| 主权项 |
1. An image forming apparatus including an endless intermediate transfer belt that circulates and a plurality of image forming units arranged along the intermediate transfer belt, the image forming units each including an image bearing member, a development section that develops an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the image bearing member, a primary transfer section that transfers an image to the intermediate transfer belt, and a cleaning section that cleans the surface of the image bearing member, image forming units forming respective images in different colors on a surface of the intermediate transfer belt in a superimposed manner, the image forming apparatus comprising:
a plurality of static eliminating sections each provided in a corresponding one of the image forming units and each configured to output first static eliminating light and second static eliminating light from between the primary transfer section and the cleaning section, the first static eliminating light traveling upstream in terms of a circulation direction of the intermediate transfer belt, the second static eliminating light traveling downstream in terms of the circulation direction of the intermediate transfer belt; a mode switching section that selectively switches a state of the image forming units among a plurality of modes including a first mode and a second mode, the first mode being a state in which all of the image forming units are operated, the second mode being a state in which only a portion of the image forming units is operated, the portion of the image forming units being at least one first image forming unit located on a downstream side in terms of the circulation direction of the intermediate transfer belt among the image forming units; and a static elimination exposure switching section that in a second image forming unit located upstream next to the first image forming unit in terms of the circulation direction of the intermediate transfer belt among the image forming units,
causes the image bearing member of the second image forming unit to be irradiated with the first static eliminating light and causes the image bearing member of the first image forming unit to be irradiated with the second static eliminating light while the first mode is selected, andcauses the image bearing member of the second image forming unit not to be irradiated with the first static eliminating light and causes the image bearing member of the first image forming unit to be irradiated with the second static eliminating light while the second mode is selected, wherein each of the static eliminating sections includes:
a first static eliminating light source that outputs the first static eliminating light; anda second static eliminating light source that outputs the second static eliminating light, and the static elimination exposure switching section causes the first static eliminating light source of the first image forming unit and the first and second static eliminating light sources of all of the other of the image forming units to be turned on while the first mode is selected, and causes the first static eliminating light source of the first image forming unit and the second static eliminating light source of the second image forming unit to be turned on and causes the first and second static eliminating light sources of all of the other of the image forming units except the first and second image forming units to be turned off while the second mode is selected. |
