Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Makino J Co., Ltd.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Takashi Seto

Hiroshi Yoshinaga

Ippei Fujimoto

Kenji Ishii

Kazunari Sawada

Takayuki Seki

Kazuhito Kishi

Takamasa Hase

Shin Kayahara

Takashi Fujita

Yoshiki Yamaguchi

Hiromasa Takagi

Takeshi Yamamoto

Kazumi Suzuki

Kenichi Hasegawa

Susumu Matsusaka

Yasushi Nakazato

Yoshinori Nakagawa

Yuusuke Furuichi

Hiromitsu Takagaki

Katsuaki Miyawaki

Yasuhiko Ogino

Shohta Kobashigawa

Hiroyuki Shimada

Hiroshi Seo

Fumihiro Hirose

Takeshi Takemoto

Atsushi Nagata

Ryohei Matsuda

Shigeru Suzuki

Hirohmi Tamura

Atsushi Nakafuji

Satoshi Ouchi

Masaaki Yamada

Shuji Hirai

Nekka Matsuura

Osamu Satoh

Hisashi Shoji

Harumitsu Mashiko

Kazuya Saito

Tomoko Takahashi

Kenichi Shimizu

Misaki Shimizu

Masahiro Ishikawa

Ryohhei Sugiyama

Ryota Yamashina

Seiji Hoshino

Masakazu Muranaka

Eishu Ohdake

Izumi Tagoku

Kentaro Yamashita

Tomohiro Oikawa

Hiromi Tamura

Tetsuo Watanabe

Arinobu Yoshiura

Daisuke Inoue

Toshiyuki Kabata

Yasushi Takahashi

Makoto Komatsu

Tsuneo Kurotori

Tetsuo Tokuda

Tsuyoshi Sugimoto

Hiromichi Matsuda

Akiyasu Amita

Seiichi Miyakawa

Fumihito Masubuchi

Naoto Suzuki

Yoshiyuki Fukuda

Takumi Waida

Masaharu Suzuki

Seiji Saitoh

Eiichi Ohta

Koji Ozaki

Fumio Kishi

Osamu Kobayashi

Hironori Yamaoka

Kazuaki Iizuka

Keisuke Kawabata

Masami Higuchi

Yoshiyumi Tamiya

Tadahiro Suzuki

Kouji Ozaki

Kazuhisa Takahashi

Masakuni Kutsuwada

Hideki Sadaoka

Mitsuko Sugano

Fumihiko Hoshi

A fixing device includes a fixing rotator, a heater, a pressure rotator, a nip formation pad, and a slide aid sheet. The fixing rotator is rotatable in a rotation direction. The heater heats the fixing rotator. The pressure rotator contacts an outer circumferential face of the fixing rotator. The nip formation pad is inside a loop of the fixing rotator to form a nip between the fixing rotator and the pressure rotator. The slide aid sheet is on the nip formation pad and faces the fixing rotator. The slide aid sheet includes a carbon fiber extending in a width direction orthogonal to a rotation direction of the fixing rotator.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A fixing device includes a fixing member, a pressing member, a heat source, and a reflecting member. The pressing member presses and contacts an outer circumferential surface of the fixing member. The heat source is disposed inside a loop of the fixing member. The reflecting member includes a reflecting portion, a pressure receiving portion, and an extending portion. The reflecting portion reflects heat toward an inner circumferential surface of the fixing member. The pressure receiving portion receives a pressing force of the pressing member via the fixing member. The extending portion extends from an area upstream to an area downstream from the nip portion in a direction of rotation of the fixing member and facing the inner circumferential surface of the fixing member. The reflecting member is in non-contact with one or more of members disposed inside the loop of the fixing member, at least when the fixing member rotates.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes a fixing rotator, a pressure rotator, a fixing nip support, a heat source, and a reflector. The pressure rotator contacts an outer face of the fixing rotator to form a nip through which a recording medium conveyed in a conveyance direction passes. The fixing nip support has a receiving portion to receive a pressing force of the pressure rotator. The heat source inside a loop of the fixing rotator has a heat generation area having a first length in a width direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction. The reflector includes a contacting portion contacting the receiving portion of the fixing nip support and a reflecting portion facing the heat source to reflect radiant heat radiated by the heat source toward an inner face of the fixing rotator. The reflecting portion has a second length in the width direction longer than the first length.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus incorporating the same

A nip formation pad includes a base, a high thermal conduction member, and an attachment. The high thermal conduction member has a thermal conductivity greater than a thermal conductivity of the base. The attachment is attached to the high thermal conduction member by elastic deformation of the attachment on the base held between the high thermal conduction member and the attachment.

Nip formation pad, heating device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus

A heating device includes a first heat member and a second heat member. The first heat member is configured to heat a sheet on a liquid applied face. The second heat member is configured to heat the sheet on an opposite face opposite the liquid applied face of the sheet. A temperature of the second heat member to heat the sheet is higher than a temperature of the first heat member to heat the sheet.

Heating device, liquid applying apparatus, image forming apparatus, post-processing apparatus, and conveying device

A conveying device includes a pair of rotary bodies and a movable member. The pair or rotary bodies includes a first rotary body disposed in a first region, and a second rotary body disposed in a second region and facing the first rotary body across a sheet conveyance passage through which a sheet applied with liquid is conveyed. The movable member is disposed upstream from the first rotary body in a sheet conveyance direction. The movable member is configured to move between the first region and the second region with respect to the sheet conveyance passage. The movable member is configured to move to the second region in a middle of conveyance of the sheet between the first rotary body and the second rotary body.

Conveying device, liquid applying apparatus, image forming apparatus, and post-processing apparatus

A nip former that forms a nip between an endless belt and a pressure rotator includes a base that is made of aluminum and has a nip forming face disposed opposite the nip. An anodic oxidation coating is treated with sealing and coats at least the nip forming face. The anodic oxidation coating has a thickness that is not smaller than 22 &#x3bc;m and is not greater than 45 &#x3bc;m and a variation in thickness that is not greater than 20 percent. The base and the anodic oxidation coating define a nip forming portion that is disposed opposite the nip. The nip forming portion has a thickness that is not smaller than 0.40 mm and is not greater than 1.20 mm.

Nip former, fixing device, and image forming apparatus

A novel heating device includes a heating member configured to heat a sheet on an opposite face opposite a liquid applied face. The heating member has a curved portion along which the sheet is conveyed and warped so that the liquid applied face has a concave shape.

A fixing device includes an endless belt that rotates and is heated by a heat source. A thermal conduction aid includes a contact portion, an upstream bent portion, and a downstream bent portion. The contact portion contacts the endless belt. The upstream bent portion and the downstream bent portion are disposed upstream and downstream from the contact portion in a rotation direction of the endless belt, respectively, and are extended in a longitudinal direction of the thermal conduction aid. A recess is disposed in at least one of the upstream bent portion and the downstream bent portion. The recess spans a center of the thermal conduction aid in the longitudinal direction thereof and is recessed from an edge of the at least one of the upstream bent portion and the downstream bent portion in a short direction thereof.

A fixing device includes a fixing rotator that rotates and includes an inner face. A pressure rotator is disposed opposite the fixing rotator and rotates. A nip former sandwiches the fixing rotator together with the pressure rotator to form a nip between the fixing rotator and the pressure rotator. The nip former includes an outer face disposed opposite the inner face of the fixing rotator. The inner face of the fixing rotator and the outer face of the nip former sandwich a lubricant. At least one of the inner face of the fixing rotator and the outer face of the nip former includes a projection having a volume smaller than 0.3 ml/mand a recess having a spatial volume greater than 0.08 ml/m. The volume and the spatial volume are three-dimensional surface roughness parameters, respectively, defined by the International Organization for Standardization 25178 standard in an initial state before the fixing rotator rotates.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus including nip former of specific surface roughness

A fixing device includes a fixing rotator and a pressure rotator that is disposed opposite the fixing rotator. A nip former is disposed inside a loop formed by the fixing rotator and disposed opposite the pressure rotator via the fixing rotator to form a fixing nip between the fixing rotator and the pressure rotator. The fixing rotator slides over the nip former. A flange supports the fixing rotator at both lateral ends of the fixing rotator in a longitudinal direction of the fixing rotator. The nip former includes a base and a thermal conductor that has a thermal conductivity greater than a thermal conductivity of the base. The base is greater than the thermal conductor in the longitudinal direction of the fixing rotator. The base includes a groove that is disposed outboard at least from the thermal conductor in the longitudinal direction of the fixing rotator.

A fixing device includes a fixing rotator that is flexible, endless, and rotatable. A heater heats the fixing rotator. A pressure rotator is disposed opposite the fixing rotator. A nip former defines a fixing nip between the fixing rotator and the pressure rotator. A support supports the nip former. The nip former includes a back face that contacts the support and has a nonlinear shape in a longitudinal direction of the nip former.

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device that includes a heater to heat a fixing rotator, an opposed rotator to press against the fixing rotator to form a fixing nip therebetween, and at least one rotary body to convey a recording medium to the fixing nip. A controller rotates the fixing rotator in a forward direction to fix a toner image on the recording medium. The controller stops the heater and rotates the fixing rotator in a predetermined rotation direction when a failure occurs while the fixing device is activated. The controller determines that the predetermined rotation direction is the forward direction or a backward direction according to the at least one rotary body that sandwiches the recording medium, if the fixing nip and the at least one rotary body sandwich the recording medium simultaneously when the failure occurs while the fixing device is activated.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method

A fixing device includes a fixing rotator and a lateral end heater to heat a lateral end span of the fixing rotator in an axial direction thereof. A thermal conduction aid contacts the fixing rotator. A nip formation pad contacts the thermal conduction aid. A lateral end temperature detector detects a temperature of the fixing rotator in a lateral end detection span in the axial direction of the fixing rotator. The thermal conduction aid contacts the nip formation pad in a first span including the lateral end detection span in the axial direction of the fixing rotator with a first contact area. The thermal conduction aid contacts the nip formation pad in a second span disposed outboard from the first span in the axial direction of the fixing rotator with a second contact area smaller than the first contact area.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus having a thermal conduction aid contacting a nip formation pad

A fixing device includes a heat generator being disposed inside a loop formed by a rotator and including a heat generating portion to radiate radiant heat. A reflector is disposed inside the loop formed by the rotator and includes a reflection face to reflect the radiant heat radiated from the heat generator toward the rotator. A support supports the reflector. A holder holds each lateral end of the support in a longitudinal direction of the support, which is perpendicular to the rotation direction of the rotator. A fastener attaches the reflector to the support at an attachment position disposed at each lateral end of the reflector in a longitudinal direction of the reflector. The attachment position is disposed outboard from a lateral edge of the heat generating portion of the heat generator and disposed inboard from the holder in the longitudinal direction of the reflector.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Takashi Seto