# US 9,519,247 B2 · Fixing device and image forming apparatus including the same

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- Number: US 9,519,247 B2
- Document ID: US9519247B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/044,483
- Filed: 2016-02-16
- Published: 2016-08-25
- Granted: 2016-12-13
- Earliest claimed: 2015-02-23
- Assignees: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
- Applicants: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
- Inventors: Masaru Takagi; Koji Izumi
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9519247B2

## CPC

- G03G 15/2028: {with means for handling the copy material in the fixing nip, e.g. introduction guides, stripping means}
- G03G 15/6573: {Feeding path after the fixing point and up to the discharge tray or the finisher, e.g. special treatment of copy material to compensate for effects from the fixing}
- G03G: ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY

## Abstract

The fixing device includes an abutting member and an urging member. The abutting member is provided on a sheet conveyance path between a fixing roller pair and a conveying roller pair. The abutting member abuts a surface of a sheet having passed or passing through a separation plate, and the surface faces a heating roller side. The urging member urges the abutting member such that the aforementioned sheet is pressed by the abutting member to a side separated from the separation plate.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A fixing device comprising:
a fixing roller pair including a heating roller and a pressure roller and having a fixing nip formed between the two rollers;
a separation plate provided at a downstream side in a sheet conveyance direction of the fixing nip and separating a sheet, which is discharged from the fixing roller pair, from the heating roller; and
a conveying roller pair provided at the downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction of the separation plate, including a pair of conveying rollers, and having a conveyance nip formed between the two rollers,
wherein the conveyance nip is positioned at a heating roller side from a common tangent of the heating roller and the pressure roller in the fixing nip when viewed from an axial direction of the fixing roller pair, and
the fixing device further comprises:
an abutting member provided separately from the separation plate on a sheet conveyance path between the fixing roller pair and the conveying roller pair and abutting a surface of a sheet having passed or passing through the separation plate, the surface facing the heating roller side; and
an urging member that urges the abutting member such that the sheet is pressed by the abutting member to a side separated from the separation plate,
wherein the separation plate is arranged at the heating roller side from a nip line passing through the fixing nip and the conveyance nip when viewed from the axial direction of the fixing roller pair,
at least a part of the abutting member is positioned at a pressure roller side of the nip line when the urging member is in a natural length state, and
when the urging member enters a state in which the sheet has extended across the conveying roller pair and the fixing roller pair, the urging member is compressed by the tension acted on the abutting member so that the whole of the abutting member is positioned to the heating roller side of the nip line, whereas when the sheet enters a state in which the sheet is conveyed only by the conveying roller pair, the urging member returns to the natural length as the tension is reduced so that the abutting member is moved to the pressure roller side thereby moving an abutting position of the sheet and the abutting member to the pressure roller side of the nip line.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The fixing device of claim 1, wherein the urging member includes a compression coil spring.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The fixing device of claim 1, wherein the abutting member includes a cylindrical roller member extending in a direction equal to the axial direction of the fixing roller pair.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The fixing device of claim 3, wherein a bearing member is provided to support the roller member so as to be rotatable, and
the urging member urges the roller member via the bearing member.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The fixing device of claim 4, further comprising a support plate having a guide groove into which the bearing member is fitted so as to be slidable.

### Claim 6 (depends on 3)

The fixing device of claim 3, wherein when the urging member enters a state in which the sheet has extended across the conveying roller pair and the fixing roller pair, an outer peripheral surface of the roller member is compressed until the outer peripheral surface of the roller member is level with the guide surface of the separation plate by the tension acted on the roller member by the sheet.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

An image forming apparatus comprising the fixing device of claim 1.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The fixing device of claim 1, wherein the common tangent extends in a vertical direction.