Image forming apparatus
AssigneeToshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorRyota SAEKI
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Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device including a heat generating element, a fixing belt which moves along a surface of the heat generating element while an inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt contacts the heat generating element via a lubricant, and a rotatable body configured to be pressed against an outer peripheral surface of the fixing belt. The apparatus further includes a processor configured to cause the rotatable body to execute a predetermined operation a first time to increase a gap between the heat generating element and the fixing belt, and cause the rotatable body to execute the predetermined operation a second time to further increase the gap.
Claims20
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a fixing device including:
- a heat generating element,
- a fixing belt which moves along a surface of the heat generating element while an inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt contacts the heat generating element via a lubricant, and
- a rotatable body configured to be pressed against an outer peripheral surface of the fixing belt;
- and
- a processor configured to cause the rotatable body to execute a predetermined operation a first time to increase a gap between the heat generating element and the fixing belt, and cause the rotatable body to execute the predetermined operation a second time to further increase the gap.
A method of maintaining a fixing device of an image forming apparatus, the fixing device including a heat generating element, a fixing belt which moves along a surface of the heat generating element while an inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt contacts the heat generating element via a lubricant, and a rotatable body configured to be pressed against an outer peripheral surface of the fixing belt, the method comprising:
- causing the rotatable body to execute a predetermined operation a first time to increase a gap between the heat generating element and the fixing belt, and causing the rotatable body to execute the predetermined operation a second time to further increase the gap.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.