In an image forming apparatus, a brush member is formed from a brush made from acrylic resin that has not been subjected to conductivity-enhancing processes. The brush member is attached to a conductive plate. A resistor is provided in series with the conductive plate and a fixed power source. The fixed power source applies a predetermined high voltage to the conductive plate.
An image forming device includes a paper dust removal unit that removes paper dust from a photosensitive member. The paper dust removal unit includes a brush-shaped member affixed to a plate by a two-sided tape. The brush-shaped member is peeled off from the plate so as to re-use the plate and the like of the paper dust removal unit. The tensile strength of the two-sided tape is greater than the shear adhesive strength between the two-sided tape and the plate, so that the two-sided tape is prevented from tearing partway when the brush-shaped member is peeled off.
A direct-current power source is connected, via a diode, to an electrically conductive brush, which makes contact with the surface of a photosensitive drum to remove paper dust deposited thereon. Upon application of a bias voltage by the direct-current power source to the conductive brush, the conductive brush collects paper dust physically as well as electrically. The diode prevents current flow from the conductive brush to the direct-current power source, and thus the paper dust collected by the conductive brush will not return to the photosensitive drum.
An image forming apparatus including a photosensitive member that holds an image formed by a developing agent, a charging device that charges a surface of the photosensitive member, a voltage applying device that applies a voltage to the charging device, a first cleaning element that contacts the surface of the photosensitive member, a second cleaning element that contacts a surface of the first cleaning member, and a first voltage controlling device, connected to the charging device, the first cleaning element and the second cleaning element, that generates a predetermined potential difference between the first cleaning element and the second cleaning element based on the voltage applied to the charging device.
The invention is directed to a paper dust removing device used in an image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus has a latent image member that receives the latent image produced by a charge differential on the surface of the latent image device. A developing agent, or toner, is then applied to the latent image creating a visible image. The toner image is transferred to a paper as it passes between the latent image member and a transferring roller or device and subsequently processed to adhere the toner image to the paper. The apparatus further has a paper dust removing device that removes paper dust from the latent image member. A biasing device applies an electrical bias to the paper dust removing device to produce a potential difference between the latent image member and the paper dust removing device. As the total amount of formed images increases, it is necessary to control the biasing device to vary the bias applied to the paper dust removing device to preclude adhering toner, that remains on the latent image device, to the paper dust removing device.
An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer member that transfers a developer image onto a transfer medium to form an image on the transfer medium; a bias applying unit that applies a transfer bias to the transfer member; and a bias control unit that controls the transfer bias to be applied to the transfer member by the bias applying unit, wherein a longitudinal length of the transfer member is formed to be shorter than a width of the transfer medium having a maximum width on which the image is to be formed with the image forming apparatus.
