Fixing apparatus
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
InventorsHitoshi Nagato, Yuzo Koike
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Abstract
A fixing apparatus, for fixing a toner on a recording material by using Joule heat which is generated by applying a voltage across the conductors or across the electrodes to supply a current mostly to a fixing portion, (I) comprises a heating device having a first conductive layer, a pressure-sensitive conductive resin layer which is formed on the first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer formed on the pressure-sensitive conductive resin layer, (II) comprises a heating device having a first conductor and a fixing sheet substantially made of a pressure-sensitive conductive resin layer and a second conductive layer, or (III) comprises a heating device having a fixing sheet made of a heat-generating resistor and first and second electrodes insulated from each other.
Claims7
A fixing apparatus comprising:
- a heat roller having a first conductor, a pressure-sensitive conductive resin layer which is formed on said first conductor and in which a volume resistivity of a pressed area becomes lower than that of a non-pressed area, and a second conductive layer formed on said pressure-sensitive conductive resin layer;
- and
- current supplying means for supplying a current to a low-resistance pressed area of said pressure-sensitive conductive resin layer by applying a voltage across said first and second conductive layers,
- wherein a non-fixed toner image on a recording material partially pressed against said heat roller is fixed by using Joule heat generated by flowing of the current.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.