Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.

Kyocera Mita Corporation

Japan Storage Battery Co., Ltd.

Gs Yuasa International Ltd.

Kuniaki Nakano

Susumu Murakami

Yoshie Iwakura

Takahiro Fukunaga

Hideshi Izumi

Yoshihiro Yamagishi

Hiroshi Yamazaki

Eiji Nimura

Koji Kuramashi

Minoru Tomiyori

Shinji Taniguchi

Masashi Hirai

Yoshiharu Kanematsu

Masanori Yamada

Einosuke Kikuchi

Yasaburo Takeji

Naoaki Kurimoto

Kazuaki Ishikawa

Jiro Honda

Shigeyuki Mori

Toshiki Takiguchi

Hiroshi Kubota

Kenichi Kasama

Takahisa Narikiyo

Shinichi Uchida

Hideki Ishida

Toshio Yamanaka

Akihiro Kondo

Masami Fuchi

Hiroshi Tachiki

Mikio Kakui

Eiji Nakajima

Sueaki Okamoto

Tomomi Tanaka

Takashi Hori

Yoshiaki Masuda

Takashi Miyake

Shoko Gon

Toshiaki Kusuda

Kazuya Kamidaira

Takahiko Yoshida

Tomohiko Fujii

Kiyoaki Miyamoto

Yuuya Shimohora

Tadakazu Ohgiri

Yoshiaki Kojoh

Kazuhiko Kawasaki

A fixing device includes a fixing member, a pressurizing member, a charging portion, and a control portion. The fixing member rotates while being heated. The pressurizing member forms a nip portion between itself and a surface of the fixing member in such a way as to hold a sheet therebetween and conveys the sheet by rotating together with the fixing member, wherein an image of toner has been formed on the sheet. The charging portion electrically charges the surface of the fixing member to a polarity that is same as a charging polarity of the toner by supplying a charging current to a pair of electrodes that is disposed to face the surface of the fixing member. The control portion derives an index value of a charge amount of the toner on the sheet, and adjusts the charging current based on the index value.

Fixing device, image forming apparatus, fixing control method

A fixing device includes a first fixing member, a second fixing member, a charging portion, and a control portion. The first fixing member makes contact with a toner image on a sheet conveyed along a conveying passage. The second fixing member forms a nip. The charging portion generates an application current. The control portion can perform an application mode, in which the application current is generated, and a standby mode, in which no application current is generated. The control portion performs the application mode during a first period after initial start-up until the passage of a predetermined period and performs the standby mode during a second period after the passage of the first period until the passage of a predetermined period.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus therewith

A fixing device includes a fixing member, a pressurizing member, a charging portion, and a control portion. The fixing member rotates while being heated. The pressurizing member forms a nip portion between itself and a surface of the fixing member in such a way as to hold a sheet therebetween and conveys the sheet by rotating together with the fixing member, wherein an image of toner has been formed on the sheet. The charging portion electrically charges the surface of the fixing member to a polarity that is same as a charging polarity of the toner by supplying a charging current to a pair of electrodes that is disposed to face the surface of the fixing member. The control portion increases the charging current as time passes during a control time period that corresponds to a time period for which the sheet passes through the nip portion.

Image forming apparatus, fixing control method

A fixing device includes a fixing member, a pressurizing member, a charging portion, and a control portion. The fixing member rotates while being heated. The pressurizing member forms a nip portion between itself and a surface of the fixing member in such a way as to hold a sheet therebetween and conveys the sheet by rotating together with the fixing member, wherein an image of toner has been formed on the sheet. The charging portion electrically charges the surface of the fixing member to a polarity that is same as a charging polarity of the toner by supplying a charging current to a pair of electrodes that is disposed to face the surface of the fixing member. The control portion acquires sheet information that includes one or more of length information, width information, and thickness information of the sheet and adjusts the charging current based on the sheet information.

A fixing device includes an endless fixing belt, a belt guide, and a frame member. The belt guide has a fastening portion, an arc portion, and a contact portion. The fastening portion is fastened to the frame member. The arc portion extends from the fastening portion while curving in an arc shape along the inner circumferential face of the fixing belt and has an elastic force acting outward in the radial direction. The contact portion extends from one end of the arc portion in the circumferential direction toward the frame member and has a counter-face facing the inner circumferential face of the arc portion. The frame member has a regulating portion that extends toward the belt guide to make surface contact with, so as to overlap, the counter-face of the contact portion.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes a fixing member, a pressing member, a pressure adjustment part and a linkage part. The pressing member forms a pressing area with the fixing member. The pressure adjustment part moves one of the fixing member and the pressing member in a direction close to the other of the fixing member and the pressing member to increase a pressure of the pressing area and moves one of the fixing member and the pressing member in a direction away from the other of the fixing member and the pressing member to decrease the pressure of the pressing area. The linkage part transmits an operation to decrease the pressure of the pressing area to the fixing member and then moves the fixing member along an axial direction.

A fixing device includes a fixing member, a pressing member, a charger, and adjusting part. The fixing member heats toner images on media. The pressing member forms nips with the fixing member and presses the media. The charger uses a corona discharge that occurs in an electric field generated around a discharging electrode so as to charge the fixing member to a same polarity of toner in the toner images. The adjusting part increases a bias applied to the discharging electrode in accordance with increase of a cumulative number calculated by accumulating a number of the media on which the toner images are fixed or increase of a cumulative printing amount calculated by multiplying a printing rate that indicates a ratio of an area of the toner images to an area of the media by the cumulative number.

A fixing device includes a first fixing member, a second fixing member, and a charge application portion. The first fixing member contacts unfixed toner on a sheet conveyed along a conveyance path. The second fixing member forms a nip portion between itself and the first fixing member such that the sheet passes through the nip portion. The charge application portion applies an electric charge to the unfixed toner on the sheet and to an outer circumferential surface of the first fixing member at a region on an upstream side of the nip portion in a movement direction of the outer circumferential surface, by causing a corona discharge to be generated between a discharge electrode and a counter electrode that are disposed apart from the outer circumferential surface of the first fixing member.

A unit assembly () includes an image forming unit () and an intermediate transfer unit (), and is configured insertably/removably with respect to an apparatus main body. The image forming unit () includes a plurality of process units (A toD) and a joint member () that joints the plurality of process units (A toD). The intermediate transfer unit () is held by the image forming unit (). The intermediate transfer unit () and the joint member () have a first positioning section () for mutually relative positioning.

Unit assembly and image forming apparatus

A unit assembly () is provided with an image forming unit () and an intermediate transfer unit (), and is configured to be capable of being inserted into and removed from an apparatus body (). The image forming unit () has first processing units (A toD), developing units (A toD), a positioning portion, and a link member (). The positioning portion is provided in each of the developing units (A toD) and determines the mutual relative positions of the developing units (A toD). The link member () links the developing units (A toD) to each other. The intermediate transfer unit () is held by the image forming unit ().

A fixing device includes a fixing belt, a pressuring member, a heating source, a heat conducting member and a reflecting member. The fixing belt is arranged rotatably. The pressuring member is arranged outside the fixing belt and comes into pressure contact with the fixing belt to form a fixing nip. The heating source is arranged inside the fixing belt to emit radiant heat. The heat conducting member comes into contact with an inner circumference face of the fixing belt and absorbs the radiant heat emitted from the heating source. The reflecting member includes a reflecting part and a nip forming part. The reflecting part reflects the radiant heat emitted from the heating source toward the heat conducting member. The nip forming part is unified with the reflecting part and comes into contact with the inner circumference face of the fixing belt to press the fixing belt to the pressuring member.

Fixing device fixing a toner image on a recording medium and image forming apparatus including the same

An image forming apparatus () includes, as working sections, a paper output tray (), a paper feeding cassette (), and attachment sections to which toner cartridges () through (), a waste toner container (), and a unit assembly () are attached. Out of the working sections, a high-frequency working section with a high working frequency is provided on a front surface of the image forming apparatus, and a low-frequency working section with a low working frequency is provided on a side surface of the image forming apparatus.

Image forming apparatus with high-and low-frequency working sections

A fixing device includes a fixing belt, a pressuring member, a nip forming member, a supporting member, a heating source, a heat conducting member, and a reflecting member. The pressuring member comes into pressure contact with the fixing belt to form a fixing nip. The nip forming member presses the fixing belt toward the pressuring member. The heat conducting member comes into contact with an inner circumference face of the fixing belt and absorbs a radiant heat emitted from the heating source. The reflecting member includes a reflecting part and a regulating part. The reflecting part reflects the radiant heat emitted to the supporting member toward the heat conducting member. The regulating part is unified with the reflecting part and comes into contact with the inner circumference face of the fixing belt to regulate looseness of the fixing belt.

A conveyance device includes a housing, a formation member, and a detection section. The housing has a first conveyance path, a second conveyance path, and a first communication path. The first and second conveyance paths each are a conveyance path for conveying a developer. The first communication path allows a first end portion of the first conveyance path and a first end portion of the second conveyance path to be in communication with each other via a communication surface. The communication surface has a first region and a second region. The formation member forms the second region of the communication surface so that a height of the second region from a bottom portion of the first communication path is lower than a height of the first region from the bottom portion of the first communication path. The detection section detects the amount of the developer.

Conveyance device, development device including conveyance device, and image forming apparatus including development device

A developer conveyance device includes a housing and a conveyance member. The conveyance member is supported to the housing and rotates to convey developer. The conveyance member includes a shaft portion, a helical member, and a plurality of reinforcement members. The plurality of reinforcement members are disposed in a circumferential direction of rotation of the conveyance member. When viewing a cross section in a direction intersecting with the rotational axis, an outer circumferential surface of the helical member includes a facing region and a non-facing region, which are defined for one reinforcement member of the plurality of reinforcement members, the facing region being a region where the one reinforcement member of the plurality of reinforcement members is projected on an opposite side of an outer circumferential surface of the helical member through the rotational axis, and the non-facing region being a region of the outer circumferential surface of the helical member which is different from the facing region. The other reinforcement member of the plurality of reinforcement members is disposed in the non-facing region.

Developer conveyance device, development device, and image forming apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Kuniaki Nakano