Patent ID: 6400915
Filing Date: 2002-06-04
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
A wet electrophotographic apparatus forming an image on a recording medium, comprising:an electrophotographic photoconductor having an image holding surface; a latent image forming unit configured to form an electrostatic latent image on the image holding surface; a developing unit configured to form a developer image on the image holding surface having the latent image formed thereon by using a liquid developer containing a carrier solvent and a toner dispersed in the carrier solvent, the developing unit comprising a reservoir configured to reserve the liquid developer, a container connected to the reservoir and configured to be supplied with the liquid developer from the reservoir, and a developer feeding surface arranged to be in contact with the liquid developer in the container and configured to move near the image holding surface with the liquid developer interposed therebetween so as to supply the liquid developer in the container onto the image holding surface; a transfer unit comprising an intermediate transferring member adjacent to the image holding surface of the electrophotographic photoconductor and configured to transfer the developer image from the image holding surface onto the recording medium, and a heater configured to heat a surface of the intermediate transferring member to a temperature higher than the softening temperature of the toner; a first temperature measuring device configured to measure a temperature of the image holding surface; a cooler configured to cool the liquid developer in the reservoir; and a controller connected to the first temperature measuring device and to the cooler and configured to compare a first temperature measured by the first temperature measuring device with a first set value which is equal to or lower than a softening temperature of the toner and control an operation of the cooler to lower the first temperature in a case where the first temperature is equal to or higher than the first set value.