JP3187342B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method, such as an electrophotographic apparatus or an electrostatic recording apparatus, and more particularly, to a process of developing a transfer residual toner on a photosensitive drum as an image carrier. In an image forming apparatus using a cleaner-less system, when the image forming apparatus malfunctions such as a jam during an image forming operation, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum is efficiently collected into a developing device. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of performing such operations.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method includes:
In addition to copying machines, there are page printers such as laser beam printers and plain paper facsimile machines using these printers. These image forming apparatuses have been rapidly spread in recent years, but recently, the apparatuses have been reduced in size and cost, and furthermore,
From the viewpoint of environmental protection, a cleaner-less type image forming apparatus in which a cleaning apparatus conventionally used as one of the element technologies of the electrophotographic method is abolished has been widely used.

[0003] In these cleanerless image forming apparatuses, the developing device performs an original developing process, and also performs a cleaning process of the transfer residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum. Conventionally, an image during the previous image forming step is generated as an image memory during the next image forming step due to an improvement in the cleaning effect of the developing device and due to exposure inhibition during the next image forming step due to transfer residual toner. In order to prevent image defects and the like, a member such as a conductive brush or a conductive roller is arranged in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum after transfer. For example, as disclosed in JP-A-5-2289, 5-313431, and the like, a conductive brush is in contact between transfer and primary charging. FIG. 7 shows a specific configuration of these conventional examples.

In FIG. 7, a photosensitive drum 100 rotating in the direction of an arrow X, a charger 101 for charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 100 to a constant potential, and an exposure of the charged surface of the photosensitive drum 100 are performed. An exposure device 102 for writing image information as an electrostatic latent image, and a developing device 103 for supplying toner to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image (visible image)
A transfer charger 104 for transferring a toner image to a transfer material;
As one of the memory removing members, a charge removing lamp 105 that removes electricity by exposing the surface of the photosensitive drum 100 to which transfer has been completed, and remains on the photosensitive drum 100 without transfer as one of the memory removing members. A conductive brush for disturbing and dispersing the toner image; The developing device 1
At 03, a cleaning step of collecting the toner dispersed on the photosensitive drum 100 by the conductive brush 106 is performed in parallel with the original developing step.

Here, the conductive brush 106 can be set to a positive voltage or ground by a switch 107, and the transfer charger 104 can be set to a positive voltage or ground by a switch 108.
The switches 107 and 108 are connected to the I / O port 10
9 is connected to the CPU 110 via the ROM 11
1 is operated by the CPU 110 according to the program stored in.

In the conventional example, when a necessary time is reached, the CPU 110 operates a switch 108 to apply a predetermined positive voltage to the transfer charger 104, and
The surface is charged to a positive polarity, and at the same time, the switch 107 is operated to ground the conductive brush 106 and the conductive brush 106
Is discharged onto the photosensitive drum 100.

[0007]

The above-mentioned conventional structure is effective in terms of reliably recovering the transfer residual toner temporarily with a conductive brush, but is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-254899. As described above, the conductive brush 106 is unnecessary during a normal image forming operation. In particular, when a spherical toner produced by a polymerization method which has been commercialized in recent years is used, the transfer efficiency is remarkably improved as compared with the conventional pulverized toner, and the transfer residual toner is almost eliminated. In other words, under such circumstances, the conductive brush 106 and the static elimination lamp 1 shown in the conventional device are used.
Systems such as 05 only increase costs.

[0008] However, the transfer efficiency varies with the environment,
High transfer efficiency cannot always be maintained. In particular, in a contact transfer system, the environment of transfer efficiency fluctuates remarkably, and it is difficult to achieve high transfer efficiency at substantially the same voltage value in substantially all environments.

The bias control for the contact transfer means includes a constant current control and a constant voltage control. However, the both voltage control methods cannot maintain high transfer efficiency in the contact transfer system.
It is as already shown in JP-A-2-123385. In other words, the conventional configuration is effective in practice, and as a result,
In some cases, a separate member is required in place of the cleaner that attempts to use the cleanerless system.

Further, if an operation failure occurs during the image forming operation and a paper jam (so-called jam) occurs, the image forming apparatus is disclosed in
As shown in JP-A-2289, the conventional configuration was considered essential.

However, as disclosed in JP-A-8-254899, these conductive brushes 10
6. The cost of the system such as the static elimination lamp 105 increases, and the effects of reducing the cost and size of the cleanerless system are negated. In other words, when these conventional systems are used, an excellent effect (an effect of not generating waste toner) is exerted in the environment, but the advantages of the cleanerless system hardly occur in other aspects.

On the other hand, regarding the effect of the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-254899, the structure of the invention is, as disclosed in the invention, non-contact primary charging and transfer charging. (It is the same as the conventional configuration shown in FIG. 7), that is, it is established in a system using a corona charger, but is not established in a system of contact charging and contact transfer that has been spreading in recent years.

The reason is that the charging member and the transfer member are arranged in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum.
This is because the transfer member and the charging member are stained with the toner before performing the exposure operation disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 899.
In particular, if the charging member is soiled with toner, a uniform charging potential cannot be obtained, and toner smear on the photosensitive drum significantly increases.

As described above, in the prior art, it is impossible to construct the cleanerless system so as to bring out the original merits, and it is possible to reduce the size and cost of the image forming apparatus, and furthermore, to reduce environmental problems. Can not be effectively dealt with. In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to solve these problems of the conventional technology and to provide a cleaner-less device that is compatible with a contact charging and contact transfer system without providing a cleaning auxiliary member such as a conductive brush 106 or the like. And

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, there is provided an image carrier, and a charging device for contacting and contacting the image carrier to uniformly charge the surface of the image carrier to a predetermined potential. a member, an exposure means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the image bearing member surface by light irradiation, an electrostatic latent image formed on the image bearing member surface was visualized by toner, forming a toner image
In both cases, the residual toner after transfer is electrostatically removed from the image carrier.
That a developing unit, said image bearing member with a peripheral speed difference contact abuts, the voltage applied and the transfer member for transferring a transfer material the toner image, the charging member, a predetermined voltage to the developing means and the transfer means and applying means, and control means for controlling said voltage applying means, the toner image on the transfer material image forming apparatus having a fixing means for thermally fixing, wherein, after the jam
A plurality of jam recovery sequences for controlling the voltage application unit, and transferring the residual toner to the transfer material based on an output from the state detection unit for detecting a state of the image forming process.
The image carrier by the sequence of
The residual toner on the surface is triboelectrically charged and collected by the developing unit
And selecting a sequence .

[0016] The developing means includes at least a toner carrying member having a resilient contacting abutment with the image bearing member, the toner carrying member is preferably a predetermined voltage is applied by the pre-Symbol voltage applying means.

The state detecting means may be a transfer material detecting sensor or a temperature detecting sensor.

In one of the plurality of jam recovery sequences, when the contact area between the image carrier and the transfer member is a non-image forming area, the transfer member is controlled by a constant current or a constant voltage. Detect the resulting voltage or current value,
At a value determined based on the voltage value or the current value, when the contact area between the image carrier and the transfer member is an image forming area,
The transcription member is for constant voltage control.

Preferably, the relationship between the peripheral speed Va of the image carrier and the peripheral speed Vb of the transfer member is Vb ≧ Va.

According to the above means, during the normal operation, the transfer means can always be controlled with the optimum transfer bias by the normal sequence, and as a result, high transfer efficiency can be obtained. In this case, it is possible to perform the recovery operation of the image forming apparatus according to the above, so that means such as the above-described conductive brush, a memory removing member such as a static elimination lamp, and the like, which are conventionally required, become unnecessary. Quality and stability can be ensured, and the above objectives can be achieved.

[0021]

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a photosensitive drum as an image carrier. In the first embodiment, a negatively charged OPC drum is used as an example. Reference numeral 2 denotes a charging roller which comes into contact with and contacts the OPC drum 1 to uniformly charge the OPC drum surface to a predetermined potential. Here, the surface of the OPC drum 1 is charged to a negative potential. Reference numeral 7 denotes an optical signal of image information by an optical unit (not shown), which irradiates a uniformly charged surface of the photosensitive drum 1 with light in synchronization with the image signal to form an electrostatic latent image.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a developing roller which is brought into contact with and in contact with the photosensitive drum 1 to visualize the electrostatic latent image with toner.
The component toner is adjusted and carried so as to have a predetermined amount and a predetermined charge amount. 4 has a volume resistivity of 10 ⁸ to
It is a semi-conductive transfer roller of about 10 ¹⁰ Ωcm.
A contact is made to the C drum 1 with a peripheral speed difference, a voltage is applied to the back surface of the transferred transfer material P between the OPC drum 1 and the developing roller 4, and the toner image on the OPC drum 1 is transferred by electrostatic force. Transfer to the surface of paper P. The transfer roller 4
It rotates about 3% faster than the photosensitive drum 1.

Here, the OPC drum 1, the charging roller 2,
The developing roller 3 and the transfer roller 4 are, as shown in FIG.
It rotates in the directions of arrows a, b, c, d. Further, in FIG.
Is a high-voltage power supply that applies a predetermined voltage value to the charging roller 2, the developing roller 3, and the transfer roller 4. Reference numeral 6 denotes a controller, which controls the high voltage power supply 5 to apply a predetermined voltage value to the charging roller 2, the developing roller 3, and the transfer roller 4 at a predetermined timing.

Here, the controller 6 comprises a CPU and
It comprises a control unit 6a having a counter for counting the operation timing of the image forming apparatus and a ROM unit for storing the application sequence of each voltage value. The ROM unit includes a ROM 6b for storing the voltage application sequence 1 during normal operation, ROM 6c for storing two types of voltage application sequence 2 and voltage application sequence 3 when the main unit recovers after a failure has occurred
And ROM 6d.

Numeral 8 denotes a state detecting means for detecting the state of the image forming apparatus.
And a paper detection sensor 8b for detecting the presence or absence of a transfer material at a predetermined timing in a conveyance path in the image forming apparatus.
Consists of

Next, the voltage application sequences 1, 2, and 3 stored in the ROMs 1, 2, and 3 will be described.

Description of Voltage Application Sequence 1 The voltage application sequence 1 is executed when the image forming apparatus is operating normally, and includes the charging roller 2, the developing roller 3,
This is a sequence of voltage application to the transfer roller 4. The voltage application sequence will be described with reference to FIGS. The start-up of the image forming apparatus up to the normal standby state is the same as in the related art, and a description thereof will be omitted.

When a print signal is input while the image forming apparatus is in the standby state, the control section 6a resets a built-in counter and turns on the main motor. Next, the controller 6a applies a negative voltage to the charging roller 2 and the transfer roller 4. When the counter reaches t1, the control unit 6
a applies a negative voltage to the developing roller 3;
When the counter reaches t2, the control unit 6a terminates the application of the negative voltage to the transfer roller 4, and the control unit 6a performs ATVC control on the transfer roller 4 disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-123385. .

According to the ATVC control, the transfer roller 4 can always be controlled at the optimum transfer voltage under all environments, so that the transfer efficiency can be maintained at the highest efficiency under all environments. If this is changed to the ATVC control and the constant current control is performed, as shown in JP-A-2-123385, the transfer electric field in the image area decreases when the small-size paper passes, and the transfer efficiency decreases. I do.

On the other hand, in the constant voltage control, since the resistance value of the transfer roller 4 varies due to the environment, this is also disclosed in
As shown in 3385 and the like, the transfer efficiency decreases in a low humidity environment. That is, in a cleanerless image forming apparatus, high transfer efficiency is always required,
There is a limit in the conventional transfer control.

On the other hand, the ATVC control can always maintain high transfer efficiency, and is therefore most suitable for a cleanerless image forming apparatus. If the image forming operation is completed and a print signal is not subsequently input, the image forming apparatus returns to the standby state. Here, the time t1 is a moving time of the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 between the charging roller 2 and the developing roller 3, and the time t2 is a time between the charging roller 2 and the transfer roller 4.
The moving time of the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 during the movement.

Next, a description will be given of a sequence at the time of a recovery operation of the main unit when an operation failure occurs during an image forming operation, which is a feature of the present invention. In the present invention,
The controller 6 determines whether an error has occurred in the main unit based on an output from the state detecting means 8 or the like. In the first embodiment, when the output from the paper detection sensor 8b corresponds to a delay jam, or when the power is suddenly cut off, the controller 6 determines that there is an error and causes the main unit to malfunction. Keep in state.

After the user recognizes that the main unit is in a malfunction state, the user attempts to recover the main unit. At this time, the recovery is performed according to the output of each state detecting means. Perform a sequence of operations. As described above, there are two types of the sequence, and two types of the sequence are properly used depending on the output result of the state detection unit 8.

The voltage application sequence 2 stored in the ROM 6C indicates that the temperature detecting means 8a has detected a predetermined temperature or higher when the main unit has malfunctioned.
And when the paper detection sensor 8b is ON, that is,
When the main unit has malfunctioned due to a factor other than the delay jam such as a paper jam (for example, when the main unit is turned off due to a sudden factor such as a power failure), the main unit is started at the time of recovery. The voltage application sequence 3 stored in the ROM 6d corresponds to the case where the output of the paper detection sensor 8b is OFF regardless of the output result of the temperature detection sensor 8a. This is a voltage application sequence started at the time of the main body device recovery operation when an operation failure occurs due to a delay jam factor such as the above. Hereinafter, the voltage application sequences 2 and 3 will be described.

In FIG. 4, if the controller 6 detects an error while the main unit is operating, the controller 6
Confirms the output of the paper detection sensor 8b. If the output of the paper detection sensor 8b is OFF and the controller 6 determines an error due to a delay jam, the controller 6
Keeps the main unit in a state in which the voltage application sequence 3 can be executed and puts the device in an operation failure state.

If the output of the paper detection sensor 8b is ON and the controller 6 determines an error due to a factor other than the delay jam, the controller 6 turns on
Check the output of the temperature detecting means 8a. Here, when the output of the temperature detecting means 8a is equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature t1, the controller 6 puts the main unit into a malfunction state and immediately proceeds to FIG.
The voltage application sequence 2 shown in (1) is executed to recover the main unit. On the other hand, when the output of the temperature detecting means is equal to or lower than the predetermined temperature t1, the controller 6 sets the voltage application sequence 3 to an executable state and sets the main unit to an operation failure state.

The execution of the voltage application sequence 2 will be described. The controller 6 executes the voltage application sequence 2 based on the sequence shown in FIG. When the power is turned on again, the controller 6 starts the recovery operation of the main unit.

The controller 6 starts up the fixing device,
When the temperature detecting means 8a detects the fixing possible temperature, the controller 6 starts driving the main motor and starts re-transporting the transfer material staying in the main body. At the same time, the controller 6 turns on the transfer voltage and transfers the residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 onto the transfer material.

Here, the residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 sufficiently retains the charged electric charge unless a long time has passed since the occurrence of the error. I do. In the present invention, the lapse of time from the occurrence of the error is determined based on the output of the temperature detecting means of the fixing means.

When an error occurs, the heat source of the fixing device is stopped, so that the output of the temperature detecting means 8a gradually decreases with time. If the output of the temperature detecting means 8a is equal to or more than the predetermined value t1, the main unit can judge that the elapsed time from the occurrence of the error is short, and it is considered that the charge amount of the residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is sufficiently held. Can be Therefore, it is necessary to select an optimum value of t1 suitable for each image forming apparatus. For example, a so-called pre-multi-rotation start temperature or a standby temperature can be selected. As described above, in the recovery operation immediately after the occurrence of the error, the residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 can be easily removed. Here, when the controller 6 again determines an error during the execution of the voltage application sequence 2, the controller 6 makes the voltage application sequence 3 executable, and keeps the main unit in an operation failure state.

Next, a case where the controller 6 executes the voltage application sequence 3 will be described. Conventionally, when the main body device malfunctions, the photosensitive drum 1
The residual toner on the surface is removed by a cleaning means, and there is no removing means except for removal.Even in an image forming apparatus called a cleanerless type, a cleaning means such as a memory removing means and a cleaning roller is required. explained. In the present invention, as described above, immediately after the occurrence of an error, the residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 can be removed without any problem. Removal of residual toner from the surface becomes possible. The reason is shown below.

When a long time has passed since the occurrence of the error, the residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 no longer holds the charged charge, and it is impossible to remove the toner by electrostatically transferring it to the surface of the transfer material in the transfer process. It is. Therefore, in the present invention, when a long time has elapsed after the occurrence of an error,
Assuming that the staying transfer material in the apparatus is removed, residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is removed by the following principle.

After the user removes the staying transfer material, the photosensitive drum 1, the charging roller 2, the developing roller 3, the transfer roller 4 and the like are rotationally driven to remove residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 with the photosensitive drum 1. By rubbing between the transfer roller 4 and
The toner is frictionally charged, and the remaining toner is again charged with a charge. At the same time, a negative voltage having the same polarity as the charge polarity of the residual toner is applied to the transfer roller 4.

In the region where the residual toner exists on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, the photosensitive potential is attenuated and is almost 0 V. Therefore, the charged residual toner is re-developed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 in a charged state. . That is, by passing through the contact nip region between the transfer roller 4 and the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, a regular charge amount is given to the residual toner.

Thereafter, if a negative voltage is applied to the charging roller 2, the charging roller 2 is not contaminated with residual toner, and the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is recharged to a normal potential by the charging roller 2. By applying a developing bias (minus voltage) to the developing roller 3, the residual toner can be efficiently collected by the developing roller 3. In the first embodiment, the above contents are executed by the voltage application sequence 3 shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, after the user removes the staying transfer material in the main body device, the power is input again,
The controller 6 starts the recovery operation based on the voltage application sequence 3. After turning on the power, the controller 6 resets the counter and turns on the main motor.
At the same time, a negative voltage is applied to the transfer roller 4 and the charging roller 2
Then, a negative voltage for obtaining a predetermined charging potential is applied to the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, and the fixing device is started up.

After the counter has counted for a predetermined time, specifically, after the movement time between the charging roller and the developing roller on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 has elapsed, the voltage of the developing roller 3 is turned on. A predetermined developing voltage is applied to the developing roller 3.
The controller 6 holds the above state until the counter counts the predetermined time a. When the counter counts the time a, the controller 6 first turns off the negative voltage applied to the transfer roller 4. Here, the time a may be at least the time during which the photosensitive drum 1 moves between the transfer roller and the charging roller.

Thereafter, the controller 6 includes a charging roller,
Turn off the voltage applied to the developing roller almost simultaneously
Then, the driving of the main motor is stopped. After that, the controller 6 starts up the fixing device until the temperature detecting means 8a detects the standby temperature. When the temperature detecting means 8a detects the standby temperature, the controller 6 puts the main unit into a standby state and ends the recovery operation.

As described above, according to this embodiment, even in the image forming apparatus of the cleanerless type, the state detecting means such as the temperature detecting means and the paper detecting sensor of the main apparatus always puts the main apparatus in place. It is possible to select the voltage application sequence of the charging roller, developing roller, and transfer roller suitable for the situation, and in any case, it is possible to efficiently remove the toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum, thereby causing contamination of the charging roller and the like. Do not let. That is, the cleaner-less system can be realized with the simplest configuration by eliminating the need for a member such as a memory removing unit, which has been conventionally required, and the object of the present invention can be achieved.

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the second embodiment, in order to increase the amount of triboelectric charging of the toner due to the rubbing between the photosensitive drum 1 and the transfer roller 4 described in the first embodiment, the surface of the transfer roller 4 is charged with the charge polarity of the toner. A toner charge applying layer having a reverse polarity was provided.
The toner charge providing layer was prepared by dispersing and mixing an appropriate amount of conductive particles such as carbon or metal oxide in a polyamide resin, and adjusting the volume resistivity to a semiconductive region of about 10 ⁹ Ω.

That is, the transfer roller according to the second embodiment has the characteristics of the developing roller in addition to the function as the transfer roller. Here, in addition to the polyamide resin, a silicone resin,
A urethane resin or the like can be used. This allows
During the execution of the voltage application sequence 3, the frictional charging property of the uncharged toner in the corresponding contact area is improved, and the charge amount of the toner is increased. As a result, compared to the first embodiment, toner adhesion to the charging roller was further reduced, and at the same time, the toner collecting property of the developing roller was further increased.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the image forming apparatus of the cleanerless system can always be controlled by the optimal voltage application sequence, it is possible to maintain high transfer efficiency in the normal state of the image forming process.
In addition, even if a malfunction such as a so-called jam occurs, the toner remaining on the surface of the image carrier can be recovered to the developing unit without using a memory removing member such as a conductive brush and a static elimination lamp, which were conventionally required. In addition, the image quality in the image formation after the operation recovery can be favorably performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of Embodiment 1 of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a time chart of Embodiment 1 of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of Embodiment 1 of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Photoreceptor drum 2 ... Charging roller 3 ... Developing roller 4 ... Transfer roller 5 ... High voltage power supply 6 ... Controller 6a ... Control part 6b-6d ... ROM 7 ... Light irradiation means 8 ... State detection means 8a ... Temperature detection means 8b ... Paper detection sensor a: rotating direction of photosensitive drum 1 b: rotating direction of charging roller 2 c: rotating direction of developing roller 3 d: rotating direction of transfer rollers 4 and 8

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-2289 (JP, A) JP-A-6-258966 (JP, A) JP-A 8-254899 (JP, A) JP-A-4-254 140765 (JP, A) JP-A-8-160812 (JP, A) JP-A-2-287380 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 21/00 370- 540 G03G 21/14 G03G 15/00 303 G03G 15/16-15/16 103 G03G 15/08 507

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] An image carrier, a charging member that contacts and contacts the image carrier and uniformly charges the surface of the image carrier to a predetermined potential, and an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier by light irradiation. Exposing means for forming, and developing means for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier with toner, forming a toner image, and electrostatically removing residual toner after transfer from the image carrier. A transfer member that contacts the image carrier with a peripheral speed difference and transfers the toner image to a transfer material, a voltage applying unit that applies a predetermined voltage to the charging member, the developing unit and the transfer unit, In an image forming apparatus having a control unit for controlling the voltage application unit and a fixing unit for thermally fixing the toner image on the transfer material, the control unit includes a plurality of jam recovery sequences for controlling the voltage application unit after the jam. Image forming process A sequence for transferring the residual toner to the transfer material based on an output from the state detecting means for detecting a state, and a sequence for collecting the residual toner on the image carrier by frictional charging by rubbing with the transfer member and then collecting the residual toner with the developing device. And an image forming apparatus. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said developing means contacts at least an elastic toner carrier with said image carrier, and said toner carrier is applied with a predetermined voltage by said voltage applying means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 3. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said state detecting means is a transfer material detecting sensor. 4. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said state detecting means is a temperature detecting sensor of a fixing means. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a relationship between a peripheral speed Va of the image carrier and a peripheral speed Vb of the transfer member is Vb ≧ Va. Image forming apparatus.