Konica Minolta, Inc.

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Kosuke Sasaki

Yasuhiro Ishihara

Kenji Tamaki

Toshiaki Tanaka

Isao Watanabe

Shohei Otsu

Naoki Ohashi

Kenji Yamamoto

Masaaki Uchiyama

Masayuki Watanabe

Tadayuki Ueda

Kenji Izumiya

Hirofumi Nakajima

Yoshihito Sasamoto

Hiroshi Oyama

Kenji Nakayama

Toru Kasamatsu

Teruhiko Toyoizumi

Masashi Sugano

Tadashi Matsudaira

Takeshi Tamada

Yumiko Izumiya

Hidenori Mine

Satoshi Miyajima

Takanobu Shiki

Yukinobu Iguchi

Satoru Sasaki

Takumi Shirakuma

Kiyoto Kojima

In a head-up display device, in accordance with lifting and lowering operations of a combiner, each protrusion of a combiner support moves along a guide portion, causing a cover-operation member to turn about a rotary axis in a direction in which a cover is opened or closed. The guide portion includes, from top in order: a first guide portion which engages with the protrusion in a first state (use state); a second guide portion which engages with the protrusion when the cover-operation member turns; and a third guide portion which engages with the protrusion in a second state (non-use state). The angle formed by the direction in which the first guide portion extends and the direction in which the third guide portion extends is less than the angle formed by the direction in which the first guide portion extends and the direction in which the second guide portion extends.

Head-up display device

A fixing apparatus configured to fix a coloring material attached to a recording medium by heating the recording medium by using a fixing member includes: a heater configured to heat the fixing member; an AC power source configured to apply AC voltage to the heater; a temperature detection unit configure to detect a temperature of the heater; and a power control unit configured to control drive power supplied to the heater from the AC power source by calculating an application pattern of AC voltage to be applied to the heater based on an output of the temperature detection unit, and by appropriately selecting a half wave of AC waveform from the AC power source based on the application pattern, wherein the power control unit supplies power equivalent to a waveform with a predetermined phase angle on a non-selected half wave from the AC power source to the heater.

Fixing apparatus and image forming apparatus for controling power supplied to heater based on temperature detection

An image formation apparatus comprising: a belt member suspended by a plurality of supporting rotating bodies and thus rotating; a cleaning member removing toner adhering to the belt member; a tray receiving waste toner removed from the belt member by the cleaning member; a vibration mechanism vibrating the tray to move the waste toner toward a lower side of the tray; a steering control mechanism to perform movement control to move the belt member in an axial direction of the supporting rotating bodies while the belt member rotates; and a vibration adjustment mechanism to change a manner of vibration of the vibration mechanism, based on the movement control by the steering control mechanism.

Image formation apparatus and method for controlling image formation apparatus

When changing the turn-on/off patterns, a controller of a fixing device sets a control interval of the turn-on/off pattern so as to be longer than a first period of time that does not exert any influence to a flicker value and to be shorter than a second period of time that does not exert any influence to a response to temperature control. The controller of the fixing device selects a third turn-on/off pattern in which power difference between power of a first turn-on/off pattern before the change in the turn-on/off pattern and power of a second turn-on/off pattern after the change in the turn-on/off pattern is smaller than a set reference power difference.

Fixing device and image-forming apparatus using the same

A sheet humidification apparatus includes a detect sensor that detects a position of a sheet which is being conveyed; a humidifier that changes a humidification amount and humidifies the sheet; and a controller that controls the humidifier such that a first region on a front end side of the sheet in a conveyance direction is humidified with a first humidification amount, and a second region of the sheet other than the first region is humidified with a second humidification amount larger than the first humidification amount in accordance with a position of the sheet detected by the detect sensor.

Sheet humidification apparatus and humidification control method

A fixing apparatus included in an image forming apparatus includes a fixing heater that performs heat fixing, a control unit that controls the fixing heater based on control patterns, a temperature sensor that detects temperature of the fixing heater, and a voltage detection unit that detects a voltage that is applied to the fixing heater. In each control pattern, turn-on period of the fixing heater and turn-off period of the fixing heater are set according to a control cycle of a half cycle duty control. The control unit controls the switching unit to turn on or off the fixing heater using a combination of the control patterns each satisfying a standard for preventing a flicker during each control period of time that is integral multiplication of the control cycle according to the temperature of the fixing heater and the voltage value allied to the fixing heater.

Fixing apparatus with a control unit for powering a fixing heater using a combination of control patterns, and image-forming apparatus using the same

An image forming apparatus is provided with a fixing unit in which flickers can be effectively reduced while inhibiting electric current imbalance. The fixing unit comprises a fixing heater, a switching unit for switching the fixing heater on/off with an AC power source, and a control unit which controls the switching unit to switch in units of the half wave period of the AC power source AC, and a storing unit for storing a plurality of energization patterns which define the ways of performing the switch control. Each energization pattern corresponds to a control cycle which contains a three or more odd number of the half wave periods each of which is either an OFF period and an ON period, and all the half wave periods of the smaller in number of the ON periods and the OFF periods are not successively arranged.

Fixing unit and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus having: an endless fixing belt; a heating member heating the fixing belt; a support member maintaining the fixing belt substantially circular; a pressing member in contact with the fixing belt to form a fixing nip portion; a temperature sensor; a position detector; a storage storing temperatures and positions of the fixing belt detected by the temperature sensor and the position detector; and a control unit. The control unit is operable in a characteristic storing mode and in a fixing mode. In the characteristic storing mode, temperatures of the fixing belt associated with positions are detected, and the detected temperatures and positions are stored in the storage. In the fixing mode, temperatures of the fixing nip portion are predicted with reference to the temperatures and positions stored in the storage, and the heating member is controlled such that the predicted temperatures become a target temperature.

Image forming apparatus

A fixing device for fixing an unfixed toner image on a recording sheet by passing the recording sheet through a fixing nip and applying heat and pressure to the recording sheet, the fixing device comprising: a heater including a resistance heater part and a supporting member, the resistance heater part having a positive resistance-temperature characteristic in a temperature range above a predetermined level, and the supporting member being insulative and supporting the resistance heater part such that the resistance heater part applies heat to the recording sheet; a current detector detecting a current supplied to the resistance heater part; and an abnormality determiner determining whether the resistance heater part has an abnormality, based on an initial current detected by the current detector at a predetermined time after a beginning of power supply to the resistance heater part and before the temperature of the resistance heater part reaches the predetermined level.

Fixing device and image formation apparatus

A heater control device that performs phase control of AC power and supplies phase-controlled power to a heater, the heater control device including: a control unit configured to, in the phase control, gradually increase an on-duty ratio until a target power amount is supplied to the heater; and a judgment unit configured to judge whether or not the on-duty ratio is within a predetermined range of on-duty ratios including a 50% on-duty ratio. The control unit (i) increases the on-duty ratio by a first amount while the on-duty ratio is within the predetermined range, and (ii) increases the on-duty ratio by a second amount while the on-duty ratio is not within the predetermined range. The first amount is greater than the second amount.

Heater control device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes a temperature measuring unit, configured to measure the temperature in regions that extend partially along the outer surface of a heating rotating body, which includes a resistance heating layer, in the circumferential direction and are aligned in the direction of the axis of rotation of the heat rotating body, and a control unit configured to sample temperatures, measured by the temperature measuring unit in each of the regions, over the entire outer surface of the heating rotating body in the circumferential direction by causing the heating rotating body to rotate while supplying a predetermined amount of power to the resistance heating layer, and to determine whether an abnormality has occurred in the resistance heating layer based on the difference between the maximum temperature and the minimum temperature among the sampled temperatures in each region.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus

The present invention provides a fixing device that can interrupt power supply to the resistive heat layer more reliably than the conventional technology, for example, at occurrence of abnormality. Electrodesandare provided on a circumferential surface of a fixing roller that includes a resistive heat layer that generates heat by receiving power supply, and power is supplied to the resistive heat layer when power supplying electrodesandthat are electrically connected to an electric power sourceare slidingly in contact with the electrodesand. An insulating tapeis attached on the electrode, and the drive controllerrotates a motoruntil the electrodeand the insulating tapeare in contact with each other, so that power supply to the resistive heat layer is interrupted.

Fixing device, image forming apparatus and heat generating rotational body

To enhance the fixing quality of a fixing device to continuously fix sheets of a plurality of sizes, a carbon nanotube sheet, in which a plurality of carbon nanotubes are arranged such that the longitudinal directions thereof are oriented in the same direction, is provided on the surface of a heating rollerso that the carbon nanotube sheet ranges from the position a predetermined distance inside and the position a predetermined distance outside of the position through which each of the both edges of a sheet Pwith smaller width dimension than a sheet Pof the largest width dimension to be fixed passes.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Kosuke Sasaki