| 摘要 |
<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To determine a deterioration condition of a laser diode even when an image forming apparatus not having a pixel counting function or an LD drive current detecting circuit is used. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes a charger for charging a surface of a photoreceptor, a laser exposure device for exposing and scanning the charged surface of the photoreceptor by polarizing and scanning a laser beam emitted by the laser diode, a developing unit developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor by exposing and scanning by toner, and a control unit 40 for controlling them. The control unit 40 includes a toner bottle replacement counter 41 for counting and storing the number of times that replacement of toner bottles for each color is carried out by detection signals of toner bottle attachment and detachment detection sensors 44Y-44K, and a deterioration condition determination function for determining the deterioration condition of the laser diode in each of the laser exposure devices based on the number of the replacement of the toner bottle stored in the counters Y, C, M and K. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2013,JPO&INPIT |
