Konica Corporation

Konica Minolta, Inc.

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Konica-minolta Holdings, Inc.

Masahiro Onodera

Satoshi Haneda

Shuta Hamada

Hisayoshi Nagase

Hiroyuki Tokimatsu

Toshihide Miura

Hiroshi Fuma

Kunio Shigeta

Junichi Hamada

Hiroyuki Nomori

Yotaro Sato

Isao Endo

Makoto Fujii

Yoshio Yamazaki

Fumitaka Mochizuki

Hidetoshi Katayanagi

Hiroshi Funabiki

Yasuo Shirodai

Toru Komatsu

Sachie Hosogoezawa

Haruo Iwahashi

Provided is an image forming apparatus capable of preventing or suppressing occurrence of density unevenness even when a shearing force is applied between an image face on paper and a fixing belt. The image forming apparatus includes an image former, a fixer, and a controller. The image former forms a toner image constituted by a plurality of dots each containing a toner on paper. The fixer includes a fixing member moving at a first velocity and a pressure member forming a fixing nip portion with the fixing member and moving at a second velocity, and fixes the toner image on the paper at the fixing nip portion. When the first velocity and the second velocity at the fixing nip portion are different, the controller determines a toner amount to be attached to paper so as to make a toner amount distribution different in each of the dots before fixing.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes: a fixer including fixing rotation body and pressing rotation body with a fixing nip therebetween, and heats and presses a fed sheet through the fixing nip to fix a toner image on the sheet to the sheet; and a hardware processor making a velocity difference between respective surface velocities of the fixing rotation body and the sheet passing through the fixing nip during a high-gloss mode operation to adjust a gloss of the toner image on the sheet. The hardware processor performs a control so that an absolute value of a velocity difference between respective surface velocities of the fixing rotation body and the pressing rotation body in press-contact when the sheet does not pass through the fixing nip is less than one between respective surface velocities of the fixing rotation body and the sheet when the sheet passes through the fixing nip during the high-gloss mode operation.

Provided is an image forming apparatus and a control program. A fixer includes a first roller which includes an elastic layer having a predetermined thickness in a surface, a second roller which includes an elastic layer having a thickness smaller than that of the first roller in a surface, a fixing belt which is laid across the first roller and forms a fixing nip portion between the second roller and the fixing belt, and first and second drive motors that drive the first and second rollers, respectively. A hardware processor controls a drive current of the first drive motor so that an electromotive current generated in the second drive motor has a predetermined value in a case where the first roller is rotatively driven by the first drive motor and the second roller is caused to rotate as a follower of the first roller and the fixing belt.

Image forming apparatus and control program

An image forming system includes first and second image forming apparatuses including respective image forming sections and fixing sections. When the system forms an image on a sheet using the first image forming section, then forms an image on the sheet using the second image forming apparatus, and forms an image on a same side of a sheet which has a nonuniform sheet thickness and first and second regions respectively having small and large sheet thicknesses, the image in the first region is formed and fixed using the first image forming apparatus and the image in the second region is formed and fixed using the second image forming apparatus, and the respective fixing sections of the first and the second image forming apparatuses pass the nonuniform sheet while applying a second load lower than a first load applied to a sheet having a uniform sheet thickness.

Image forming system, image forming method, imaging forming apparatus, job management method, and computer-readable non-transitory recording medium strong job management program

An image forming system including: a fixing device for fixing a toner image on the recording sheet; a curl flattening section for flattening a curl formed on the recording sheet, and conveying the recording sheet in a downstream direction against the fixing device; a first conveying route for conveying the recording sheet having been processed by the fixing device to the curl flattening section; a second conveying route, being longer than the first conveying route, for conveying the processed recording sheet to the curl flattening section; a switching section for switching the conveying route, to guide to the first conveying route or the second conveying route; and a control section for controlling the switching section to guide the recording sheet to the first conveying route or the second conveying route, based on a type of the recording sheet, having been processed by the fixing device.

Image forming system

An image forming apparatus includes: a first rotary body; a second rotary body provided to face the first rotary body, wherein the first rotary body and the second rotary body form a nip portion by coming in contact with each other to rotate, at which a sheet bearing a toner image is conveyed while being heated and pressed, thereby fixing the toner image onto the sheet; a first nozzle which blows air to a first air blowing position established on a circumferential surface of the first rotary body and on a side of an outlet of the nip portion; and a second nozzle which blows air to a second air blowing position established on a circumferential surface of the second rotary body and established downstream of the first air blowing position in a traveling direction of the sheet.

Image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet at a nip portion formed by rotary bodies

An image forming apparatus including: an image forming section to form a toner image on a recording sheet; a fixing device which has a fixing roller, an endless fixing belt trained with a tension about at least two rollers including the fixing roller, a heating device to heat the endless fixing belt, and a pressure roller to press the fixing roller through the endless belt, wherein the fixing device fixes the toner image on the recording sheet at a nip portion formed between the heated endless fixing belt and the pressure roller; a tension changing section to change the tension of the endless fixing belt; a recording sheet discriminating section to discriminate a type of recording sheet to be used; and a controller controling to make the tension changing section to change the tension of the fixing belt corresponding to the type of recording sheet.

Image forming apparatus having fixing device with endless fixing belt

An image forming apparatus comprising a fixing roller, an endless fixing belt engaged at least with the fixing roller, and a pressing roller opposite to the fixing roller with the endless fixing belt between them; wherein the image forming apparatus is equipped with a pressure changing member for changing the mean pressure on a second pressing area against which the pressing roller pressed the fixing roller via the fixing belt in the pressure area formed by the pressing roller.

Image forming apparatus having a fixing device for fixing toner image formed on a sheet by an endless fixing belt engaged with a fixing roller

An embodiment of the invention includes a fixing device of an image forming apparatus. The fixing device may include a first pressure applying roller, a second pressure applying roller which is pressed onto the first pressure applying roller, and a fixing belt which is entrained about the first pressure applying roller and is pressed onto the first pressure applying roller by the second pressure applying roller. When a transfer material carrying an unfixed image is inserted between the second pressure applying roller and the fixing belt, the unfixed image may be brought into contact with the fixing belt so that the unfixed image is heated and fixed on the transfer material. A frictional coefficient between the fixing belt and the first pressure applying roller may be set to be less than a frictional coefficient between the fixing belt and the transfer material.

This invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a fixing device which pressurizes and heats an unfixed toner image on a paper sheet as the transfer medium to fix the image on the paper sheet as the transfer medium. This image forming apparatus includes a glossiness changing device and/or a fixing condition changing device which changes fixing conditions in accordance with the thickness or thickness information of a paper sheet as the transfer medium, and a control section for changing the output order of fixed images to be printed out. This makes it possible to rearrange a printing order so as to shorten the time required to switch a glossiness or change a fixing condition, thereby greatly improving printing efficiency.

Image forming apparatus that controls a fixing device to fix a toner image onto paper with improved productivity

A fixing apparatus for fixing a toner image on a transfer sheet, comprises a fixing roller comprising a cylindrical light-transmitting base body capable of transmitting a heat ray; a light-transmitting elastic layer including a first light-transmitting elastic layer provided on an outer periphery of said light-transmitting base body and made of a material having a hardness A, and a second light-transmitting elastic layer provided on an outer periphery of said first light-transmitting elastic layer and made of a material having a hardness A; and a heat ray absorbing layer provided on an outer periphery of said light-transmitting elastic layer and to absorb said heat ray.

Fixing device for image-forming apparatus

In a method of controlling a fixing device having a heating roller containing a heat source, at least one supporting roller spaced from the heating roller, a fixing belt trained about the heating roller and the supporting roller, and a pressing roller placed to form a nipping area between the fixing belt and the pressing roller, giving a pressing force to the heating roller or the supporting roller through the fixing belt, the method includes the steps of: presetting a desired glossiness of fixed images; detecting a temperature of the pressing roller; calculating a target heating roller temperature from the preset glossiness of fixed images, the detected temperature of the pressing roller, a calculated loaded nipping time, a false nipping time, and a loaded nipping surface pressure; and controlling an operating status of the heat source according to the calculated target heating roller temperature.

Fixing device controlling method, fixing device, and image forming apparatus for forming fixed images of desired glossiness

There is described a method for manufacturing fixing rollers and a roller body holding device utilized for manufacturing fixing rollers. The method includes steps of press-fitting flanges into a roller body, shaped in a hollow cylinder, from each of both end openings of the roller body with putting an elastic material between each of the flanges and the roller body; installing the roller body in a shaping mold so that the roller body is supported by the flanges and the elastic material at a predetermined position in the shaping mold; injecting a melted rubber into a space between the roller body and the shaping mold from an injection opening; and curing the melted rubber injected into the space. The roller body holding device for holding a roller body is shaped in a hollow cylinder and includes a flange, which is press-fitted into the roller body from each of end openings of the roller body; and an elastic material disposed between the flange and the roller body.

Device for holding fixing roller, method for manufacturing fixing roller, and image forming apparatus

The fixing apparatus fixes a toner image on a transfer material by applying heat and pressure onto the transfer material. It uses a roll-shaped rotary member for applying heat. The roll-shaped rotary member has a ray radiating device for radiating heat rays inside a cylindrical ray-transmitting base member. A cylindrical ray-transmitting elastic/insulating layer is on the base member and a heat ray absorbing layer is provided on the elastic/insulating layer. The difference between the heat ray absorbing ratio (%) per unit thickness (mm) in the base member and that in the ray-transmitting elastic/insulating layer is made not more than 20%. The fluctuations of thickness in the base member and the elastic/insulating layer are equal to, or not more than, 0.1 mm.

Fixing apparatus with a ray transmitting device inside one roller

A fixing apparatus for fixing a toner image on a transfer sheet with heat and pressure is provided with (A) a heating roller including a cylindrical light transmitting base member; a heat ray generating device, provided inside of the cylindrical light transmitting base member, to generate a heat ray; a heat ray transmitting elastic layer generate a heat ray; a heat ray transmitting elastic layer provided on an outer surface of the cylindrical light transmitting base member and including a rubber layer; and a heat ray absorbing layer, provided on the outer surface of the cylindrical light transmitting base member, to absorb the heat ray passing through both of the cylindrical light transmitting base member and the heat ray transmitting elastic layer, and (B) a pressing roller provided to come in contact with the heating roller so that the transfer sheet is nipped with a nip width between the heating roller and the pressing roller. The pressing roller includes a rubber layer and is linked with a driving device so that the pressing roller rotates the heating roller through the contact therewith.

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Hino, Japan

Masahiro Onodera