US-20260125233-A1 - IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes a static charge neutralizer that neutralizes a static charge of a recording medium to be conveyed. The static charge neutralizer includes a dielectric, a discharge electrode, and an induction electrode. The discharge electrode and the induction electrode are disposed in the dielectric. In one embodiment, the image forming apparatus further includes a guide member that guides the recording medium, and the guide member contains a metal material.

Inventors

• Toshiaki Tomino

Assignees

• Konica Minolta, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251030

Priority Date

20241105

Claims (11)

1. 1 . An image forming apparatus, comprising a static charge neutralizer that neutralizes a static charge of a recording medium to be conveyed, wherein the static charge neutralizer includes a dielectric, a discharge electrode, and an induction electrode, the discharge electrode and the induction electrode being disposed in the dielectric.
2. 2 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a guide member that guides the recording medium, wherein the guide member contains a metal material.
3. 3 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a distance in a direction perpendicular to a virtual extension surface between a discharge surface of the static charge neutralizer and the virtual extension surface is greater than or equal to 2 mm, the virtual extension surface being an extension of a guide surface of a guide member that guides the recording medium.
4. 4 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a discharge surface of the static charge neutralizer is disposed so as to directly face the recording medium to be conveyed.
5. 5 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising a pair of the static charge neutralizers disposed at positions facing each other with the recording medium to be conveyed passing between the positions.
6. 6 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a charged state detecting means that detects a charged state of the recording medium upstream of the static charge neutralizer.
7. 7 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein static charge neutralization by the static charge neutralizer is switched on or off according to the charged state detected by the charged state detecting means.
8. 8 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the static charge neutralizer is disposed downstream of an image forming unit that forms an image.
9. 9 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the static charge neutralizer is disposed immediately before a loading unit that loads the recording medium.
10. 10 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the static charge neutralizer is disposed in a static charge neutralizing unit that neutralizes the static charge of the recording medium.
11. 11 . An image forming method, using the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 .

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-193656, filed on November 5, 2024, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND Technological Field The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method. Description of Related Art In the related art, there is known, for example, an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method or an electrostatic recording method. It is known that such an image forming apparatus is provided with a static charge neutralizer that neutralizes static electricity generated in a recording medium (e.g., a sheet or the like), on which an image is formed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2023-70377 discloses an image forming apparatus provided with a static charge neutralizer. SUMMARY The static charge neutralizer of the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2023-70377 includes two needle-like electrodes that face each other, and a static charge of a recording medium that passes between the two needle-like electrodes is neutralized by performing corona discharge on the recording medium. However, such a static charge neutralizer includes two needle-like electrodes facing each other, and therefore requires a large installation space. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus including a static charge neutralizer that can be installed in a limited space. In order to achieve at least one of the above-mentioned objects, an image forming apparatus reflecting one aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus including a static charge neutralizer that neutralizes a static charge of a recording medium to be conveyed. The static charge neutralizer includes a dielectric, a discharge electrode, and an induction electrode. The discharge electrode and the induction electrode are disposed in the dielectric. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The advantages and features provided by one or more embodiments of the invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the appended drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention: FIG. 1A is a side view of an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment; FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a static charge neutralizing unit including a static charge neutralizer; FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of the static charge neutralizer; FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of a dielectric in which electrodes are disposed; FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view of the static charge neutralizer; FIG. 3B is a flowchart for detecting a charged state and controlling the activation of the static charge neutralizer; and FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating a relationship between a discharge distance and the charged state. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, one or more embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawing. However, the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The image-formed product according to the embodiment to be described below is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. Overall Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus FIG. 1A is a side view of an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus 100. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the image forming apparatus 100 includes a sheet feed unit 110, an image forming unit 120, non-loading units 130A, 130B, and 130C, loading units 140A and 140B, and static charge neutralizing units 150. In the image forming apparatus 100, a recording medium (e.g., a sheet) fed from the sheet feed unit 110 is conveyed to the image forming unit 120, and an image is formed thereon to form an image-formed product (e.g., a sheet on which an image has been formed). The image-formed product passes through the static charge neutralizing unit 150, a static charge of the image-formed product is neutralized, and the image-formed product is sequentially conveyed to the non-loading units 130A, 130B, and 130C. These non-loading units 130A to 130C perform operations other than loading of the image-formed product as necessary. Specifically, each of the non-loading units 130A to 130C performs the following operations as necessary. The non-loading unit 130A corrects a curl of the image-formed product. The non-loading unit 130B detects the position where the image of the image-formed product has been formed. The non-loading unit 130C has a function of folding the image-formed product. Examples of the folding include various folding methods such as tri-fold, four-fold, and gate-fold. The image-formed product that has passed t