Design of electrostatic fields in a new monocomponent system

A method of designing electrostatic fields for the development of latent electrostatic images as used in a new monocomponent development system is described. This development system uses a development roller with a special structure in which a dielectric layer is formed on a conductive substrate, and a number of small independent electrodes are located on the surface of this dielectric layer. The system is capable of developing latent electrostatic images using only the high-spatial-frequency components of the latent electrostatic images for intensification so that reproduction of sharp line images and solid line images with broad-range density gradation is realized. This has been achieved by analysis of the electrostatic fields in a conventional development system, using a computer simulation based on the finite-element method. A variety of parameters in the system is determined so as to optimize the electrostatic field