Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-Kaisha

Yuichi Ikeno

Makoto Souda

Yasutada Kato

Kazuna Taguchi

Tomonori Watanabe

Yasuhiro Maruyama

Saya Minoshima

Hideshi Nishiyama

Kei Ishida

Yusuke Ikegami

Atsushi Hayakawa

Wataru Yamaguchi

Ryosuke Sakai

Takehiro Masuda

Daisuke Ishizuka

Shunsuke Ueki

Shinichi Hatakeyama

Takuya Nishimura

Keiichi Imamiya

A heating unit includes a heater, an endless belt circularly movable around the heater, a holder, a stay, and a clip. The heater includes a base plate elongated in a long-side direction, and a resistance heating element provided on the base plate. The endless belt has an inner circumferential surface in contact with a first surface of the heater. The holder supports a second surface of the heater. The stay supports the holder. The stay is positioned opposite the heater with respect to the holder. The clip nips the holder and the stay to retain the holder on the stay. The clip has a first part overlapping with the heater when viewed in a thickness direction of the base plate to restrict the heater supported by the holder from getting detached from the holder.

Heating unit including clip engaged with stay and holder supporting heater to restrict detachment of heater from holder

A heating unit includes a heater, an endless belt circularly movable around the heater, a temperature sensing element configured to detect a temperature of the heater, a cable connected to the temperature sensing element, a holder holding the heater and the temperature sensing element, and a cable guide holding the cable. The heater includes a base plate, and a resistance heating element formed on the base plate. The endless belt has an inner peripheral surface in contact with a first surface of the heater. The temperature sensing element is arranged to face a second surface of the heater opposite the first surface in the thickness direction. The holder includes a support wall supporting the second surface of the heater. The cable guide includes a partitioning wall positioned between at least a part of the cable and the support wall.

Heating unit including cable guide for restricting temperature sensor cables from contacting holder that supports heater

An image-forming apparatus includes a housing, a cartridge, and a fixing device. The fixing device includes a heating member, a fixing frame, and a shutter movable between an open position for opening an opening of the fixing frame and a closed position for closing the opening. The housing includes: a guide frame for guiding a guide protrusion of the cartridge for attachment of the cartridge to the housing; and a connection link connected to the shutter and positioned opposite the cartridge with respect to the guide frame. The connection link moves the shutter to the open position in conjunction with the attachment of the cartridge to the housing, and moves the shutter to the closed position in conjunction with detachment of the cartridge from the housing. The connection link abuts on the guide protrusion through a through-hole of the guide frame during the attachment of the cartridge to the housing.

Image-forming apparatus provided with mechanism for opening and closing shutter of fixing device

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 unit includes a heater including a substrate and a resistance heating element disposed on the substrate, an endless belt configured to move about the heater and having an inner peripheral surface in contact with the heater, and a holder holding the heater in a hole of the holder, a metal sheet in contact with the substrate and a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the heater. The temperature sensor is in contact with the metal sheet through the hole, and an end portion of the metal sheet in a lateral direction of the substrate is inserted into the hole so that the metal sheet is positioned with respect to the heater in the lateral direction.

Fixing unit

A device for an image forming apparatus includes a frame, a first spring, and a second spring. The frame includes a boss. The first spring includes a coil, a first arm and a second arm. The first arm includes at an end thereof an electrical contact that contacts an electrode of a main housing. When the device is not attached to the main housing, the first spring is biased by the second spring and located in a retracted position. When the device is being attached to the main housing, the second arm is pushed by the main housing and causes the first arm to rotate about the boss, whereby the electrical contact is located in a protruding position in which the electrical contact protrudes further outward of the frame than when the electrical contact is located in the retracted position and contacts the electrode.

Device for image forming apparatus and spring for the device

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

A fixing device includes a first rotating body, a second rotating body, a frame, a shutter, a pressure arm, a cam, a shutter arm, and an arm cam. The shutter is rotatable about a first axis between a closed position and an open position. The pressure arm presses the first rotating body against the second rotating body. The cam is rotatable about a second axis and pushes the pressure arm. The shutter arm is connected to the shutter and rotates about the second axis independent of the cam, to cause the shutter to rotate between the closed position and the open position. The arm cam rotates about the second axis to push the shutter arm at a position offset from the second axis and cause the shutter arm to rotate about the second axis.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus

A holder holds a heater. A connector includes a connection terminal. The connector is configured to be attached to the holder by sandwiching a part of the holder and a part of the heater. The connection terminal is configured to be connected to a power supply terminal in a state where the connector is attached to the holder. The connector includes a body part and a claw. The body part sandwiches the part of the holder and the part of the heater in a state where the connector is attached to the holder. The claw protrudes in a direction away from the body part. The holder includes an engagement part. The engagement part is configured to engage with the claw from an upstream side in an attaching direction. The attaching direction is a direction in which the connector is attached to the holder.

Heating unit

A fuser, having a heater in a form of a planar plate and a holder supporting the heater, is provided. The heater has a first face and a second face opposite to the first face. The holder has a supporting base supporting the first face of the heater, a side wall protruding from the supporting base, a first contact portion, and a second contact portion. The first contact portion is located in an end area on one side in a lengthwise direction of the holder. The first contact portion protrudes from the side wall and contacts the second face of the heater. The second contact portion is located apart from the first contact portion in the lengthwise direction in an end area on the other side of the holder in the lengthwise direction. The second contact portion protrudes from the side wall and contacts the second face of the heater.

Fuser

A heating unit includes a heater including a substrate and a resistance heating element provided on the substrate, an endless belt configured to rotate around the heater, a thermostat configured to interrupt energization to the resistance heating element when the heater is abnormally increased in temperature, the thermostat having a heat sensitive surface and a heat-insulating member disposed between the thermostat and the heater. The heat-insulating member has a heat conductivity less than that of a material constituting the heat sensitive surface. The heat sensitive surface of the thermostat is in contact with the heat-insulating member.

A heating unit includes a heater including a substrate and a resistance heating element, an endless belt, a holder supporting the heater, and a heat conductive member. A contact region in which the heat conductive member and the heater are in contact with each other includes two end regions located on outer sides of a range in which the resistance heat element is disposed in the longitudinal direction and a central region located in the range in which the resistance heat element is disposed in the longitudinal direction. The two end regions respectively include a first end and a second end of the contact region in the longitudinal direction. Heat conductive grease is not provided in each of the two end regions, and is provided in the central region.

A heating unit includes a heater, an endless belt, a holder, a heat conductive sheet, and a connector including a connecting terminal connected to a supply terminal. The connector is configured to hold a first end of the heater in the longitudinal direction and a first end of the holder in the longitudinal direction. The holder includes a first surface supporting the heat conductive member, and a second surface supporting the first end of the heater. The second surface is located at a position nearer to the heater than the first surface in a direction orthogonal to the substrate. A height of a step formed between the first surface and the second surface is greater than a thickness of the heat conductive member.

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Maibara, Japan

Yuichi Ikeno