JPH08101574A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an image forming device which ensures an excellent image quality and steady image formation, consumes less power and is compact. CONSTITUTION: An aperture electrode body 8 which controls a toner flow is so provided on a toner supply device 10 as to be in press-contact with a toner carry roller 26, an intermediate recording medium 16 is disposed above the aperture electrode body 8, and a heating roller 14 and a rear electrode roller 12, which stretch the intermediate recording medium 16, are provided. An image recording medium P is carried on the intermediate recording medium 16, and is brought into press-contact with the medium 16 by means of a pressure roller 18. On the intermediate recording medium 16 a toner image is formed by means of the aperture electrode body 8, and this toner image is transferred to the image recording medium P by heating the heating roller 14 and, at the same time, it is fixed under heat.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which can be used in copying machines, printers, plotters, facsimiles and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as one of image forming apparatuses,
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-155798, an aperture electrode having a plurality of small holes (hereinafter referred to as apertures) for passing toner, and a control electrode provided for each aperture. The aperture electrode body is provided with an image recording medium such as printing paper by controlling the passage of the toner aperture by applying a drive signal corresponding to an image signal input from the outside to each control electrode of the aperture electrode body. A so-called toner jet type image forming apparatus for forming a toner image thereon is known. The image recording medium on which the toner image is formed is further heated and pressed by a fixing device including a heated roller, and the toner image formed on the image recording medium by this is fixed on the image recording medium.

In this image forming apparatus, since the image recording medium is conveyed at a position extremely close to (a distance of 1 mm or less) from the aperture electrode body, the image recording medium comes into contact with the aperture electrode body, and the image recording medium is transferred onto the image recording medium. There is a problem in that the toner image before fixing is disturbed or foreign matter such as paper dust that falls off the image recording medium adheres to the aperture electrode body, which deteriorates the controllability of the toner and deteriorates the image quality. It was In addition, the aperture electrode body is generally extremely thin (25
Therefore, there is also a problem that when the image recording medium comes into contact with the image recording medium, the impact of the contact causes a scratch that causes a defect in the image.

On the other hand, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-278.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 452, the intermediate recording medium is opposed to the aperture electrode instead of the image recording medium, a toner image is once formed on the intermediate recording medium, and then the toner image is further transferred to the image recording medium. An image forming apparatus configured to do so is known.

That is, an intermediate recording medium is formed of, for example, an aluminum drum, and the intermediate recording medium is arranged so as to face the aperture electrode body, so that the intermediate recording medium comes into contact with the aperture electrode body by sagging like an image recording medium. There is no fear, and since paper dust etc. will not fall onto the aperture electrode body,
The image quality can be surely improved.

[0006]

However, in the image forming apparatus provided with this intermediate recording medium, a toner image is once formed on the intermediate recording medium, then transferred to the image recording medium, and then the toner image is transferred. Each process such as heating the image recording medium by the transfer device to thermally fix the toner image on the image recording medium is performed individually, and energy is consumed in each process, which causes a problem that power consumption increases. there were.

Further, since the intermediate recording medium is composed of a fixed shape such as a drum, the degree of freedom of arrangement is limited, the space in the apparatus cannot be effectively used, and the apparatus is large. There was a problem that it turned into. The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that is excellent in image quality and capable of stable image formation, and that consumes less power and is compact. To do.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with a plurality of apertures for passing the toner, and the apertures of the apertures are controlled respectively. Between an aperture electrode body having an electrode, a toner supply unit that carries charged toner and supplies it near the aperture, and between each control electrode and the toner supply unit according to an image signal input from the outside. Control electrode driving means for controlling the applied voltage to control the passage of the toner supplied to the vicinity of the aperture by the toner supply means, and the control electrode drive means are provided on the opposite side of the toner supply means with the aperture interposed. In addition, a predetermined voltage for forming a predetermined electric field between the toner supply unit and the toner supply unit is applied, and the back electrode for further flying the toner having passed through the aperture, A toner image is formed between the surface electrode and the aperture electrode body, passes through the aperture, and adheres and deposits the toner ejected by the rear electrode to form a toner image and conveys the toner image to an image recording medium. An intermediate recording medium that is transported to a path, and a transfer unit that transfers the toner image formed on the intermediate recording medium to the image recording medium,
In the image forming apparatus including: the transfer means, the contact means for contacting the image recording medium with the intermediate recording medium, and the corresponding contact means are provided at positions opposed to each other with the intermediate recording medium sandwiched therebetween. A heating unit that heats the intermediate recording medium, and the transfer unit transfers the toner image and thermally fixes the transferred toner image.

The invention described in claim 2 is the same as claim 1.
In the image forming apparatus described in the paragraph 1,
It is characterized in that it is formed in a belt shape and is stretched by at least a roller that also serves as a back electrode and a roller that also serves as heating means. Next, an invention according to claim 3 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
A plurality of aperture electrode bodies and a toner supply unit are provided so as to face the intermediate recording medium.

[0010]

(Operation and effect of the invention) Claim 1 having the above construction.
In the image forming apparatus described in the paragraph 1,
In addition to supplying the charged toner near the aperture, the control electrode driving means responds to an image signal input from the outside.
By applying a voltage between each control electrode and the toner supply unit, a predetermined electric field is formed on the toner supply unit in each aperture and in the vicinity of the aperture. As a result, the toner supplied to the vicinity of the aperture receives an electrostatic force by the electric field formed by the control electrode driving means, flies and passes through the aperture.

A predetermined voltage is applied to the back electrode, and a predetermined electric field is formed between the back electrode and the toner supply means. For this reason, the toner that has passed through the aperture is further fly by receiving an electrostatic force due to the electric field formed between the back electrode and the toner supply means, and the intermediate toner disposed between the back electrode and the aperture electrode body. A toner image is formed by depositing and accumulating on the recording medium. The intermediate recording medium on which the toner image is formed transfers the toner image to the conveyance path of the image recording medium.

Then, when the toner image formed on the intermediate recording medium is transferred to the conveying path of the image recording medium, the contacting means brings the image recording medium into contact with the intermediate recording medium, and the contacting means is placed on the intermediate recording medium. The toner image is transferred onto the image recording medium, and the intermediate recording medium heated by the heating means heats the image recording medium to thermally fix the toner image on the image recording medium.

Therefore, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention,
When the toner image is transferred from the intermediate recording medium to the image recording medium, the intermediate recording medium is heated to perform not only the transfer but also the thermal fixing, so that the transfer and the thermal fixing are performed separately. Compared to conventional devices that consume power respectively,
Power consumption can be reduced.

Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, the intermediate recording medium is formed in a belt shape, and is stretched by at least a roller also serving as a back electrode and a roller also serving as heating means. . That is, in the present invention, the intermediate recording medium is formed in a belt shape to reduce the heat capacity of the intermediate recording medium, so that the intermediate recording medium can be quickly heated to a temperature required for thermal fixing with a small amount of heat energy. There is. Therefore, according to the present invention, the power consumption can be further reduced as compared with the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect.

Further, according to the present invention, since the intermediate recording medium is formed in a belt shape, it can be stored in a smaller space as compared with the case where the intermediate recording medium is composed of a drum, and also serves as a back electrode. The arrangement of the roller and the roller serving also as the heating means can be performed relatively flexibly, so that the space can be effectively utilized for the arrangement, and the entire apparatus can be downsized.

Next, in the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect of the invention, a plurality of aperture electrode bodies and toner supply means are provided facing the intermediate recording medium. Therefore, according to the present invention, if each toner supply unit supplies toner of different colors to each aperture electrode body, it is possible to form toner images of different colors on the intermediate recording medium. By transferring to the image recording medium, a multi-color or full-color image can be formed on the image recording medium.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 2 that forms a monocolor image according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 2 of the present embodiment is provided for each aperture 4 in order to control the plurality of apertures 4 for passing the toner T and the passage of the aperture 4 of the toner T. The aperture electrode body 8 having the control electrode 6 provided therein, and the toner T for forming an image on the image recording medium P such as recording paper or OHP paper, which is provided below the aperture electrode body 8 and stores the toner T. And a toner supply device 10 for supplying the aperture electrode body 8 to the aperture electrode body 8. The toner supply device 10 is formed in a seamless belt shape and is disposed above the aperture electrode body 8 with a predetermined space (for example, 0.5 mm) from the aperture electrode body 8. The intermediate recording medium 16 thus formed, the back electrode roller 12 arranged at a position facing the toner supply device 10 with the aperture 4 interposed therebetween, and the back electrode roller 12 provided at a position in contact with the conveyance path of the image recording medium P. Together with the electrode roller 12 while stretched the intermediate recording medium 16, the heat roller 14 for heating the intermediate recording medium 16 to a predetermined temperature by heating a heater therein
And a pressure roller 1 which is provided at a position facing the heat roller 14 with the intermediate recording medium 16 sandwiched therebetween and which conveys the image recording medium P together with the heat roller 14 while pressingly contacting the intermediate recording medium 16.
8 and a predetermined high voltage (for example, 50
0V) is applied to form a predetermined electric field between the back electrode roller 12 and the control electrode 6, and an image forming voltage (for example, + 30V) is applied to the control electrode 6 according to image data input from the outside. , Or a control voltage application circuit 22 for applying an image non-forming voltage (for example, −30 V).

The back electrode roller 12 and the heat roller 14 are rotationally driven in the counterclockwise direction (the arrow X direction) in the drawing at a predetermined speed by a drive circuit (not shown), and the intermediate recording medium 16 is moved at a predetermined speed. It is transferred in. The control voltage application circuit 22 is connected to an external computer, an image reading device, an image communication device, or the like, and image data is input from these devices.

Here, the toner supply device 10 includes a toner case 24 which also serves as a housing of the toner supply device 10.
A cylindrical toner carrying roller 26 that is rotatably supported in the toner case 24, is also rotatably supported in the toner case 24, and is arranged in parallel while being in contact with the toner carrying roller 26. Cylindrical supply roller 28
And a flat-plate-shaped toner layer regulating blade 30 which is disposed above the supply roller 28 so that one end thereof presses the roller surface of the toner carrying roller 26.

The toner carrying roller 26 and the supply roller 28 are rotationally driven in a clockwise direction (direction of arrow Y) in the drawing at a predetermined speed by a drive circuit (not shown). The surface of the toner carrying roller 26 is covered with an electrode body and is electrically grounded so that the potential thereof becomes 0V.

Toner supply device 10 thus configured
In the above, the toner T accumulated in the toner case 24 is rotated by the rotation of the supply roller 28, and
6 is conveyed. Then, the toner T conveyed to the contact surface between the supply roller 28 and the toner carrying roller 26
Is rubbed against the toner carrying roller 26 to be negatively charged, and also carried by the toner carrying roller 26.
The toner T carried on the toner carrying roller 26 in this manner
Is conveyed toward the aperture electrode body 8 by the rotation of the toner carrying roller 26, and in the middle thereof, is thinned by the toner layer regulating blade 30 so that the toner is evenly distributed on the roller surface. After the charge amount of each toner T is made uniform, it is supplied to the aperture electrode body 8.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the aperture electrode body 8 is composed of an insulating sheet 32 made of polyimide and having a thickness of 25 μm.
A plurality of circular apertures 4 having a diameter of 00 μm are formed in a line along the longitudinal direction, and a control electrode 6 made of a copper foil having a thickness of 8 μm is formed for each aperture 4 on the peripheral edge of the opening of the aperture 4. Has been done.

Aperture electrode body 8 constructed in this way
As shown in FIG. 1, with the surface on which the control electrode 6 is formed facing the intermediate recording medium 16, it is disposed so as to press the upper portion of the toner carrying roller 26. Therefore, the toner T on the toner carrying roller 26 is rubbed by the insulating sheet 32 that constitutes the aperture electrode body 8 while the aperture 4 is being rubbed.
Supplied under.

Here, the positional relationship between the aperture 4 of the aperture electrode body 8 and the toner carrying roller 26 will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 3, each aperture 4 is arranged such that the center line A passes through the uppermost portion of the peripheral surface of the toner carrying roller 26 and the central axis B of the toner carrying roller 26. According to this, each of the apertures 4 can be evenly arranged on the left and right with respect to the uppermost portion of the peripheral surface of the toner carrying roller 26, and the distribution of the toner T passing through each of the apertures 4 can be calculated as follows. It can be made uniform over the entire area.
Further, since the wall surface of the aperture 4 and the flying direction of the toner T are parallel to each other, the stable flying of the toner T is possible.

Further, the aperture electrode body 8 itself is pressed against the toner carrying roller 26 so as to bend to the left and right about the aperture 4 by the same angle. As a result, the contact area between the aperture electrode body 8 and the toner carrying roller 26 is increased, and the lower periphery of the aperture 4 is pressed uniformly in the left and right directions, so that the occurrence of uneven density of the toner T is suppressed as much as possible.

Next, the intermediate recording medium 16 is polyimide,
The resin film is made of a resin having excellent heat resistance and releasability such as aramid, Teflon, and silicon, and the resin film is formed in a seamless belt shape. In addition, in order to further enhance the releasability of the intermediate recording medium 16, the surface of the resin film may be coated or impregnated with silicon oil or the like. In addition, the intermediate recording medium 16
A coating layer in which carbon particles are dispersed may be formed on the surface of the resin film in order to remove the electrostatic charge and prevent dust and the like from adhering to the intermediate recording medium 16 and deteriorating the image quality. Further, the intermediate recording medium 16 may be configured by using a metal film such as stainless steel or nickel instead of the resin.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 2 configured as described above will be described. That is, in the image forming apparatus 2, when an image signal is input from the outside, the control voltage applying circuit 22 applies +30 V to the control electrode 6 of the aperture 4 through which the toner T should pass, in accordance with the image signal. Control electrode 6 of aperture 4 which should not pass T
Is applied with a voltage of -30V.

Then, the control electrode 6 to which a predetermined voltage is applied and the toner carrying roller 26 which is grounded and set to 0V.
An electric field corresponding to the voltage applied to the control electrode 6 is formed in each aperture 4 due to the potential difference between and, and the negatively charged toner T is subjected to an electrostatic force toward the higher potential side.

That is, in the aperture 4 to which the voltage of +30 V is applied to the control electrode 6, the potential on the control electrode 6 side becomes high, so that the toner T receives the electrostatic force toward the control electrode 6. As a result, the toner T carried on the toner carrying roller 26 flies from the surface of the toner carrying roller 26, passes through the aperture 4, and is drawn out to the control electrode 6 side of the aperture electrode body 8. Here, a voltage of +500 V is applied to the back electrode roller 12 by the DC power source 20, and the toner T drawn to the control electrode 6 side is not included in the back electrode roller 1.
2 and the control electrode 6, an electric field formed by the electric potential difference between the control electrode 6 and the control electrode 6 receives an electrostatic force to increase the potential of the back electrode roller
It flies toward 2, and adheres and deposits on the intermediate recording medium 16 disposed between the aperture electrode body 8 and the back electrode roller 12.

In the aperture 4 to which the voltage of -30 V is applied to the control electrode 6, the potential on the toner carrying roller 26 side becomes high, and the toner T receives the electrostatic force toward the toner carrying roller 26. Therefore, the toner T is held on the toner carrying roller 26 without flying from the surface of the toner carrying roller 26.

As a result, on the intermediate recording medium 16,
A pixel is formed in a portion facing the aperture 4 to which + 30V is applied to the control electrode 6, and a pixel is not formed in a portion facing the aperture 4 to which -30V is applied to the control electrode 6, and one column is formed. A toner image is formed.

In this way, the intermediate recording medium 16 is
When the toner images for the columns are formed, the back electrode roller 12 and the heat roller 14 are driven to rotate, and the intermediate recording medium 16
Are moved by one pixel in the vertical direction with respect to the four columns of apertures. Then, by repeating the above-described process of forming the toner image for one line, the intermediate recording medium 16 is
A toner image for one screen is formed.

After that, the intermediate recording medium 16 is transported, so that the portion where the toner image is formed is moved to the pressure roller 1.
8 and the position of the heat roller 14 are reached. Then, the pressure roller 18 presses the image forming medium P against the intermediate recording medium 16 while conveying the image forming medium P in a predetermined direction in accordance with the transport speed of the intermediate recording medium 16, and the toner on the intermediate recording medium 16 is pressed. The image is transferred to the image forming medium P.
At the same time, the intermediate recording medium 16 heated to a predetermined temperature by the heat roller 14 applies heat to the image forming medium P to fix the transferred toner image on the image forming medium P, whereby the image recording medium is fixed. A series of operations for forming an image on P is completed.

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 2 of the present embodiment, the intermediate recording medium 16 is made of a resin film formed in a belt shape and is stretched by the back electrode roller 12 and the heat roller 14. Since the distance between the intermediate recording medium 16 and the aperture electrode body 8 is always kept constant, there is no risk of foreign matter coming into contact with the aperture electrode body 8, and damage to the aperture electrode body 8 can be prevented.

Further, since the intermediate recording medium 16 allows the image recording medium P to be arranged at a position away from the aperture electrode body 8, even if a foreign matter is detached from the image recording medium P, it adheres to the aperture electrode body 8. There is nothing to do. Therefore,
Since the controllability of the toner is not deteriorated, the image quality is excellent and stable image formation can be performed.

Further, according to the image forming apparatus 2 of the present embodiment, transfer from the intermediate recording medium 16 to the image recording medium P,
Since the fixing of the toner image on the image recording medium P is performed at once by pressing the image recording medium P against the heated intermediate recording medium 16, the transfer and the fixing are performed separately as compared with the conventional apparatus. The power consumption can be reduced. Moreover, since the intermediate recording medium 16 made of a resin film has a small heat capacity, it can be quickly heated to a predetermined temperature with a small amount of heat energy. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the power consumption can be significantly reduced.

Further, since the intermediate recording medium 16 is formed in a belt shape and stretched by the back electrode roller 12 and the heat roller 14, the arrangement of the heat roller 14 can be changed relatively freely. Therefore, since the space can be effectively used for the arrangement, the device can be downsized.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus for forming a mono-curler image is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an image forming apparatus for forming a multi-color or full-color image. It is also possible to apply to. Here, a second embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a full-color image forming apparatus will be described. Note that FIG. 4 shows the second
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a full-color image forming apparatus 40 of the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 4, the full-color image forming apparatus 40 of this embodiment has three process units 42Y, which form yellow, magenta, and cyan toner images, respectively, according to an image signal input from the outside. 42M, 42C
And a belt-shaped intermediate recording medium 44 that is arranged to face the aperture electrode body 8 of each of the process units 42Y, 42M, and 42C at a predetermined interval (for example, 0.5 mm).
A heat roller 46, which is provided at a position in contact with the conveyance path of the image recording medium P, has a heater inside and heats the intermediate recording medium 44 to a predetermined temperature, and the intermediate recording medium 44 is stretched together with the heat roller 46. And a pair of tension rollers 48a, 48b for moving the intermediate recording medium 44 in a predetermined direction.
And the process units 42 sandwiching the intermediate recording medium 44.
DC electrodes for applying a predetermined high voltage (for example, 500V) to the back electrodes 50Y, 50M, 50C and the back electrodes 50Y, 50M, 50C, respectively, which are arranged at positions facing the aperture electrode bodies of Y, 42M, 42C, respectively. The power source 52, a pressure roller 54 which is arranged at a position facing the heat roller 46 with the intermediate recording medium 44 interposed therebetween, and which conveys the image recording medium P at a predetermined speed while pressing the image recording medium P against the intermediate recording medium 44, and the heat roller 4.
6 and the tension roller 48a so as to contact the surface of the intermediate recording medium 44 on which the toner image is formed, and after the toner image is transferred to the image recording medium P, the intermediate recording medium 44 is formed.
A roller-shaped remover 56 for removing the toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate recording medium 44 and a roller-shaped remover for removing the charge of the intermediate recording medium 44, which is provided in contact with the surface of the intermediate recording medium 44 on which the toner image is formed. And a static eliminator 58.

The heat roller 46 is electrically grounded, and the intermediate recording medium 4 from the inner surface side of the intermediate recording medium 44.
It also functions as a static eliminator for removing the charge of No. 4. Each of the process units 42Y, 42M, and 42C is composed of a toner supply device, an aperture electrode body, and a control voltage application circuit which have exactly the same configuration as that described in the first embodiment.
Since the operation is exactly the same as that of the first embodiment, its explanation is omitted. The process unit 42Y that forms a yellow toner image has a yellow toner, the process unit 42M that forms a magenta toner image has a process unit 42M that has a magenta toner image, and the process unit 42C that has a cyan toner image has a process image 42C. And cyan toner are stored respectively.

Next, the operation of the full-color image forming apparatus 40 will be described. The color image signal input from the outside is separated into three color signals and input to the respective control voltage applying circuits of the corresponding process units 42Y, 42M, 42C. Accordingly, each process unit 42
From Y, 42M, 42C, each process unit 42
Y, 42M and 42C are arranged to face the back electrode 50Y,
The toner flies toward 50M and 50C, and adheres and accumulates on the intermediate recording medium 44 to form a toner image.

Therefore, a yellow toner image is first formed on the intermediate recording medium 44 when passing through the process unit 42Y, and then a magenta toner image is formed when passing through the process unit 42M. When passing through the unit 42C, a cyan toner image is formed. In this way, the intermediate recording medium 44 passes through the three process units 42Y, 42M, and 42C, so that a full-color toner image is formed on the intermediate recording medium 4.
4 is formed.

In the intermediate recording medium 44 on which the full-color toner image is formed in this manner, the heat roller 46 and the tension rollers 48a and 48b are rotationally driven by a drive circuit (not shown), so that the pressure roller 54 and the heat roller 46. Is transferred to the position where is provided.

The pressure roller 54 presses the image recording medium P against the intermediate recording medium 44 and conveys the image recording medium P at the transfer speed of the intermediate recording medium 44, whereby the image recording medium P is formed on the intermediate recording medium 44. The full-color toner image is transferred to the image recording medium P, and the heat roller 4
The intermediate recording medium 44 heated by 6 heats the image recording medium P, so that the transferred toner image is thermally fixed on the image recording medium P, and a full-color image recorded on the image recording medium P is obtained. .

After the transfer, the intermediate recording medium 44 is removed by the remover 56 to remove the toner remaining on the toner image forming surface, adhering dust and the like, and the static eliminator 58 removes static electricity. Process unit 4
2Y, 42M, 42C and back electrodes 50Y, 50M, 50
And a new toner image is formed.

As described above, according to the full-color image forming apparatus 40 of the present embodiment, the toner and dust that remain on the intermediate recording medium 44 are removed every time the image is transferred, so that an image of high quality is always obtained. Can be obtained. Also,
Of course, the same effect as the image forming apparatus 2 of the first embodiment can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the full-color toner image is formed on the intermediate recording medium 44 and then transferred to the image recording medium P. However, one color toner image is formed on the intermediate recording medium 44. It is also possible to form a full-color image on the image recording medium P by sequentially switching the process units and repeating three times the process of transferring to the image recording medium P after that.

Further, in this embodiment, three process units for yellow, magenta, and cyan are used, but a process unit for forming a black toner image may be mounted. According to this, a brighter black color can be expressed in the formed image.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in the above embodiment, when the toner image is not formed, the control voltage applied to the control electrode 6 is set to −
Although it is set to 30 V, it may be set to the same potential (0 V) or less as the potential of the toner carrying roller 26. When the control voltage is 0V, the structure of the control voltage applying circuit can be simplified.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the aperture electrode body 8 having the apertures 4 formed in a line is used for controlling the toner when the toner images are formed on the intermediate recording media 16 and 44. As described in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 5036341, it is also possible to use an aperture electrode body in which apertures are two-dimensionally formed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 2 according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an aperture electrode body 8 used in the image forming apparatus 2.
It is a perspective view which shows the structure of.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a positional relationship between an aperture electrode body 8 and a toner carrying roller 26.

FIG. 4 is a full-color image forming apparatus 4 according to a second embodiment.
It is explanatory drawing which shows schematic structure of 0.

[Explanation of symbols]

2, 40 ... Image forming apparatus 4 ... Aperture 6 ...
Control electrode 8 ... Aperture electrode body 10 ... Toner supply device 12
Back electrode roller 14, 46 Heat roller 16, 44 Intermediate recording medium
18, 54 ... Pressure roller 20, 52 ... DC power supply 22 ... Control voltage application circuit
24 ... Toner Case 26 ... Toner Bearing Roller 28 ... Supply Roller 30
... Toner layer regulating blade 32 ... Insulating sheets 42Y, 42M, 42C ... Process units 48a, 48b ... Tension rollers 50Y, 50M, 50
C ... Back electrode 56 ... Remover 58 ... Static eliminator

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An aperture electrode body having a plurality of apertures for allowing toner to pass therethrough, and an aperture electrode body having control electrodes on the periphery of an aperture of the aperture, and a toner carrying a charged toner and supplying the toner in the vicinity of the aperture. The voltage applied between the supply means and each of the control electrodes and the toner supply means is controlled according to an image signal input from the outside,
Control electrode driving means for controlling the passage of the toner supplied to the vicinity of the aperture by the toner supply means, and the toner supply means while being disposed on the opposite side of the toner supply means with the aperture interposed therebetween. A backside electrode for applying a predetermined voltage to form a predetermined electric field between the backside electrode and the backside electrode for further flying the toner that has passed through the aperture, and the backside electrode disposed between the backside electrode and the aperture electrode body and passing through the aperture. The toner ejected by the back electrode is adhered and deposited to form a toner image, and the toner image is transferred to the conveyance path of the image recording medium, and an intermediate recording medium is formed on the intermediate recording medium. An image forming apparatus comprising: a transfer unit that transfers a toner image onto the image recording medium, wherein the transfer unit includes the intermediate recording medium and the image recording medium. The transfer means transfers the toner image to the contact means, and the contact means is provided at a position facing each other with the intermediate recording medium sandwiched therebetween, and the heating means heats the intermediate recording medium. And
An image forming apparatus characterized by thermally fixing a transferred toner image. 2. The intermediate recording medium is formed in a belt shape, and is stretched by at least a roller that also serves as a back electrode and a roller that also serves as heating means. Image forming apparatus. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the aperture electrode bodies and a toner supply unit are provided so as to face the intermediate recording medium.