Image forming apparatus that is capable of altering a recording sheet transporting speed

Abstract

An image forming apparatus is provided which can compatibly realize maintenance of optimum fixing speeds according to fixing characteristics of recording sheets and toner images and a reduction in the size of the apparatus itself as well as an improvement in the productivity of image formation, and which is free of many restrictions such as sizes, transfer speeds, fixing speeds and transfer positions of recording media to be used as well as lengths and fixing positions of transporting units. An image forming apparatus comprises a transfer section for transferring a toner image to recording sheets at a predetermined transfer speed, a fixing section for fixing the toner image transferred to the recording sheet at a predetermined fixing speed, a transporting device for continuously transporting the recording sheet from the transfer section to the fixing section at a predetermined transporting speed and with a predetermined space, a control device for controlling a transporting speed of the transporting device so that a transporting speed and a fixing speed of the recording sheet become approximately equal to each other when a leading edge of the recording sheet reaches the fixing section, a detecting device for detecting a transporting-direction length of the recording sheet, and a space control device for controlling a space between a preceding recording sheet and a succeeding recording sheet according to a transporting-direction length of the preceding recording sheet of recording sheets.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.