Fixing device and image forming apparatus
AssigneeKYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
InventorYasuhito Okajima
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fixing device includes a fixing belt, a pressing member, a pressing roller and a cap. The fixing belt is cylindrical and rotatable. The pressing member has a longitudinal length shorter than a longitudinal length of the fixing belt. The pressing member is configured to face an inner circumferential face of the fixing belt via a lubricant. The cap is configured to rotate together with the fixing belt. In a first end area between the longitudinal end portion of the fixing belt and the pressing member, a first step is formed on the inner circumferential face of the fixing belt in a circumferential direction of the fixing belt such that an inner diameter of the fixing belt is larger at a side of the longitudinal end than at a side of the pressing member.
Claims6
A fixing device comprising:
- a rotatable cylindrical fixing belt;
- a pressing member having a longitudinal length shorter than a longitudinal length of the fixing belt and configured to face an inner circumferential face of the fixing belt via a lubricant such that both longitudinal end portions of the pressing member are positioned inside both longitudinal end portions of the fixing belt;
- a pressing roller configured to form a pressing area between the pressing member and the pressing roller and to drive the fixing belt to rotate the fixing belt, a sheet being conveyed through the pressing area;
- and
- a cap configured to rotate together with the fixing belt and having a disk-shaped part coming into contact with an end face of the fixing belt and a cylindrical part extending from the disk-shaped part toward a center side of the fixing belt, an inner circumferential face of the cylindrical part facing an outer circumferential face of the fixing belt,
- wherein in a first end area between the longitudinal end portion of the fixing belt and the pressing member, a first step is formed on the inner circumferential face of the fixing belt in a circumferential direction of the fixing belt such that an inner diameter of the fixing belt is larger at a side of the longitudinal end than at a side of the pressing member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.