Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Mingguang Zhang

Kenji Takeuchi

Tokifumi Tanaka

Kazuna Taguchi

Shuhei Fukue

Tomonori Watanabe

Hiroshi Handa

Hirotaka Imaeda

Shintaro Sakaguchi

Yusuke Mizuno

Hideki Kanada

Shunsuke Ueki

Kei Ishida

Takuji Matsuno

Tatsuo Ogasawara

Masahito Kajita

Sadaharu Kato

Kotaro Fujishiro

A fixing device includes a heating roller and a pressure unit configured to nip a sheet therebetween to thermally fix a toner image onto the sheet. The pressure unit includes: an endless belt; an elastic plate; and a holder having an upstream supporting surface and a downstream supporting surface. The elastic plate has: a nip-forming surface having at least a portion for nipping the endless belt in cooperation with the heating roller to form a nipping region between the nip-forming surface and the heating roller; an upstream supported surface in contact with and supported by the upstream supporting surface; a downstream supported surface in contact with and supported by the downstream supporting surface; an upstream connecting surface connecting the nip-forming surface and the upstream supported surface to each other; and a downstream connecting surface connecting the nip-forming surface and the downstream supported surface to each other.

Fixing device including elastic plate for nipping endless belt in cooperation with heating roller, and holder having supporting surfaces for supporting elastic plate

An image forming apparatus includes a first fixing member, a second fixing member, a heater, a switching mechanism capable of switching a nip state of the first fixing member and the second fixing member between (i) a first nip state in which the belt is nipped between each of the first nip forming member and the second nip forming member, and the first fixing member, and (ii) a second nip state in which the belt is nipped between the first nip forming member and the first fixing member in a state in which the belt is not nipped between the second nip forming member and the first fixing member, and a controller configured to switch the nip state from the first nip state to the second nip state when a jam error occurs in the first nip state.

Image forming apparatus and method for controlling the same

A fuser configured to nip a sheet by a heating member and a pressurizing member and to thermally fix an image formed in a toner on the sheet, is provided. The fuser includes a supporting member, a temperature sensor, and a sensor cover. The supporting member supports the heating member. The temperature sensor is attached to the supporting member and is configured to detect a temperature of the heating member without contacting the heating member. The sensor cover is located on a side of the temperature sensor opposite to the heating member to cover the temperature sensor. The sensor cover includes a base having an opening at an upper position with respect to the temperature sensor and a windshield wall located in adjacent to the base. The windshield wall protrudes upward and extends in a lengthwise direction for the heating member.

Fuser

A fixing device includes a rotating body, an endless belt, a base material of the endless belt being made of a heat-resistant resin having a glass transition temperature of 140&#xb0; C. or more, a heater configured to heat at least one of the rotating body and the endless belt, a sliding sheet contacting an inner circumferential surface of the endless belt, a base material of the sliding sheet being made of a heat-resistant resin having a glass transition temperature of 140&#xb0; C. or more, a pressure pad, the endless belt and the sliding sheet being interposed between the pressure pad and the rotating body, and grease provided between the endless belt and the sliding sheet. The grease includes a base oil made of a fluorine oil and a thickener made of a solid lubricant containing fluorine. The consistency of the grease is 330 to 385 at 25&#xb0; C.

Fixing device

A device includes a rotator having a rotation axis, a belt, a nip forming member surrounded by the belt and configured to, with the rotator, pinch the belt to form a nip, an urging member configured to urge one of the rotator and the nip forming member towards the other in a particular direction perpendicular to the rotation axis, an upstream guide and a downstream guide. The upstream guide includes an upstream guide surface configured to guide an inner peripheral surface of the belt. The nip forming member includes a facing surface which faces the rotator. An upstream edge of the facing surface in the moving direction is located at a position farther from the rotation axis, in the particular direction, than a downstream edge of the upstream guide surface.

Device including rotator and belt, such as a fixing device for an image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device including a heating roller configured to heat a sheet when the heating roller rotates, a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the heating roller; and a controller configured to obtain a temperature detected by the temperature sensor at intervals of a predetermined sampling time, calculate, at the intervals of the predetermined sampling time, a temperature-decrease-amount of the detected temperature over a unit time that is longer than the predetermined sampling time, and stop rotation of the heating roller when the calculated temperature-decrease-amount is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

A device includes a rotator, a belt facing the rotator and having an outer peripheral surface which contacts the rotator to form a nip therebetween, a first pad configured to press the belt toward the rotator to form one part of the nip, a second pad configured to press the belt toward the rotator, to form another part of the nip, a holder holding the first pad and the second pad, a stay supporting the holder, and an urging member urging the stay toward the rotator in an urging direction. The second pad is located upstream of the first pad in a conveyance direction in the nip orthogonal to the urging direction. At least a portion of a contact area between the stay and the holder is located downstream of a center of the nip and upstream of a front edge of the first pad in the conveyance direction.

Fixing device including plural nip pads

In a fixing device, a pressure unit is pressed toward a roller by an arm, to form a nip region. The pressure unit includes a belt configured to contact the roller in a nip region, a pressure pad configured to press the belt in combination with the roller, and a side guide including an end guide surface configured to guide a side end of the belt, and a stay configured to support the pressure pad. A supporting member is located on an outer side of the side guide that is opposite to an inner side on which the end guide surface faces. The supporting member is held between the stay and the arm, the supporting member comprising a contact surface which contacts the side guide and on which the side guide is swayably supported.

Fixing device with supported side guide

A fuser is described including a heater, a belt, a rotating member, and a pad. A nip portion is formed between the belt and the rotating member as the pad presses the belt toward the rotating member. The pad is biased toward a restricting member. The biasing may be performed by one or more springs. The spring may be a compression spring, a tension spring, and/or a plate spring among other types of springs.

Fuser including rotatable member and endless belt

A fixing device includes a belt, and a belt guide configured to guide movement of the belt. The belt guide includes a base part and a first protrusion protruding from a surface of the base part toward a surface of the belt. The first protrusion has a distal end surface and a side surface, the surface of the belt being configured to contact the distal end surface, the distal end surface having a distal surface roughness, the side surface connecting the distal end surface and the surface of the base part. At least one of the side surface and the surface of the base part includes a rough region having a surface roughness higher than the distal surface roughness.

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Nagoya, Japan

Mingguang Zhang