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US 9,753,413 B2Granted
Belt unit having a restricting portion for a steering roller and image forming apparatus including the same
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorRan Kudo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A belt unit including a steering mechanism employing a belt auto alignment method includes a restricting portion configured to enable a steering roller to rotate about a steering axis line for correcting the deviation of the position of the belt in the width-wise direction, while restricting the inclination of the steering roller due to the rotation.
Claims12
A belt unit detachably attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus, the belt unit comprising:
- an endless belt configured to be movably supported by a plurality of support rollers;
- a steering roller included in the plurality of support rollers, and configured to move a position of the belt in a width-wise direction by being rotated about a steering axis line crossing a rotary axis direction of the steering roller, the steering roller automatically being inclined, in a case where the position of the belt in the width-wise direction is shifted to one side while the belt is moving, in a direction with which the position of the belt in the width-wise direction is moved back to the other side;
- a supporting member configured to support the steering roller in such a manner that the steering roller is rotatable about the steering axis line;
- a frame configured to support the supporting member;
- and
- a restricting portion configured to enable the steering roller to have an inclination of a maximum possible amount for moving the position of the belt in the width-wise direction in a case where the belt unit is attached to the main body and while the belt unit is moving, and to restrict the steering roller from having a predetermined inclination amount which is more than the maximum possible amount at least in a case where the belt unit is detached from the main body.
3 more elements
A belt unit detachably attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus, the belt unit comprising:
- an endless belt configured to be movably supported by a plurality of support rollers;
- a steering roller included in the plurality of support rollers, and configured to move a position of the belt in a width-wise direction by being rotated about a steering axis line crossing a rotary axis direction of the steering roller, the steering roller automatically being inclined, in a case where the position of the belt in the width-wise direction is shifted to one side while the belt is moving, in a direction with which the position of the belt in the width-wise direction is moved back to the other side;
- a supporting member configured to support the steering roller in such a manner that the steering roller is rotatable about the steering axis line;
- a frame configured to support the supporting member;
- and
- a restricting portion configured to restrict the steering roller from having a predetermined inclination amount,
- wherein the predetermined inclination amount is an inclination amount obtained by adding a predetermined margin to a maximum possible amount, and the maximum possible amount is a maximum inclination amount of the steering roller required, in a case where the position of the belt in the width-wise direction is shifted to one side, for moving back the position of the belt to the other side.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.