Patent ID: 7308222

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image carrier configured to form a latent image; a developing unit comprising a developer carrier configured to carry toner, and a toner conveying member arranged between the image carrier and the developer carrier, comprising a plurality of electrodes arranged at predetermined intervals, the toner conveying member configured to receive and convey the toner carried by the developer carrier to a region at which the toner conveying member faces the image carrier as a result of a conveying electric field generated by a plurality of electrodes with an application of multi-phased voltages; a first potential application mechanism configured to apply a first voltage to the developer carrier; and a second potential application mechanism configured to apply a second voltage to the toner conveying member such that a first electric field defined as a ratio of a first potential difference between the toner conveying member and the developer carrier to a distance between the toner conveying member and the developer carrier is less than a second electric field defined as a ratio of the second voltage of the second potential application mechanism to a space between two adjacent electrodes of the plurality of electrodes.