JP6263458B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic recording method such as a printer, a FAX, or a copying machine.

  In general, a developing device included in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus mainly includes a photosensitive drum as an image carrier, a charging roller as a charging device that uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum, and a photosensitive drum. A developing roller as a developer carrier that develops a toner image by attaching toner as a developer to an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface, a supply roller as a developer supply member that supplies toner to the developing roller, and development It is composed of a developing blade or the like as a developer layer thickness regulating member that regulates the toner layer thickness on the roller surface.

  The toner image developed on the image carrier is transferred to a print medium by a transfer device. Untransferred toner may remain on the surface of the photosensitive drum after the toner image is transferred. These untransferred toner is removed by a cleaning device, and the cleaned photosensitive drum is repeatedly used. . The toner removed by the cleaning device is collected as a waste toner in a collection container. When a certain amount of waste toner is collected, the collection container is replaced.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, in order to accurately calculate and predict the amount of waste toner accumulated in the collection container, the collection container is based on the toner amount supplied from the toner storage container and the transferred toner amount. An image forming apparatus that calculates the amount of waste toner accumulated therein is described.

JP 2013-54340 A

  However, in the conventional apparatus, when a plurality of developing devices arranged on the upstream side of the developing device for calculating the accumulated amount of waste toner transfer the toner image to the print medium, the transferred toner in the developing device to be calculated is transferred. There is a problem that reverse transfer that returns again occurs, the amount of accumulated waste toner is not calculated correctly, and the user is notified of the wrong replacement time.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of accurately estimating the amount of waste toner accumulated and improving the replacement timing accuracy of the collection container. Is to provide.

In order to solve the above-described problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention develops a developer image by attaching a developer to an image carrier and an electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier. A carrier, a cleaning member that removes residual developer remaining on the image carrier after the transfer of the developer image to a transfer material, and a recovery container that collects the residual developer removed by the cleaning member. Yes, and it includes a plurality of developing devices arranged along the conveying path of the transfer material, and a recovery amount calculating unit for calculating the recovery amount of the residual developer is recovered to the recovery container, the recovery amount The calculation unit calculates a recovery amount of the residual developer based on a fog developer amount, a transfer residual developer amount, a waste developer amount, and a reverse transfer developer amount in the image carrier , Development subject to calculation of developer recovery amount A printing ratio in location, is characterized in that to calculate the collection amount of the reverse transcriptase developer in accordance with the printing ratio in the other developing devices arranged in the transport path upstream.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of accurately estimating the amount of accumulated waste toner and improving the collection container replacement timing accuracy.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer as an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a schematic block diagram explaining the structure of the developing device which concerns on this embodiment. It is a control block diagram of the printer according to the present embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation from when a printing operation is started until a waste toner amount is calculated.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following description, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, it can change suitably.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer 100 as an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. The printer 100 is an intermediate transfer type image forming apparatus capable of forming an image on a recording paper P as a printing medium. In the printer 100 that realizes such a function, the paper feed roller 11 is the starting point, and the stacker 30 provided by using the outer casing of the apparatus via the paper transport rollers 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d is the end point. A sheet conveyance path S formed in a substantially S shape is formed. An intermediate transfer belt as a transfer material that holds and conveys a toner image (developer image) developed by toner 8 as a developer in developing devices A, B, C, D, and E, which will be described later, on the sheet conveyance path S. 13, a secondary transfer roller 14 that transfers the toner image onto the recording paper P and a fixing device 15 that fixes the toner image transferred onto the recording paper P are provided.

  The paper feed roller 11 is rotated by driving a paper transport motor 26 to be described later, and takes out the recording paper P stacked on a paper feed cassette (not shown) mounted on the lower part of the printer 100 from the uppermost part thereof, and enters the paper transport path S. Feed out one by one.

  The paper transport rollers 16a, 16b, 16c, and 16d are rotated by driving a paper transport motor 26, which will be described later, and sandwich and transport the recording paper P along the paper transport path S in the direction of the arrow (e) in FIG.

  The intermediate transfer belt 13 is an endless belt member stretched by a secondary transfer backup roller 31a, an intermediate transfer belt drive roller 31b, and driven rollers 31c and 31d, and is developed in the developing devices A, B, C, D, and E. 1 is driven in the direction of the arrow (f) in FIG. 1, and the toner image is conveyed to the secondary transfer point formed between the secondary transfer roller 14 and the secondary transfer backup roller 31a. . The secondary transfer roller 14 holds the recording paper P conveyed along the paper conveyance path S together with the toner image transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 13, and has a predetermined voltage having a polarity opposite to the charging potential of the toner 8. Is applied, the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 13 is secondarily transferred to the recording paper P.

  The developing devices A, B, C, D, and E are developed by the developing devices A, B, C, D, and E through the intermediate transfer belt 13 at positions facing the photosensitive drums of the developing devices A, B, C, D, and E, which will be described later. Primary transfer rollers 12 a, 12 b, 12 c, 12 d, and 12 e are provided for primarily transferring the toner images to the intermediate transfer belt 13. The primary transfer rollers 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d, and 12e have a configuration in which a metal sponge is covered with a urethane sponge layer. The surface of the photosensitive drum is subjected to a predetermined transfer voltage applied from a primary transfer voltage power source 12v described later. The toner image developed above is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 13.

  The fixing device 15 includes a fixing roller 15a and a backup roller 15b, and fixes the toner image transferred to the recording paper P. The fixing roller 15a is formed by, for example, covering a hollow cylindrical metal shaft made of aluminum or the like with a heat-resistant elastic layer of silicone rubber and a PFA (tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer) tube thereon. Is formed by. In the metal shaft, for example, a heater such as a halogen lamp is provided. The backup roller 15b has a configuration in which, for example, a metal shaft made of aluminum or the like is coated with a heat-resistant elastic layer of silicone rubber and PFA is coated thereon, so that a pressure contact portion is formed between the backup roller 15b and the fixing roller 15a. It is arranged. The recording paper P on which the toner image is transferred at the secondary transfer point is given heat and pressure when passing through a pressure contact portion formed by the fixing roller 15a and the backup roller 15b maintained at a predetermined temperature. 8 melts and the toner image is fixed.

  Next, the developing devices A, B, C, D, and E will be described. The configurations of the developing devices A, B, C, D, and E differ only in the toner 8 such as black, magenta, cyan, yellow, and clear that are accommodated, and the other configurations are all the same. Therefore, in the description of FIG. 2, the developing device A will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the developing device A is disposed so as to face the photosensitive drum 1 and the photosensitive drum 1 as an image carrier that is rotatably supported in the direction of the arrow (a) in the drawing. The developing roller 2 as a developer carrying member supported rotatably in the direction of the middle arrow (b) and the edge portion of the developing roller 2 supported by the inner wall of the housing of the developing device A are in contact with a predetermined position. A developing blade 3 as a developer layer thickness regulating member provided, and a supply roller as a developer supply member that is disposed to face the developing roller 2 and is rotatably supported in the direction of arrow (c) in FIG. 4 and a charging roller 5 as a charging device which is disposed so as to be in pressure contact with the upstream side of the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 1 and is rotatably supported in the direction of the arrow (d) in the figure. Cleaning unit arranged to contact a predetermined position on the surface A cleaning blade 6, a waste toner container 7 as a collection container for collecting waste toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 6, and a developer cartridge 9 as a developer container for storing unused toner 8. And an exposure device 10 disposed immediately above the photosensitive drum 1.

  The photosensitive drum 1 is composed of a conductive support and a photoconductive layer, and is an organic photoreceptor having a structure in which a charge generation layer and a charge transport layer as a photoconductive layer are sequentially laminated on a metal shaft such as aluminum as a conductive support. The electrostatic latent image based on the image data is formed by the irradiation light irradiated from the exposure apparatus 10. The photosensitive drum 1 is provided with a driving gear (not shown) so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow (a) in FIG.

  For example, the developing roller 2 is coated with urethane rubber in which carbon black is dispersed on the outer periphery of a metal shaft such as stainless steel, and the surface thereof is subjected to an isocyanate treatment. The developing roller 2 is disposed so as to be in pressure contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, supplies toner 8 to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, and develops the toner image. The developing roller 2 is provided with a driving gear (not shown) so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow (b) in FIG.

  The developing blade 3 is a developer layer thickness regulating member made of stainless steel, for example, having a plate thickness of about 0.08 mm, and is disposed so as to be pressed in the counter direction at a predetermined position on the surface of the developing roller 2.

  The supply roller 4 is configured, for example, by coating a semiconductive foamed silicone sponge layer on the outer periphery of a metal shaft such as stainless steel. The supply roller 4 is disposed so as to come into pressure contact with the developing roller 2, and supplies the toner 8 contained in the developer cartridge 9 to the developing roller 2. The supply roller 4 is provided with a gear (not shown) for driving so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow (c) in FIG.

  The charging roller 5 is configured, for example, by coating a semiconductive epichlorohydrin rubber on the outer periphery of a metal shaft such as stainless steel. The charging roller 5 is disposed so as to be in pressure contact with the photosensitive drum 1 and uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 1. The charging roller 5 is provided with a gear (not shown) for driving so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow (d) in FIG.

  The cleaning blade 6 is made of, for example, urethane rubber, and one end thereof is disposed so as to abut on a predetermined position on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1. The cleaning blade 6 cleans the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 by scraping off the toner 8 remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1.

  The waste toner container 7 is a box-shaped member having a space for accumulating as residual developer, that is, waste toner, scraped off by the cleaning blade 6 and transported by a transport unit (not shown).

  The toner 8 includes a binder resin and a charge control agent, a release agent, a colorant, or an external additive as an internal additive. These binder resins and internal additives are kneaded using, for example, a Henschel mixer, then melt-kneaded using a twin screw extruder, cooled, coarsely pulverized using a cutter mill, and then using an impact plate type pulverizer. The toner base particles can be obtained by pulverizing and classifying using an air classifier. For example, an inorganic fine powder such as hydrophobic silica is added as an external additive to the toner base particles, and the target black, magenta, cyan, yellow, or clear toner 8 is obtained by stirring for a predetermined time. it can.

  The developer cartridge 9 is a box-shaped member having a space for storing unused toner 8. A shutter (not shown) for supplying the toner 8 to the supply roller 4 is formed below the developer cartridge 9, and the toner 8 that has dropped through the shutter is supplied to the supply roller 4.

  The exposure apparatus 10 includes, for example, an LED head composed of LED (Light Emitting Diode) elements and a lens array, and irradiation light emitted from the LED elements based on image data is coupled to the surface of the photosensitive drum 1. It arrange | positions so that it may become a position to image.

  FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the printer 100. The printer 100 according to this embodiment includes an interface control unit 17, a reception memory 18, an image data editing memory 19, an operation unit 20, a sensor group 21, a print control unit 22, a high-voltage power supply control unit 27s, The head drive control unit 10s, the fixing control unit 15s, the transport motor control unit 26s, and the drive control unit 28s are provided.

  The interface control unit 17 controls reception of print data and control commands transmitted from a host device (not shown).

  The reception memory 18 includes, for example, a storage device such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or a flash memory, and temporarily records print data received via the interface unit 17.

  The image data editing memory 19 includes, for example, a storage device such as a DRAM or a flash memory. The image data editing memory 19 acquires print data recorded in the reception memory 18 and records image data formed by editing the print data. To do.

  The operation unit 20 is a notification means such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode) or LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) for notifying the apparatus state of the printer 100, an information input means such as a switch or a touch panel for receiving an instruction from the user. Is provided.

  The sensor group 21 includes various sensors such as a paper position detection sensor, a temperature / humidity sensor, a print density sensor, and a toner remaining amount detection sensor, and monitors the operation state of the printer 100.

  The print control unit 22 includes a microprocessor, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM, an input / output port, a timer, and the like, and controls printing operations based on print data and control commands received via the interface control unit 17. . The print control unit 22 calculates a waste toner amount as a toner discard control unit 23 that controls processing related to toner disposal and a recovery amount calculation unit that calculates the amount of toner 8 accumulated in the waste toner storage unit 7. And a print duty calculation unit 25 that calculates a print duty that is a print ratio in each of the developing devices A, B, C, D, and E.

  The high voltage power supply control unit 27s controls the charging voltage power supply 5v, the developing roller voltage power supply 2v, the developing blade voltage power supply 3v, the primary transfer voltage power supply 12v, and the secondary transfer voltage power supply 14v based on an instruction from the print control unit 22. The voltage applied to each roller, blade, etc. is controlled. Here, the charging voltage power source 5 v applies a predetermined voltage to the charging roller 5. The developing roller voltage power source 2 v applies a predetermined voltage to the developing roller 2. The developing blade voltage power source 3 v applies a predetermined voltage to the developing blade 3. The primary transfer voltage power supply 12v applies a predetermined voltage to the primary transfer rollers 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d, and 12e. The secondary transfer voltage power supply 14 v applies a predetermined voltage to the secondary transfer roller 14.

  The head drive control unit 10 s controls driving of an LED head (not shown) included in the exposure apparatus 10 based on the image data recorded in the image data editing memory 19.

  The fixing controller 15s turns on / off a heater (not shown) provided in the metal shaft of the fixing roller 15a based on an output value of a temperature sensor (not shown) provided in the vicinity of the fixing roller 15a of the fixing device 15. By controlling, the surface temperature of the fixing roller 15a is maintained at a predetermined fixing temperature.

  The transport motor control unit 26 s controls the driving of the paper transport motor 26 based on an instruction from the print control unit 22, thereby rotating and stopping the paper transport rollers 16 a, 16 b, 16 c and 16 d, and recording paper in the paper transport path S. Controls conveyance / stop of P.

  The drive control unit 28 s controls driving of the drive motor 28 for operating the photosensitive drum 1. The driving force of the photosensitive drum 1 driven by the driving motor 28 is transmitted to the developing roller 2 by a driving transmission unit 29 having a gear (not shown).

  Next, the operation of the printer 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. First, when a print command is input from a host device (not shown) such as a personal computer, the print control unit 22 receives the print command via the interface unit 17. Then, the print controller 22 drives the drive motor 28 via the drive controller 28s to rotate the photosensitive drum 1 at a constant speed in the direction of the arrow (a) in FIG.

  The driving force accompanying the rotation of the photosensitive drum 1 is transmitted to the developing roller 2 through a gear (not shown) provided in the driving transmission unit 29, and the developing roller 2 is in the direction of arrow (b) in FIG. 2 is in the direction of arrow (c) in FIG. 2, and the charging roller 5 is arranged in pressure contact with the photosensitive drum 1 as indicated by the arrow in FIG. (D) Rotate in each direction.

  The charging roller 5 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 with a predetermined voltage applied from the charging voltage power source 5v. Next, the head drive control unit 10 s controls the driving of an LED head (not shown) provided in the exposure apparatus 10 based on the image data recorded in the image data editing memory 19, thereby electrostatically forming the surface of the photosensitive drum 1. A latent image is formed.

  When the toner 8 on the surface of the developing roller 2 adheres to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, the toner image is reversely developed.

  On the other hand, the print control unit 22 rotates the paper feed roller 11 and the paper transport roller 16a via the transport motor control unit 26s so that the recording paper P is transferred between the secondary transfer roller 14 and the secondary transfer backup roller 31a. It is conveyed to the secondary transfer point to be formed.

  Incidentally, the primary transfer voltage power supply is supplied to the primary transfer rollers 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d, and 12e provided at positions facing the photosensitive drum 1 provided in each of the developing devices A, B, C, D, and E. A predetermined voltage is applied from 12v. The primary transfer rollers 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d, and 12e primarily transfer the toner image developed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 to the intermediate transfer belt 13 that is driven in the direction of arrow (f) in FIG.

  Then, the toner image primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 13 has a secondary transfer roller to which a predetermined voltage having a polarity opposite to the charging potential of the toner 8 is applied from the secondary transfer voltage power supply 14v at the secondary transfer point. 14 is secondarily transferred to the recording paper P. The recording paper P onto which the toner image has been secondarily transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 15, and heat and pressure are applied when passing through the pressure contact portion formed by the fixing roller 15 a and the backup roller 15 b maintained at a predetermined temperature. The toner 8 is melted and the toner image is fixed. The recording paper P that has been fixed is sent to the stacker 30 by the rotation of the paper transport rollers 16b, 16c, and 16d.

  Note that a small amount of toner 8 (transfer residual toner) that could not be transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 13, adhesion of the toner 8 to the non-printing portion (fogging toner), or intermediate transfer belt 13 on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1. The toner 8 of the toner image transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 3 in the developing device arranged on the upstream side in the driving direction is collected by the developing device arranged on the downstream side (reverse transfer toner). The remaining toner 8 is scraped off by the cleaning blade 6 and is collected in the waste toner container 7 by a conveying means (not shown). In this way, the photosensitive drum 1 is repeatedly used.

  Next, the operation from when the printing operation is started until the amount of waste toner is calculated will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S10, when a print command is input from a host device (not shown) such as a personal computer and a printing operation is started (step S10), the print duty calculation unit 25 of the print control unit 22 converts the image data into image data. Based on this, the printing duty (%) in each of the developing devices A, B, C, D, and E is calculated (step S20).

  When image formation is performed by each of the developing devices A, B, C, D, and E (step S30), the print control unit 22 determines whether or not printing for one page is completed. For example, the print control unit 22 is included in the sensor group 21, and a sheet position detection sensor (not shown) disposed downstream of the fixing device 15 in the sheet conveyance direction detects the trailing edge of the recording sheet P, thereby 1 It can be determined that the printing of the page has been completed. Here, when the print control unit 22 determines that printing of one page has been completed (Yes in step S40), the waste toner calculation unit 24 calculates the amount of waste toner by using Expression (1) described below ( Step S50). When the calculation of the amount of waste toner by the waste toner calculation unit 24 is completed, the printing operation ends (step S60).

  Here, a waste toner amount calculation method by the waste toner calculation unit 24 will be described. As described above, the waste toner computing unit 24 uses the following formula (1) for calculating the amount of waste toner. In the following description, the description will be made on the assumption that the amount of waste toner is calculated for each number of printed pages per page, from the start to the end of printing one page as a reference unit. The amount of waste toner may be calculated as a unit.

Waste toner amount (cm ³ ) = Wtr + Wf + Wb + (1−α) Wr Formula (1)

here,
Wtr: transfer residual toner amount (cm ³ ), Wtr = A × print duty (%) × V
Wf: Toner discard amount (cm ³ ), Wf = Print duty (%) at toner discard × V
Wb: fog toner amount (cm ³ ), Wb = B × photosensitive drum rotation speed × V
Wr: reverse transfer toner amount (cm ³ ), Wr = Σ (C × printing duty (%) of developing device upstream in driving direction of intermediate transfer belt 13 × V of developing device)
α: Print duty (%) of waste toner amount calculation target developing device (self-developing device)
V: Volume conversion coefficient converted for each toner A, B: Coefficient for each toner C: Recovery rate for each toner (%)
And

  Note that the print duty (%) at the time of toner disposal is a print duty at the time of toner disposal executed by the toner disposal control unit 23 at an arbitrary timing, for example, after printing a predetermined number of sheets, in order to prevent image defects with time. (%). Even when the toner is discarded, since the photosensitive drum 1 is developed with the toner 8 after exposure, the print duty (%) when the toner is discarded is calculated separately.

  In this embodiment, since the calculation timing of the waste toner amount is based on the unit from the start to the end of printing of one page, the print duty (%) of the self-developing device indicated by α and the transfer residual toner are indicated. The print duty (%) used for calculating the amount (Wtr) is the same value.

  By the way, the reverse transfer of the toner 8 is a phenomenon caused by the toner transferred to the medium (intermediate transfer belt 3) other than the developing device upstream in the driving direction of the intermediate transfer belt 13, and is on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 of the own developing device. If the toner 8 is loaded on the surface of the toner (the printing duty (%) is high), the toner 8 tends to move onto the medium. Therefore, the reverse transfer of the toner 8 already transferred to the medium conveyed from the upstream side is performed. Will be suppressed. On the other hand, if the toner 8 is not so much on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 (the printing duty (%) is low), the area that inhibits the reverse transfer becomes large, and the amount of the toner 8 that is reversely transferred increases. In the present embodiment, the value obtained by subtracting the value obtained by multiplying the total amount of the reverse transfer toner amount by the print duty (%) of the self-developing device is considered for the reverse transfer toner amount and the print duty of the self-developing device. The value is adopted as a value, and the amount of waste toner is calculated.

  Next, evaluation for the waste toner amount calculation method according to the present embodiment will be described. An example in which the reverse transfer toner amount Wr is not considered is referred to as Comparative Example 1, and an example in which the print duty (%) of the self-developing device is not considered with respect to the reverse transfer toner amount is referred to as Comparative Example 2.

In the printer 100 shown in FIG. 1, the printing speed (= photosensitive drum linear speed = paper passing speed) is set to 200 (m / s), and A4 standard paper (for example, OKI excellent white paper, basis weight = 80 ( g / m ² )) in the lateral direction (the longer two of the four sides become the leading and trailing edges), 5% printing duty (when printing on the entire surface of the printable range of one A4 sheet (area ratio 100) %) Is labeled as 100% print duty), and intermittent printing is performed in which the developing device stops every time one sheet is printed, and the intermediate transfer belt 13 is driven downstream of the developing device E in the driving direction. The volume of the toner 8 collected in the waste toner container 7 was compared. In this evaluation, the same toner 8 was accommodated in the developer cartridge 9 in all the developing devices A, B, C, and D, and the evaluation was performed.

Table 1 summarizes the evaluation results of the examples according to the present embodiment, comparative example 1, and comparative example 2. The actually measured value of the toner 8 actually collected in the waste toner container 7 was 114.3 (cm ³ ).

As shown in Table 1, the calculated value (18.1 (cm ³ )) calculated as the waste toner amount in Comparative Example 1 has a large difference from the actual measurement value, and the waste toner amount cannot be calculated accurately. Next, comparing the comparative example 2 and the example, both calculated values are calculated to be larger than the actually measured values, and compared to the comparative example 2, the example is more accurate than the actually measured values. It can be seen that the toner amount is being calculated.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the waste toner accumulation amount can be accurately estimated by considering the print duty (%) of the self-development device with respect to the reverse transfer toner amount, and the replacement of the recovery container Timing accuracy can be increased.

  In the description of the present invention, a printer is used as a preferred example of the image forming apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to, for example, an MFP, a facsimile machine, a copying apparatus, and the like. It is.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photosensitive drum 2 Developing roller 3 Developing blade 4 Supply roller 5 Charging roller 6 Cleaning blade 7 Waste toner storage part 8 Toner 9 Developer cartridge 10 Exposure apparatus 10s Head drive control part 11 Paper feed roller 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d 1 Next transfer roller 13 Intermediate transfer belt 14 Secondary transfer roller 15 Fixing device 15a Fixing roller 15b Backup roller 15s Fixing control unit 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d Paper transport roller 17 Interface control unit 18 Reception memory 19 Image data editing memory 20 Operation unit 21 sensor group 22 print control unit 23 toner discard control unit 24 waste toner amount calculation unit 25 print duty calculation unit 26 paper conveyance motor 26s conveyance motor control unit 27a high voltage power supply control unit 28 drive motor 28s drive control unit 29 drive transmission unit 30 Tsu mosquito 31a 2 transfer backup roller 31b intermediate transfer belt driving roller 31c, 31d driven roller

Claims (4)

An image carrier, a developer carrier for developing the developer image by attaching a developer to the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier, and the image after transferring the developer image to a transfer material. possess a cleaning member for removing residual developer remaining on the carrier, and a recovery container for recovering the residual developer removed by the cleaning member, disposed along the conveying path of the transfer material plurality A developing device,
A recovery amount calculator that calculates a recovery amount of the residual developer recovered in the recovery container;
The recovery amount calculating unit, fog developer amount in the image bearing member, the transfer residual developer amount, be those calculated waste developer amount, and the recovery amount of the remaining developer on the basis of the reverse transcription developer amount Calculating the recovery amount of the reverse transfer developer according to the printing ratio in the developing device that is the target for calculating the recovery amount of the residual developer and the printing ratio in the other developing device disposed upstream of the transport path. An image forming apparatus. The collected amount calculation unit
Calculating the amount of waste developer based on a predetermined printing ratio applied when the residual developer is removed by the cleaning member;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The collected amount calculation unit
Calculating the recovery amount of the residual developer for each image formation of one print medium;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus. The transfer material is
It is a belt member carrying the developer image.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus.