Electrical connection between an external power supply and a heater for a fusing roller hermetically sealed within the fusing roller used in an electrophotographic image formation apparatus

A fusing roller unit for use in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a cylindrical-shaped fusing roller, said roller having an outer surface and an interior, said roller having two ends;
• a pair of conductive caps, each one of said pair located at respective ones of said two ends of said fusing roller, each cap forming a hermetic seal with said fusing roller;
• a resistive heater disposed along an entire length of said fusing roller and being disposed inside said fusing roller between said pair of conductive caps, each end of said resistive heater forming a pair of leads;
• an power supply located external to said fusing roller supplying power to said resistive heater enabling said fusing roller to rapidly ramp up to a fusing temperature to bind toner to a sheet of recording medium;
• and
• an electrical connection apparatus positioned at each of said two ends of said fusing roller, designed to deliver power from said power supply to said resistive heater while maintaining an integrity of said hermetic seal and allowing said fusing roller to rotate, said connection apparatus comprising:
• a ring-shaped, non-conductive cap perforated by a through hole through which one of said pair of leads passes therethrough, said non-conductive cap formed around one of said two ends of said fusing roller;
• a conductive slip ring formed around said pipe-shaped non-conductive cap at one of said two ends of said fusing roller, said conductive cap having an inner surface and an outer surface, said inner surface having a conductive coupler protruding from the inner surface of said slip ring, said conductive slip ring being electrically connected to said power supply;
• and
• non-conductive adhesive attaching said non-conductive, ring-shaped cap to said fusing roller and attaching said slip ring around said non-conductive cap while keeping said non-conductive cap spacially separated from said fusing roller and keeping said slip ring spacially separated from said non-conductive cap, wherein one of said two leads of said resistive heater extends through said fusing roller, said non-conductive adhesive, said through hole and electrically attaches to said coupler.