Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Ryo Yashiro

Masayuki Tamaki

Shinsuke Takahashi

Ryo Suzuki

Shuichi Tamura

Shigeru Hirano

Rikiya Takemasa

Mitsuru Hasegawa

Yasuharu Chiyoda

Dai Kanai

Hiroki Muramatsu

Suguru Takeuchi

Hidekazu Maruta

Koichi Kakubari

Toshinori Nakayama

Yutaka Arai

Koji Sato

Naoyuki Yamamoto

Jun Miura

Katsuhisa Matsunaka

Yasuhiro Miyahara

Jiro Ishizuka

Naoki Akiyama

Kenji Hashimoto

Yuji Kitano

Hiroto Sugimoto

Matsutaka Maeda

Kota Arimoto

Hiroshi Miyamoto

Yoshihito Oshima

Yusuke Yamaguchi

A fixing device includes an endless and rotatable belt of which an inner peripheral surface is applied with lubricant, a heater, a rotatable member to rotatably contact the belt and a nip forming member in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the belt. The nip forming member includes a holding portion, an upstream sliding portion and a downstream sliding portion. The downstream and upstream sliding portions have first and second sliding surfaces sliding with the inner peripheral surface of the belt, respectively. The second sliding surface has a curved shape, and when a force applied to the belt with respect to a length of the second sliding surface is defined as w (N/mm) and a curvature radius of the second sliding surface is defined as R (mm), R/w of the second sliding surface is equal to 5 (mm/N) or larger and equal to 80 (mm/N) or less.

Fixing device

A fixing device includes a rotatable endless belt, a pressing roller and a fixing pad. The pressing roller contacts an outer peripheral surface of the belt and forms a nip portion in cooperation with the belt. A toner image is formed in the nip portion and fixed onto the recording material by application of heat and pressure. The fixing pad contacts an inner peripheral surface of the belt. The fixing pad includes a contact area in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the belt. The contact area includes a downstream end portion with respect to a conveyance direction of the recording material. The downstream end portion includes a central portion and both end portions with respect to a widthwise direction of the belt. The central portion locates downstream of the both end portions with respect to the conveyance direction.

A fixing apparatus includes a fixing belt, a heating roller, a nip portion forming member, a pressing rotary member, a suspending roller, and an urging unit. The heating roller is in contact with an inner surface of the fixing belt and heats the fixing belt. The suspending roller has a center and both ends in an area where the fixing belt and the suspending roller are in contact with each other in a width direction of the suspending roller. Outside diameters at both ends are greater than an outside diameter at the suspending roller center by a value between 50 micrometer and 300 micrometer, inclusive. The urging unit urges the suspending roller from the inner surface of the fixing belt toward an outer circumference surface of the fixing belt. A force that the urging unit applies to the suspending roller ranges between 50 newtons and 100 newtons, inclusive.

Fixing apparatus

A fixing device including an endless belt, a heat source, a rotatable member forming a nip together with a belt, a nip forming member, a contact member contacting an inner peripheral surface of the belt, a reflecting portion reflecting radiation heat from the heat source toward the nip forming member, a heat conducting portion, and a heat insulating member. The nip forming member includes a first member having a U-shape made of metal and open on a side opposite from the rotatable member and a second member provided inside the first member. The heat conducting portion conducts heat of the reflecting portion to the contact member. The heat insulating member is provided between the first member and the second member. A thickness t (&#x3bc;m) and thermal conductivity &#x3bb; (W/m&#xb7;K) of the heat insulating member satisfy:&#x2265;100 (&#x3bc;m)0.02 (W/m&#xb7;K)&#x2264;&#x3bb;&#x2264;0.05 (W/m&#xb7;K).

Provided is an endless belt-shaped electrophotographic member having a superior durability. The member comprises an endless belt-shaped substrate and a surface layer,

Electrophotographic member, fixing member, fixing apparatus, image forming apparatus, and method of producing electrophotographic belt

A fixing apparatus including a flexible belt having a heat generating layer, an outer ring provided on one edge side of the belt and along an outer peripheral surface of the belt, the outer ring being electrically connected to the heat generating layer, an inner ring provided on the one edge side of the belt and along an inner peripheral surface of the belt to face the outer ring through the belt, and a power supply unit that is electrically connected to the outer ring and that feeds power. A difference obtained by subtracting a diameter of the inner ring at a normal temperature from a diameter of the inner ring at a fixing temperature is equivalent to or larger than a difference obtained by subtracting a diameter of the outer ring at the normal temperature from a diameter of the outer ring at the fixing temperature.

Image heating apparatus

An image heating apparatus includes a heating belt having a heat generating layer configured to generate heat by energization, a pressing roller configured to abut on an outer peripheral surface of the heating belt to form a nip portion, a pressing mechanism configured to press the heating belt against the pressing roller, an outer ring electrically connected to the heating belt in an end portion of the heating belt, a power feed member configured to abut on the outer ring to feed power to the outer ring, and an inner ring configured to clamp the end portion of the heating belt between the inner ring and the outer ring. A chamfered portion of the inner ring is chamfered.

Provided is a fixing device, the heat generation amount of which can be obtained with a smaller amount of a microwave absorbing material. As a result, the start-up (warm-up) time for achieving a fixing temperature can be shortened without impairing characteristics such as flexibility, releasing property, and durability. The fixing device includes a heating member; a pressurizing member; and a microwave generating unit. It is configured to fix an unfixed toner on a recording material by passing the recording material through a nip formed between the heating member and the pressurizing member. The heating member includes a heat generating layer for generating heat with microwaves generated by the microwave generating unit. The heat generating layer contains a high molecular compound and a carbon fiber having an average fiber diameter of 80-150 nm, an average fiber length of 6-10 &#x3bc;m, and an absorption peak in a Raman spectrum resulting from a graphite structure.

Fixing device with a heat generating layer containing a high molecular compound and a carbon fiber, and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus containing the fixing device

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Ryo Yashiro