Abstract
The shape and driving speed of the spiral screw agitator in a developing unit that has a pair of spiral screw agitators are investigated. In the developing unit, there is a variety of image densities on both edges of the paper caused by varied toner concentration depending on the direction of flow of developer. This is because toner is consumed during the developer conveyance. We analyzed the relationship between the toner concentration and the flow rate of the developer in the channel. We also analyzed the relationship between the flow rate of the developer and the shape and driving conditions of the spiral screw agitator. We were able to achieve a condition in which there is no variation in the image density. The analyzed results were experimentally verified. Using the results, we considered how to design agitator after the printer specifications, i.e. print speed or paper size, were defined.
