Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Yasutada Kato

Shougo Sato

Kazuna Taguchi

Yuichi Ikeno

Yasuo Fukamachi

Makoto Souda

Masatoshi Shiraki

Shunsuke Ishii

Shinichi Hatakeyama

Takuya Nishimura

Shunsuke Ueki

Keiichi Imamiya

A fixing device includes: an endless belt; a heater; a stay; a holder having a heater supporting surface and a contacting surface in contact with the stay; and a pressure roller having a diameter that becomes smaller from each end of the pressure roller in an axial direction toward a center of the pressure roller in the axial direction. In a state prior to assembling the holder with both the stay and the heater, a distance in an orthogonal direction between the heater supporting surface and the contacting surface at a center of the holder in the axial direction is longer than a distance in the orthogonal direction between the heater supporting surface and the contacting surface at each end of the holder in the axial direction. The orthogonal direction is orthogonal to the axial direction.

Fixing device including holder having heater supporting surface supporting heater, and contacting surface opposite heater supporting surface and in contact with stay

An image forming apparatus includes: a heater; an endless belt; a rotary body configured to form a nipping region in cooperation with the heater; a nipping pressure changing mechanism configured to change a nipping pressure at the nipping region between a first nipping pressure and a second nipping pressure higher than the first nipping pressure; and a controller configured to perform a control process including: determining whether the nipping pressure is the first nipping pressure or the second nipping pressure; and controlling, when determining that the nipping pressure is the first nipping pressure, an output of the heater within a range that does not exceed an upper limit for the output of the heater when the nipping pressure is the first nipping pressure that is smaller than an upper limit for the output of the heater when the nipping pressure is the second nipping pressure.

Image forming apparatus configured to control output of heater depending on nipping pressure at nipping region

A fixing device incorporated in a main body of an image forming apparatus includes a heater, a rotatable body, and a pressure roller. The rotatable body is configured to be heated by the heater. The pressure roller is configured to form a nip region in cooperation with the rotatable body to nip a sheet at the nip region between the pressure roller and the rotatable body. The pressure roller includes a shaft, and an elastic layer covering a peripheral surface of the shaft. The elastic layer has a thickness of at least 1 millimeter to at most 3 millimeters. The pressure roller has a peripheral surface whose hardness is in a range of at least 60 to at most 67 on the Asker C scale.

Fixing device including pressure roller whose elastic layer has little impact on nip width due to thermal expansion

An image forming apparatus, having a main housing, a first photosensitive drum, a second photosensitive drum, a first developing device to supply toner to the first photosensitive drum, a second developing device to supply toner to the second photosensitive drum, a first reloading device to reload the first developing device with the toner, and a second reloading device to reload the second developing device with the toner, is provided. The first reloading device has a first reloading port, which accepts the toner for reloading the first developing device. The first reloading port is openable to an outside of the main housing. The second reloading device has a second reloading port, which accepts the toner for reloading the second developing device. The second reloading port is openable to the outside of the main housing.

Image forming apparatus and process cartridge

A process cartridge mountable on an image forming apparatus includes a photoconductive drum, a developing unit including a developing roller and a toner storage unit. The toner storage includes a first toner storage chamber, a second toner storage chamber located above the first toner storage chamber, a first toner conveying member located in the first toner storage chamber and configured to convey the toner in the first toner storage chamber upward toward the second toner storage chamber in an area wider than the toner discharge outlet in the first direction, and a second toner conveying member located in the second toner storage chamber and configured to convey, in the first direction, the toner in the second toner storage chamber toward the toner discharge outlet.

Process cartridge, image forming apparatus and toner storage unit

A fixing device includes a first rotatable body, a second rotatable body, a frame, and a shutter. The frame supports the first rotatable body and the second rotatable body. The first rotatable body and the second rotatable body provide a nipping region therebetween where a sheet is configured to be conveyed in a conveying direction. The sheet is configured to pass through an opening of the frame to be conveyed toward the nipping region. The shutter is pivotally movable about a first axis between a closed position where the shutter closes the opening and an open position where the shutter opens the opening. The first axis is positioned downstream of the nipping region in the conveying direction.

Fixing device including shutter pivotable about axis positioned downstream of nipping region in sheet conveying direction

Image forming apparatus

A process cartridge includes: a toner cartridge including: a toner housing accommodating toner and having a toner discharge hole; and a toner shutter movable between a closed position closing the toner discharge hole and an opened position opening the toner discharge hole with respect to the toner discharge hole; and a drum cartridge including: a photosensitive drum rotatable about a drum axis extending in a first direction; and a drum frame supporting the photosensitive drum, wherein in a state the toner cartridge is mounted to the drum cartridge, the toner housing is rotatable about an axis between a first position in which the toner shutter is located in the closed position and a second position in which the toner shutter is located in the opened position, the axis extending in a second direction intersecting with the first direction.

Process cartridge and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic image forming method includes a casing having a front wall to which an opening is formed and a rear wall facing the front wall, a photosensitive drum located close to the front wall, a support member configured to support the photosensitive drum. The support member is slidably movable between an accommodated position a drawn position at which the photosensitive drum is drawn out of the casing through the opening. The image forming apparatus further includes a sheet tray, a feeding roller configured to feed the plurality of sheets supported by the sheet tray, a first conveying guide arranged between the support member and the sheet tray to face the support member, and a second conveying guide formed to the support member at a position facing the first conveying guide to guide the sheet inserted through the opening.

Image forming apparatus with movable support member

While a continuous conveying process is being executed, a first output process is executed at a timing prior to a prescribed timing, and a second output process is executed for a prescribed period from the prescribed timing. The prescribed timing is prior to a timing at which each recording sheet reaches a heating body. The first output process is for controlling an electric power supply to output electric power to a heat source configured to heat the heating body. The second output process is for controlling the electric power supply to output electric power to the heat source such that an output level of the electric power that is outputted from the electric power supply in the second output process has a tendency to become higher than an output level of the electric power that is outputted from the electric power supply in the first output process.

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Yasutada Kato