Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Eiji Shinohara

Kazuhiko Kikuchi

Ryota Saeki

Sasuke Endo

Yohei Doi

Yuki Kawashima

Kousei Miyashita

Masaya Tanaka

Kiyotaka Murakami

Ryosuke Kojima

An image processing apparatus includes a fixing unit including a belt, and a heater configured to heat the belt and including a substrate and a heating layer that is formed on the substrate, and a controller configured to shut off the heater if no current flows through the belt.

Image forming apparatus having a fixing unit and heating control method

A heating device includes a rotatable film, a heater disposed inside the film and including a substrate that extends along a first direction and having two surfaces opposite to each other, and a heater element on one of the surfaces of the substrate, and a heat conductor including a first portion contacting the other surface of the substrate, and a second portion that is adjacent to the first portion in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and does not contact the other surface of the substrate. A width of the second portion is wider than the heater element in the second direction.

Heating device with a heat conductor including portions having different thicknesses

According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a driving unit, a first determination unit, a second determination unit, and an output unit. The first determination unit is configured to determine whether or not a rotation abnormality relating to rotation of the driving unit occurs. The second determination unit is configured to determine whether or not a signal abnormality relating to a signal line of a current signal of the driving unit occurs based on a current value of the current signal after the first determination unit determines whether or not the rotation abnormality occurs. The output unit is configured to output a determination result of the second determination unit.

Image forming apparatus and method

A fixing unit or device that can be used in an image forming apparatus includes a first heater element that is formed of a material that increases in electrical resistance with increases in temperature. A controller of the fixing unit is configured to vary a duty ratio of electric power applied to the first heater element during a start-up operation in which the temperature of the first heater element is raised to a target operating temperature. By varying the duty ratio during the start-up operation, changes in the resistance of the first heater element with the heating can be compensated. For example, the duty ratio can be increased during the course of the start-up to achieve the target operating temperature faster.

Image forming apparatus and heating method

According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a forming unit, a heating unit, a temperature sensor, and a driving unit. The forming unit is configured to attach toner to a recording medium to form an image on the recording medium. The heating unit is configured to heat the toner that is attached to the recording medium by the forming unit to fix the image to the recording medium. The temperature sensor is configured to detect a temperature of the heating unit. The vibration unit is configured to apply vibration to the temperature sensor in a waiting period in which the image formation by the forming unit is not executed and the heating control by the heating unit is executed.

Image forming apparatus and control method thereof

An image processing apparatus includes a fixing unit including a fixing belt, and a heater configured to heat the fixing belt and including a substrate and a heating layer that is formed on the substrate, and a controller configured to, upon detecting an absence of a current flowing through the fixing belt, control the heater to not generate heat.

A heating device includes a rotatable film, a heater including a substrate that extends along a first direction and having two surfaces opposite to each other, and a heater element on one of the surfaces of the substrate, and a heat conductor having first and second surfaces and including a first portion contacting the other surface of the substrate, and a second portion that is adjacent to the first portion in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and does not contact the other surface of the substrate. A thickness of the first portion of the heat conductor from the first surface to the second surface is greater than a thickness of the second portion from the first surface to the second surface.

A heating device includes a rotatable film, a heater including a substrate that extends along a first direction, and a heater element on the substrate and facing the film, a heat conductor having first and second surfaces and including a first portion contacting the substrate, and a second portion that is adjacent to the first portion in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and does not contact the substrate, and a temperature sensing element on the second surface at a position corresponding to the second portion. A thickness of the first portion from the first surface to the second surface is greater than a thickness of the second portion from the first surface to the second surface.

An image processing apparatus includes a fixing unit including a heater and a fixing belt. The fixing belt is electrically connected between a first power source and a ground terminal. A controller is configured to control the heater to heat the fixing belt. The controller is further configured to determine whether a current is flowing through the fixing belt and, upon determining that a current is not flowing through the fixing belt, control the heater not to heat the fixing belt.

The image forming apparatus has a fixing belt, a heater, a switch, a breaker, and a controller. The fixing belt is configured to circulate. The fixing belt is positioned to contact a sheet to which a toner image is transferred. The heater is configured to heat the fixing belt and thereby heat the toner image via the fixing belt. The switch is configured to selectively supply the heater with electric power provided by a power source. The breaker is connected between the power source and the switch. The breaker is operable in an OFF state and an ON state. The controller is configured to (i) switch the breaker to the OFF state from the ON state and (ii) maintain the breaker in the OFF state when (i) the state of the breaker is in the OFF state and (ii) circulation of the fixing belt is stopped.

Image forming apparatus

A heating device includes a cylindrical film configured to be rotated about an axis, a heater including a substrate that extends along a longitudinal direction parallel to the axis, and a heater element on the substrate and facing an inner surface of the cylindrical film. A heat conductor extends along the longitudinal direction and has first and second surfaces. A first portion of the heat conductor contacts the substrate and a second portion of the heat conductor has a groove in the first surface. A temperature sensing element is disposed at a position on the second surface at a position opposite the groove.

Heating device including a heat conductor having a surface with a groove

An image forming apparatus includes a heater, a fixing device, and a controller. The heater includes a heat generator that generates heat when the heater is turned on. The fixing device may fix a developer image on a surface of an image forming medium using the heat from the heat generator. The controller detects a voltage of a power supply for supplying electric power to the heater, and determines an occurrence of an abnormality in the heater if a voltage drop amount at the time the heater is turned on as compared to a case in which the heater is turned off is smaller than a first threshold value.

Image forming apparatus, image forming method and non-transitory recording medium

An image forming apparatus includes a sensor configured to detect an object within a predetermined range, a storage unit that stores information about the detected object, and a controller. The controller is configured to control the sensor to detect the object when the image forming apparatus is in a first mode, and in response to the detection of the object, store the information indicating that the object is detected. In response to transition from the first mode to a second mode in which power consumption is higher than the first mode, when the information indicates that the object is detected, the controller performs authentication of a developer cartridge attached to the image forming apparatus, and when the information does not indicate that the object is detected, the controller skips the authentication of the developer cartridge.

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Mishima Shizuoka, Japan

Eiji Shinohara