Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Kaori Hemmi

Masami Okamoto

Keisuke Kubota

Shuutaroh Yuasa

Kenji Nozawa

Fumihiro Hirose

Yuuki Kikushima

Kensuke Yamaji

Yoshikuni Sasaki

Seiji Saitoh

Yuuta Kanda

Kenji Ishii

Takahiro Suzuki

Takashi Fujita

Toshiyuki Kabata

Daisuke Inoue

Kenichi Hasegawa

Masahiko Satoh

Hiroyuki Shimada

Shinichi Kuramoto

Koichi Kato

Takahiro Honda

Kimiharu Yamazaki

Akira Azami

Yohhei Watanabe

Hiroshi Kawabe

Jun Ogino

Shunsuke Kawasaki

Kenta Kashiwagi

Yoshihisa Hara

Kazuyoshi Fushinobu

An image forming method to be performed by an image forming apparatus includes forming, transferring, fixing, and drying. The forming forms a foil portion to which foil is adhered on one surface of a recording medium. The transferring transfers an image to the one surface of the recording medium after the forming of the foil portion. The fixing fixes the image transferred to the one surface of the recording medium by the transferring of the image, to form a foil image portion including the foil portion and the image on the recording medium. The drying dries the recording medium on which the foil portion is formed, between the forming of the foil portion and the transferring of the image.

Image forming method and image forming apparatus

A method for manufacturing a removable information sheet includes: forming a toner image on a recording medium; applying an energy-ray-curable pressure-sensitive composition precursor onto the medium to form an energy-ray-curable pressure-sensitive composition precursor layer; irradiating, with an energy ray, the medium to cure the layer and form an energy-ray-curable pressure-sensitive composition; and attaching faces with the composition and pressure-bonding the faces. A region size of a toner-image flat part is 200 &#x3bc;m or less in the image, which is determined by a measurement method including: defining a site at a depth of 2 &#x3bc;m or more from a surface of a solid part of the image as a recess; defining a site other than the recess as the flat part; acquiring and binarizing a micrograph of the solid part; drawing circles out of contact with the recess; and defining a largest circle diameter as the size of the flat part.

Method for manufacturing removable information sheet

An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of temperature-influence members, a first-point temperature acquisition unit, a second-point temperature estimation unit, and a controller. The plurality of temperature-influence members have influence on a temperature of a recording medium on which an image is formed. The first-point temperature acquisition unit is configured to detect or estimate a temperature of the recording medium at a first point. The second-point temperature estimation unit is configured to estimate a temperature of the recording medium at a second point, based on a detection result of at least one of a temperature of the recording medium at a point different from the second point and a temperature of a member or atmosphere. The controller is configured to control the plurality of temperature-influence members, based on an acquisition result from the first-point temperature acquisition unit and an estimation result from the second-point temperature estimation unit.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus including a developing device and a fixing device is provided. The fixing device includes a fixing rotator having a fixing surface, an opposing rotator opposing the fixing rotator to form a nip portion therebetween, and a fixing surface reformer having an abutting layer to abut the fixing surface. The abutting layer contains abrasive grains having an average grain size of 2.0-6.5 &#x3bc;m on a surface which abuts the fixing surface. The toner comprises a crystalline polyester resin and exhibits G' (storage elastic modulus) of 1.0&#xd7;10Pa or lower at 70&#xb0; C. in a temperature rising in a viscoelasticity measurement, G&#x2032; of 1.0&#xd7;10Pa or higher at 70&#xb0; C. in a temperature falling in the viscoelasticity measurement, and an endothermic peak indicating an amount of heat absorption of from 2.0 to 8.0 J/g, derived from the crystalline polyester resin, in a first temperature rising in DSC.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method

A separation member that is used to separate a conveyance object from two rotation members, the conveyance object having been sent out from a nip that is formed by the two rotation members that are in contact with one another, the separation member includes a wavy part directed toward the nip and inclined from a normal to a center line of the two rotation members at a predetermined angle. The wavy part covers a contact zone where the conveyance object can come into contact with the separation member along a conveyance direction and along a width direction of the conveyance object, and the wavy part has a plurality of depressions parallel to each other and extending in a direction inclined from the conveyance direction and inclined from the width direction, at least two of the depressions overlapping along the conveyance direction.

Separation member, separation device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes a fixing belt that is rotatable and a pressure rotator that is pressed against the fixing belt to form a fixing nip therebetween. A polishing roller separably contacts the fixing belt and slides over an outer circumferential surface of the fixing belt while the polishing roller is pressed against the fixing belt. At least one support supports and stretches the fixing belt. A polishing aid, which is disposed opposite the polishing roller via the fixing belt, supports and stretches the fixing belt. The polishing roller is disposed opposite the polishing aid via the fixing belt to form a polishing nip between the polishing roller and the fixing belt while the polishing roller is pressed against the fixing belt. The polishing roller changes a rotation locus of the fixing belt along at least a part of a circumferential face of the polishing roller.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes a fixing belt that is endless and rotatable in a rotation direction and a nip former stretching the fixing belt and including an elastic layer as a surface layer. A pressure rotator presses against the nip former via the fixing belt to form a fixing nip between the fixing belt and the pressure rotator, through which a recording medium is conveyed. A presser is disposed downstream from an exit of the fixing nip in a recording medium conveyance direction. The presser brings the fixing belt into contact with the pressure rotator.

A fixing device includes an endless fixing belt stretched taut across a first roller and a second roller and rotatable in a predetermined direction of rotation. A pressure rotator is pressed against the first roller via the fixing belt to form a fixing nip between the pressure rotator and the fixing belt, through which a recording medium is conveyed. A separation aid, disposed downstream from the fixing nip in the direction of rotation of the fixing belt to separate the recording medium from the fixing belt, includes a contact face contacting an inner circumferential surface of the fixing belt and a bulge disposed at a center of the contact face in a longitudinal direction of the separation aid. The bulge projects toward the inner circumferential surface of the fixing belt relative to each lateral end of the contact face in the longitudinal direction of the separation aid.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus that include a separation aid disposed downstream from the fixing nip

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device that forms an image on a sheet, a fixing device including a fixing member that fixes the image formed on the sheet and a polishing device that polishes a surface of the fixing member, and circuitry that determines whether an interruption required operation is to be performed, at a time while image formation is being performed by the image forming device to execute an image forming job, or at a time after image formation is executed for one job and before image formation is to be executed for a subsequent job, controls the image forming device to stop image formation to perform the interruption required operation, based on a determination indicating that the interruption required operation is to be performed, and controls the polishing device to polish the surface of the fixing member concurrently with the interruption required operation.

Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and recording medium storing image forming program

A fixing device includes a fixing belt looped over a first roller and a second roller and rotatable in a predetermined direction of rotation and a pressure rotator to press against the first roller via the fixing belt to form a fixing nip between the fixing belt and the pressure rotator. A separation aid, disposed downstream from the fixing nip in the direction of rotation of the fixing belt, contacts an inner circumferential surface of the fixing belt to decrease a radius of curvature of the fixing belt. A polishing roller, disposed downstream from the separation aid and upstream from the second roller in the direction of rotation of the fixing belt, contacts an outer circumferential surface of the fixing belt. An opposed roller, disposed opposite the polishing roller via the fixing belt, forms a polishing nip between the polishing roller and the fixing belt.

A fixing device includes a cylindrical heat roller; a plurality of heaters disposed inside the heat roller, extending along a longitudinal axis of the heat roller; and a heat adjuster, disposed among the plurality of heaters, to adjust heat from one to another of the plurality of heaters. An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section to form an image on a recording medium; and the fixing device as described above, to fix the image onto the recording medium.

A fixing device includes a guide disposed downstream from a fixing nip formed between a fixing rotator and a pressure rotator, through which a recording medium is conveyed. A pressure rotator side separator, disposed downstream from the fixing nip in a recording medium conveyance direction, includes an opposed tip disposed opposite an outer circumferential surface of the pressure rotator and a separation-conveyance face that separates the recording medium from the pressure rotator. The opposed tip and the separation-conveyance face define a hypothetical circle having a curvature not smaller than 1/20 that intersects a guide face of the guide at an intersection at which a hypothetical tangent is tangent to the hypothetical circle. The hypothetical tangent and the guide face define a downstream intersection angle that is downstream from the hypothetical tangent in the recording medium conveyance direction and is greater than 90 degrees.

Fixing device including a separator to separate a recording medium from a pressure rotator and image forming apparatus including the fixing device

A fixing device includes a first roller contacting a fixing belt to generate a rotation friction force therebetween to rotate the fixing belt and a second roller contacting the fixing belt to exert a first inhibition force to the fixing belt in a direction opposite a direction of rotation of the fixing belt. A separation aid is disposed downstream from a fixing nip formed between the fixing belt and a pressure rotator in the direction of rotation of the fixing belt to decrease a curvature of the fixing belt and exert a second inhibition force to the fixing belt in the direction opposite the direction of rotation of the fixing belt. The second inhibition force is added to the first inhibition force to obtain a combined inhibition force that is smaller than the rotation friction force between the fixing belt and the first roller.

A fixing device includes a fixing belt stretched taut across a fixing rotator and a support rotator. A pressure rotator is pressed against the fixing rotator via the fixing belt to form a fixing nip between the fixing belt and the pressure rotator, through which a recording medium bearing a toner image is conveyed. The pressure rotator includes a recess defining an outer diameter of each lateral end of the pressure rotator in an axial direction thereof that is greater than an outer diameter of a center of the pressure rotator in the axial direction thereof. A first separator is disposed downstream from the fixing nip in a recording medium conveyance direction and contacts an inner circumferential surface of the fixing belt. The first separator is isolated from the pressure rotator and includes a projection disposed opposite the recess of the pressure rotator.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus that include a separator disposed downstream from a fixing nip

A fixing device includes an elastic rotator and a cooler disposed opposite the rotator to cool the rotator with cooling air. A mover contacts and moves the rotator to a first position where the rotator is disposed opposite the cooler with an increased first interval therebetween and a second position where the rotator is disposed opposite the cooler with a decreased second interval therebetween. A rectification plate is movably mounted on the cooler to contact the rotator constantly to guide the cooling air to the cooler.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Kaori Hemmi