Image heating device, image forming apparatus, and heater

An image heating device comprising:

• a heater having a substrate and a plurality of heat-generating blocks arranged on the substrate along a longitudinal direction of the substrate, the plurality of heat-generating blocks being independently controllable, wherein each of the plurality of heat-generating blocks includes a first conductor provided on the substrate along a longitudinal direction of the substrate, a second conductor provided along the longitudinal direction at a position different from the first conductor on the substrate in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, and a plurality of heat-generating resistors, each having the same shape and electrically connected in parallel between the first conductor and the second conductor on the substrate;
• a plurality of temperature detection elements for detecting a temperature of the heater, wherein each of the plurality of temperature detection elements is disposed at each of the plurality of heat-generating blocks;
• and
• a control portion for controlling electricity to be supplied to the plurality of heat-generating blocks based on the temperatures detected by the plurality of temperature detection elements,
• wherein the image heating device heats an image formed on a recording material by using a heat of the heater;
• and
• wherein the plurality of temperature detection elements include at least two temperature detection elements whose relative positions with respect to the closest heat-generating resistor among the plurality of heat-generating resistors in each of the plurality of the heat-generating blocks are the same, respectively, the closest heat-generating resistors corresponding to the at least two temperature detection elements are independently controlled by the control portion.