Patent ID: 9606468
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: G03G

Claim:
1. An image forming apparatus comprising: an image carrying member on a surface of which a toner image is formed; a driving device for driving the image carrying member to rotate; a charging member for electrostatically charging the image carrying member; a cleaning member arranged in contact with the surface of the image carrying member for cleaning the surface of the image carrying member; a voltage applying device for applying a charging voltage to the charging member; a braking distance detector for detecting a braking distance of the image carrying member; a storage for storing a predetermined braking distance value Lc which relates to the braking distance of the image carrying member and which is a constant larger than one; and a control portion for checking condition of the surface of the image carrying member based on the braking distance of the image carrying member detected by the braking distance detector, wherein the control portion obtains as Lon the braking distance detected by the braking distance detector when the charging voltage is applied and obtains as Loff the braking distance detected by the braking distance detector when no charging voltage is applied, and let the braking distance observed when no charging voltage is applied at an early stage of use of the image carrying member be represented by Loff(0), then, when relations Loff<Loff(0) and Lc<Loff/Lon hold, the control portion determines that a degree of smoothness of the surface of the image carrying member is equal to or higher than a predetermined degree of smoothness.