Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Hirokazu Ikenoue

Takashi Fujita

Atsushi Nakafuji

Jun Yura

Hisashi Kikuchi

Toshihiko Baba

Shigeo Kurotaka

Katsuhiro Echigo

Satoshi Kitaoka

Hideaki Nishimura

Yoshiaki Hoshino

Hideki Kosugi

Kiyoshi Ohshima

Kenji Sato

Junji Nakai

Toshihiro Yoshinuma

Sho Sawahata

Ken Onodera

Yasuhisa Katoh

Yoko Ishii

Kazuhito Kishi

Yoshiki Yanagawa

Amika Sagara

Echigo Katsuhiro

Osamu Takehira

Hitoshi Hattori

Hiroshi Koide

Motokazu Yasui

Eriko Konno

Eriko Chiba

A drying device includes a contact heater unit to contact and heat a medium. The contact heater unit includes a plurality of heating members each having a curved contact face to contact the medium among plural heating members of the plurality of heating members to contact a first surface of the medium opposite a second surface of the medium on which liquid is applied. The plurality of heating members includes a first heating member and a plurality of second heating members. The first heating member has a maximum contact distance to contact the medium. The plurality of second heating members is disposed upstream from the first heating member in a direction of conveyance of the medium. Two heating members of the plurality of second heating members immediately upstream from the first heating member in the direction of conveyance of the medium contact the first surface of the medium.

Drying device and printing apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit to form an image on a recording medium by discharging liquid droplets onto the medium; and a media heater to heat the medium by contacting a rear surface of the medium opposite a surface of the medium on which the image is formed, in which the media heater includes a contact member with a contact surface having a predetermined curvature that the medium contacts, the contact member is a roller member, and the medium closely contacts the contact surface of the contact member across an entire width of the medium in a direction perpendicular to the media conveyance direction.

Image forming apparatus and drying device for image forming apparatus

A drying device includes one or more first heating bodies configured to heat a drying target object conveyed with liquid applied on the drying target object, and a second heating body configured to heat the drying target object after the drying target object is heated by the one or more first heating bodies. The one or more first heating bodies include at least one heating body configured to heat the drying target object at a heating temperature greater than a heating temperature of the second heating body.

Drying device and printer incorporating the drying device

A drying device includes a plurality of guide rollers and a heater. The plurality of guide rollers is configured to contact a liquid applied face of a drying target object that is conveyed with liquid applied to the liquid applied face, while the drying target object is dried. The plurality of guide rollers includes at least one guide roller having a surface roughness of from 2 to 8. The heater is configured to heat the drying target object while the plurality of guide rollers guides the drying target object. A printer includes a liquid application device configured to apply liquid to a drying target object, and the drying device.

A drying device includes a drier, a gas circulator, and a concentration adjuster. The drier warms a liquid composition on a drying target object. The gas circulator circulates a gas containing a volatile component of an organic solvent warmed and volatilized by the drier to reuse the gas for drying. The concentration adjuster adjusts a concentration of the volatile component reused.

Drying device, liquid discharge apparatus, and drying method

A drying device includes a first heater, a second heater, a conveyance path, and an infrared heater. The first heater contacts and heats a medium on which liquid is applied. The second heater contacts and heats the medium. The second heater contacts the medium at a distance longer than a distance at which the first heater contacts the medium. The conveyance path of the medium includes a first conveyance-path portion and a second conveyance-path portion. The medium is conveyed while contacting the first heater in the first conveyance-path portion. The first conveyance-path portion is disposed upstream from the second heater in a direction of conveyance of the medium. The second conveyance-path portion is disposed downstream from the second heater in the direction of conveyance of the medium. The infrared heater is disposed in the second conveyance-path portion, to irradiate an infrared ray to the medium.

A fixing apparatus includes a fixing member to be heated and a pressure-contacting member for pressure contacting the fixing member. The fixing apparatus directs and conveys a recording member through a nip formed between the fixing member and pressure applying member in such a manner that a toner image carried on a recording member contacts the fixing member in order to be fixed thereto with heat and pressure. The fixing apparatus is configured to direct a tip margin of the recording member toward the pressure applying member across a virtual linear extension line drawn from a downstream end to upstream end of the nip when only the tip margin exits from the nip. A fixing member side separation device may be separately provided from the surface of the fixing apparatus so as to separate the recording member exiting from the nip. A gap formed between the downstream end of the nip and the tip of the fixing member side separation device is set smaller than the width of the tip margin.

Sheet wrapping avoidable fixing apparatus and image forming apparatus

A fixing apparatus and an image formation apparatus are disclosed. The fixing apparatus includes two or more heaters with temperature detecting function that generate heat with electric current and detect temperature; a heating unit that includes the heater with the temperature detecting function; a film, a surface of which slides on the heating unit; a thermal fixing unit that is heated by the heating unit through the film for fusing a toner image that is yet-to-be fixed on a recording paper at a predetermined fixing temperature; a pressurization roller for pressing the recording paper to the thermal fixing unit; and a temperature control unit for controlling the temperature of the heater to be a predetermined temperature based on the temperature of the heater detected by the heater with the temperature detecting function.

Fixing apparatus and an image formation apparatus

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Tokyo, Japan

Hirokazu Ikenoue