Patent ID: 7831176
Filing Date: 2010-11-09
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a rotatable photosensitive member; a charging device for charging said photosensitive member; an exposure device for exposing said photosensitive member charged by said charging device with light to form an electrostatic image; a developing device for developing, into a toner image, the electrostatic image formed by said exposure device on said photosensitive member with a developer including toner and polishing particles, wherein the polishing particles have a polarity opposite a regular charging polarity of the toner; a transferring device for transferring the toner image, developed by said developing device, from said photosensitive member onto an image receiving member; an auxiliary charging member provided downstream of said transferring device and upstream of said charging device with respect to a rotational movement of said photosensitive member; a voltage applying device for charging toner remaining on said photosensitive member after the transfer of the toner image onto the image receiving member by said transferring device, and for applying, to said auxiliary charging member, a bias voltage effective to collect the polishing particles, which are charged to the polarity opposite the regular charging polarity of the toner, deposited on said photosensitive member; and a controller for controlling, on the basis of an image ratio, execution of a mode an operation in which said voltage applying device applies, to said auxiliary charging member, a bias voltage which is different from that during a image forming operation and which is effective to discharge, to said photosensitive member, polishing particles collected by said auxiliary charging member during non-image-formation.