JP2016153860A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To supply a lubricant to an intermediate transfer belt in an image forming apparatus without inhibiting an image forming operation.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus comprises: an intermediate transfer belt 51 to which a toner image is primarily transferred and transfers the toner image to a printing target medium with a secondary transfer part 23; a residual toner removing part 52 that removes a toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 51 after the secondary transfer to the printing target medium; and a lubricant supply part that supplies a lubricant onto the intermediate transfer belt 51 making a circular movement from the secondary transfer part 23 to the residual toner removing part 52.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2A

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known an image forming apparatus that secondarily transfers a toner image primarily transferred from an image carrier to an intermediate transfer belt onto a printing medium that is, for example, paper. The toner image is fixed on the printing medium onto which the toner image is secondarily transferred by a fixing device. Thereby, an image is formed on the printing medium.

  In the intermediate transfer belt, after the toner image is secondarily transferred to the printing medium, the remaining toner is removed by the removing unit. This removal unit has, for example, a cleaning blade. The material of the cleaning blade is rubber, for example. Therefore, in order to prevent the cleaning blade and the intermediate transfer belt from being worn out due to the rising of the cleaning blade and the friction generated between the cleaning blade and the intermediate transfer belt, the intermediate transfer belt has a lubricant such as toner. Supplied.

  In order to supply lubricant to the intermediate transfer belt, toner is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt as a lubricant in a specific pattern during the period when the normal printing mode is not performed, and cleaning is performed without transferring this specific pattern of toner to the paper. An image forming apparatus that executes a specific mode of collecting with a blade is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-263037 A

  However, as described above, an image forming apparatus that executes a specific mode in which toner is collected by a cleaning blade without being transferred to a sheet is used when an image is not formed on a printing medium (sheet) or when printing is being performed. Since the specific mode is executed between the paper and the paper (between papers), the normal print mode (printing) cannot be performed while the specific mode is being executed. The formation throughput (print execution speed) decreases.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus that executes the above-described specific mode, in order to improve the throughput of image formation on the printing medium, the execution time of the specific mode is shortened or the execution frequency is reduced by decreasing the execution interval. If this occurs, it is impossible to prevent the cleaning blade from rolling up and the cleaning blade and the intermediate transfer belt from being worn.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of supplying a lubricant to an intermediate transfer belt without disturbing an image forming operation.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, a toner image is primarily transferred from an image carrier, and the toner image is secondarily transferred to a printing medium when the primarily transferred toner image passes through a first predetermined position. An intermediate transfer belt, and a residual toner removing unit that removes the residual toner when the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt passes through a second predetermined position by secondary transfer of the toner image to the printing medium; A lubricant supply unit configured to supply a lubricant toward the intermediate transfer belt between the first predetermined position and the second predetermined position.

  According to the present invention, the lubricant can be supplied to the intermediate transfer belt without disturbing the image forming operation.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a front side cross-sectional view showing the transfer belt unit in a state where the shutter part main body closes the supply port of the lubricant container in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a front cross-sectional view showing the transfer belt unit in a state where the shutter main body opens the entire supply port of the lubricant accommodating portion in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a rear view showing the transfer belt unit in a state where the shutter part main body closes the supply port of the lubricant accommodating part in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a rear view showing the transfer belt unit in a state where the shutter part main body opens the whole supply port of the lubricant accommodating part in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the transfer belt unit in a state where the shutter part main body closes the supply port of the lubricant accommodating part in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the transfer belt unit in a state where the shutter part main body opens the entire supply port of the lubricant accommodating part in the embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  An image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an electrophotographic, intermediate transfer tandem color image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus 1 includes an image forming unit 2, a toner supply unit 4, a paper feeding unit 5, a belt type fixing unit 6, a duplex printing transport unit 7, a developing device 9, a transfer belt unit 50, and the like.

  In the following, an example of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described in detail. The image forming apparatus 1 has a structure of the transfer belt unit 50, in particular, an intermediate transfer belt 51, a residual toner removing unit 52, and a lubricant supply unit (lubricant). The transfer belt unit 50 is configured to be replaceable with a new one in preparation for a case where the intermediate transfer belt 51 is deteriorated, for example.

  The image forming section 2 is in contact with the surface of the lower running section of the intermediate transfer belt 51 of the transfer belt unit 50 and arranges four developing devices 9 (9m, 9c, 9y, 9k) in a multi-stage manner from right to left in FIG. It is installed. The image forming unit 2 can be pulled out from the printing execution position shown in FIG. 1 to the front side of the image forming apparatus 1 during maintenance (the front side in the depth direction, which is a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1). 1 is held by a frame (not shown).

  Of the four developing devices 9, three developing devices 9m, 9c, and 9y on the downstream side (right side in the figure) are magenta (M), cyan (C), and yellow (Y), which are subtractive three primary colors, respectively. The developing device 9k forms a monochrome image using black (K) toner mainly used for characters and dark portions of the image.

  Each of the developing devices 9 has the same configuration except for the color of the toner that develops the image. Therefore, the configuration of the developing device 9k for black (K) toner will be described below as an example.

  The developing device 9 includes a photosensitive drum 10 at the top. The photosensitive drum 10 is an example of an image carrier, and a toner image is developed on the electrostatic latent image.

  The peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 10 is made of, for example, an organic photoconductive material. A cleaner 11, a charging roller 12, an optical writing head 13, and a developing roller 15 are arranged around the periphery of the photosensitive drum 10.

  The developing device 14 includes a developing roller 15, a casing 16 that covers the outside, a partition wall 17 provided inside, a first stirring and conveying screw 18, and a second stirring and conveying screw 19. The first and second stirring and conveying screws 18 and 19 include a rotating shaft member and fins that are integrally formed with the rotating shaft member and rotate, although not particularly illustrated.

  The developing unit 14 is supplied from the toner supply unit 4 and, as shown by M, C, Y, and K in the drawing, one of magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (K). Toner is supplied.

  The transfer belt unit 50 is stretched over the intermediate transfer belt 51 and the endless intermediate transfer belt 51 that extend in the shape of a flat loop in the left-right direction in FIG. A driving roller 55 and a driven roller 56 that circulate and move the intermediate transfer belt 51 in the counterclockwise direction indicated by an arrow D1 in FIG. 1, and a lubricant accommodating portion 53 as a lubricant supply portion disposed above the intermediate transfer belt 51. And a shutter unit 54.

  The intermediate transfer belt 51 has a toner image directly transferred (primary transfer) to the surface of the belt that circulates downward by a primary transfer roller 20 that is in pressure contact with the photosensitive drum 10 via the intermediate transfer belt 51. The image is further conveyed to a paper secondary transfer unit 23 for transfer (secondary transfer) to a paper which is an example of a printing medium. As described above, the intermediate transfer belt 51 is primarily transferred from the photosensitive drum 10 with the toner image for secondary transfer onto the paper.

  A cleaning blade 52 a of the residual toner removing unit 52 is disposed in contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 51 that is stretched around the driving roller 55. Below the residual toner removing unit 52, a waste toner collecting container 26 is detachably disposed. The material of the cleaning blade 52a is, for example, rubber.

  In the residual toner removing unit 52, the cleaning blade 52a contacts the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 51 to scrape and remove the waste toner, and the waste toner is sent to the waste toner collecting container 26 by the conveying screw 52b. Accordingly, the residual toner removing unit 52 removes toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 51 after the secondary transfer of the toner image onto the paper.

  The toner supply unit 4 includes four toner hoppers 27 (27m, 27c, 27y, and 27k) disposed above the upper running unit of the intermediate transfer belt 51. The four toner hoppers 27m, 27c, 27y, and 27k respectively store magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (K) toners, and include toner supply units 28, respectively.

  The four developing devices 9 of the image forming unit 2 described above are densely arranged on the left and right without spatial margins, whereas the four toner hoppers 27 of the toner supply unit 4 have margins on the left and right spaces. Is arranged. Therefore, the degree of freedom in design is large with respect to the arrangement position and size of the toner hopper 27.

  Although not shown in particular, the toner supply unit 4 is replaced by being pulled out from the printing execution position shown in FIG. 1 to the front side of the image forming apparatus 1 (the front side in the depth direction, which is a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1). It is held in a frame (not shown) of the image forming apparatus 1 as possible.

  On the left side of the toner supply unit 4, two electrical parts 30 are arranged from the left side of the residual toner removing unit 52 to above the driven roller 56. The electrical component unit 30 includes a circuit board on which a control device including a plurality of electronic components is mounted.

  Although the control device is not particularly shown, it includes a controller unit and an engine unit. The controller unit includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), EEPROM (Rewritable Read Memory), Frame Memory, It has an image data transfer circuit and the like, analyzes print data input from a host computer or the like, creates print data, and transfers it to the engine unit.

  The engine unit includes a CPU, a ROM, and the like. Data and command signals from the controller unit, temperature sensor output, paper detection sensor output, and the like are input to the input side, and a motor (not shown) is driven to the output side. A motor driver, and a clutch driver that switches a drive system that transmits the drive of the motor to each unit.

  Further, the engine unit supplies a predetermined bias current to the print driver, the charging roller 12, the developing roller 15, the primary transfer roller 20, the secondary transfer roller 35, and the like that drive the optical writing head 13 based on the printing data. A bias power supply driver or the like is connected.

  The engine unit drives and controls each unit based on data and command signals from the controller unit, the output of the temperature sensor, the output of the paper detection sensor, and the like.

  The paper feed unit 5 includes two paper feed cassettes 29 (29a, 29b) arranged in two upper and lower stages. Near the paper feed opening (right side in FIG. 1) of the two paper feed cassettes 29, a paper take-out roller 31, a feed roller 32, a separating roller 33, and a standby transport roller pair 34 are arranged.

  In the paper conveyance direction (vertical upward direction in FIG. 1) of the standby conveyance roller pair 34, a secondary transfer roller 35 that is in pressure contact with the backup roller 57 via the intermediate transfer belt 51 is disposed, and the secondary transfer roller 35 to the paper described above is disposed. A next transfer portion 23 is formed.

  A belt-type heat fixing unit 6 is disposed downstream (upward in FIG. 1) of the secondary transfer unit 23. On the further downstream side of the belt-type heat fixing unit 6, a pair of carry-out rollers 36 for carrying out the fixed sheet from the belt-type heat fixing unit 6 and the sheet to be carried out are formed on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus 1. A paper discharge roller pair 38 for discharging paper to a paper discharge tray 37 is provided.

  The duplex printing conveyance unit 7 also serves as an opening / closing member that opens or shields the inside of the image forming apparatus 1 from the side surface (the right outer surface in FIG. 1) to the outside.

  The duplex printing transport unit 7 includes a start return path 39a that branches rightward in FIG. 1 immediately before the paper discharge roller pair 38, an intermediate return path 39b that curves downward, and a left lateral direction that is opposite to the above. And a return path 39c including a terminal return path 39c that finally bends and reverses the return sheet.

  In the middle of the return path 39, five pairs of return rollers 41 (41a, 41b, 41c, 41d, 41e) are arranged. The exit of the end return path 41e joins the conveyance path to the standby conveyance roller pair 34 corresponding to the sheet feeding cassette 29b below the sheet feeding section 5.

Next, the transfer belt unit 50 will be described.
2A, FIG. 3A, and FIG. 4A show the transfer in the state S1 in which the shutter 54a blocks the supply port 53b (53b-1, 53b-2, 53b-3,..., 53b-25) of the lubricant container 53. FIG. 4 is a front sectional view, a rear view, and a perspective view showing the belt unit 50.

  2B, 3B, and 4B are a front side sectional view, a rear view, and a perspective view showing the transfer belt unit 50 in a state S2 in which the shutter 54a opens the entire supply port 53b of the lubricant container 53. .

  The transfer belt unit 50 includes an intermediate transfer belt 51, a residual toner removing unit 52, a lubricant containing unit 53, a shutter unit 54, a driving roller 55, a driven roller 56, a backup roller 57, a frame 58, An idle gear 59a (see FIGS. 3A and 3B) and an idle gear 59b are provided. The transfer belt unit 50 includes the primary transfer roller 20 shown in FIG.

  As described above, the intermediate transfer belt 51 is primarily transferred from the photosensitive drum 10 shown in FIG. 1 with a toner image for secondary transfer onto a sheet. Further, as described above, the residual toner removing unit 52 includes the cleaning blade 52a and the conveying screw 52b, and removes the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 51 after the secondary transfer of the toner image onto the paper.

The lubricant accommodating portion 53 and the shutter portion 54 are disposed above the intermediate transfer belt 51.
As shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 4A, the lubricant accommodating portion 53 includes a plurality of accommodating portions 53a (53a-1, 53a-2, 53a-) in which the lubricant L is accommodated. 3, ..., 53a-25). The lubricant L is, for example, toner, but may be other lubricants such as powdered stearic acid.

  The lubricant container 53 is a supply port for supplying the lubricant L to the intermediate transfer belt 51 after the secondary transfer of the toner image to the paper and before the residual toner removal unit 52 removes the residual toner. 53b is provided in each accommodating part 53a.

  Note that the lubricant accommodating portion 53 is detachably attached to the frame 58 of the transfer belt unit 50 with, for example, screws, so that when the transfer belt unit 50 is replaced, the lubricant accommodating portion 53 is easily reused. be able to.

  The plurality of accommodating portions 53a are partitioned from each other by, for example, a partition plate, so that they are aligned in the moving direction of the portion of the intermediate transfer belt 51 to which the lubricant L is supplied (left arrow D1 in FIGS. 2A and 2B). Are arranged in That is, the plurality of storage portions 53 a are arranged along the direction of circulation movement of the intermediate transfer belt 51. In addition, the circulation movement direction (arrows D1 and D2) of the intermediate transfer belt 51 and the shutter unit 54 described later is counterclockwise in FIGS. 2A, 2B, 4A, and 4B, and is a rear view of FIGS. In FIG. 3B, it is clockwise.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, the accommodating portion 53a has a longitudinal direction in a direction (arrow D3) orthogonal to the circulation movement direction (arrows D1 and D2) of the intermediate transfer belt 51 and the shutter portion 54. Further, the lubricant L accommodated in the accommodating portion 53a is spread over the entire conveyance width direction (arrow D3) of the intermediate transfer belt 51, which is a direction (arrow D3) orthogonal to the circulation movement direction (arrows D1 and D2). The toner is supplied to the intermediate transfer belt 51 from the supply port 53b. The region to which the lubricant L is supplied in the intermediate transfer belt 51 may be a region that comes into contact with the cleaning blade 52a of the residual toner removing unit 52, and is not necessarily limited to the conveyance width direction of the intermediate transfer belt 51 (arrow). It may not be the whole of D3).

  The accommodating part 53a is open to the upper surface and the bottom surface. Note that the upper surface of the accommodating portion 53a is closed with a sheet (not shown) that covers the entire upper surface of the lubricant accommodating portion 53, for example. Further, the bottom surface of the storage portion 53a is a supply port 53b for supplying the lubricant L, and is closed by the shutter portion 54 as shown in FIG. 2A when installed on the transfer belt unit 50.

  The shutter unit 54 includes a shutter 54a, a shutter unit gear 54b, and a shutter unit shaft member 54c.

  As shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, the shutter gear 54b is engaged with the idle gear 59b, so that the power from the drive roller gear 55a of the drive roller 55 passes through the backup roller gear 57a of the backup roller 57 and the idle gear 59a. Communicated.

  In this way, the shutter unit 54 is a shutter that gradually opens the supply port 53b from the shutter 54a by driving the driving roller gear 55a and the motor that is the driving source thereof, which is an example of the driving unit of the transfer belt unit 50. The shutter 54a is moved via the part gear 54b. The shutter unit 54 may move the shutter 54a by driving a drive unit dedicated to the shutter unit 54. However, the drive roller gear 55a and the motor, or another drive unit included in the transfer belt unit 50, for example, The intermediate transfer belt 51 may be moved by driving a drive unit for up-down.

  The shutter 54 a is wound around the shutter portion shaft member 54 c and is arranged in a state (S 1) in which the supply port 53 b is closed below the lubricant accommodating portion 53. The shutter 54a moves so as to gradually open the supply port 53b while turning around the lubricant accommodating portion 53 by the power of the shutter portion gear 54b being transmitted as described above and the shutter portion shaft member 54c rotating. . As a result, the supply ports 53b of the plurality of accommodating portions 53a are sequentially opened according to the usage time of the intermediate transfer belt 51 in the order of the supply ports 53b-1 to 53b-25.

  The shutter 54a is supplied from the state (S1) shown in FIGS. 2A, 3A, and 4A in which the supply port 53b of the lubricant container 53 is closed over a set time set based on the life of the transfer belt unit 50. It may be configured to shift to the state (S2) shown in FIGS. 2B, 3B, and 4B in which the entire mouth 53b is opened. The set time is, for example, the same time as a target life set in advance as a target of the transfer belt unit 50, but may be set to a time longer than the target life of the transfer belt unit 50.

In the present embodiment, the shutter 54a is moved continuously at a constant speed, for example, when the intermediate transfer belt 51 is circulated, thereby gradually opening the supply port 53b from the shutter 54a. Thus, the supply port 53b may be gradually opened from the shutter 54a by intermittently moving the shutter 54a.

  For example, as described above, since the engine unit in the electrical unit 30 has information on print data, if the printing rate in the most recent predetermined period is equal to or less than a certain value, the residual toner is the residual toner. Since the amount conveyed to the removal unit 52 is reduced, control for rotating the shutter gear 54b may be performed. Alternatively, the engine unit may perform control to rotate the shutter unit gear 54b every time the number of sheets to be printed reaches a predetermined number.

  Further, for example, a solid black image is transferred as a lubricant to the intermediate transfer belt 51 by the developing device 9 and the primary transfer roller 20 shown in FIG. The control for circulating and moving the belt 51 may be performed in parallel with the supply operation of the lubricant L by the movement of the shutter 54a of the present embodiment. In this case, after the transfer of the solid black image, control may be performed to stop the rotation of the shutter gear 54b for a certain period.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the lubricant accommodating portion 53 is partitioned by the plurality of accommodating portions 53a, but the lubricant L may be accommodated in an integral space that is not partitioned.

  Further, in the present embodiment, all the lubricant L in the lubricant accommodating portion 53 is supplied to the intermediate transfer belt 51 simply by moving the shutter 54a from the lower portion to the upper portion of the lubricant accommodating portion 53 and moving about half a circle. However, the configuration of the shutter 54a can be changed as appropriate as long as the shutter 54a is arranged in a state of closing the supply port 53b of the lubricant accommodating portion 53 (S1) and moves so as to gradually open the supply port 53b.

  In the present embodiment, the supply port 53 b is provided on the bottom surface of the lubricant accommodating portion 53, but may be provided on the side surface of the lubricant accommodating portion 53. Alternatively, the supply port 53b may be provided in only a part of the bottom surface instead of the entire bottom surface of the lubricant container 53.

  For example, when the lubricant accommodating portion 53 is not partitioned into a plurality of accommodating portions 53a or is partitioned into a accommodating portion having a longitudinal direction in the circulating movement direction D1 of the intermediate transfer belt 51, the supply port 53b is one accommodating portion. It may be provided only for the size of the supply port 53b of 53a. In this case, a guide surface that is inclined or curved downward toward the supply port 53b is provided at the bottom of the lubricant L storage space so that the lubricant L in the lubricant storage portion 53 is dropped into the supply port 53b. It is good to have.

  In the present embodiment described above, the lubricant container 53 is an intermediate transfer after the secondary transfer of the toner image onto the paper, which is an example of the printing medium, and before the removal of the residual toner by the residual toner removal unit 52. A supply port 53 b for supplying the lubricant L to the belt 51 is provided. The shutter 54a of the shutter unit 54 is arranged in a state (S1) that closes the supply port of the lubricant accommodating unit 53, and moves so as to gradually open the supply port 53b. That is, in the present embodiment, the toner image is primarily transferred from the image carrier, and the toner image is secondarily transferred to the printing medium when the primarily transferred toner image passes through the first predetermined position. An intermediate transfer belt, and a residual toner removing unit that removes the residual toner when the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt passes through a second predetermined position by secondary transfer of the toner image to the printing medium; A lubricant supply unit configured to supply a lubricant toward the intermediate transfer belt between the first predetermined position and the second predetermined position.

  For this reason, during a normal image forming operation, for example, primary transfer of the toner image from the photosensitive drum 10 to the intermediate transfer belt 51 and secondary transfer of the toner image from the intermediate transfer belt 51 to the sheet are performed. Even during the period, the lubricant L can be supplied to the intermediate transfer belt 51. Further, the lubricant can be supplied to the intermediate transfer belt 51 even during a period of continuous printing on roll paper or the like.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the lubricant L can be supplied to the intermediate transfer belt 51 without hindering the image forming operation.

  In the present embodiment, the lubricant accommodating portion 53 is disposed above the intermediate transfer belt 51, the supply port 53 b of the lubricant accommodating portion 53 is provided on the bottom surface of the lubricant accommodating portion 53, and the shutter portion 54. The shutter 54 a is arranged in a state (S 1) that closes the supply port 53 b below the lubricant accommodating portion 53, and moves so as to gradually open the supply port 53 b while wrapping around the lubricant accommodating portion 53. Therefore, the space for moving the shutter portion 54 can be suppressed, and the image forming apparatus 1 can be prevented from being enlarged.

  In the present embodiment, the lubricant accommodating portion 53 has a plurality of accommodating portions 53a (53a-1 to 53a-25) each provided with a supply port 53b (53b-1 to 53b-25). The shutter 54a of the shutter unit 54 is disposed so as to block the supply ports 53b of the plurality of storage units 53a, and moves so as to sequentially open the supply ports 53b of the plurality of storage units 53a. Therefore, a large amount of the lubricant L can be prevented from being supplied to the intermediate transfer belt 51 at a time.

  In the present embodiment, the shutter unit 54 is disposed as a part of the transfer belt unit 50 together with the intermediate transfer belt 51, the residual toner removing unit 52, and the lubricant containing unit 53. Over a set time set based on the life of the unit 50, the state moves from a state (S1) where the supply port 53b of the lubricant container 53 is closed to a state (S2) where the entire supply port 53b is opened. Therefore, the lubricant L can be continuously supplied from the lubricant container 53 to the intermediate transfer belt 51 for a set time based on the life of the transfer belt unit 50.

  In the present embodiment, the shutter unit 54 is disposed as a part of the transfer belt unit 50 together with the intermediate transfer belt 51, the residual toner removing unit 52, and the lubricant containing unit 53. The shutter 54a is moved so that the supply port 53b is gradually opened by driving of a driving unit (for example, the driving roller gear 55a and its driving source) included in the unit 50. Therefore, the shutter 54a can be moved with a simple configuration.

  Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof. The invention described in the scope of claims at the beginning of the filing of the present application will be appended.

[Appendix 1]
An intermediate transfer belt for primary transfer of the toner image from the image carrier and secondary transfer of the toner image to the print medium when the primary transferred toner image passes through a first predetermined position;
A residual toner removing unit that removes residual toner when the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt passes through a second predetermined position by secondary transfer of the toner image to the printing medium;
A lubricant supply unit for supplying a lubricant toward the intermediate transfer belt between the first predetermined position and the second predetermined position;
An image forming apparatus comprising:

[Appendix 2]
The lubricant supply unit includes a plurality of storage units each storing a lubricant, and the lubricants stored in the plurality of storage units are sequentially supplied to the storage units according to the usage time of the intermediate transfer belt. The image forming apparatus according to appendix 1, wherein the image forming apparatus supplies the toner onto the intermediate transfer belt.

[Appendix 3]
The plurality of accommodating portions are arranged along the circulation movement direction of the intermediate transfer belt,
The lubricant supply unit supplies lubricant toward the intermediate transfer belt in order from the lubricant stored in the storage unit arranged on the side closer to the second predetermined position. The image forming apparatus according to appendix 2.

[Appendix 4]
Each of the plurality of accommodating portions is provided with an opening below the accommodating portion,
The lubricant supply unit has a shutter arranged in a state of closing each of the openings from below,
The shutter moves so as to wrap around the plurality of accommodating portions according to a usage time of the intermediate transfer belt.
4. The image forming apparatus according to appendix 2 or 3, characterized by the above.

[Appendix 5]
The image forming apparatus according to appendix 4, wherein the shutter is moved by driving a driving unit that circulates and moves the intermediate transfer belt.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Image forming part 4 Toner supply part 5 Paper feeding part 6 Belt type fixing unit 7 Double-sided printing conveyance unit 9 (9m, 9c, 9y, 9k) Developing device 10 Photosensitive drum 11 Cleaner 12 Charging roller 13 Light Writing head 14 Developing device 15 Developing roller 16 Housing 17 Bulkhead 18 First agitating and conveying screw 19 Second agitating and conveying screw 20 Primary transfer roller 23 Secondary transfer portion 26 Waste toner collecting container 26 Toner collecting container 27 (27 m, 27c, 27y, 27k) Toner hopper 28 Toner supply unit 29 (29a, 29b) Paper feed cassette 30 Electrical unit 31 Paper take-out roller 32 Feed roller 33 Rolling roller 34 Standby transport roller pair 35 Secondary transfer roller 36 Transport roller pair 37 Paper discharge tray 38 Paper discharge roller pair 39 Return path 39a Start return 39b Intermediate return path 39c End return path 41 (41a, 41b, 41c, 41d, 41e) Return roller pair 50 Transfer belt unit 51 Intermediate transfer belt 52 Residual toner removal section 52a Cleaning blade 52b Conveying screw 53 Lubricant storage section 53a (53a) -1 to 53a-25) Housing 53b (53b-1 to 53b-25) Supply port 54 Shutter 54a Shutter 54b Shutter gear 54c Shutter shaft member 55 Drive roller 55a Drive roller gear 56 Driven roller 57 Backup roller 57a Backup roller Gear 58 Frame 59a, 59b Idle gear

Claims (5)

An intermediate transfer belt for primary transfer of the toner image from the image carrier and secondary transfer of the toner image to the print medium when the primary transferred toner image passes through a first predetermined position;
A residual toner removing unit that removes residual toner when the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt passes through a second predetermined position by secondary transfer of the toner image to the printing medium;
A lubricant supply unit for supplying a lubricant toward the intermediate transfer belt between the first predetermined position and the second predetermined position;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The lubricant supply unit includes a plurality of storage units each storing a lubricant, and the lubricants stored in the plurality of storage units are sequentially supplied to the storage units according to the usage time of the intermediate transfer belt. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is supplied toward the intermediate transfer belt. The plurality of accommodating portions are arranged along the circulation movement direction of the intermediate transfer belt,
The lubricant supply unit supplies lubricant toward the intermediate transfer belt in order from the lubricant stored in the storage unit arranged on the side closer to the second predetermined position. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2. Each of the plurality of accommodating portions is provided with an opening below the accommodating portion,
The lubricant supply unit has a shutter arranged in a state of closing each of the openings from below,
The shutter moves so as to wrap around the plurality of accommodating portions according to a usage time of the intermediate transfer belt.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the shutter is moved by driving of a driving unit that circulates and moves the intermediate transfer belt.