Patents by Inventor Hidetoshi Kami

Hidetoshi Kami has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9740116
    Abstract: A photoconductor includes an electroconductive substrate; an intermediate layer overlying the electroconductive substrate; and a photosensitive layer overlying the intermediate layer. The intermediate layer includes a metal oxide particle and a binder resin, and satisfies the following relations (1) and (2): Smr=Scut/Sk??(1) 0.4?Smr?0.6??(2) where Smr represents an areal ratio of concave parts; Sk represents a reference area; and a Scut represents a cross-sectional area obtained by cutting a three-dimensional curved surface obtained from the reference area with an average height surface, the average height surface being a surface constituted of averaged height of all measured height data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobutaka Eguchi, Akihiro Sugino, Hidetoshi Kami, Keisuke Shimoyama, Kazuhiro Egawa
  • Patent number: 9523930
    Abstract: A photoconductor, including an electroconductive substrate; an intermediate layer overlying the electroconductive substrate; and a photosensitive layer overlying the intermediate layer. The intermediate layer includes a metal oxide and a binder resin, and has a WRa (LLH) less than 0.12 ?m and WRa (LHH) of from 0.03 to 0.2 ?m in a curve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidetoshi Kami, Nobutaka Eguchi, Akihiro Sugino, Keisuke Shimoyama, Kazuhiro Egawa
  • Publication number: 20160274475
    Abstract: A photoconductor includes an electroconductive substrate; an intermediate layer overlying the electroconductive substrate; and a photosensitive layer overlying the intermediate layer. The intermediate layer includes a metal oxide particle and a binder resin, and satisfies the following relations (1) and (2): Smr=Scut/Sk??(1) 0.4?Smr?0.6??(2) wherein Smr represents an areal ratio of projecting parts; Sk represents a reference area; and a Scut represents a cross-sectional area obtained by cutting a three-dimensional curved surface obtained from the reference area with an average height surface, the average height surface being a surface constituted of averaged height of all measured height data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2016
    Publication date: September 22, 2016
    Inventors: Nobutaka EGUCHI, Akihiro Sugino, Hidetoshi Kami, Keisuke Shimoyama, Kazuhiro Egawa
  • Publication number: 20150346613
    Abstract: A photoconductor includes an electroconductive substrate; and a photosensitive layer provided overlying the electroconductive substrate, wherein, in a curve obtained by: (I) measuring a convexoconcave form, (II) conducting multi-resolution analysis (MRA-1), (III). making a single dimensional data arrangement, (IV) conducting further wavelet conversion, (V) connecting logarithms, a surface of the photosensitive layer has a WRa (LML) of from 0.02 ?m to 0.03 ?m, a WRa (LHL) of from 0.006 ?m to 0.01 ?m, and a WRa (HLH) of 0.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 20, 2015
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Inventors: Hidetoshi KAMI, Nobutaka EGUCHI, Akihiro SUGINO, Keisuke SHIMOYAMA
  • Publication number: 20150227063
    Abstract: A photoconductor, including an electroconductive substrate; an intermediate layer overlying the electroconductive substrate; and a photosensitive layer overlying the intermediate layer. The intermediate layer includes a metal oxide and a binder resin, and has a WRa (LLH) less than 0.12 ?m and WRa (LHH) of from 0.03 to 0.2 ?m in a curve.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2015
    Publication date: August 13, 2015
    Inventors: Hidetoshi KAMI, Nobutaka EGUCHI, Akihiro SUGINO, Keisuke SHIMOYAMA, Kazuhiro EGAWA
  • Patent number: 9046863
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a photoreceptor; a charger to charge a surface of the photoreceptor; a circulating agent applicator to apply a circulating agent to the surface of the photoreceptor while contacting the surface of the photoreceptor to form a film of the circulating agent on the surface of the photoreceptor; and a contact member contacted with the surface of the photoreceptor. The acting force, which is generated by contact of the contact member with the photoreceptor and includes a tangential force Ft, which is a force in a tangential direction at a contact portion of the contact member with the surface of the photoreceptor, and a normal force Fn, which is a force in a normal direction at the contact portion, satisfies the following relationships, 0.90?Ft/Fn?0.96, and 1.15 kgf?Ft?1.35 kgf.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidetoshi Kami, Kazuyuki Nakatsuru
  • Publication number: 20140234763
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member having a photosensitive layer and a sub-surface layer having a charge transportability, overlying the photosensitive layer wherein the sub-surface layer is formed of a cured material formed of a radical polymerizable monomer having three or more functional groups with no charge transport structure and a radical polymerizable compound having a charge transport structure, wherein the arithmetical mean roughness WRa of about each of frequency components of HMH, HML, and HLH obtained by wavelet conversion of values measured by a surface texture and the contour form measuring device ranges from 0.0002 ?m to 0.005 ?m and WRa (LLH) is 0.05 ?m or less, wherein the sub-surface layer contains at least one of a particular oxazole compound or a particular diamine compound.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2014
    Publication date: August 21, 2014
    Inventors: Akihiro SUGINO, Keisuke Shimoyama, Tomoharu Asano, Hidetoshi Kami, Nobutaka Eguchi, Kazuhiro Egawa, Tomoyuki Shimada, Ryota Arai, Masayoshi Nomura
  • Patent number: 8795935
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoconductor having a photosensitive layer and a crosslinked resin surface layer over a support, wherein shapes of concaves and convexes in a surface of the electrophotographic photoconductor are measured by a surface roughness/profile measuring device to obtain one-dimensional data arrays, the arrays are subjected to multiresolution analysis (MRA-1) through wavelet transformation to be separated into six frequency components including HHH, HHL, HMH, HML, HLH and HLL to obtain one-dimensional data arrays, the arrays of the HHL are thinned out to be reduced 1/10 to 1/100, thereby producing one-dimensional data arrays, which are then subjected to multiresolution analysis (MRA-2) through wavelet transformation to be separated into six frequency components including LHH, LHL, LMH, LML, LLH and LLL to thereby obtain 12 frequency components in total; and a center-line average roughness (WRa) of the 12 frequency components satisfies relationship (i) below.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidetoshi Kami, Junichi Yamazaki, Yukio Fujiwara, Kazuhiro Egawa
  • Publication number: 20140193185
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a photoreceptor; a charger to charge a surface of the photoreceptor; a circulating agent applicator to apply a circulating agent to the surface of the photoreceptor while contacting the surface of the photoreceptor to form a film of the circulating agent on the surface of the photoreceptor; and a contact member contacted with the surface of the photoreceptor. The acting force, which is generated by contact of the contact member with the photoreceptor and includes a tangential force Ft, which is a force in a tangential direction at a contact portion of the contact member with the surface of the photoreceptor, and a normal force Fn, which is a force in a normal direction at the contact portion, satisfies the following relationships, 0.90?Ft/Fn?0.96, and 1.15 kgf?Ft?1.35 kgf.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2013
    Publication date: July 10, 2014
    Inventors: Hidetoshi KAMI, Kazuyuki NAKATSURU
  • Patent number: 8669030
    Abstract: A photoreceptor including an electroconductive substrate; a photosensitive layer which is located overlying the electroconductive substrate and which is not radically crosslinked; and an outermost layer which is located overlying the photosensitive layer and which includes a radically crosslinked material, wherein the radically crosslinked material includes a unit having a specific formula. An image forming method, an image forming apparatus, and a process cartridge, which use the photoreceptor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Yukio Fujiwara, Tetsuro Suzuki, Kazukiyo Nagai, Hiroshi Tamura, Hiroshi Ikuno, Hidetoshi Kami
  • Patent number: 8597863
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor including a conductive substrate, a photosensitive layer, and a cross-linked resin surface layer comprising a cross-linked resin having a charge transport structure, which satisfies the following inequations: 0.01<WRa(LLH)<0.04??(1-1) 0.01<WRa(LML)<0.04??(1-2) 0.01<WRa(LMH)<0.04??(1-3) 0.01<WRa(LHL)<0.04??(1-4) WRa(LHL)>WRa(LHH)??(2-1) WRa(LHL)>WRa(HLH)??(2-2) WRa(LHL)>WRa(HML)??(2-3) WRa(LHL)>WRa(HMH)??(2-4) WRa(LHL)>WRa(HHL)??(2-5) WRa(LHL)>WRa(HHH)??(2-6) wherein WRa (?m) represents an arithmetic average roughness according to JIS-B0601:2001 of frequency components that are obtained by subjecting a one-dimensional data array of a surface profile of the electrophotographic photoreceptor to a wavelet transformation multiresolution analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidetoshi Kami, Yukio Fujiwara, Kazuhiro Egawa
  • Patent number: 8557487
    Abstract: To provide an electrophotographic photoconductor including: a conductive substrate; a photosensitive layer; and a surface layer having grooves which do not intersect each other, the photosensitive layer and the surface layer being laid over the conductive substrate, wherein the grooves each have a width of 60 ?m to 100 ?m and a depth of 0.2 ?m to 2 ?m, wherein the standard deviation of the depths of the grooves is 1/10 or less of the average value of the depths of the grooves measured at any four places, and wherein the grooves are formed in a direction which diagonally crosses a main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction of the electrophotographic photoconductor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidetoshi Kami, Kazuhiro Egawa
  • Patent number: 8543037
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes a photoreceptor bearing an electrostatic image; a developing device developing the electrostatic image with a developer including a toner to form a toner image on the photoreceptor; a transferring device transferring the toner image onto a receiving material; and a cleaning device having a cleaning blade cleaning the surface of the photoreceptor. The photoreceptor includes an electroconductive substrate, a photosensitive layer and an outermost layer having projected portions thereon. The outermost layer and projected portions include the same crosslinked charge transport material. The outermost layer has a surface roughness property such that the number of projected portions having height greater than Rz/2 is from 40 to 90 in a length of 12 mm, wherein Rz represents ten-point mean roughness of the outermost layer. The tip of the cleaning blade is contacted with the photoreceptor at a linear pressure of from 80 g/cm to 150 g/cm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Egawa, Yukio Fujiwara, Hidetoshi Kami, Kohichi Ohshima
  • Patent number: 8512924
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor, including an electroconductive substrate; a photosensitive layer; a crosslinked surface layer comprising ?-alumina and tin oxide, wherein a first one-dimensional data array obtained from measuring a concavo-convex shape of the surface of the photoreceptor is subjected to a wavelet conversion to be separated into 6 frequency components, the one-dimensional data array of the lowest frequency component is further thinned so as to have 1/40 data arrays to obtain a second one-dimensional data array, the second one-dimensional data array is further subjected to the wavelet conversion to be separated into additional 6 frequency components, and wherein when relationships between respective arithmetic average roughness (WRa) (y-axis) of the 12 frequency components and the frequency components (x-axis) are graphed, at least WRa (214 to 551 ?m) and WRa (26 to 106 ?m) have a folding point or a maximum point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidetoshi Kami, Kazuhiro Egawa, Yukio Fujiwara
  • Patent number: 8420284
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor, including an electroconductive substrate; a photosensitive layer, located overlying the electroconductive substrate; and an outermost layer comprising a convexity, wherein each of the outermost layer and the convexity includes a crosslinked body including a structural unit having a same charge transportable structure, and wherein the number of convexity having a height not less than ½×RzJIS is from 30 to 300 in a measurement length of 12 mm, wherein RzJIS is an average of ten-point mean roughness specified in JIS B0601 of 2001 and measured at least 4 random positions in an area the outermost layer is formed on, and wherein the height of the convexity is a distance from the deepest valley to a top of the convexity in the measurement length of 12 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kohichi Ohshima, Hidetoshi Kami, Yukio Fujiwara, Kazuhiro Egawa
  • Patent number: 8293439
    Abstract: An electrophotographic photoreceptor including a conductive substrate, a photosensitive layer, and a surface layer, which satisfies the following inequations: 0.005<WRa(LMH)<0.03??(i) 0.010<WRa(LHH)<0.03??(ii) 0.005<WRa(LML)<0.20??(iii) WRa(LLH)>WRa(LMH)??(iv) WRa(LLH)>WRa(LHH)??(v) wherein WRa (?m) represents a center-line average roughness of frequency components LHH, LHL, LMH, LML, LLH, and LLL that are obtained by subjecting a one-dimensional data array of a surface profile of the electrophotographic photoreceptor to wavelet transformation multiresolution analysis so as to be separated into 6 frequency components; thinning a one-dimensional data array of the lowest frequency component so that the number of data array is reduced to 1/40; and subjecting the thinned one-dimensional data array to wavelet transformation multiresolution analysis so as to be separated into the 6 frequency components LHH, LHL, LMH, LML, LLH, and LLL.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukio Fujiwara, Hidetoshi Kami, Kazuhiro Egawa, Shinji Nohsho, Mayumi Yoshihara, Mihoko Matsumoto, Kohsuke Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20120237228
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus having a rotatable image bearing member including an electroconductive substrate on which a photosensitive layer, a sub-surface layer, and a circulating surface layer are sequentially laminated, the image bearing member rotatably driven in a predetermined direction, a charger, an irradiator, a development device, a transfer device, a cleaner to clean the surface of the image bearing member after the toner image is transferred to the recording medium, and an applicator arranged downstream from the cleaner and upstream from the charger relative to the rotation driving direction of the image bearing member and in contact with the image bearing member, the applicator including a circulating material, an application brush, and an application blade to apply the circulating material to form the circulating surface layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2012
    Publication date: September 20, 2012
    Inventor: Hidetoshi KAMI
  • Patent number: 8247143
    Abstract: A photoreceptor including an electroconductive substrate, a photosensitive layer located overlying the electroconductive substrate, and a surface layer located overlying the photosensitive layer, wherein the surface layer is a cross linked surface layer comprising filler particulates on which linear scar is formed along the circumference direction, and the filler particulates form concave portions on a groove formed by the linear scar, and wherein the ten point average roughness Rz along the direction of the rotation axis of the photoreceptor measured on the circumference surface thereof is from 0.17 to 2.00 ?m and the average distance Sm of concavities and convexities along the direction of the rotation axis of the photoreceptor measured on the circumference surface thereof is from 20 to 500 ?m, and the ten point average roughness Rz along the circumference direction of the photoreceptor measured on the circumference surface thereof is from 0.13 to 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Egawa, Yukio Fujiwara, Hidetoshi Kami
  • Patent number: 8170449
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including an image bearing member which has an electroconductive substrate, a photosensitive layer overlying the electroconductive substrate and a cross-linked resin surface layer overlying the photosensitive layer and bears a latent electrostatic image on the surface thereof, an application device to apply a solid lubricant to the image bearing member; a charging device to charge the surface of the image bearing member, an irradiation device to irradiate the surface of the image bearing member with light to form the latent electrostatic image thereon, a development device to develop the latent electrostatic with toner to obtain a developed image, a transfer device to transfer the developed image to a recording medium, and; a cleaning device to clean the surface of the image bearing member, wherein the cross-linked resin surface layer includes a cross-linked body of trimethylol propane triacrylate and particulates including silicon and an average diameter of agglomeration areas of t
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidetoshi Kami, Yukio Fujiwara, Kazuhiro Egawa
  • Patent number: 8148038
    Abstract: An image bearing member including an electroconductive substrate, a charge generating layer located overlying the electroconductive substrate, a charge transport layer located overlying the charge generating layer, the charge transport layer comprising a charge transport material and a protective layer having a thickness of from 3 to 15 ?m located overlying the charge transport layer, wherein the density of the charge transport material in the protective layer at depth of 2 ?m from the surface of the charge transport layer satisfies the following relationship: 10(%)?(Charge transport material)/{(Radical polymerizable monomer having a charge transport structure)+(Radical polymerizable monomer having no charge transport structure)+(Charge transport material)}×100?30(%).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukio Fujiwara, Tetsuro Suzuki, Hiroshi Tamura, Hiroshi Ikuno, Hidetoshi Kami, Takafumi Iwamoto