Image forming apparatus and method of switching collected developer route in image forming apparatus

摘要

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearer; a developing device; a transfer device; a waste-developer container; a developer collecting device including a collected-developer conveyor, a waste channel, a reuse channel, and a channel switching member to switch a route between the waste channel and the reuse channel; a switching determiner to determine whether to dispose or reuse collected developer; an operating condition data collector to collect and store operating condition data used as a degradation speed index of developer in the developing device; a determination type selector to select, according to the degradation speed index, one of a first determination type based on an operating amount and a second determination type based on developer replacement data indicating an amount of developer replaced with supplied developer in the developing device; and a switching controller to control the channel switching member according to determination made by the switching determiner.

主权项

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image bearer to bear a latent image; a developing device to develop the latent image with developer; a transfer device to transfer a developed image from the image bearer onto a recording medium; a waste-developer container to contain developer to be disposed; a developer collecting device to collect developer from the image bearer, the developer collecting device including:
a collected-developer conveyor to transport collected developer collected from the image bearer in the developer collecting device,a waste channel leading to the waste-developer container,a reuse channel through which the collected developer for reuse is transported, anda channel switching member to switch a collected developer route between the waste channel and the reuse channel; a switching determiner to determine whether to dispose or reuse the collected developer; an operating condition data collector to collect and store operating condition data used as a degradation speed index of developer in the developing device; a determination type selector to select, according to the degradation speed index collected by the operating condition data collector, a determination type used in determination of whether to dispose or reuse the collected developer from:
a first determination type based on an operating amount of the image forming apparatus, anda second determination type based on developer replacement data indicating an amount of developer replaced with supplied developer in the developing device; and a switching controller to control the channel switching member according to determination made by the switching determiner, wherein the determination type selector is configured to select the first determination type when the degradation speed index indicates that the degradation speed is equal to or relatively higher than a threshold, and wherein the determination type selector is configured to select the second determination type when the degradation speed index indicates that the degradation speed is relatively lower than the threshold.