An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier; a charging section that charges a surface of the image carrier; an electrostatic charge image forming section that forms an electrostatic charge image on the charged surface of the image carrier; a developing section that has a container containing an electrostatic charge image developer and develops the electrostatic charge image formed on the surface of the image carrier into a toner image using the electrostatic charge image developer, the electrostatic charge image developer including toner for electrostatic charge image development, the toner containing toner particles and an external additive; a transfer section that transfers the toner image formed on the surface of the image carrier to a surface of a recording medium; a cleaning section that has a cleaning blade with which the cleaning section cleans the surface of the image carrier; and a lubricant supplying section that has a lubricant supplying member that supplies a lubricant to the contact portion between the cleaning blade and the image carrier. The toner satisfies the following relations: (ln (T1)ln (T2))/(T1T2)0.14; (ln (T2)ln (T3))/(T2T3)20.15; and (ln (T1)ln (T2))/(T1T2)<(ln (T2)ln (T3))/(T2T3), where (T1) represents a viscosity of the toner at 60 C., (T2) represents a viscosity of the toner at 90 C., and (T3) represents a viscosity of the toner at 130 C.

An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member, a developing member, a transfer member, and a brush contacting a surface of the image bearing member in a contact portion downstream of a transfer portion and upstream of a developing portion with respect to a rotational direction of the image bearing member. The toner which is not transferred onto a toner image receiving member is collected by the developing member. In a charging series, the toner is positioned on the same side as a normal charge polarity of the toner relative to the brush. In the contact portion, a maximum value of a contact pressure of 0.7 gf/mm.sup.2 or more and 3.5 gf/mm.sup.2 or less, a maximum contact area ratio is 18% or more and 74% or less, and a Clark-Evans index of the brush is 1 or more.

An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable cylindrical component to be cleaned, and a bar brush having a base substrate and bristles. The base substrate of the bar brush is located at a fixed position relative to the component to be cleaned. The bristles extend from the base substrate to contact the component to be cleaned. The bristles have free ends that form a tip end surface of the bar brush. The tip end surface has a curved shape that conforms with a surface of the component, when the bristles are not in contact with the surface to be cleaned.

An image forming apparatus includes a cleaning unit removing toner remaining on an image bearing member after a toner image is transferred to an intermediate transfer member; a first storage unit which collects removed toner; a conveying unit which is driven by transmission of rotation of the image bearing member to convey toner in the first storage unit to a second storage unit; and a control unit which performs conveyance control, by driving the image bearing member to rotate during a non-image forming period, in which the conveying unit is caused to convey toner from the first storage unit to the second storage unit, wherein when an amount of toner in the first storage unit is equal to or larger than a threshold during an image forming period, the control unit executes the conveyance control during the non-image forming period to reduce the toner in the first storage unit.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a charging unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, a residual developer collecting container, a developer feeding unit, a driving unit configured to drive the developer feeding unit and at least one of the image bearing member, the developing unit and the transfer unit, and a control unit configured to change a driving speed of the driving unit depending on a storing amount of the residual developer in the collecting container in a period from an end of formation of an image on a first recording material to a start of formation of the image on a second recording material subsequent to the first recording material.

An image forming apparatus includes a conveyance section, an image forming section, a fixing section, a sheet output tray, a toner container, a suitable product determining section, and a control section. The suitable product determining section determines whether the toner container loaded in an apparatus body is a suitable product. When the suitable product determining section determines that the toner container is not a suitable product, the control section allows the conveyance section, the image forming section, and the fixing section to form, on a sheet, a solid image having a circumferential length of one of rotating bodies of the fixing section or longer, and allows the sheet on which the solid image is formed to pass through a fixing nip, to thereby periodically allow a cleaning operation of removing a contamination adhering to surfaces of rotating bodies of the fixing section to be performed.

An image forming apparatus includes a cleaning unit removing toner remaining on an image bearing member after a toner image is transferred to an intermediate transfer member; a first storage unit which collects removed toner; a conveying unit which is driven by transmission of rotation of the image bearing member to convey toner in the first storage unit to a second storage unit; and a control unit which performs conveyance control, by driving the image bearing member to rotate during a non-image forming period, in which the conveying unit is caused to convey toner from the first storage unit to the second storage unit, wherein when an amount of toner in the first storage unit is equal to or larger than a threshold during an image forming period, the control unit executes the conveyance control during the non-image forming period to reduce the toner in the first storage unit.

An image forming apparatus includes a toner image bearer, a transfer device, a cleaner, a bias power source, and circuitry. The toner image bearer bears a toner image. The transfer device performs a transfer process The cleaner contacts the toner image bearer to remove transfer residual toner that is subject to the transfer process and remove untransferred toner that is not subject to the transfer process. The bias power source applies one of a first bias and a second bias different from the first bias to the cleaner. The circuitry controls the bias power source to output the first bias to the cleaner in response to a start of an image forming operation to remove the untransferred toner from the toner image bearer and control the bias power source to switch an output from the first bias to the second bias.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a charging unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, a residual developer collecting container, a developer feeding unit, a driving unit configured to drive the developer feeding unit and at least one of the image bearing member, the developing unit and the transfer unit, and a control unit configured to change a driving speed of the driving unit depending on a storing amount of the residual developer in the collecting container in a period from an end of formation of an image on a first recording material to a start of formation of the image on a second recording material subsequent to the first recording material.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a charging unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, a residual developer collecting container, a developer feeding unit, a driving unit configured to drive the developer feeding unit and at least one of the image bearing member, the developing unit and the transfer unit, and a control unit configured to change a driving speed of the driving unit depending on a storing amount of the residual developer in the collecting container in a period from an end of formation of an image on a first recording material to a start of formation of the image on a second recording material subsequent to the first recording material.