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US 9,002,231 B2Granted
Image forming apparatus with guide member to guide air
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorSeung-bok Jung
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit to form an image on a print medium, a fixing unit to fix the image formed by the image forming unit on the print medium, and a guide member installed in a moving path where air moves along between the image forming unit and the fixing unit so that air inhaled through an inhaling unit formed at one side of a main frame can be exhausted to an exhaust unit formed at the other side of the main frames, and to guide a moving direction of the air so that the air inhaled through the inhaling unit can move to the image forming unit along the moving path.
Claims23
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a main frame having an inhaling unit formed at one side of the main frame and an exhaust unit formed at another side of the main frame;
- a medium feeding unit supported by the main frame and configured to supply a print medium;
- an image forming unit supported by the main frame and configured to form an image on the print medium supplied by the medium feeding unit;
- a fixing unit supported by the main frame and configured to fix the image formed by the image forming unit on the print medium;
- a channel extended along a lengthwise direction of the fixing unit, between the image forming unit and the fixing unit, and configured to guide air inhaled through the inhaling unit to move to the exhaust unit so that the air in the channel is exhausted to an exterior through the exhaust unit;
- and
- a guide member installed between the image forming unit and the fixing unit within the channel, and having a configuration so that none of the air inhaled through the inhaling unit is guided by the guide member toward the fixing unit,
- wherein the guide member comprises a plurality of ribs configured to guide the air inhaled through the inhaling unit to the image forming unit;
- wherein each rib comprises a first guide unit arranged at a side of the inhaling unit and extended parallel to an extending direction of the channel, and a second guide unit bent from end of the first guide unit toward the image forming unit;
- and
- wherein the first guide units are equal length.
8 more elements
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an inhaling unit formed at a side of the image forming apparatus and configured to transfer an air from an exterior of the image forming apparatus to a channel at an interior of the image forming apparatus in a direction perpendicular to the side of the image forming apparatus;
- an exhaust unit formed at another side of the image forming apparatus;
- a plurality of guide ribs disposed in the channel of the image forming apparatus in a path of the air transferred by the inhaling unit, each of the plurality of guide ribs having a portion angled with respect to the side of the image forming apparatus and configured to change a direction of the air transferred by the inhaling unit;
- an image forming unit configured to form an image on a print medium;
- and
- a fixing unit configured to fix the image formed by the image forming unit to the print medium and disposed in the interior of the image forming apparatus such that the plurality of guide ribs have a configuration so that none of the air transferred by the inhaling unit is guided by the plurality of guide ribs toward the fixing unit,
- wherein the channel is disposed between the image forming unit and the fixing unit, is extended along a lengthwise direction of the fixing unit, and is configured to guide air inhaled through the inhaling unit to move to the exhaust unit so that the air in the channel is exhausted to an exterior through the exhaust unit,
- wherein each of the plurality of guide ribs comprises a first guide portion arranged at a side of the inhaling unit and extended parallel to the lengthwise direction of the fixing unit, and a second guide portion bent from end of the first guide portion toward the image forming unit;
- wherein the first guide portions are equal length.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.