Patent ID: 9280089
Filing Date: 2016-03-08
CPC Classification: G03G

Claim Text:
1. A developer conveying apparatus comprising: a developer housing portion that includes a first housing portion and a second housing portion housing a developer, the developer housing portion forming communicating ports at both end portions in a longitudinal direction of a partition wall partitioning the first housing portion and the second housing portion, the developer being movable between the first housing portion and the second housing portion through the communicating ports; a first spiral feeder rotatably located in the first housing portion, the first spiral feeder conveying the developer housed in the first housing portion in a first direction along the longitudinal direction; a second spiral feeder rotatably located in the second housing portion, the second spiral feeder conveying the developer housed in the second housing portion in a second direction opposite direction from the first direction; a driving unit that rotatably drives the first spiral feeder and the second spiral feeder at an identical rotation speed; an operation control unit that controls a rotary drive operation by the driving unit; and a sensor located at a periphery position of the communicating port in the developer housing portion to measure a toner amount of the developer housed in the developer housing portion; wherein the first spiral feeder and the second spiral feeder each include a hollow spiral member and rib members, the hollow spiral member being spirally formed and internally having a space, the rib members running in the first direction and bridging spiral pieces constituting the spiral member; and the operation control unit: