Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Ryosuke Kojima

Sasuke Endo

Yohei Doi

Kousei Miyashita

Yuki Kawashima

Eiji Shinohara

Masaya Tanaka

Kiyotaka Murakami

Kazuhiko Kikuchi

Ryota Saeki

Hidenori Kobayashi

A heating device includes a rotatable film, a heater disposed inside the film and including a substrate that extends along a first direction and having two surfaces opposite to each other, and a heater element on one of the surfaces of the substrate, and a heat conductor including a first portion contacting the other surface of the substrate, and a second portion that is adjacent to the first portion in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and does not contact the other surface of the substrate. A width of the second portion is wider than the heater element in the second direction.

Heating device with a heat conductor including portions having different thicknesses

An image processing apparatus includes a fixing unit including a belt, and a heater configured to heat the belt and including a substrate and a heating layer that is formed on the substrate, and a controller configured to shut off the heater if no current flows through the belt.

Image forming apparatus having a fixing unit and heating control method

A fixing unit or device that can be used in an image forming apparatus includes a first heater element that is formed of a material that increases in electrical resistance with increases in temperature. A controller of the fixing unit is configured to vary a duty ratio of electric power applied to the first heater element during a start-up operation in which the temperature of the first heater element is raised to a target operating temperature. By varying the duty ratio during the start-up operation, changes in the resistance of the first heater element with the heating can be compensated. For example, the duty ratio can be increased during the course of the start-up to achieve the target operating temperature faster.

Image forming apparatus and heating method

An image processing apparatus includes a fixing unit including a fixing belt, and a heater configured to heat the fixing belt and including a substrate and a heating layer that is formed on the substrate, and a controller configured to, upon detecting an absence of a current flowing through the fixing belt, control the heater to not generate heat.

A heating device includes a rotatable film, a heater including a substrate that extends along a first direction and having two surfaces opposite to each other, and a heater element on one of the surfaces of the substrate, and a heat conductor having first and second surfaces and including a first portion contacting the other surface of the substrate, and a second portion that is adjacent to the first portion in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and does not contact the other surface of the substrate. A thickness of the first portion of the heat conductor from the first surface to the second surface is greater than a thickness of the second portion from the first surface to the second surface.

An image forming apparatus includes a conveyor, an actuator, an image forming unit, a detection unit, and a controller. The conveyor transports a sheet having a length measured in a transport direction. The actuator drives the conveyor. The image forming unit forms an image on the sheet. The detection unit includes a first sheet detection sensor that outputs a detection signal indicating whether the sheet transported by the conveyor passes through a first predetermined detection position. The controller controls the actuator based on the length of the sheet in response to an indication that the detection unit is not operating normally.

Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and non-transitory recording medium

A heating device includes a rotatable film, a heater including a substrate that extends along a first direction, and a heater element on the substrate and facing the film, a heat conductor having first and second surfaces and including a first portion contacting the substrate, and a second portion that is adjacent to the first portion in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and does not contact the substrate, and a temperature sensing element on the second surface at a position corresponding to the second portion. A thickness of the first portion from the first surface to the second surface is greater than a thickness of the second portion from the first surface to the second surface.

An image processing apparatus includes a fixing unit including a heater and a fixing belt. The fixing belt is electrically connected between a first power source and a ground terminal. A controller is configured to control the heater to heat the fixing belt. The controller is further configured to determine whether a current is flowing through the fixing belt and, upon determining that a current is not flowing through the fixing belt, control the heater not to heat the fixing belt.

A heating device includes a cylindrical film configured to be rotated about an axis, a heater including a substrate that extends along a longitudinal direction parallel to the axis, and a heater element on the substrate and facing an inner surface of the cylindrical film. A heat conductor extends along the longitudinal direction and has first and second surfaces. A first portion of the heat conductor contacts the substrate and a second portion of the heat conductor has a groove in the first surface. A temperature sensing element is disposed at a position on the second surface at a position opposite the groove.

Heating device including a heat conductor having a surface with a groove

An image forming apparatus includes a heater, a fixing device, and a controller. The heater includes a heat generator that generates heat when the heater is turned on. The fixing device may fix a developer image on a surface of an image forming medium using the heat from the heat generator. The controller detects a voltage of a power supply for supplying electric power to the heater, and determines an occurrence of an abnormality in the heater if a voltage drop amount at the time the heater is turned on as compared to a case in which the heater is turned off is smaller than a first threshold value.

Image forming apparatus, image forming method and non-transitory recording medium

An image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises a function selection/designation section that obtains the designation of selection of a signed-document creation mode for creating at least signed authentic documents and/or copies thereof, a signature position designation section that obtains the designation of a signature position on printing sheets, a signature input section that obtains signature information input by handwriting, a signature temporary storage section that temporarily stores the signature information from the signature input section, an image obtaining section that obtains image data of an original to be provided with the signature, a signature/image synthesizing section that synthesizes the signature information in the signature temporary storage section and the image data in the image obtaining section so that the signature is provided at the designated signature position on the printing sheet, and a printout section that prints out signed documents based on the data synthesized in the signature/image synthesizing section, according to the signed-document creation mode selected and designated, in such a manner that a designated number of signed authentic documents are discriminated from their copies.

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Sunto Shizuoka, Japan

Ryosuke Kojima