Image heating apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsYuusuke Shimizu, Keisuke Mochizuki, Atsutoshi Ando, Michio Uchida, Tomoo Akizuki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
When a fixing device becomes uncontrollable and a large amount of electric power is continuously supplied to the heater, concentration of mechanical stress on a heater is suppressed, whereby shear fracture of the heater is prevented from occurring. A longitudinal region of the heater in which a heat generation resistive member is provided is supported by a heater support surface of a heater holder, and an opposed surface of the heater holder that is opposed to a longitudinal region of the heater in which the heat generation resistive member is not provided is designed not to be in contact with the heater.
Claims9
An image heating apparatus comprising:
- a heater having a substrate, a heat generation resistive member provided on said substrate and an electrode provided on said substrate for supplying electric power to said heat generation resistive member;
- a holder made of a resin that has a connector attachment portion, provided at an end portion with respect to a longitudinal direction thereof, for attaching a power feeding connector to be connected to said electrode, said holder holding said heater all along its longitudinal direction;
- and
- an elastic roller that forms a nip portion in cooperation with said heater, the image heating apparatus heating an image formed on a recording material by said nip portion,
- wherein said heat generation resistive member of said heater is arranged within the area of said nip portion with respect to the longitudinal direction of said heater, said connector attachment portion of said holder is arranged outside the area of said nip portion, and a surface of said holder that is opposed to a surface of said heater that is opposite to the nip portion side surface thereof includes a seating area that is in contact with said heater and a concaved portion area that is located closer to an end with respect to said longitudinal direction than said seating area is and is not in contact with said heater all along a shorter side direction of said heater.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.