Image forming apparatus capable of shifting fixing unit vertically upward in conjunction with behavior of switching state of fixing member and pressing member

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a drum unit including an image carrier capable of carrying a toner image;
• a fixing unit that includes a fixing member and a pressing member forming a fixing nip together with the fixing member and fixes at the fixing nip the toner image formed on a recording sheet;
• a fixing pressure release unit which is disposed below the fixing unit and switches a state of the fixing member and the pressing member between a pressed state where pressure is applied on the fixing nip and a released state where the pressure on the fixing nip is released;
• a body frame including a vertically extending lateral support plate, and a partition plate disposed above the fixing unit and serving as a partition between the drum unit from the fixing unit;
• a cooling fan that produces a cooling air flow, and
• a first cooling duct which is provided on an outside of the lateral support plate and allows the air blown by the cooling fan to flow therethrough,
• wherein the lateral support plate is provided with an air outlet through which the air in the first cooling duct is to be blown into a space between the drum unit and the fixing unit,
• the fixing pressure release unit comprises a nip pressure adjustment gear located toward the fixing unit, and a rotary gear located below and meshing with the nip pressure adjustment gear,
• the fixing unit performs a switching behavior of switching between the pressed state and the released state by a rotary drive force supplied by rotation from the rotary gear to the nip pressure adjustment gear, and
• the image forming apparatus further comprises a shifting mechanism that shifts the fixing unit vertically upward in conjunction with the switching behavior.