Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Ricoii Company, Limited

Naoki Iwaya

Toshihiko Shimokawa

Hiroshi Yoshinaga

Kenji Ishii

Masaaki Yoshikawa

Takahiro Imada

Yoshiki Yamaguchi

Yutaka Ikebuchi

Takamasa Hase

Ippei Fujimoto

Takuya Seshita

Hiromasa Takagi

Arinobu Yoshiura

Hajime Gotoh

Tetsuo Tokuda

Tadashi Ogawa

Teppei Kawata

Kensuke Yamaji

Akira Suzuki

Shuutaroh Yuasa

Akira Shinshi

Masahiko Satoh

Kazuya Saito

Takeshi Uchitani

Kenichi Hasegawa

Shuntaroh Tamaki

Yuji Arai

Takayuki Seki

Yasufumi Takahashi

Yoshiki Hozumi

Masaharu Furuya

Naomi Sugimoto

Kazuchika Saeki

Masanao Ehara

Hitoshi Fujiwara

Shinichi Namekata

Yasunori Ishigaya

Yoshiharu Takahashi

Ryuuichi Mimbu

Ryota Yamashina

Ken Omura

Takeshi Yamamoto

Masami Tomita

Setsuo Soga

Masahiko Sato

Hiroshi Kajiyama

Takahiro Yoshikawa

Toshiharu Hachisuka

Yasuhiro Kohira

Tetuso Tokuda

Osamu Ichihashi

Ryohei Matsuda

Tsutomu Kato

Shuntaro Tamaki

Masakazu Imai

Natsuki Watanabe

Kenji Ishi

Yutaka Ikebuchii

Toshihiko Shimokkawa

A fixing device includes a fixing belt, a nip formation pad, a support, an opposing rotator, a heat source, a housing, an inlet guide, an airflow generator, and an airflow guide. The fixing belt fixes an unfixed image on a recording medium. The nip formation pad is disposed inside a loop of the fixing belt. The support supports the nip formation pad. The opposing rotator abuts on the nip formation pad via the fixing belt. The heat source heats the fixing belt. The housing has an inlet opening to receive the recording medium. The inlet guide is disposed at the inlet opening and guides the recording medium to the fixing nip. The airflow generator generates an airflow in the housing. The airflow guide guides the airflow toward the inlet opening to generate a flow of air in the inlet opening in a direction different from a conveyance direction.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus which has an air flow generator and airflow guide

A nip formation member includes a base, a high thermal conduction member, and a securing member. The high thermal conduction member has a thermal conductivity greater than a thermal conductivity of the base. The securing member is independent from the base and the high thermal conduction member. The securing member is configured to restrict movement of the base relative to the high thermal conduction member.

NIP formation member having a base, a thermal conductor, and a stabilizer, and fixing device and image forming apparatus using the same

A fixing device includes a belt, an opposed rotator, a nip formation pad, a heater, a stay, and a positioner. The nip formation pad has a plurality of projections in a longitudinal direction of the nip formation pad. The positioner is disposed between the nip formation pad and the stay to position the nip formation pad. The positioner has a plurality of insertion holes arranged in a longitudinal direction of the positioner to accept the projections and restrict movement of the nip formation pad with respect to the positioner in a rotation direction of the belt and a direction opposite the rotation direction. The plurality of insertion holes includes an insertion hole disposed at a position corresponding to an end portion of the nip formation pad to accept two or more projections of the projections arranged in the longitudinal direction of the nip formation pad.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A nip forming member includes a base material and a thermal conductive member that overlaps the base material and has a higher thermal conductivity than a thermal conductivity of the base material. The base material has protrusions projecting to one side or another side in a short direction on a part of a longitudinal direction on both sides in the short direction. The thermal conductive member has fitting holes into which the protrusions are fitted in both sides in the short direction.

Nip forming member, fixing device, and image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes an endless belt rotatable in a predetermined direction of rotation and a nip formation assembly disposed opposite an inner circumferential surface of the endless belt. An opposed rotary body is pressed against the nip formation assembly via the endless belt to form a fixing nip between the endless belt and the opposed rotary body through which a recording medium bearing a toner image is conveyed. A belt holder contacts and supports each lateral end of the endless belt in an axial direction thereof. The belt holder is isolated from the opposed rotary body with a first interval interposed therebetween in the axial direction of the endless belt.

Fixing device capable of enhancing durability of endless belt and image forming apparatus incorporating the same

An image forming apparatus includes a pressing device, an apparatus body, an opening body, and a vibration insulator. The pressing device housed in the apparatus body is configured to press a pressing body to a pressing target body. The opening body is configured to open and close to the apparatus body. The opening body presses a pressing target portion of the apparatus body, at a first pressing portion to cancel a pressing state of the pressing device by opening of the opening body and at a second pressing portion to enter the pressing state of the pressing device by closing of the opening body. The vibration insulator is provided on at least one of the pressing target portion and the second pressing portion, at a contact portion at which the pressing target portion contacts the second pressing portion when the first pressing portion cancels the pressing state.

Image forming apparatus incorporating pressing device

A fixing device may include an endless fixing member; a heater inside the fixing member; and a nip forming unit configured to form a nip through which a recording sheet is conveyed, the nip forming unit including a supporting member and a contact member supported by the supporting member, the supporting member including at least one contact surface and the contact member including a plurality of protrusions protruding towards the supporting member such that two or more of the plurality of protrusions are configured to contact one of the at least one contact surface of the supporting member, each of the plurality of protrusions having a height associated there with such that the height of the plurality of protrusions increases in a direction from ends of the contact member towards a center of the contact member.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device. The fixing device includes a rotatable endless fixing member, a nip forming member arranged inside the fixing member, a pressing member in contact with the nip forming member via the fixing member, and a heating source configured to heat the fixing member. When an abnormality occurs in at least one of the fixing device and other devices included in the image forming apparatus, a rotation of the fixing member is stopped prior to stopping a rotation driving of a discharging unit and, after stopping, the fixing member is controlled to rotate.

Image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes: a rotatable endless fixing belt; a nip forming member arranged inside the fixing belt; a facing rotating body that abuts the nip forming member via the fixing belt to form a nip portion with the fixing belt; a heat source that directly heats up the fixing belt at a portion other than the nip portion; and a supporting member that supports the nip forming member. The fixing device conveys a recording medium carrying an unfixed image to the nip portion to fix the unfixed image to the recording medium, and the supporting member includes a rising portion extending in an abutting direction of the facing rotating body against the fixing belt and having a tip close to an inner circumferential surface of the fixing belt, and is set to have a section modulus of 200 mmor higher.

A fixing device for fixing an image on a recording medium includes an endless fixing rotary member which is formed into a loop and comes into contact with the image on the recording medium, an opposed rotary member which is in contact with the fixing rotary member, a nip forming member provided inside the loop of the fixing rotary member to be in contact with the opposed rotary member via the fixing rotary member to form a nip portion to which the recording medium is fed in a feeding direction, a support member which supports the nip forming member, and a heating source which heats the fixing rotary member. The nip forming member includes a downstream portion extending downstream in the feeding direction from a center of the nip portion and an upstream portion extending upstream in the feeding direction from the center and longer than the downstream portion.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus including the fixing device

A belt device for an image forming apparatus, includes an endless belt; a first and second support rollers, each including a rotary shaft, that support the belt with tension; a contacted member that contacts the belt; a shaft displacement device to displace any of the rotary shafts of the support rollers; and a main rotary shaft disposed at a side of the rotary shaft of the first support roller moved by the shaft displacement device along a stretching direction of the stretched surface of the endless belt that the contacted member contacts, relative to a contact portion between the endless belt and the contacted member, and at an opposite side of the contacted member in a direction perpendicular to the stretching direction of the endless belt. As the first support roller and the second roller rotate about the main rotary shaft, the endless belt is separated from the contacted member.

Belt device and image forming apparatus including same

Image forming apparatus including a fixing device that includes a radiant heat heating source and a fixing member that rotates before an abnormality solved

An image forming apparatus includes a toner image forming device to form a toner image on a rotatable toner image bearer, a looped belt to carry a recording medium, a support roller to rotate the belt, a pressing member to press the belt against the toner image bearer, a transfer electric field generator to form an electric field to transfer the toner image onto the recording medium, and a contact member to contact an end surface of the belt as the belt moves to one side in a belt width direction. The belt includes a first portion pressed against the toner image bearer by the pressing member and a second portion adjoining the first portion. A relative position of the support roller relative to the toner image bearer and the pressing member is determined such that the second portion of the belt contacts the toner image bearer.

Image forming apparatus having an angle adjuster for a tiltable support roller

A fixing device may include an endless fixing member; a heating unit that is provided inside an inner peripheral surface of the fixing member; and a nip forming unit that comes into press-contact with a rotationally driven pressing member with the fixing member interposed therebetween to form a nip. The nip forming unit has a shape in which a center of a contact surface protrudes toward the pressing member compared to both ends. The nip forming unit has a protruding amount at a center toward the pressing member compared to both ends of the nip forming unit in no-load state is set to be less than a bent amount of the nip forming unit when the nip forming unit comes into press-contact with the pressing member with the fixing member interposed therebetween.

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Tokyo, Japan

Naoki Iwaya