attached to the apparatus main body (not shown).

  The photosensitive drum 51 is an amorphous silicon drum and is charged by the main charging device 52 so that the dark potential at the developing position is about 300V. The LPH 53 irradiates the surface of the charged photoconductive drum 51 with light corresponding to image information, whereby an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoconductive drum 51. The photosensitive drum 51 corresponds to an electrostatic latent image carrier. The LPH 53 is used to reduce the size of the unit, but an LSU (laser scanning unit) may be used.

  The liquid developing device 54 stirs and mixes a developer composed of toner and carrier liquid so as to have a predetermined concentration, and this developer is irradiated with light from the photosensitive drum 51 by a developing roller having a magnet member inside. The toner image is formed (developed) on the photosensitive drum 51 by applying to the electrostatic latent image of the portion. The dark potential of the photosensitive drum 51 is set to 300V, the developing bias is set to 200V, and the post-exposure potential is set to 20V. That is, the dark potential corresponds to the white portion of the image, the post-exposure potential corresponds to the black portion of the image, and this difference is a so-called contrast potential. The toner image developed (developed) of the electrostatic latent image formed as described above is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 43 of the belt conveying unit 4 at the nip with the primary transfer unit 55. In the present embodiment, the primary transfer means 55 uses a transfer roller, and a voltage having a polarity opposite to the surface potential of the photosensitive drum 51 is set in a range of −1000 to −1300 V and applied.

  The toner that has not been transferred onto the photosensitive drum 51 is scraped off by the cleaning blade 60 of the cleaning device 56 in the next process. The photosensitive drum 51 is neutralized by a neutralizing lamp 57 so as to reduce the residual potential on the surface and make it uniform, and thereafter, it is prepared for the next series of processes. The potential setting for image formation in this manner varies depending on the characteristics of the photosensitive drum 51, the toner performance, and the environment. The wet image forming apparatus develops images corresponding to magenta, cyan, and yellow on the photosensitive drum by the second to fourth image forming means 6 to 8 in the same manner as the first image forming means 5. Then, a full color image is formed by sequentially repeating the transfer onto the intermediate transfer belt 43 and transferring without deviation.

  Returning to FIG. 1, image formation after transfer will be described. In the present embodiment, the secondary transfer unit 9 includes a secondary transfer roller. The secondary transfer unit 9 is disposed at a secondary transfer position on the vertical conveyance path 2. The secondary transfer position is a position where the secondary transfer unit 9 faces the driving roller 41 and is pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 43. A secondary transfer bias is applied to the secondary transfer unit 9, and a full-color image is transferred to the paper P conveyed by the secondary transfer unit 9 from the intermediate transfer belt 43 through the vertical conveyance path 2. Next transferred. Thereafter, the paper P onto which the full-color image has been secondarily transferred is separated from the intermediate transfer belt 43 and conveyed to the fixing unit 10. The fixing unit 10 includes a first fixing roller 10a and a second fixing roller 10b. Each fixing roller includes a fixing heater (not shown), and the identification fixing heater is controlled to a predetermined temperature necessary for fixing. Due to this temperature, a full-color image is fixed on the paper P that is pressed and passed by both rollers. The paper P is discharged to the discharge tray 14 via the discharge conveyance path 11 after being fixed by the fixing unit 10.

  The intermediate transfer cleaning unit 12 includes an intermediate transfer cleaning roller 12a, an intermediate transfer cleaning blade 12b, and a conveying screw 12d in a cleaning case 12c. The intermediate transfer cleaning roller 12a is in pressure contact with the intermediate transfer belt 43 and is rotated in the same direction as the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer belt 43 by a drive motor (not shown). The intermediate transfer cleaning blade 12b counter-contacts the intermediate transfer belt 43 on the downstream side from the position of the intermediate transfer cleaning roller 12a in the moving direction of the intermediate transfer belt 43, thereby removing untransferred toner on the intermediate transfer belt 43. Collect and remove. This untransferred toner corresponds to the residual liquid developer. The conveying screw 12d collects the liquid untransferred toner scraped by the intermediate transfer cleaning blade 12b at the lower part of the cleaning case 12c. The intermediate transfer cleaning unit 12 corresponds to an intermediate transfer member cleaning device.

Next, a specific configuration of the liquid developing device 54 will be described with reference to FIG.
The liquid developing device 54 according to this embodiment includes a storage tank 71 that stores the liquid developer 70. Inside the storage tank 71, a developing roller 72 as a developer carrier, a coating roller 73, a pumping roller 74, a doctor blade 75, a developing cleaning blade 76, and a pair of stirring screws 77a and 77b are provided. It has been. The developing roller 72, the application roller 73, the scooping roller 74, and the stirring screws 77a and 77b are rotationally driven by a drive motor (both not shown) through a drive transmission mechanism including a gear train and the like.

  The liquid developer 70 is adjusted so that the toner is dispersed at a high concentration in a carrier liquid made of a nonpolar insulating liquid such as silicon oil. The agitating screws 77a and 77b circulate and agitate the liquid developer 70. A part of the pumping roller 74 is immersed in the liquid developer 70, and the liquid developer 70 thus pumped is rotated in contact with the coating roller 73 to apply the liquid developer 70 to the coating roller 73.

  The application roller 73 forms a thin layer of the liquid developer 70 on the development roller 72 by applying the liquid developer 70 on the development roller 72. In the developing area on the photosensitive drum 51, the latent image is developed by the liquid developer 70. Further, after development, the liquid developer 70 remaining on the developing roller 72 is removed from the developing roller 72 by the developing cleaning blade 76.

  The cleaning device 56 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning device 56 includes a cleaning case 61 that stores liquid non-transferred toner. Inside the cleaning case 61, a cleaning roller 62, a cleaning blade 60, and a conveying screw 64 are provided. The cleaning roller 62 is in pressure contact with the photosensitive drum 51 and is rotationally driven in the same direction as the photosensitive drum 51 by a drive motor (not shown). The cleaning blade 60 makes a counter contact with the photosensitive drum 51 below the cleaning roller 62 to collect and remove untransferred toner from the photosensitive drum 51, and prepares the photosensitive drum 51 for the next image forming process. Let The conveying screw 64 collects the liquid untransferred toner scraped by the cleaning blade 60 at the lower part of the cleaning case 61.

  Next, the toner supply path, toner discard path, and carrier liquid supply path will be described with reference to FIG. The toner supply path supplies the carrier liquid and the concentrated toner liquid to the liquid developing devices 54 of the first to fourth image forming units 5 to 8 and returns the untransferred toner collected by each cleaning device 56 to the liquid developing device 54. Is for. The toner discard path is for collecting and discarding untransferred toner of the intermediate transfer cleaning unit 12.

  Above the belt conveying means 4, first to fourth storage containers 81 to 84 are arranged. Specifically, the first to fourth storage containers 81 to 84 are detachably attached to and supported by a main body frame (not shown) of the wet image forming apparatus. The first to fourth storage containers 81 to 84 are for black, magenta, cyan, and yellow from the left side in FIG.

  The first container 81 stores a concentrated toner liquid that is more concentrated than the liquid developer 70. The concentrated toner liquid corresponds to a developer. As shown in FIG. 3, the first storage container 81 is formed in a box shape with a bottom and a lid. A storage recess 90 is formed in the bottom wall of the first storage container 81 along the longitudinal direction. In the housing recess 90, a drying prevention roller 92 as a drying prevention device is rotatably supported by a shaft 93. The lower part of the drying prevention roller 92 is disposed so that a part thereof is exposed from the storage recess 90, and is pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 43 so as to face the tension roller 44 (see FIG. 1). Here, the object to be pressed against the drying prevention roller 92 is not limited to the tension roller 44. A simple roller may be used as long as the anti-drying roller 92 can be pressed. When the tension of the intermediate transfer belt 43 is high, the tension roller 44 may be omitted and the drying prevention roller 92 may be pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 43. At the time of this pressure contact, the drying prevention roller 92 is disposed along the width direction of the intermediate transfer belt 43 and is in contact with the entire width of the intermediate transfer belt 43. The drying prevention roller 92 is disposed on the upstream side of the intermediate transfer cleaning unit 12 when viewed from the direction in which the intermediate transfer belt 43 moves.

  The anti-drying roller 92 has at least a surface layer made of a liquid absorbing material such as felt or sponge. It is preferable that the anti-drying roller 92 is made of a liquid absorbing material up to the vicinity of the rotation center so that a large amount of liquid can be impregnated. In this embodiment, the liquid as the anti-drying liquid absorbed by the anti-drying roller 92 is the same liquid as the carrier liquid of the liquid developer 70, but is not limited thereto. The point is that the untransferred toner on the intermediate transfer belt 43 can be easily scraped off by the intermediate transfer cleaning roller 12a or the intermediate transfer cleaning blade 12b of the intermediate transfer cleaning unit 12 without drying the liquid developer 70. Any liquid may be used as long as it does not adversely affect the development.

  The toner supply path of the first storage container 81 includes a pipe line 94 made of a tube connected between the first storage container 81 and the storage tank 71, and an electromagnetic opening / closing valve 95 provided in the pipe line 94. Has been. When the liquid developer 70 in the storage tank 71 is insufficient, the electromagnetic opening / closing valve 95 is controlled to open according to a control command from a control device (not shown) and concentrated from the first storage container 81 to the storage tank 71. The toner liquid is supplied by falling under its own weight. The electromagnetic open / close valve 95 may be replaced with a drive pump, and the concentrated toner liquid may be supplied from the first storage container 81 to the storage tank 71 with the drive pump. The pipe 94 and the first storage container 81 are detachably connected so that the first storage container 81 can be replaced with a new first storage container 81. This detachable configuration includes, for example, a connecting pipe that communicates with the inside of the container protruding from the first storage container 81, and a pipe line 94 formed of an elastic tube is provided in the connecting pipe so as to be detachable. There is a configuration.

  A pipe 69 is connected between the cleaning case 61 of the cleaning device 56 and the storage tank 71 of the liquid developing device 54. The recovered liquid non-transferred toner is transported to the storage tank 71 of the liquid developing device 54 via the conduit 69 by driving the transport screw 64 of the cleaning device 56.

  The carrier liquid tank 100 is detachably attached to and supported by a main body frame (not shown) of the wet image forming apparatus so as to be positioned above the belt conveying means 4 adjacent to the first container 81. ing. The carrier liquid supply path of the first container 81 includes a main pipe 96 connected to the carrier liquid tank 100, a branch pipe 97 branched from the main pipe 96 and connected to the storage tank 71, and a branch pipe 97. And an electromagnetic on-off valve 98 provided in the. When the liquid developer 70 in the storage tank 71 is insufficient, the electromagnetic on-off valve 98 is controlled to open according to a control command from a control device (not shown), and the carrier liquid is dropped from the carrier liquid tank 100 into the storage tank 71 by its own weight. Supplied by The electromagnetic on-off valve 98 may be replaced with a drive pump, and the carrier liquid may be supplied from the carrier liquid tank 100 to the storage tank 71 by the drive pump. The main pipe 96 and the carrier liquid tank 100 are detachably connected so that the carrier liquid tank 100 can be replaced with a new carrier liquid tank 100. This detachable configuration is, for example, a configuration in which a connecting pipe communicating with the inside of the tank is protruded from the carrier liquid tank 100, and a main pipe 96 formed of an elastic tube is provided in the connecting pipe so as to be detachable. There is.

  The second to fourth storage containers 82 to 84 differ only in that the storage recess 90, the drying prevention roller 92, and the shaft 93 are omitted in the configuration of the first storage container 81, and the other configurations are the same. is there. The toner supply path and the carrier liquid supply path of the second to fourth storage containers 82 to 84 have the same configuration as the toner supply path and the carrier liquid supply path of the first storage container 81, and therefore the same configuration. Are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  The toner disposal path of the intermediate transfer cleaning unit 12 is configured by a conduit 99 connecting the cleaning case 12c and the waste liquid tank 101. In the toner discard path, the untransferred toner driven by the conveying screw 12d is discarded in the waste liquid tank 101.

  Now, in the wet image forming apparatus configured as described above, when the driving roller 41 of the belt conveying unit 4 is driven and the intermediate transfer belt 43 is driven in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. The anti-drying roller 92 provided at the lower portion of the first container 81 is pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 43 and rolls. At this time, the anti-drying liquid impregnated in the anti-drying roller 92 is applied onto the intermediate transfer belt 43. For this reason, drying of untransferred toner on the intermediate transfer belt 43 is prevented. Even when a jam or the like occurs and printing is once interrupted and development is resumed, the untransferred toner on the intermediate transfer belt 43 is coated with a liquid as a drying prevention liquid. Untransferred toner is applied. For this reason, the intermediate transfer cleaning blade 12b of the intermediate transfer cleaning unit 12 does not cause the untransferred toner on the intermediate transfer belt 43 to be scraped insufficiently, and the untransferred toner can be efficiently scraped off. As a result, there is no cleaning failure, and color mixing and defective images due to cleaning failure can be prevented.

  Further, when the concentrated toner liquid in the first storage container 81 runs out, the first storage container 81 is replaced. At this time, the new first container 81 attached to the main body frame (not shown) of the wet image forming apparatus after replacement also includes a new drying prevention roller 92. Since the new anti-drying roller 92 is impregnated with a large amount of anti-drying liquid, after the new first container 81 is replaced, the intermediate transfer belt 43 is continuously dried by the new anti-drying roller 92. A liquid for prevention can be applied. In this manner, without detecting the life of the drying prevention roller 92 that causes cleaning failure, the concentrated toner liquid in the first storage container 81 can be periodically replaced by an inexpensive method.

  In the embodiment, the drying prevention roller 92 is provided in the first container 81, but may be provided in any one of the carrier liquid tank 100 and the second to fourth containers 82 to 84. . In this case, the carrier liquid tank 100 corresponds to a storage container. Moreover, in the said embodiment, although provided only in the 1st storage container 81, you may provide in 2 or more among the carrier liquid tank 100 and the 2nd-4th storage containers 82-84. Even in this case, when the carrier liquid tank 100 and the container are replaced, the new drying prevention roller 92 is updated together. Therefore, the new drying prevention roller 92 can prevent the intermediate transfer belt 43 from being dried. .

  Further, instead of the drying prevention roller 92, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, any one of the first to fourth exchangeable containers or the side surface (bottom face) of the exchangeable carrier liquid tank is dried. A web-type web winding device 200 may be provided as a prevention device. The web winding device 200 includes a winding roll 210 that winds the web W containing the drying prevention liquid, and a winding roll 220 that winds the web W of the winding roll 210. Both rolls are arranged between a pair of support members 230 arranged opposite to each other as shown in FIG. 6 and can be rotated by shafts 250 and 260 spanned between both ends of both support members 230. It is supported. The shaft 250 is supported so as to be swingable with respect to the bottom of the container or tank. Accordingly, the support member 230 is swingable about the shaft 250 as a rotation center. Further, the support member 230 is urged by a biasing means such as a spring (not shown) toward the side where the end of the shaft 260 abuts against the intermediate transfer belt 43 (clockwise direction indicated by B in FIG. 5). In the example of FIG. 6, the take-up roll 220 is disposed so as to contact the tension roller 44 via the intermediate transfer belt 43.

  With this configuration, the web W is always in contact with the tension roller 44 via the intermediate transfer belt 43, so that the take-up roll 220 is driven when the intermediate transfer belt 43 is driven. Is driven and rotated in the winding direction of the web W (in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 5) to wind the web W, and the web W is fed out from the winding roll 210. In this way, as compared with the anti-drying roller 92, the web W containing the anti-drying liquid can contain more anti-drying liquid as much as it is wound on the roll. As a result, compared with the anti-drying roller 92, the anti-drying liquid can be applied to the intermediate transfer belt 43 over a long period of time, and the life can be extended.

  In the above example, the take-up roll 220 is driven to rotate by always contacting the tension roller 44. However, the take-up roll 220 is driven to a drive source such as a motor via a driving force transmission mechanism. It may be connected and actively rotated. In this case, the winding amount of the web W (the feeding amount of the web W) of the winding roll 220 is not shown so as to correspond to the driving amount of the intermediate transfer belt 43 (the feeding amount of the intermediate transfer belt 43) at the time of image formation. The drive source is controlled by the control device.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a wet image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a first image forming unit. The schematic perspective view of a toner container. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a toner supply path, a toner discard path, and a carrier liquid supply path. The schematic side view of the drying prevention apparatus of other embodiment. The schematic plan view of the drying prevention apparatus of other embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

12. Intermediate transfer cleaning unit (intermediate transfer member cleaning device)
43. Intermediate transfer belt (intermediate transfer member)
51. Photosensitive drum (electrostatic latent image carrier)
92 ... Drying prevention roller (drying prevention device)
P ... paper (recording medium)
W ... Web 210 ... Winding roll 220 ... Winding roll

Claims (4)

A plurality of electrostatic latent image carriers that develop the electrostatic latent images with liquid developer and carry different colors of visible images; and
An intermediate transfer member to which the plurality of visible images are respectively primary-transferred;
A wet image forming apparatus comprising: an intermediate transfer body cleaning device that cleans residual liquid developer remaining on the intermediate transfer body after the visible image is secondarily transferred from the intermediate transfer body to a recording medium;
A wet image forming apparatus, wherein a dry prevention device for applying a dry prevention liquid for preventing dryness to the intermediate transfer member is provided upstream of the intermediate transfer member cleaning device. The wet image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying prevention device is provided in a storage container that stores and replaces the developer. The wet image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the drying prevention device is a drying prevention roller provided on a side surface of the storage container and impregnated with a drying prevention liquid. The drying prevention apparatus is an apparatus including a winding roll wound on a web impregnated with a drying prevention liquid, and a winding roll that winds the web from the winding roll. The wet image forming apparatus according to claim 2.

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