A cleaning member that is used in an image forming apparatus and that is inserted from outside the image forming apparatus, the apparatus including a holding body that holds a substrate on which light emitting elements that expose a photosensitive drum are aligned and that holds lenses, the cleaning member including a rod-shaped rhabdoid formed of resin, a cleaning portion provided in the rhabdoid to clean a light emission surface of each lens, the cleaning portion moving together with the rhabdoid inserted in the image forming apparatus and opposing the light emission surface in an optical axis direction of the lens, and a magnet provided on the rhabdoid, the magnet emitting magnetic force that generates force drawing the holding body thereto so that the cleaning portion continues to contact the light emission surface.

An image forming apparatus includes a lubricant application device to apply a lubricant to a photoreceptor surface of the image forming apparatus, and a lubricant residual amount detector to detect a residual amount of the lubricant. The residual amount of the lubricant is compared to a predetermined amount, and a charging device charges the photoreceptor surface by selectively applying a DC voltage of varying voltage to the photoreceptor surface in response to the comparison of the residual amount of the lubricant to the predetermined amount.

An image forming apparatus comprises a plurality of sheet detection units, provided at different positions along a sheet width direction, configured to detect the sheet conveyed on a conveyance path. A controller determines, by using the plurality of sheet detection units, a presence or absence of a sheet being conveyed in each of a plurality of regions sectioned in the sheet width direction, and determines, based on input image data, a presence or absence of an image to be formed in each of the plurality of regions. The controller further determines, based on the above determination results, whether or not the image to be formed on the sheet being conveyed is to be formed with a deviation from the sheet, and controls an image forming operation in accordance with this determination result.

An image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer member that contacts an image bearing member to form a primary transfer portion, contacts a secondary transfer member to form a secondary transfer portion, and contacts a charging member that can receive a voltage from a charging power source, to form a charging portion. A toner image borne on the image bearing member is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer member and secondarily transferred to a transfer material. If toner remains on the intermediate transfer member, the charging member electrically charges the remaining toner. If driving of the intermediate transfer member causes toner to drop onto the intermediate transfer member from the charging member, The timing at which to start image formation is controlled to prevent the dropped toner from moving to a transfer material conveyed to the secondary transfer portion.

A developer set includes a first developer and a second developer. The first developer includes a first toner and a first carrier. The second developer includes a second toner and a second carrier. The second toner is a toner that includes a flaky brilliant pigment, a toner that includes a white pigment, or a transparent toner. The second carrier has a higher volume resistivity than the first carrier and has a larger volume average particle diameter than the first carrier.

A developing apparatus includes an electrostatic latent image bearer, a developing sleeve, a case, and an air filter. The case accommodates a two-component developer and the developing sleeve. The air filter is attached to the case. The air filter has a thickness of 2 to 20 mm and has a density gradient with a pressure loss of 2 to 40 Pa at a wind speed of 10 cm/s. The air filter forms an airflow sucked into the case from a gap between the developing sleeve and the case and forms an airflow discharged from the case through the air filter. The two-component developer accommodated in the case contains a magnetic particle a surface of which is coated with a resin layer. The resin layer contains at least one type of chargeable particle.

An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a transfer material in an image forming mode, includes: a photoreceptor rotatable in a predetermined rotation direction; a developer that forms a toner image on the photoreceptor using a two-component developing agent including toner and a carrier; a transferor that transfers the toner image on the photoreceptor onto the transfer material; a carrier collector that applies an electric field corresponding to a collecting bias to a carrier adhering to the photoreceptor to collect the carrier; a carrier detector that detects a carrier remaining on the photoreceptor after collecting the carrier by the carrier collector; and a hardware processor that sets the collecting bias in the image forming mode on the basis of the amount of carriers detected by the carrier detector when a carrier adhesion detecting mode for forcibly causing a carrier to adhere to the photoreceptor is executed.

A sheet characteristic detection device includes: a detector that is disposed on a sheet ejection path through which a sheet is ejected and that detects an electrical resistance value of the sheet; and a charge neutralizer that is disposed on a downstream side of the detector on the sheet ejection path and that neutralizes electric charge on the sheet.

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a cleaning unit, a development device, and a control unit. The development device includes a toner collection mechanism having a developer carrier and a filter. The control unit is capable of executing a scattered toner recovery mode at non-image forming time, in which the filter is vibrated, a potential difference is generated in the direction for the toner to move from the developer carrier to the image carrier, the developer carrier is rotated in a reverse direction to that at image forming time, and the image carrier is rotated in the same direction as that at the image forming time, so that scattered toner, which has dropped from the filter and adhered to the developer carrier, is recovered by the cleaning unit via the image carrier.

An image forming apparatus includes a development device, and a control unit that controls the development device. The development device includes a toner collection mechanism having a duct, a filter, and an exhaust fan. The duct is connected to a conveyance chamber of the development container and allows air in the conveyance chamber to flow through. The filter is disposed at a connecting part between the duct and the conveyance chamber, and collects toner flowing into the duct from the conveyance chamber. The exhaust fan makes the air in the conveyance chamber flow to the outside via the duct. The control unit changes rotational frequency or operation frequency of the exhaust fan based on current detected by a current detection unit at non-image forming time.