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US 11,768,455 B2Granted
Fixing device and image forming apparatus
AssigneeKYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
InventorsRina Kikugawa, Takashi Eiki, Akihiro Kondo, Ryohei Tokunaga, Yuta Kitabayashi, Hiroki Kawasaki, Shunsaku Fujii, Tei To
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heater includes electrodes and heating element pieces. The electrodes energize the heating element pieces with electricity. The heating element pieces are connected to the electrodes and arranged through a gap portion in the heater in a main scanning direction. A ratio of a second surface area of the gap portion to a first surface area of the heating element pieces is 0<(second surface area of the gap portion)/(first surface area of the heating element pieces)≤0.5.
Claims11
A fixing device comprising:
- a fixing belt configured to heat and fix a toner image formed on a sheet conveyed in a sub-scanning direction;
- and
- a surface heater configured to heat an inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt by pressibly making contact with the inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt, wherein
- the surface heater includes, on a surface thereof that comes in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt:
- a plurality of heating element pieces arranged in a main scanning direction perpendicular to the sub-scanning direction;
- and
- a plurality of electrodes which energize the heating element pieces with electricity,
- the heating element pieces each have paired sides extending in parallel to each other in the main scanning direction on an upstream side thereof in the sub-scanning direction and a downstream side thereof in the sub-scanning direction to shape into a parallelogram or a trapezoid with oblique lines inclined with respect to the main scanning line,
- the heating element pieces are connected to the electrodes and arranged through a gap portion in the surface heater in the main scanning direction,
- an imaginary sub-scanning directional axis of the sheet passes an oblique line of any of mutually adjacent heating element pieces of the heating element pieces, and
- a ratio of a second surface area (mm2) of the gap portion to a first surface area (mm2) of the heating element pieces is 0<(second surface area (mm2) of the gap portion)/(first surface area (mm2) of the heating element pieces)≤0.5.
8 more elements
A fixing device comprising:
- a fixing belt configured to heat and fix a toner image formed on a sheet conveyed in a sub-scanning direction;
- a surface heater configured to heat an inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt by pressibly making contact with the inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt, wherein
- the surface heater includes, on a surface thereof that comes in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt:
- a plurality of heating element pieces arranged in a main scanning direction perpendicular to the sub-scanning direction;
- and
- electrodes which energize the heating element pieces with electricity, of the heating element pieces,
- an n-th heating element piece and an (n+1)-th heating element piece are adjacent to each other, and
- the (n+1)-th heating element piece and a (n+2)-th heating element piece are adjacent to each other,
- of the paired sides,
- a side of the n-th heating element piece on an upstream side in the sub-scanning direction that extends in the main scanning direction and a side of the (n+1)-th heating element piece on the upstream side in the sub-scanning direction that extends in the main scanning direction are connected to each other via a corresponding one of the electrodes,
- a side of the n-th heating element piece on a downstream side in the sub-scanning direction that extends in the main scanning direction and a side of the (n+1)-th heating element piece on the downstream side in the sub-scanning direction that extends in the main scanning direction are not connected to each other via the electrodes,
- a side of the (n+1)-th heating element piece on the upstream side in the sub-scanning direction that extends in the main scanning direction and a side of the (n+2)-th heating element piece on the upstream side in the sub-scanning direction that extends in the main scanning direction are connected to each other via a corresponding one of the electrodes, and
- a side of the (n+1)-th heating element piece on the downstream side in the sub-scanning direction that extends in the main scanning direction and a side of the (n+2)-th heating element piece on the downstream side in the sub-scanning direction that extends in the main scanning direction are not connected to each other via the electrodes, and
- a ratio of a second surface area (mm2) of the gap portion to a first surface area (mm2) of the heating element pieces is 0<(second surface area (mm2) of the gap portion)/(first surface area (mm2) of the heating element pieces)≤0.5.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.