Direct electrical connection system and related method for an image forming apparatus

Claim 1

An image forming apparatus onto which a process cartridge is removably mountable, said image forming apparatus capable of forming an image onto a recording medium, said image forming apparatus comprising: mounting means for removably mounting the process cartridge, the process cartridge comprising an electrophotographic photosensitive member, a charging member for charging the electrophotographic photosensitive member, and developing means for developing a latent image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive member; recording medium stacking means, disposed at a lowermost portion of said image forming apparatus, for stacking the recording medium on which the image is to be formed; transfer means for transferring a developed image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive member of the process cartridge mounted on said mounting means onto the recording medium; fixing means for fixing the developed image transferred onto tire recording medium by said transfer means; an electrical equipment unit disposed above said recording medium stacking means and provided protruding outwardly, in a plane parallel to a conveyance path of the recording medium, in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the recording medium, from a conveyance path that is for a maximum size recording medium upon which an image can be formed, said electrical equipment unit extending from below the process cartridge mounted on said mounting means toward a direction where said fixing means is provided; a first electrical contact, a second electrical contact, and a third electrical contact, all disposed at an outwardly protruding area of said electrical equipment unit, said first electrical contact being for applying a developing bias to the developing means of the process cartridge, said second electrical contact being for applying a charging bias to the charging member, and said third electrical contact being for earthing the electrophotographic photosensitive member; a connector provided at an area of said electrical equipment unit where the recording medium is advanced; a fourth electrical contact disposed at an outwardly protruding area of said electrical equipment unit, for applying a transfer bias to said transfer means; and a recording medium receiving means, disposed above said mounting means, for receiving the recording medium on which the image is formed, wherein the developing bias is applied to the developing means via said first electrical contact, the charging bias is applied to the charging member via said second electrical contact, the electrophotographic photosensitive member is earthed via said third electrical contact, the transfer bias is applied to said transfer means via said fourth electrical contact, and electrical power is applied to said fixing means via said connector, wherein said mounting means is disposed above said electrical equipment unit, and wherein said transfer means transfers a developed image on the electrophotographic photosensitive member to the recording medium fed out from said recording medium stacking means such that a front face and a rear face of the recording medium are reversed relative to when the recording medium is in said recording medium stacking means, said fixing means fixes the developed image transferred to the recording medium by said transfer means when the recording medium passes through said fixing means, and said recording medium receiving means receives the recording medium to which said fixing means has fixed the developed image such that the front face and the rear face of the recording medium are reversed relative to when the recording medium is acted upon by said transfer means.