US 12,416,894 B2
Image forming apparatus
Yutaka Goto, Kanagawa (JP); Seiichi Kogure, Kanagawa (JP); Hiroshi Kikuchi, Kanagawa (JP); Hirotaka Hatta, Kanagawa (JP); Hideki Kimura, Kanagawa (JP); Yusuke Ishizuka, Kanagawa (JP); Takuya Akiyama, Kanagawa (JP); and Yuuki Aoki, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo (JP)
Filed by Yutaka Goto, Kanagawa (JP); Seiichi Kogure, Kanagawa (JP); Hiroshi Kikuchi, Kanagawa (JP); Hirotaka Hatta, Kanagawa (JP); Hideki Kimura, Kanagawa (JP); Yusuke Ishizuka, Kanagawa (JP); Takuya Akiyama, Kanagawa (JP); and Yuuki Aoki, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Dec. 29, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/400,097.
Claims priority of application No. 2023-011838 (JP), filed on Jan. 30, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2024/0255890 A1, Aug. 1, 2024
Int. Cl. G03G 21/00 (2006.01); G03G 15/16 (2006.01)
CPC G03G 21/0047 (2013.01) [G03G 15/161 (2013.01); G03G 21/0076 (2013.01); G03G 2221/001 (2013.01); G03G 2221/1627 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a toner image bearer configured to bear a toner image formed by an image forming operation;
a transfer device configured to perform a transfer process to transfer the toner image from the toner image bearer to a sheet;
multiple cleaners contacting the toner image bearer and having different resistance values with each other, the multiple cleaners including at least
a first cleaner having a first resistance, and
a second cleaner having a second resistance greater than the first resistance,
wherein the multiple cleaners are configured to
remove transfer residual toner on the toner image bearer that is subject to the transfer process, and
remove untransferred toner on the toner image bearer that is not subject to the transfer process;
multiple bias power sources configured to apply one of a first bias or a second bias to the multiple cleaners, respectively, the second bias being larger than the first bias, the multiple bias power sources including
a first bias power source configured to apply the first bias to the first cleaner, and
a second bias power source configured to apply the first bias to the second cleaner; and
circuitry configured to
control the first bias power source to output the first bias to the first cleaner in response to a start of the image forming operation to remove the untransferred toner from the toner image bearer, and
control the first bias power source to switch an output from the first bias to a third bias, different from the first bias, to remove the transfer residual toner from the toner image bearer.