Patent ID: 7937035

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a rotatable image carrier; a charging unit that contacts a surface of the image carrier and charges the surface of the image carrier; an exposing unit that exposes the surface of the image carrier and forms a latent image; a developing unit that develops the latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier with a developer; a transfer unit that transfers a developed toner image onto a transfer receiving member; a cleaning unit that is provided with: a plate shaped cleaning member having a free end that faces upward, a corner portion of the free end contacting the surface of the image carrier, the cleaning member cleaning off developer remaining on the surface of the image carrier after transfer by the transfer unit, and a developer pooling member provided between the cleaning member and the transfer unit, that temporarily pools the cleaned off developer at the free end of the cleaning member; and a friction coefficient reducing unit that reduces a friction coefficient at the surface of the image carrier, and that reduces the coefficient of friction during a non-image forming period to less than a coefficient of friction during an image forming period, the friction coefficient reducing unit including a current detector and a controller.