Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Ikuo Nakamoto

Kazuhiro Hasegawa

Shigeaki Takada

Daigo Matsuura

Yasuhiro Hayashi

Junichi Moteki

Akiyoshi Shinagawa

Toru Katsumi

Shigeru Hirano

Nobuaki Hara

Takuma Tadomi

Tatsuo Yasui

Takahiro Ohnishi

Masayuki Tamaki

Akihiro Maeda

Koichi Kakubari

Yusuke Yamaguchi

Makoto Jinzai

Keigo Kaji

Hiroshi Komiyama

Shigeru Tanaka

Takeshi Fukuda

Shinichiro Hosoi

Youichi Chikugo

Masanori Akita

Hiroki Kawai

Yoshikuni Ito

Kazuhisa Okuda

Hiroto Ito

Seiichiro Kameda

Keisuke Mogi

Kenji Endo

Shinsuke Takahashi

Shohei Tsuzaki

Osamu Okamoto

A fixing unit includes an endless belt, a heating unit configured to heat the belt, a pressure rotary member configured to form a fixing nip portion that nips and conveys a recording material with the belt, a pad configured to press the belt toward the pressure rotary member, a sliding sheet provided on the pad and configured to slide against the belt, a plate-like member configured to fix the sliding sheet to the pad, the sliding sheet being fixed in a manner sandwiched between the plate-like member and the pad, and fixing tools configured to fix the plate-like member at a plurality of positions along a longitudinal direction of the plate-like member. A width of the sliding sheet is wider than a width of the fixing nip portion and narrower than a width of the plate-like member in the longitudinal direction.

Fixing unit

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device, first and second fans, and a reciprocating portion to reciprocate the fixing device in a widthwise direction of the fixing device. The fixing device includes a fixing film, a pressing roller to form a nip portion where a recording material on which a toner image is carried is nipped and conveyed between the fixing film and the pressing roller and the toner image is fixed on the recording material. The first and second fans send an air from openings thereof toward first and second areas of the fixing film on both end sides in the widthwise direction. A controller changes at least one opening width of the first and second fans depending on a position with respect to the widthwise direction of the fixing device.

Image forming apparatus having fixing device with improved uniformity of heating when reciprocated in widthwise direction

Fixing unit having a sliding sheet with a width in a longitudinal direction smaller than the width of first and second contact members

Fixing unit having a pad to press a belt on a supporting member and a sliding sheet fixed to the supporting member

An image heating apparatus including first and second rotatable members, first and second cooling fans, an air blowing port, a shutter member, a shutter controller, and a fan controller. The first cooling fan is provided at a position opposing a first region which is a part of an end portion region of the first rotatable member on one end side. The second cooling fan is provided at a position opposing a second region which is part of the end portion region. The second region is adjacent to the first region with respect to the longitudinal direction. The shutter controller is configured to control a position of the shutter member depending on a width size of a recording material. The fan controller is configured to independently control an operation of the first cooling fan and an operation of the second cooling fan depending on the width size of the recording material.

Image heating apparatus having first and second cooling fans cooling an end portion of a first rotatable member

An image heating apparatus includes an endless belt, a rotary member configured to form a nip portion with the endless belt, regulating members for regulating the endless belt from moving in a longitudinal direction by being in contact with longitudinal ends of the endless belt, and a sheet-like heating member. The heating member includes a heat transfer member in contact with the inner surface of the endless belt, and a heating portion located on an opposite side from a side, of the heating member, in contact with the inner surface of the endless belt across the heat transfer member. Both end portions of the heat transfer member are disposed at the same location or outside of both end portions of the heating portion in the longitudinal direction and are disposed inside of both end portions of the rotary member in the longitudinal direction.

Image heating apparatus

An image heating apparatus includes a controller configured to control a temperature at which energization to a heater is turned off, depending on a detection temperature of a detecting portion, wherein, when a temperature rise rate per unit time of the detection temperature of the detecting portion is a first rise rate, the controller turns off the energization to the heater in response to the detection temperature reaching a first temperature, and, when the temperature rise rate per unit time is a second rise rate that is less than the first rise rate, the controller turns off the energization to the heater in response to the detection temperature reaching a second temperature that is greater than the first temperature.

Image heating apparatus and image forming apparatus that control a temperature at which energization to a heater is turned off based on a temperature rise rate per unit time of a detection temperature

An image heating apparatus includes an endless belt and a rotatable member configured to form a nip for heating a toner image on a recording material therebetween, a substantially stationary pad member and a movable pad member provided along a feeding direction of the recording material and configured to press the endless belt toward the rotatable member from an inside of the endless belt, a moving mechanism configured to move the movable pad member between a first position at which the movable pad member presses the endless belt toward the rotatable member and a second position at which the movable pad member does not press the endless belt toward the rotatable member, and a sheet-like member configured to cover such a surface of the stationary pad member as is opposite to the rotatable member and such a surface of the movable pad member as is opposite to the rotatable member.

Image heating apparatus having a sheet-like member that covers a surface of a stationary pad and a surface of a movable pad member that are each opposite to a rotatable member

A fixing apparatus includes a fixing belt, a pressure roller, a heater, a stay holder, and a scraper. The fixing belt is configured to heat an image on a sheet at a nip portion and has an inner surface with a grease applied thereon. The pressure roller drives and rotates the fixing belt and forms the nip portion between the pressure roller and the fixing belt. The heater and the stay holder press the fixing belt toward the pressure roller from the inner surface of the fixing belt. The scraper scrapes the lubricant transferred to the pressure roller in an area that can come into contact with the fixing belt and that does not come into contact with a maximum width sheet introducible into the fixing apparatus on one end side in a rotational axis direction of the pressure roller.

An image heating apparatus includes: an endless belt; a heater for heating the belt, the heater forms a sliding portion between an inner surface of the belt and the heater; a rotatable member cooperative with the heater to sandwich the belt to form a nip between an outer peripheral surface of the belt and the rotatable member; a temperature detector provided on a surface of the heater relatively more remote from the sliding portion than the heater; a controller for controlling the timing of feeding the sheet to the nip on the basis of an output of the detector; and lubricant provided in at least a part of the sliding portion except for a range which is in an opposing relation with the detector. The sliding portion is free of the lubricant in the range.

Image heating apparatus, heater and belt replacing method

An image forming apparatus that sets a second conveyance speed, at which a recording material is conveyed at a heating nip portion, higher than a first conveyance speed, at which the recording material is conveyed at a transfer nip portion, conveys an envelope by the transfer and heating nip portions without transferring a toner image at the transfer nip portion. After that, the image forming apparatus which sets the second conveyance speed equal to or lower than the first conveyance speed transfers the toner image formed on a photosensitive drum acting as an image bearing member onto the envelope conveyed again to the transfer nip portion by a reversing conveyance mechanism acting as a re-conveyance unit to fix the toner image on the envelop at the heating nip portion.

Image forming apparatus

An image heating apparatus includes an image heater for heating an image on a recording material. The apparatus also includes a first temperature detecting member that detects a temperature of the image heating member, with the first temperature detecting member provided in a sheet processing region for a recording material of a minimum size. A controller is also provided for controlling electric power supply to the image heater on the basis of an output of the first temperature detecting member. Further provided is a second temperature detecting member is that is capable of detecting a temperature of the image heating member when the image heating member is contacted or is not contacted with a belt. A controller is also provided for controlling the image heating operation on the basis of the temperature of the image heating member.

An image heating apparatus includes an endless belt for heating an image on a recording material in a nip and a pressing pad for pressing the belt from an inner surface thereof in the nip. A sheet-like member is provided to cover the pressing pad, providing for sliding movement relative to the belt. A lubricant absorbing member for suppressing swelling of the pressing pad by absorbing a lubricant applied on an inner surface of the belt, with the lubricant absorbing member covered by the sheet-like member.

The present invention relates to an image heating device comprising, a first belt which heats an image on a recording material at a nip, a second belt which forms the nip with the first belt, a first pressure member and a first rotating member which press the first belt at the nip, the first pressure member and the first rotating member being provided while not being in contact with each other; and a second pressure member and a second rotating member which press the second belt at the nip, the second pressure member and the second rotating member being provided while not being in contact with each other. The nip is formed by a region where at least one of the first pressure member, the first rotating member, the second pressure member, and the second rotating member is in contact with the corresponding belt.

Image heating apparatus including pads and belts forming a pressurized nip

An image heating apparatus includes an endless belt for heating an image on a recording material; a plurality of supporting members on which the belt is trained; magnetic flux generating means, disposed outside of the belt, for generating heat in the belt by a magnetic flux, the magnetic flux generating means being effective to cause induction heating both in a region of the belt between the supporting members and in at least one of the regions of the belt trained on the supporting members; a temperature detecting element for detecting a temperature of the belt in the region between the supporting members at a position across the belt from the magnetic flux generating means; and electric power supply shut-off means for shutting off electric power supply to the magnetic flux generating means on the basis of an output of the temperature detecting element.

Growing community of inventors

Toride, Japan

Ikuo Nakamoto