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US 9,851,665 B1Granted
Fixation device that heats a fixation belt by an electromagnetic induction heating method
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorShuji Yokoyama
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
According to an embodiment, a fixation device has a fixation belt, a coil, and a heat-generation auxiliary plate. The coil is opposed to the fixation belt and the heat-generation auxiliary plate and generates magnetic flux. The heat-generation auxiliary plate assists heating of a recording medium by the fixation belt. The heat-generation auxiliary plate has a magnetic layer and a non-magnetic layer formed on the magnetic layer and contacting a base layer of the fixation belt. The non-magnetic layer is harder than the base layer of the fixation belt.
Claims19
A fixation device that fixes a toner image formed on a recording medium onto the recording medium, the fixation device comprising:
- a fixation belt having a base layer and an electrically-conductive layer formed on the base layer and configured to heat the toner image by generating heat by the electrically-conductive layer in order to fix the toner image onto the recording medium;
- a coil opposed to the fixation belt and configured to cause the electrically-conductive layer to generate heat by generating magnetic flux;
- and
- a heat-generation auxiliary plate having a magnetic layer and a non-magnetic layer and configured to assist the heating of the recording medium by the fixation belt, the magnetic layer containing a magnetic material and opposed to the coil with the fixation belt interposed therebetween, the non-magnetic layer formed on the magnetic layer, containing a non-magnetic material harder than the base layer of the fixation belt, and contacting the base layer of the fixation belt, wherein
- the non-magnetic layer of the heat-generation auxiliary plate has a thickness of 1 μm or less.
2 more elements
An image formation apparatus comprising:
- a supply unit configured to supply a recording medium on which a toner image is formed;
- an image formation unit configured to form a toner image on an image carrier;
- a transfer unit configured to transfer the toner image formed on the image carrier onto the recording medium;
- and
- a fixation device configured to fix the transferred toner image onto the supplied recording medium, wherein
- the fixation device further has:
- a fixation belt having a base layer and an electrically-conductive layer formed above the base layer and configured to heat the toner image by generating heat by the electrically-conductive layer in order to fix the toner image onto the recording medium;
- a coil opposed to the fixation belt and configured to cause the electrically-conductive layer to generate heat by generating magnetic flux;
- and
- a heat-generation auxiliary plate having a magnetic layer and a non-magnetic layer and configured to assist the heating of the recording medium by the fixation belt, the magnetic layer containing a magnetic material and opposed to the coil with the fixation belt interposed therebetween, the non-magnetic layer formed on the magnetic layer, containing a non-magnetic material harder than the base layer of the fixation belt, and contacting the base layer of the fixation belt, and
- the non-magnetic layer of the heat-generation auxiliary plate has a thickness of 1 μm or less.
8 more elements
An image formation apparatus comprising:
- a supply unit configured to supply a recording medium on which a toner image is formed;
- an image formation unit configured to form a toner image on an image carrier;
- a transfer unit configured to transfer the toner image formed on the image carrier onto the recording medium;
- and
- a fixation device configured to fix the transferred toner image onto the supplied recording medium, wherein
- the fixation device further has:
- a fixation belt having a base layer and an electrically-conductive layer formed above the base layer and configured to heat the toner image by generating heat by the electrically-conductive layer in order to fix the toner image onto the recording medium;
- a coil opposed to the fixation belt and configured to cause the electrically-conductive layer to generate heat by generating magnetic flux;
- and
- a heat-generation auxiliary plate having a magnetic layer and a non-magnetic layer and configured to assist the heating of the recording medium by the fixation belt, the magnetic layer containing a magnetic material and opposed to the coil with the fixation belt interposed therebetween, the non-magnetic layer formed on the magnetic layer, containing a non-magnetic material harder than the base layer of the fixation belt, and contacting the base layer of the fixation belt, wherein
- between the magnetic layer and the non-magnetic layer, the heat-generation auxiliary plate has a binder layer having the same thickness as the non-magnetic layer or a thickness smaller than that of the non-magnetic layer.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.