Patent ID: 7783210

Claim:
A cleaning apparatus for a moving photoreceptor surface, comprising: a cleaning unit with a blade holder that rotates about a pivot point; a first cleaning blade that is coupled to the blade holder and is positioned at an acute angle adjacent to photoreceptor surface to chisel excess toner from the photoreceptor surface, and which cleans excess toner from the photoreceptor surface; at least one replacement cleaning blade coupled to the blade holder; a sensor that senses a blade-switching condition and triggers a cleaning blade replacement; and an actuator that rotates the blade holder about the pivot point to remove the first blade from contact with the photoreceptor surface and positions the at least one replacement blade adjacent to the photoreceptor surface upon detection of a switching condition; wherein the sensor comprises at least one counter that counts at least one of photoreceptor cycles or prints, a force transducer that measures friction force on the first cleaning blade, and wherein the cleaning blade replacement is triggered as a function of the friction force on the blade and the number of photoreceptor cycles or prints.