Abstract
An Intermediate transfer system features two transfer processes. In the first transfer process four different colors of toner that form the image are transferred onto the transfer belt in succession. In the second transfer process the four colors of toner are transferred to the paper in a single step. In this paper we focused the second transfer process and investigated the electrical properties of the transfer belt, the transfer medium and the transfer roller based on the charge transport equation.
We were able to demonstrate that the transfer belt has indeed an ohmic conduction regime and a space-charge limited current regime. The space-charge limited current regime itself characterizes a field independent carrier mobility regime and a field dependent carrier mobility regime. The conductivity of the transfer belt in the space-charge limited current regime can be defined as the relationship between a current density and a voltage. The field dependence of conductivity in the ohmic regime can also be found in the transfer roller and the transfer medium. These conductivities are expressed by approximated equations as a function of voltage.
The resulting parameters were applied to an electrical equivalent circuit model of the second transfer process in order to simulate the phenomenon. The volume charge density of toner layer was obtained experimentally.
Hence, we calculated the voltage evolutions of the transfer belt, the toner layer, the paper and the transfer roller. And the voltage distribution, the electric field distribution and the transfer efficiency were simulated. The calculated transfer efficiency proved to be in accordance with the experimental result.
