Image forming apparatus having control of transportation unit fans according to sheet width
AssigneeKyocera Mita Corporation
InventorAkinori Matsuno
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Assume that a paper feed width of a sheet of paper of a predetermined size that is smaller than the maximum paper feed width W is W1. Then, when a sheet of paper having a width larger than the paper feed width W1 is transported, to stabilize the transportation thereof, first, second, and third fans 26a to 26c are all so rotated as to stick the entire sheet of paper to a transportation unit 25. On the other hand, when a sheet of paper having a width equal to or smaller than the paper feed width W1 is transported, only the first and third fans 26a and 26c are made to rotate to prevent an increase in the temperature of non-paper feeding areas 30a and 30b formed at the edges of a fuser roller pair 14a.
Claims12
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a transportation unit that has transfer means transferring a toner image formed on an image carrier to a recording medium, and that carries and transports the recording medium;
- a fuser that fuses the toner image transferred by the transfer means to the recording medium;
- a plurality of fans that are provided across a transportation width of the transportation unit for sticking the recording medium on the transportation unit onto a transporting surface by depressurizing;
- an air guide path through which an air inflow side of each fan communicates with an inside of the fuser;
- and
- control means that controls a rotation of the fans in such a way that, when more than a predetermined number of recording mediums having a width equal to or smaller than a predetermined width are transported within a predetermined time, a rotation of the fan communicating through the air guide path with a paper feeding area located inside the fuser and a rotation of the fan communicating through the air guide path with a non-paper feeding area located inside the fuser are separately controlled.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.