JPH0457078A - Image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the deterioration of toner caused by holding the toner on a carrying member for a long time at the part of an image carrier where a latent image is difficult to be formed by forming the latent image for consuming the toner in a non-image area and supplying the toner held by the toner carrying member to the latent image part. CONSTITUTION:In the case that an image 7 formed on a transfer paper 5 is concentrated in the center part of the toner carrying member 15, the toner held on both side parts of the carrying member is not consumed and kept being held on the surface of the member. Therefore, the latent images 8 for consuming the toner are formed by an exposing means at positions on both side parts of a photosensitive drum 1 corresponding to both side parts of the carrying member 15 where the toner is not consumed in the non-image area 1b of the photosensitive drum 1, that means, a part between the image area 1a where a toner image is formed and the next image area. Then, the toner is supplied to the latent image 8 part from the member 15 so as to consume the toner which is still held on both side parts of the member 15. Thus, the toner is prevented from being deteriorated, which occurs because the toner is held on both side parts of the member 15 for a long time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image forming method in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, in which toner is held and transported by a toner transport member, and the toner transport member The present invention relates to an image forming method in which toner is supplied to a latent image portion formed on an image carrier to form a toner image on the image carrier.

[Prior art and its problems] When forming an image in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, conventionally, toner is held and transported by a toner transport member, and the toner is transferred from this toner transport member to an image carrier. A toner image was formed on an image carrier by supplying toner to a latent image portion formed on the image bearing member.

Here, when a toner image is formed on the image bearing member by supplying the toner from the toner conveying member holding the toner to the latent image portion formed on the image bearing member as described above,
In a portion where toner is supplied to the image carrier from the toner conveying member, new toner is supplied to this toner conveying member, but in a portion where 1 to toner is not supplied to the image carrier, Generally, the first toner toner remains held by the toner conveying member, and no new toner is supplied to that portion.

Therefore, in the above-mentioned image carrier, toner is rarely supplied from the toner conveying member to a portion where a latent image is formed at a low rate, and the toner in this portion remains held on the toner conveying member for a long time. becomes the state of

If the toner is retained in the toner conveyance member for a long time in this way, the retained toner will gradually deteriorate, adversely affecting the toner conveyance member, image carrier, etc., and the deteriorated toner may scatter within the image forming apparatus. There was a problem that good image formation could not be performed due to such problems.

In particular, when using a developing device in which a regulating member is brought into pressure contact with a toner transporting member in order to charge the toner, and the toner held on the toner transporting member is frictionally charged by the regulating member, the above-mentioned When the toner is retained on the toner conveying member for a long time, as in the example shown in FIG. The post-processing agent was embedded in the toner, resulting in severe toner deterioration.

When the toner becomes finely powdered and the post-processing agent is embedded in the toner, the fluidity of the toner deteriorates, making it difficult to replenish the toner, resulting in a Adsorbs to the surface of the toner transport member,
As the toner is repeatedly pressed by the regulating member, this toner fuses to the surface of the toner conveying member, causing poor charging of the toner, causing I/toner scattering, toner spillage, etc. There was a problem that image formation could not be performed.

In addition, the pressure contact time of the toner by the above-mentioned regulating member is longer when image formation is performed intermittently than when image formation is performed continuously. In particular, many of the above problems occur when image formation is performed intermittently.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention allows toner to be held and transported by a toner transporting member, and from this toner transporting member to a latent image portion formed on an image bearing member. It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems in image forming methods that have come to form toner images.

That is, in the present invention, when forming an image as described above, it is possible to prevent toner from being retained on the toner conveying member for a long time and deteriorating even in a portion of the image carrier where a latent image is formed at a low rate. The object of this invention is to ensure that even in such areas, the previous toner is removed from the toner conveying member and new toner is supplied, so that good image formation can be performed stably. be.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the present invention, toner is held and transported by a toner transport member, and the toner is formed on an image carrier from this toner transport member. to the latent image area that has been
In an image forming method in which an I-henner image is formed on an image bearing member, the image bearing member is A latent image for toner consumption is formed in a non-image area between the image areas, and the toner held by the toner conveying member is supplied to this latent image area for toner consumption.

According to the present invention, toner consumption is provided in a non-image area between the image areas of the image bearing member in correspondence with a portion where the amount of toner consumed is small in the image area of the image bearing member where a toner image is formed. By forming a latent image and supplying the toner held by the toner conveying member to the latent image portion for toner consumption, it is possible to The toner held by the toner conveying member is supplied to the latent image portion for toner consumption and consumed.

Therefore, new toner is supplied to the toner conveying member even in areas where a latent image is formed at a low rate as described above, and the previous toner remains retained on the toner conveying member for a long time. This eliminates the possibility of deterioration.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be specifically described based on the accompanying drawings.

In this embodiment, when forming an image, as shown in the first diagram, a photosensitive drum (1) is used as an image bearing member (1), and as the photosensitive drum (1) is rotated, The surface of this photoreceptor drum (1) is charged with a charger (
After being charged by step 2), an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor drum (1) charged in this way by the exposing means (3), and a latent image formed by the electrostatic latent image in this way is formed. The toner (4) was supplied from the developing device (10) to the area to form a toner image on the surface of the photoreceptor drum (1).

On the other hand, the developing device (10) supplies toner (4) to the latent image portion formed on the surface of the photoreceptor drum (1) as described above.
), as shown in the figure, toner (4) is stored in a toner storage tank (11), and this toner storage tank (1
1) Rotate the agitator (12) provided in the interior to agitate the toner (4) and
4) to the toner supply section (located on the photoreceptor drum (1) side).
13).

Next, the toner (4) thus fed into the toner supply section (13) is transferred to a sleeve-shaped toner conveying member (15) provided so as to cover the outer periphery of the drive roller (16).
), the drive roller (16) is driven to rotate, and along with this rotation, the toner conveying member (15) to which the toner (4) has been supplied as described above is rotated, and the toner (4) is transferred to the photoreceptor. It was arranged to be conveyed to the drum (1) side.

Then, while the toner (4) is being transported to the photoreceptor drum (1) side by the toner transport member 5), a regulating member (
17) are brought into pressure contact with each other, and the toner (4) supplied to the surface of the toner conveying member (15) is frictionally charged by the regulating member (17), and the amount of toner (4) on the surface of the toner conveying member (15) is was regulated.

Thereafter, the toner (4) charged in this way is guided by the toner conveying member (15) to the part facing the photoreceptor drum (1) side, and the )-chi conveying member (15) is exposed to light by the driving roller (16). The part that protrudes toward the body drum (1) side,
The toner conveying member (15) is brought into soft contact with the surface of the photoreceptor drum (1) to transfer the charged toner (4) to the latent image portion formed on the surface of the photoreceptor drum (1) as described above. The toner (4) is supplied to the photoreceptor drum (1).
) to form a toner image on the surface.

The toner image thus formed on the surface of the photoreceptor drum (1) is transferred onto the transfer paper (5) by a transfer/separator (not shown), and then onto the transfer paper (5>). While fixing the transferred toner image on the transfer paper (5),
After the transfer, the toner (4) remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor drum (1) is removed from the surface of the photoreceptor drum (1) by a cleaning device (6).

Then, repeat this operation and transfer the transfer paper (5
) to form images <7) one after another.

When the image is formed in this way, as shown in FIG. 2, the image (7) formed on the transfer paper (5) is concentrated in the center of the toner conveying member (15). In this case, the toner (4) held on both sides of the toner transport member (15) was not consumed and remained held on the surface of the toner transport member (15).

Therefore, in this embodiment, when performing such image formation, the non-image area (1b) on the photosensitive drum (1), that is, a toner image is formed, as shown in FIG. For the portion between the image area (1a) and the image area (1a) where the next toner image is formed, the exposing means (3) exposes the toner conveying member 15) on both sides where the toner (4) is not consumed. Latent images (8) for toner consumption are formed at positions on both sides of the photoreceptor drum (1) corresponding to the area.

Then, the latent image for toner consumption (8
), the toner 4) is supplied from the toner conveying member (15) as described above, and the toner (4) retained on both sides of the toner conveying member (15) is consumed. While new toner (4) is supplied to both sides of the toner conveying member (15), the toner (4) supplied to the latent image (8) portion for toner consumption is transferred to the cleaning device (6). The particles are removed from the surface of the photoreceptor drum (1) by the following steps.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the image (7) formed on the transfer paper (5) is concentrated in the center of the toner conveying member (15), and image formation is performed continuously or intermittently. Even when the toner is repeatedly used, the toner (4) is no longer retained on both sides of the toner conveying member (15) for a long time and deteriorated.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 4(A) and 4(B), a transfer paper (5) whose width is narrower than that of the toner conveying member (15) and the photoreceptor drum 1) is used. 5) is passed through the widthwise center of the photoreceptor drum 1) to form an image, the toner (4) held on both sides of the toner conveying member (15) is not consumed. The toner remains held on the surface of the toner conveying member (15).

Therefore, even in these cases, (A) and (B)
), in the non-image area (1b) on the photoreceptor drum (1), a latent image for toner consumption ( 8), and the toner (4) remained held on both sides of the toner conveying member (15) as described above.
) is supplied to this latent image (8) portion for toner consumption and consumed, and new toner (4) is supplied to both sides of this toner conveying member (15).

As a result, image formation can be performed continuously or intermittently by passing a narrow transfer paper (5) as shown in FIGS. Even when the toner was repeatedly used, the toner (4) was no longer retained on both sides of the toner conveying member (15) for a long time and deteriorated.

In addition, in the case of forming an image (7) as shown in FIG. 5 on the transfer paper (5) in the printer, the toner conveying member 15) is
The non-image area (1b
), the latent image (8) for toner consumption is transferred to the toner (
4) It is formed in accordance with the consumption state.

Then, the toner (4) still held by the toner conveying member (15>) is supplied to this toner consumption latent image (8) area and consumed, and new toner (4>) is added to this area.
was made to supply.

As a result, even in this case, even if image formation is repeated continuously or intermittently, as in each of the above cases, the toner 4) is retained for a long time at a specific position of the toner conveying member 15). It no longer deteriorates due to exposure.

Note that, as described above, by forming a latent image (8) for toner consumption in the non-image area (1b) on the photoreceptor drum (1),
In order to consume the toner (4) held by the toner conveying member (15), it is applied to the non-image area (1h) of the photoreceptor drum (1) every - image formation or every fixed number of image formation. A latent image (8) for toner consumption is formed so as to consume the toner (4) that remains held on the toner transport member (15).

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, in the image forming method according to the present invention, toner is held and transported by a toner transport member,
When the toner is supplied from this toner conveying member to the latent image portion formed on the image carrier to form a toner image on the image carrier, the toner is consumed in the image area of the image carrier where the toner image is formed. A latent image for toner consumption is formed in a non-image area between the image areas of the image carrier in correspondence with a portion where the amount of toner is small, and a latent image for toner consumption is formed on the latent image area for toner consumption and is held by the toner conveying member. Since the toner is supplied, the toner is no longer held on the toner conveying member for a long time and deteriorated in a portion of the image carrier where a latent image is formed at a low rate, unlike in the past.

As a result, in the image forming method according to the present invention, the toner that has been retained for a long time in the toner transport member and has deteriorated does not scatter or spill, which adversely affects image formation, unlike in the past. It is now possible to stably form images.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus used in an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 shows the positional relationship between an image of one pattern formed on transfer paper and a toner conveying member in the same embodiment. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a latent image for toner consumption is formed on the photosensitive drum in correspondence with the image of the pattern formed on the transfer paper of FIG. 2, and FIG.
A) and (B) respectively show the toner transport member, transfer paper, and photoreceptor drum in the same embodiment when image formation is performed using a transfer paper whose width is narrower than that of the toner transport member and the photoreceptor drum. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the relationship between the image of another pattern formed on the transfer paper and the latent image for toner consumption formed on the photosensitive drum in the same embodiment. (1)...Image carrier (photosensitive drum) (1a)...
Image area (1b)...Non-image area (4)...Toner (8)...Latent image for toner consumption (15)
...Toner conveyance member

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Image formation in which toner is held and transported by a toner transport member, and the toner is supplied from the toner transport member to a latent image portion formed on an image carrier to form a toner image on the image carrier. In the method, a latent image for toner consumption is formed in a non-image area between image areas of the image carrier, corresponding to a portion where a small amount of toner is consumed in an image area of the image carrier where a toner image is formed. An image forming method characterized by forming a latent image portion for toner consumption and supplying toner held by the toner conveying member to the latent image portion for toner consumption.