JP2006078853A - Cleaning device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent cleaning performance from decreasing due to paper powder accumulated on a blade removing transfer remaining toner, sticking on the outer peripheral surface of an endless belt. <P>SOLUTION: A paper powder removing member 100 abuts against an intermediate transfer belt 10, at a position downstream from a position where a toner image formed through an electrophotographic process is transferred to transfer paper being a transfer material and at upstream of a position, where the blade 101 removing the remaining toner abuts against the intermediate transfer belt 10; and as a result, paper powder sticking on an intermediate transfer belt 10 is removed beforehand. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a cleaning device for removing toner on an endless belt such as a photosensitive belt and a transfer belt used in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic printer, a facsimile machine, and a copying machine, and an image including the cleaning device. The present invention relates to a forming apparatus.

  In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, an endless belt carrying a toner image is used for applications such as a photoreceptor belt, an indirect transfer belt, and a direct transfer belt. Furthermore, in a color electrophotographic apparatus, it may be necessary to arrange a plurality of developing units and a plurality of photosensitive units, and the endless belt as described above is required instead of the drum shape due to layout restrictions. Is increasing.

  Here, as a transfer method in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a direct transfer method in which a toner image of each photoconductor is directly transferred onto a transfer sheet, and a toner image on each photoconductor is temporarily transferred to an endless belt which is an intermediate transfer body. There is an indirect transfer method in which the transfer is performed and then transferred to a transfer sheet in a lump. In any case, since toner adheres to the surface of the endless belt, it is necessary to clean the adhered toner. The endless belt is cleaned by, for example, bringing a rubber blade into contact with the endless belt and scraping off the toner adhering to the surface of the endless belt.

  Although the cleaning method using this blade is inexpensive and can reliably clean the endless belt, for example, when the powder of the transfer paper is removed and the powdered powder is sandwiched between the blade and the endless belt, In the sandwiched portion, the blade is lifted from the endless belt, the toner cannot be scraped off, and a cleaning failure occurs. For this reason, a mechanism has been proposed in which the blade is brought into contact with or separated from the endless belt to shake off the paper dust sandwiched between the blade and the endless belt (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-6-337598

  However, in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, a separate mechanism is required to bring the blade into contact with and away from the endless belt, and the cleaning device itself becomes large. Further, the vibration generated when the contact / separation operation is performed may appear as a streak when an image is formed on the transfer paper.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device and an image forming apparatus equipped with the cleaning device that can prevent a reduction in cleaning performance due to paper dust mixing into a blade that cleans an endless belt at a low cost without using a large-scale mechanism. It is to be.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning apparatus comprising a blade that abuts against an endless belt supported by a support roller and removes transfer residual toner that adheres to an outer peripheral surface of the endless belt by an electrophotographic process. The endless belt contacts the endless belt downstream of the position where the toner image formed by the electrophotographic process is transferred to the transfer material and upstream of the position where the blade contacts the endless belt. A member having a function of removing the adhered paper dust is provided.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning device according to the first aspect, the paper dust removing member is a brush roller.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning device according to the first or second aspect, a bias is applied to the paper dust removing member.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the paper dust removing member according to any one of the first to third aspects further includes a member for applying a lubricant to the endless belt.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising: an image carrier that carries a toner image in which a latent image is visualized; and a conveyance unit that conveys a transfer material onto which a toner image is transferred from the image carrier. In the image forming apparatus that performs image formation by an electrophotographic process, the conveying unit is configured by an endless belt, and a paper dust removing member having a function of removing the paper dust attached to the endless belt is provided. A cleaning device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is provided.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising: an image carrier that carries a toner image in which a latent image is visualized; an intermediate transfer member that carries a toner image transferred from the image carrier; A first transfer unit that transfers a toner image from the carrier to the intermediate transfer member, and a second transfer unit that transfers the toner image from the intermediate transfer member to a transfer material; 2. The image forming apparatus to be executed, wherein the intermediate transfer member as the first transfer unit is constituted by an endless belt, and a paper dust removing member having a function of removing paper dust attached to the endless belt is provided. Or a cleaning device according to any one of 4 to 4.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the paper dust is removed before the toner is cleaned by the blade by the paper dust removing member that is in contact with the endless belt, the paper dust is sandwiched between the blade and the endless belt. It is possible to prevent the cleaning property from being deteriorated.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the paper dust removing member is a brush roller, it is possible to remove the paper dust and remove the toner adhering to the endless belt. The burden on the blade having the role of removal can be reduced, and the life of the blade can be extended.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the paper dust removing member is biased, the paper dust can be attracted electrostatically, so that it becomes easier to remove the paper dust more reliably.

  According to the invention of claim 4, the paper dust removing member can remove the paper dust and apply the lubricant to the surface of the endless belt. Friction with the belt can be reduced, and the blade can be prevented from being caught.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus of a direct transfer system having a cleaning device having a high cleaning performance by a blade by removing paper dust as described above.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an indirect transfer type image forming apparatus having a cleaning device having a high cleaning performance by a blade by removing paper dust as described above.

  The best mode for carrying out the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is an example of application to an electrophotographic tandem type full-color copying machine as an image forming apparatus. Note that the image forming apparatus is not limited to this, and may be a printer, a facsimile, or the like.

  1 to 4 show a copying machine as an example of an image forming apparatus employing an indirect transfer method. First, the configuration of the entire copying machine of this embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the entire copying machine of the present embodiment. The copying machine includes a copying machine main body 1 that forms an image, a paper feeding device 2 on which the copying machine main body 1 is mounted and that supplies transfer paper 5 as a transfer material to the copying machine main body 1, and a copying machine A scanner 3 provided on the main body 1 for reading a document image and an automatic document feeder (ADF) 4 attached to the upper part of the scanner 3 are provided. The copying machine main body 1 is provided with a manual feed tray 6 for manually feeding the transfer paper 5 and a paper discharge tray 7 for discharging the transfer paper 5 on which an image has been formed.

  The copying machine main body 1 is provided with an intermediate transfer belt 10 which is an endless belt as an intermediate transfer member. The intermediate transfer belt 10 is rotationally driven in a clockwise direction as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1 while being stretched and supported by four support rollers 14, 15, 16, and 17.

  Of the support rollers 14, 15, 16, 17, the belt stretched portion between the first support roller 14 and the second support roller 15 is, for example, black, yellow, magenta from the left in FIG. , Four image forming units 18BK, 18Y, 18M, and 18C of cyan are arranged side by side. An exposure device 19 is provided above the image forming units 18BK, 18Y, 18M, and 18C.

  The exposure device 19 drives a semiconductor laser (not shown) by a laser control unit (not shown) based on the image information of the original read by the scanner 3 to emit writing light, and each image forming unit. This is for forming electrostatic latent images on the photosensitive drums 20BK, 20Y, 20M, and 20C as image carriers provided on 18BK, 18Y, 18M, and 18C. Here, the emission of the writing light is not limited to the laser, but may be an LED, for example.

  Next, the configuration of the image forming units 18BK, 18Y, 18M, and 18C will be described. In the following description, the image forming unit 18BK that forms a black toner image will be described as an example, but the other image forming units 18Y, 18M, and 18C have the same configuration.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic configuration diagram showing the vicinity of the image forming unit in the copying machine main body 1. The image forming unit 18BK is provided with a charging device 60BK, a developing device 61BK, a first transfer unit 62BK, a photoconductor cleaning device 63BK, and a charge eliminating device 64BK around the photoconductor drum 20BK.

  The charging device 60BK performs a charging process on the surface of the photosensitive drum 20BK. The developing device 61BK develops and visualizes the electrostatic latent image formed by exposing the surface of the photosensitive drum 20BK by the exposure device 19 with toner, and the photosensitive member cleaning device 63BK remains on the surface of the photosensitive drum 20BK after the transfer. The collected toner is removed and collected. The static eliminator 64BK initializes the surface potential of the photosensitive drum 20BK after cleaning. A first transfer unit 62BK is provided at a position facing the photoconductor drum 20BK via the intermediate transfer belt 10.

  As an image forming process, a toner image for each color is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 10, and four colors are superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 10 to form one color image. At this time, the black (BK) toner is first developed by a black (BK) image forming unit and transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 10. Next, in the yellow (Y) image forming unit, the yellow (Y) toner is developed and transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 10. Next, the magenta (M) image forming unit develops the magenta (M) toner and transfers it onto the intermediate transfer belt 10, and finally, the cyan (C) image forming unit uses the cyan (C) image forming unit. The toner is developed and transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 10 by the first transfer unit 62 to form a full-color toner image in which the four colors are superimposed.

  A second transfer unit 21 is provided below the intermediate transfer belt 10. The second transfer unit 21 presses the secondary transfer roller 22 against the third support roller 16 via the intermediate transfer belt 10 to transfer the four color toner images formed on the intermediate transfer belt 10 to the transfer paper 5. It is intended for transfer to.

  The transfer paper 5 on which the toner image is transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 10 by the secondary transfer roller 22 is transported by a transport device 25 including two rollers 23 and a transport belt 24 and sent to a fixing device 26. The fixing device 26 is provided with a roller pair 27 that heats and pressurizes the transfer paper 5 so that the toner image transferred onto the transfer paper 5 is fixed by passing between the roller pair 27. To do.

  The copying machine main body 1 is provided with a conveyance path 41 for guiding the transfer paper 5 fed from the paper feeding device 2 to the paper discharge tray 7 via the secondary transfer roller 22 and the conveyance device 25. A conveyance roller 42, a registration roller 43, a discharge roller 44, and the like are provided along the conveyance path 41. As a result, the transfer paper 5 is conveyed to the paper discharge tray 7.

  Returning to FIG. 1, a switching claw 46 is provided on the downstream side of the transport path 41 to switch the transport direction of the transferred transfer paper 5 to the paper discharge tray 7 or the paper reversing device 45. The paper reversing device 45 reverses the transfer paper 5 and sends it again toward the secondary transfer roller 22. As a result, it is possible to form an image on both sides of the transfer paper 5. On the other hand, after the full-color toner image is transferred, for example, toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10 is removed and collected by the cleaning device 28.

  Further, the copying machine main body 1 is provided with a manual paper feed path 47 that joins from the manual feed tray 6 to the transport path 41, and a transfer set on the manual feed tray 6 is provided upstream of the manual paper feed path 47. A paper feed unit 48 for feeding the paper 5 one by one is provided.

  The paper feeding device 2 feeds a plurality of paper feeding cassettes 49 that store transfer paper 5, a paper feeding unit 50 that feeds the transfer papers stored in these paper feeding cassettes 49 one by one, and feeds the transferred transfer paper 5. It is composed of a transport roller 52 that transports along a path 51. The paper feed path 51 is connected to the transport path 41 of the copying machine main body 1.

  In the scanner 3, a document illumination light source is used to scan a document placed on the document table 30 and conveyed by the ADF 4 or a document placed on the contact glass 31 (both not shown). The 1st and 2nd traveling bodies 33 and 34 carrying a mirror reciprocate. The image information scanned by the traveling bodies 33 and 34 is collected by the imaging lens 35 on the imaging surface of the reading sensor 36 installed behind the imaging lens 35 and read by the reading sensor 36 as an image signal.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the cleaning device 28 in the copying machine main body 1 employing the indirect transfer method according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning device 28 is provided between the third support roller 16 and the second support roller 15. Paper dust from the third support roller 16 to the second support roller 15, that is, from upstream to downstream, contacts the outer peripheral surface 10a of the intermediate transfer belt 10 and removes paper dust adhering to the outer peripheral surface 10a. The removing member 100, a blade 101 that contacts the outer peripheral surface 10a to remove the toner on the outer peripheral surface 10a, and a presser so that the intermediate transfer belt 10 does not bend when the blade 101 removes the toner. And a fourth support roller 17. The paper dust removing member 100, the blade 101, and the fourth support roller 17 are accommodated in the cleaning case 103.

  When the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 10 is transferred to the transfer paper 5, the intermediate transfer belt 10 passes through the cleaning device 28 and rotates toward the second support roller 15. In the cleaning device 28, first, the paper dust attached to the outer peripheral surface 10 a of the intermediate transfer belt 10 is removed by the paper dust removing member 100. When the intermediate transfer belt 10 further rotates, the toner attached to the outer peripheral surface 10a is scraped off by the blade 101. Here, the toner existing on the intermediate transfer belt 10 is formed as, for example, toner remaining after transfer, or an image pattern for checking the running state of the intermediate transfer belt 10 and positioning of each color by feedback control. Examples thereof include toner and toner formed as an image pattern for controlling the amount of toner adhered on the intermediate transfer belt 10.

  As the paper dust removing member 100, a fixed brush without rotating or a blade such as a blade 101 for writing off toner can be used. In this embodiment, for example, a brush roller made of acrylic resin is used as the brush. It is used. As a result, paper dust can be removed, and toner attached to the intermediate transfer belt 10 can be removed, and the life of the blade 101 can be extended. The brush roller may not be directly applied with a rotational force, but may be driven to rotate according to the rotation of the intermediate transfer belt 10, or a driving force may be applied to the brush roller so as to be the same as or opposite to the rotational direction of the intermediate transfer belt 10. It may be rotated. In particular, by rotating the brush roller in the opposite direction to the intermediate transfer belt 10, it becomes easier to remove paper dust.

A voltage (bias) can also be applied to the paper dust removing member 100. For example, a voltage application unit (not shown) is provided for the paper dust removing member 100, and a voltage is directly applied to the paper dust removing member 100 from this portion, or a roller such as a conductive rubber roller is separately removed from the paper dust. A voltage is applied by being provided in contact with the member 100. In the latter case, for example, the conductive rubber roller is a conductive NBR rubber having a diameter of 18 mm and a thickness of 1 mm. The electrical resistance is about 10 ⁹ Ωcm in terms of the volume resistance of the rubber material, and the applied voltage is a voltage of about −800 V on the toner transfer side (the front side of the transfer paper 5), and the back side of the transfer paper 5 is A voltage of about + 200V is applied.

  Thus, if a voltage is previously applied to the paper dust removing member 100, the paper dust can be attracted to the paper dust removing member 100 by static electricity, and the efficiency of scraping off the paper dust is also increased. In addition, the intermediate transfer belt 10 that has been charged by the voltage applied to transfer the toner image from the intermediate transfer belt 10 to the transfer paper 5 can be removed.

  With the above configuration, since the paper dust is removed by the paper dust removing member 100 before the toner is cleaned by the blade 101, the paper dust is less likely to be sandwiched between the blade 101 and the intermediate transfer belt 10, and the cleaning is performed. It can prevent that property falls.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a cleaning device 29 including a mechanism for causing the paper dust removing member 100 to have a function for applying a lubricant to the outer peripheral surface 10 a of the intermediate transfer belt 10. Since the same reference numerals have already been described, the description thereof will be omitted.

  In the cleaning device 29, the lubricant 111 is provided so as to always come into contact with the paper dust removing member 110 by the biasing member 112, for example. The lubricant 111 is applied to the intermediate transfer belt 10 to facilitate toner removal. Further, for example, the lubricant 111 in FIG. 4 is solid, and for example, zinc stearate is preferably used. Each time the brush roller that is the paper dust removing member 110 rotates, it scrapes off the solid lubricant 111, applies the lubricant to the outer peripheral surface 10a of the intermediate transfer belt 10, and removes the paper dust adhering to the outer peripheral surface 10a. Remove. Further, since the lubricant 111 is pressed against the paper dust removing member 110 by the urging member 112, even if the paper dust removing member 110 scrapes the lubricant 111 and the lubricant 111 gradually wears and becomes smaller. The lubricant 111 is always in contact with the paper dust removing member 110.

  Note that the lubricant 111 is not limited to a solid one, and for example, a liquid lubricant may be added to the brush roller that is the paper dust removing member 110.

  5 to 8 show a copying machine as an example of an image forming apparatus employing a direct transfer system, and a cleaning device in the copying machine will be described. Since the same reference numerals as those shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 have already been described, the description thereof is omitted here.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating the entire copying machine according to the second embodiment. The copying machine main body 1 includes a paper feeding device 2, a scanner 3, an automatic document feeder (ADF) 4, a manual feed tray 6, and A paper discharge tray 7 is provided.

  The copying machine main body 1 is provided with a conveyance belt 70 that is an endless belt that conveys the transfer paper 5 when the toner image is transferred to the transfer paper 5. The conveying belt 70 is stretched and supported in the counterclockwise direction as shown by arrows in FIG. 5 while being stretched and supported by the two support rollers 14 and 15.

  FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic configuration diagram showing the vicinity of the image forming unit in the copying machine main body 1. For example, four image forming units 18C and 18M of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are arranged on the belt stretch portion between the first support roller 14 and the second support roller 15 from the left in FIG. , 18Y, 18BK are arranged side by side. An exposure device 19 is provided above the image forming units 18C, 18M, 18Y, and 18BK.

  As an image forming process, an image for each color is formed on the transfer paper 5 on the conveyance belt 70 to form one color image. That is, the toner is developed in the black (BK) image forming unit, and then the toner is developed in each of the yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) image forming units. A superimposed full-color toner image is formed. Thereafter, the transfer paper 5 is fixed by the fixing device 26 and discharged to the discharge tray 7 by the discharge roller 44.

  After conveying the transfer paper 5, the conveyance belt 70 changes its direction by the second support roller 15 and rotates toward the first support roller 14. The conveyance belt 70 only conveys the transfer paper 5 and does not transfer the toner directly to the belt like the intermediate transfer belt 10 of the indirect transfer system, but the toner adheres. Therefore, it is necessary to clean the conveyor belt 70 with a cleaning device.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a cleaning device 71 in the copying machine main body 1 employing the direct transfer system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the cleaning device 71 is provided between the second support roller 15 and the first support roller 14 and at a position off the conveyance path.

  Paper dust removal from the second support roller 15 to the first support roller 14, that is, from upstream to downstream, contacts the outer peripheral surface 70a of the conveyor belt 70 and removes paper dust adhering to the outer peripheral surface 70a. The member 100, a blade 101 that contacts the outer peripheral surface 70a to remove the toner on the outer peripheral surface 70a, and an opposing member that serves as a presser so that the conveying belt 70 does not bend when the blade 101 removes the toner. And a roller 102. The paper dust removing member 100 and the blade 101 are housed in a cleaning case 103.

  After the conveying belt 70 sends the transfer paper 5 to the fixing device 26, the conveying belt 70 passes through the cleaning device 71 and rotates toward the first support roller 14. In the cleaning device 71, first, the paper dust attached to the outer peripheral surface 70 a of the conveyor belt 70 is removed by the paper dust removing member 100. When the conveyor belt 70 further rotates, the toner adhered to the outer peripheral surface 70a is scraped off by the blade 101.

  As the paper dust removing member 100, a fixed brush without rotating or a blade such as a blade 101 for writing off toner can be used. In this embodiment, for example, a brush roller made of acrylic resin is used as the brush. It is used. As a result, the paper dust can be removed and the toner adhering to the conveying belt 70 which is an endless belt can be collected, and the life of the blade can be extended. Further, the brush roller may not be directly applied with the rotational force but may be driven to rotate according to the rotation of the conveying belt 70, or the driving force may be applied to the brush roller to rotate in the same direction as or opposite to the rotating direction of the conveying belt 70. May be. In particular, by rotating the brush roller in the direction opposite to the conveying belt 70, it becomes easier to remove paper dust.

  A voltage (bias) can also be applied to the paper dust removing member 100. For example, a voltage application unit (not shown) is provided for the paper dust removing member 100, and a voltage is directly applied to the paper dust removing member 100 from this portion, or a roller such as a bias roller is separately provided as a paper dust removing member. A voltage is applied by being provided in contact with 100. Thus, if a voltage is previously applied to the paper dust removing member 100, the paper dust can be attracted to the paper dust removing member 100 by static electricity, and the efficiency of scraping off the paper dust is also increased. In addition, it is possible to remove the charge from the conveyor belt 70 that has been charged by the voltage applied to transfer the toner image to the transfer paper 5.

  With the above configuration, since the paper dust is removed by the paper dust removing member 100 before the cleaning of the toner by the blade 101, the paper dust is not sandwiched between the blade 101 and the conveying belt 70 which is an endless belt. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the cleaning property from being deteriorated.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of a cleaning device 72 including a mechanism for giving the paper dust removing member 110 a function for applying the lubricant 111 to the outer peripheral surface 70a of the conveying belt 70, and adopts a direct transfer system. Also in the image forming apparatus, the lubricant 111 can be provided so as to always come into contact with the paper dust removing member 110 via the urging member 112 as in the case of the indirect transfer type image forming apparatus.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an entire copying machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic configuration diagram showing the vicinity of an image forming unit in a copying machine main body. It is the schematic block diagram which showed the cleaning apparatus of this embodiment. It is the schematic block diagram which showed another cleaning apparatus in this embodiment. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the whole copying machine of 2nd embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic configuration diagram showing the vicinity of an image forming unit in a copying machine main body. It is the schematic block diagram which showed the cleaning apparatus of this embodiment. It is the schematic block diagram which showed another cleaning apparatus in this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

5 Transfer paper 10 Intermediate transfer body (endless belt)
10a Outer peripheral surface 17 of intermediate transfer belt Fourth support rotor 27 Cleaning device 70 Conveying belt (endless belt)
70a Conveying belt outer peripheral surface 71 Cleaning device 100 Paper dust removing member 101 Blade

Claims (6)

In a cleaning device comprising a blade that abuts on an endless belt supported by a support roller and removes transfer residual toner by an electrophotographic process attached to the outer peripheral surface of the endless belt,
Adhere to the endless belt by contacting the endless belt downstream of the position where the toner image formed by the electrophotographic process is transferred to the transfer material and upstream of the position where the blade contacts the endless belt. And a paper dust removing member having a function of removing the paper dust.   The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the paper dust removing member is a brush roller.   The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a bias is applied to the paper dust removing member.   The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the paper dust removing member also has a member that applies a lubricant to the endless belt. An image carrier that carries a toner image that is a latent image and a conveyance unit that conveys a transfer material onto which the toner image is transferred from the image carrier, and performs image formation by an electrophotographic process In the image forming apparatus,
The said conveying means is comprised with an endless belt, The paper dust removal member which has the function to remove the paper dust adhering to the said endless belt is provided, The cleaning apparatus as described in any one of Claim 1 thru | or 4 provided. An image forming apparatus. An image carrier that carries a toner image that is a latent image, an intermediate transfer member that carries a toner image transferred from the image carrier, and a toner image that is transferred from the image carrier to the intermediate transfer member. In an image forming apparatus that includes a first transfer unit and a second transfer unit that transfers a toner image from an intermediate transfer member to a transfer material, and performs image formation by an electrophotographic process.
The intermediate transfer member as the first transfer means is constituted by an endless belt, and a paper dust removing member having a function of removing paper dust attached to the endless belt is provided. An image forming apparatus comprising the cleaning device described above.

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