Image forming apparatus

A method, to be implemented in an image forming apparatus, for cooling a transfer material onto which a toner image is fixed by applying heat and pressure onto said toner image, said method comprising:

• conveying said transfer material along a conveying path so as to cool said transfer material by means of a cooling device disposed along said conveying path, just after said toner image is fixed onto said transfer material with heat;
• detecting said transfer material coming into said conveying path by means of a first transfer-material detecting device disposed at a position adjacent to and upstream from said cooling device in a conveying direction of said transfer material;
• and
• controlling an operation for conveying said transfer material in such a manner that, when said first transfer-material detecting device detects said transfer material coming into said conveying path, a conveyance velocity of said transfer material is decelerated to a decelerated velocity lower than a normal conveyance velocity, so that said transfer material passes through said conveying path, equipped with said cooling device, at said decelerated velocity.

A storage device for storing a computer program, to be implemented in an image forming apparatus, for executing a cooling operation of a transfer material onto which a toner image is fixed by applying heat and pressure onto said toner image;

• wherein said computer program comprises the functional steps of:
• conveying said transfer material along a conveying path so as to cool said transfer material by means of a cooling device disposed along said conveying path, just after said toner image is fixed onto said transfer material with heat;
• detecting said transfer material coming into said conveying path by means of a first transfer-material detecting device disposed at a position adjacent to and upstream from said cooling device in a conveying direction of said transfer material;
• and
• controlling an operation for conveying said transfer material in such a manner that, when said first transfer-material detecting device detects said transfer material coming into said conveying path, a conveyance velocity of said transfer material is decelerated to a decelerated velocity lower than a normal conveyance velocity, so that said transfer material passes through said conveying path, equipped with said cooling device, at said decelerated velocity.

A sheet conveying mechanism, to be employed in an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet through a fixing operation in which a toner image is fixed onto said sheet by applying heat and pressure onto said toner image, said sheet conveying mechanism comprising:

• a conveyance section to convey said sheet along a conveying path;
• a cooling device that is disposed along said conveying path to cool said sheet just after said toner image is fixed onto said sheet with heat;
• a controller to control said conveyance section and said cooling device;
• and
• a first sheet detecting device that is disposed at a position adjacent to and upstream from said cooling device in a conveying direction of said sheet, in order to detect said sheet coming into said conveying path;
• wherein, when said first sheet detecting device detects said sheet coming into said conveying path, said controller controls said conveyance section to decelerate a conveyance velocity of said sheet to a decelerated velocity lower than a normal conveyance velocity, so that said sheet passes through said conveying path, equipped with said cooling device, at said decelerated velocity.