Image heating apparatus with heat pipe for decreasing unevenness in temperature distribution
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsMichiaki Endo, Masahiko Yokota, Kazuhisa Okuda, Takatoshi Chiba, Shinsuke Ubayashi, Hiromasa Katayama, Hiromitsu Uchida
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a fixing apparatus capable of reducing unevenness in temperature distribution in an axial direction while reducing heat loss at an end portion, a fixing belt 11 extended around a fixation roller 13 and a fixation tension roller 14 is heated by a coil unit 28 for effecting induction heating. The fixation tension roller 14 is assembled by inserting a heat pipe 15 into a hollow roller 14a. At both end portions, the hollow roller 14a is covered with a cover portion having small holes.
Claims5
An image heating apparatus, comprising:
- a coil;
- a rotatable heating member for generating heat by magnetic flux generated by energization of said coil;
- a belt member, supported by said rotatable heating member, for heating an image on a recording material by heat;
- a heat pipe, which contains a liquid and is disposed in said rotatable heating member, for decreasing unevenness in temperature distribution of said rotatable heating member in a longitudinal direction of said rotatable heating member;
- a first cover portion, disposed with a spacing with respect to one of two end portions of said heat pipe in the longitudinal direction of said rotatable heating member, for covering the one of two end portions of said rotatable heating member in the longitudinal direction of said rotatable heating member, said first cover portion provided with a first opening penetrating through said fist cover portion;
- a first shaft, provided to said first cover portion, for permitting support of said rotatable heating member by said image heating apparatus;
- a second cover portion, disposed with a spacing with respect to the other end portion of said heat pipe in the longitudinal direction of said rotatable heating member, for covering the other end portion of said rotatable heating member in the longitudinal direction of said rotatable heating member, said second cover portion provided with a second opening penetrating through said second cover portion;
- and
- a second shaft, provided to said second cover portion, for permitting support of said rotatable heating member by said image heating apparatus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.