Patent ID: 8172377

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a transporter for transporting a sheet; an image forming section for forming an image on the sheet being transported by the transporter with an ink; a liquid absorbent member; a cleaning liquid feeding section for feeding a cleaning liquid to the transporter via the liquid absorbent member to clean the transporter adhered with ink residues; a cleaning liquid feeding controlling section for controlling the cleaning liquid feeding section to perform the cleaning liquid feeding operation, based on an allowable amount of water vapor to be evaporated in ambient air in an interior of the image forming apparatus a temperature detecting section for detecting an ambient temperature in an interior of the image forming apparatus; and a humidity detecting section for detecting an ambient humidity in the interior of the image forming apparatus, wherein the cleaning liquid feeding controlling section retrieves an amount of saturated water vapor per unit volume relative to an ambient air in the interior of the image forming apparatus, and an amount of water vapor per unit volume actually contained in the ambient air in the interior of the image forming apparatus, based on the ambient temperature detected by the temperature detecting section and the ambient humidity detected by the humidity detecting section, and controls the cleaning liquid feeding section to perform the cleaning liquid feeding operation depending on a difference between the retrieved actual water vapor amount and the retrieved saturated water vapor amount.