Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Yoshikuni Sasaki

Takahiro Imada

Hiromasa Takagi

Hironori Yamaoka

Hiroshi Ono

Takuya Seshita

Shuutaroh Yuasa

Tetsuo Tokuda

Yasunori Ishigaya

Yoshio Hattori

Masami Okamoto

Keisuke Kubota

Kenji Nozawa

Fumihiro Hirose

Takumi Waida

Yuuki Kikushima

Kaori Hemmi

Ryohhei Sugiyama

Arinobu Yoshiura

Kensuke Yamaji

Tamotsu Ikeda

Jun Okamoto

Seiji Saitoh

Motoyoshi Yamano

Tsukasa Satoh

Yuichiro Kato

Hiroshi Yoshinaga

Kohichi Utsunomiya

Sho Sawahata

Keitaro Shoji

Hideo Nagafuji

Yuji Ohmura

Yamano Motoyoshi

A sensor holder is provided that includes a single snap fitter, and a regulator. The single snap fitter holds a sensor. The regulator regulates a harness extending from the sensor by a regulation force such that the sensor is pushed to the snap fitter by the regulation force.

Sensor holder, unit, and image forming apparatus

A removable unit that is attachable to and detachable from a body of an apparatus includes a positioning projection and an upstream projection. The positioning projection projects downward to position a unit or a member located below the removable unit when the removable unit is attached to the body. The upstream projection projects more downward than the positioning projection at an upstream end of the removable unit in an attachment direction of the removable unit to the apparatus. A lower end of the positioning projection is located higher than a line connecting a lower end of the upstream projection and a lower portion of a downstream end of the removable unit in the attachment direction when viewed in a direction orthogonal to both an up and down direction and the attachment direction.

Removable unit and image forming apparatus

A sheet conveying device includes a pair of conveyors each including a conveyance face to convey a recording medium inside an image forming apparatus. One of the pair of conveyors further includes an exposed face, a handle, and a swing fulcrum. The exposed face is exposed to an outside of the apparatus while an inside of the apparatus is open. The handle is exposed to the outside of the apparatus and operatable to expose the conveyance face to the outside of the apparatus while the inside of the apparatus is open. The swing fulcrum swings the one of the pair of conveyors to expose the conveyance face to the outside of the apparatus when the handle is operated while the inside of the apparatus is open. The handle includes a partial annular portion. The partial annular portion is included in a plane including a swing direction around the swing fulcrum.

Sheet conveying device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus

A contact-separation device brings a contact-separation member into contact with a contacted member separably and includes a biasing member that generates a biasing force. A presser presses the contact-separation member against the contacted member in a pressing direction with the biasing force from the biasing member. A cam presses the presser in an opposite direction being opposite to the pressing direction. The cam is rotatable and has a cam face. A cam follower has a cam contact face that contacts the cam face of the cam. The cam contact face is curved to project toward the cam. The cam contact face has a curvature that is smaller than a greatest curvature of the cam face of the cam and is greater than a smallest curvature of the cam face of the cam.

Contact-separation device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes two rotators, a driver driving the rotators, a heating device to heat the rotator, a blower blowing air to the heating device, a temperature detector, a recording medium detector, a cover, an open-close detector, and circuitry. The circuitry detects an abnormal state and stops heat generation, determines whether the cover is closed using the open-close detector, controls the blower to blow air when the cover is closed, determines whether the recording medium is in the nip using the recording medium detector, controls the driver to rotate the two rotators when the cover is closed and no recording medium is in the nip, determines whether a temperature detected is equal to or lower than a threshold value before the cover is opened, and controls the blower to decrease an air volume when the temperature detected is equal to or lower than the threshold value.

Image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes a heating and fixing rotator, a pressing rotator, a blower, a guide, an opening and closing device, and a driving device. The heating and fixing rotator is rotatable and heats an unfixed image on a recording medium to fix the unfixed image on the recording medium. The pressing rotator is rotatable, faces the heating and fixing rotator, and is pressed against the recording medium. The guide has an air blowing port and guides air sent from the blower to at least one of the heating and fixing rotator and the pressing rotator. The opening and closing device moves to open and close the air blowing port. The driving device includes a driver to move the opening and closing device and at least one member other than the opening and closing device and separately drives the opening and closing device and the at least one member.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus incorporating same

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device that forms a toner image on a recording medium, a first rotator, and a second rotator that presses against the first rotator to form a nip therebetween. The first rotator conveys the recording medium bearing the toner image through the nip with a first orientation of the recording medium to fix the toner image on the recording medium to create a cleaning sheet bearing a cleaning image in a cleaning sheet creation mode. The first rotator conveys the cleaning sheet bearing the cleaning image through the nip with a second orientation of the cleaning sheet, that is different from the first orientation of the recording medium, such that the cleaning image is disposed opposite the first rotator to cause the cleaning image to remove a foreign substance from a surface of the first rotator in a cleaning mode.

Image forming apparatus and cleaning method

A fixing device is configured to be detachably attached to an image forming device main body. The fixing device includes a fixing member, a heating source, a pressing member, a conveyance guide member, an exterior member, a relay substrate, and a substrate covering member. The fixing member is configured to heat a toner image so as to fix the toner image on a recording medium. The heating source is configured to heat the fixing member. The pressing member is configured to press against the fixing member to form a nip part. The conveyance guide member is configured to guide the recording medium to the nip part. The exterior member houses at least the fixing member and the pressing member. The substrate covering member covers the relay substrate. The substrate covering member extends from and is integrated with the conveyance guide member.

Fixing device, heating device, and image forming device with a substrate covering member covering a relay substrate

A fixing device includes a fixing rotator, a pressure rotator, a cleaner, and a moving assembly. The cleaner contacts and cleans a cleaning target, which includes one of the fixing rotator and the pressure rotator. The moving assembly moves the cleaner between a contact position at which the cleaner contacts the cleaning target and a separate position at which the cleaner is apart from the cleaning target. The moving assembly includes a biasing member that presses the cleaner to move to the contact position. The moving assembly moves the cleaner from the contact position to the separate position against a biasing force of the biasing member. The moving assembly moves the cleaner from the separate position to the contact position while increasing and then decreasing the biasing force of the biasing member greater than the biasing force applied when the cleaner is located at the contact position.

Fixing device including a cleaner to clean a surface of a cleaning target and image forming apparatus incorporating same

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing rotator rotatable in a predetermined direction of rotation, over which a recording medium is conveyed, and a heater to heat the fixing rotator. A temperature detector detects a temperature of the fixing rotator. A controller performs a primary productivity control to define a primary productivity rate of printing per unit time based on the temperature of the fixing rotator that is detected by the temperature detector. The controller calculates an amount of power suppliable to the heater and performs a secondary productivity control simultaneously with and separately from the primary productivity control. The secondary productivity control defines a secondary productivity rate of printing per unit time based on the amount of power suppliable to the heater. The controller selects one of the primary productivity rate and the secondary productivity rate whichever is lower as a productivity rate of the image forming apparatus.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method with temperature and power-based productivity rate selection

A fixing device includes a heater, a fixing rotator, a pressure rotator to press against the fixing rotator to form a fixing nip between the fixing rotator and the pressure rotator, through which a recording medium is conveyed, a moving device to move the pressure rotator in directions in which the pressure rotator comes into contact with and separates from the fixing rotator, a thermal expansion amount predictor to predict an amount of thermal expansion of the fixing rotator while the recording medium is conveyed, and a nip width adjuster to control a moving distance of the pressure rotator moved by the moving device toward the fixing rotator, depending on the amount of thermal expansion of the fixing rotator predicted by the thermal expansion amount predictor, so as to adjust a width of the fixing nip to maintain a substantially constant width of the fixing nip.

Fixing device, image forming apparatus, and method of controlling fixing device

A drive transmission unit transmits driving force to a driven unit including a driven rotator coupled to the drive transmission unit via a unit coupler. The drive transmission unit includes a driving source, a drive transmission member to transmit driving force from the driving source to the driven rotator by engaging the driven rotator, and a basal plate with a turning shaft portion at one end thereof. The basal plate supports the driving source and the drive transmission member thereon. The drive transmission unit is turned around the turning shaft portion together with the driven unit in a direction substantially orthogonal to a direction of a driving reaction force applied to the drive transmission member when the driven rotator receives the driving force from the drive transmission member.

Drive transmission unit, fixing device with drive transmission unit, and image forming apparatus having fixing device with drive transmission unit

A fixing device includes a fixing belt, a heating roller and a fixing roller over which the fixing belt is looped, a pressure roller forming a fixing nip with the fixing belt, a pair of side plates, one of the side plates being disposed on each end of a shaft of the fixing roller and each end of a shaft of the heating roller, and heating roller holding members to hold corresponding insulating bushing, and corresponding heating roller bearings, the heating roller holding members being attached to opening parts of the side plates. The heating roller holding members are formed of two separate components such that the heating roller is capable of moving along the opening parts formed in the side plates toward the fixing roller.

Fixing device having separable heating roller holding members and image forming apparatus thereof

A fixing device includes a first roller contacting a fixing belt to generate a rotation friction force therebetween to rotate the fixing belt and a second roller contacting the fixing belt to exert a first inhibition force to the fixing belt in a direction opposite a direction of rotation of the fixing belt. A separation aid is disposed downstream from a fixing nip formed between the fixing belt and a pressure rotator in the direction of rotation of the fixing belt to decrease a curvature of the fixing belt and exert a second inhibition force to the fixing belt in the direction opposite the direction of rotation of the fixing belt. The second inhibition force is added to the first inhibition force to obtain a combined inhibition force that is smaller than the rotation friction force between the fixing belt and the first roller.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus

A fixing device includes a fixing belt stretched taut across a fixing rotator and a support rotator. A pressure rotator is pressed against the fixing rotator via the fixing belt to form a fixing nip between the fixing belt and the pressure rotator, through which a recording medium bearing a toner image is conveyed. The pressure rotator includes a recess defining an outer diameter of each lateral end of the pressure rotator in an axial direction thereof that is greater than an outer diameter of a center of the pressure rotator in the axial direction thereof. A first separator is disposed downstream from the fixing nip in a recording medium conveyance direction and contacts an inner circumferential surface of the fixing belt. The first separator is isolated from the pressure rotator and includes a projection disposed opposite the recess of the pressure rotator.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Yoshikuni Sasaki