This patent application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-058414 filed on Mar. 15, 2010 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-215704 filed on Sep. 27, 2010 the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to a fixing device for fixing a toner image to a recording medium, and also directed to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among fixing devices used in image forming apparatuses, one known type of such applies heat and pressure to paper, on the surface of which an unfixed toner image is carried, by holding, the paper between a heating roller and a pressure roller while conveying the paper, to thereby fix the toner image onto the paper.
At a stage previous to the pressure roller, a heating plate having multiple heaters inside is provided, and the heating plate applies heat to the paper. This application of heat by the heating plate is ancillary to the application of heat and pressure by the heating roller and the pressure roller to the paper which is held between these rollers and conveyed. In general, image forming apparatuses that perform high speed printing or support long continuous paper (web) require increased heat capacity for fixing toner images. Applying heat to paper supplementarily by the heating plate facilitates reducing an increase in the fixing temperature.
Heating paper by the heating plate allows the temperature of the heating roller to be reduced; however, if paper is laid on the heating plate for more than a fixed period of time when a printing job is stopped, the paper is heated more than necessary, which sometimes results in paper contraction and/or damage.
In order to solve such a problem, a technology has been proposed that detaches the paper from the heating plate using a pin, a wire or the like (see Patent Document 1, for example).
In another known technology, when conveyance of printing paper is stopped in a second printer used for tandem duplex printing, air is sent from the printing paper side in order to prevent an increase in temperature of an area between detached paper and the heating plate, prevent the paper from being deformed by heat and reduce quality loss in printing of the back side of the paper (see Patent Document 2, for example).
However, simply detaching the paper from the heating plate according to the technology of Patent Document 1 is not sufficient and paper damage/contraction is sometimes caused since the paper is heated by radiant heat from the heating plate. Furthermore, even when a mechanism for sending air from the printing paper side is provided, as in the case of Patent Document 2, paper damage/contraction may still be caused.
Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may provide a novel and useful fixing device and image forming apparatus solving one or more of the problems discussed above.
In view of the above-described problems, the embodiments of the present invention may provide a fixing device and an image forming apparatus capable of properly preventing paper damage/contraction even when paper stops on the heating plate for more than a fixed period of time.
One aspect of the present invention may be to provide a fixing device including a conveying unit configured to convey a recording medium; a conveyance stopping unit configured to stop conveyance of the recording medium; a heating unit having a heating plane and configured to heat a part of the recording medium, which part is laid over the heating plane; and a cooling unit configured to cool down the part of the recording medium, whose conveyance has been stopped, by applying cooling air to the part of the recording medium from above.
Another aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus including a fixing device that includes a conveying unit configured to convey a recording medium, a conveyance stopping unit configured to stop conveyance of the recording medium, a heating unit having a heating plane and configured to heat a part of the recording medium laid over the heating plane, and a cooling unit configured to cool down the part of the recording medium, whose conveyance has been stopped, by applying cooling air to the part of the recording medium from above; and an image forming unit configured to form an image on the recording medium.
Additional objects and advantages of the embodiments will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part may be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The object and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed.
Descriptions of terms are given prior to describing embodiments of the present invention. The term “image forming apparatus” denotes, for example, a printer, a facsimile machine, a copier, a plotter or a multi-function peripheral serving multiple functions of the aforementioned apparatuses. The term “recording medium” denotes a medium made of, for example, paper, textile threads, fibers, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood or ceramic. The following description is given using continuous paper (web) as the recording media. The term “image formation” means applying an image, such as a letter, a diagram and a pattern, to a recording medium, or simply causing a liquid droplet (ink) to land on a recording medium. In addition, the following description uses a plate-like heating plate and a paper conveyance tractor as a heating system and a conveying system, respectively.
The control unit 206 is a CPU for controlling each device and performing data calculation and processes in a computer. In addition, the control unit 206 functions as a processing device for running a program stored in the main storage unit 312. Specifically, the control unit 206 receives data from an input device or a storage device, calculates and processes the data, and then outputs the result to an output device or a storage device.
The main storage unit 312 is a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory) or the like, and is a storage device for storing or temporarily storing data and programs, such as an operating system (OS) and application software, to be run by the control unit 206.
The auxiliary storage unit 313 is, for example, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and is a storage device for storing data related to application software. The external storage apparatus I/F unit 314 is an interface between the image forming apparatus 1 and a storage medium 515 (for example, a flash memory) connected via a data transmission line, such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus).
In addition, a predetermined program may be stored in the storage medium 515, and installed in the image forming apparatus 1 via the external storage apparatus I/F unit 314. Herewith, the installed program becomes ready to be executed by the image forming apparatus 1.
The network I/F unit 316 is an interface between the image forming apparatus 1 and peripherals having a communication function and connected via a network, such as a LAN (Local Area Network) and a WAN (Wide Area Network) equipped with wired and/or wireless data transmission paths.
The input unit 317 and the display unit 318 include key switches (hardware keys) and a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) with a touch panel function (including Graphical User Interface (GUI)/softkeys), and are display and/or input devices for functioning as UIs (User Interfaces) to allow users to use functions of the image forming apparatus 1.
The engine unit 319 is provided for driving respective motors and mechanical parts, such as a plotter and a scanner, which perform actual processes pertaining to image formation. The engine unit 319 drives the image forming unit 320 to thereby print paper.
Configuration Diagram of Image Forming Apparatus
A rotating polygon mirror 3 starts rotating immediately when the image forming apparatus 1 is powered on, and is kept rotating at a constant speed with high accuracy while the power is on. Light emitted from a light source 4, such as a semiconductor laser, is reflected by the rotating polygon mirror 3 and then incident via an fθ lens 5 to scan over the photosensitive drum 21. When text data or graphic data that have been converted into dot image data are transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1 from the controller 22 as on-off signals of a laser beam, some parts of the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 are irradiated with the laser beam but other parts are not, and herewith a so-called electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 21.
When the region of the photosensitive drum 21 holding the electrostatic latent image reaches a position opposite to a developing device 6, toner is supplied to the electrostatic latent image. The toner with, for example, positive charge is attracted by static electricity to parts on the photosensitive drum 21 on which electrical charges have been neutralized by the aforementioned irradiation of the laser beam, and thus a toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 21.
Continuous paper (web) 7 housed in a paper hopper 11 is conveyed by paper conveyance tractors 8 and 9 toward a place between the photosensitive drum 21 and a transfer unit 10 in synchronization with timing at which the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 21 reaches a transfer position. The transfer unit 10 applies a charge having a polarity opposite to that of the toner image to the back surface of the paper 7, and thereby the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 21 is attracted onto the paper 7.
Then, the paper 7 is conveyed to a fixing device 12 via the paper conveyance tractor 8, the transfer unit 10, the paper conveyance tractor 9 and a buffer plate 24. After reaching the fixing device 12, the paper 7 is heated by a heating plate 13 having multiple heaters inside. Subsequently, when the paper 7 is conveyed while being held between a pair of fixing rollers made up of a heating roller 14 having multiple heater lamps 25 inside and a pressure roller 15, heat and pressure are applied to the paper 7 by a nip portion formed by the paired fixing rollers (i.e. a portion at which the heating roller 14 abuts the pressure roller 15). Herewith, the toner image is melted and fixed to the paper 7.
The paper 7 sent out by the heating roller 14 and the pressure roller 15 is ejected onto a stack table 19 by paper sending rollers 16 while being alternately folded along perforations by swing operation of a swing fin 17. In addition, the paper 7 is stacked on the stack table 19 while being accurately folded by rotating paddles 18. A region of the photosensitive drum 21 having passed through the transfer position is cleaned by a cleaning device 20 to be ready for the next printing operation.
The buffer plate 24 is used for absorbing the slack or tension caused in the paper 7 when there is a difference in a paper conveyance speed between the paper conveyance tractor 9 and the fixing rollers (i.e., the heating roller 14 and the pressure roller 15). The display unit 318 displays information based on the status of the image forming apparatus 1 during the printing operation. Reference numeral 26 denotes a web member provided in such a manner as to come in contact with the heating roller 14 and be wound up from the surface of the heating roller 14. The web member 26 is used for coating a release agent and a lubricant on the surface of the heating roller 14.
As described above, the fixing device 12 according to the present embodiment includes the heating plate 13, the heating roller 14, the pressure roller 15 and the like.
Configuration of Heating Plate 13
Next is described the configuration of the heating plate 13.
The heating plate 13 is divided into an upper part 136 and a lower part 138. The settings of the surface temperatures for the upper part 136 and the lower part 138 can be individually controlled by the control unit 206.
The heating plate 13 is fixed to the heating plate frame 30 by supporting members 140. In the case shown in
In the following explanation, a heating plane 13a of the heating plate 13 is one surface of the heating plate 13 opposing the paper 7 passing over the heating plate 13 (see
Cooling System
In the fixing device 12 according to the present embodiment, if the paper 7 is stopped, for example, because a printing job is stopped, the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 having been stopped is cooled down by a cooling system. Various cooling systems may be adoptable, and one example of such is a system for generating cooling air and sending the cooling air to the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 from above to thereby cool the paper 7 having been stopped.
As another example of the adoptable cooling systems, ambient air (about 20 to 28° C.) which is air outside the image forming apparatus 1 equipped with the fixing device 12 is taken in and used as cooling air to cool the paper 7 having been stopped. This is effective since, in general, the temperature inside of the room where the image forming apparatus 1 is installed is comparatively lower than the temperature of air near the heating plate 13 of the fixing device 12. Therefore, air can be used to cool the paper 7 by the cooling system of the present invention as long as the air has a lower temperature than that of air near the heating plate 13; yet, ambient air is especially preferable. In the following, the description is given of the case in which ambient air is taken in and then blown onto the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 having been stopped.
As shown in
The blowing unit 400 includes intake members 402, a housing member (holder) 404 and connecting members 406. In the example shown in
The duct unit 500 includes the ambient air blowing members 502, partition plates 504 and a holder 506. The ambient air blowing members 502 are connected to the respective cooling air conveying units 600 by a base 508. The inside of the ambient air blowing member 502 is hollow and has a triangular prism shape. The ambient air blowing members 502 may take the form of, for example, ducts, and each has an ambient air injection outlet 502a for discharging ambient air blown out of the corresponding intake member 402 to the opposing part 7a of the paper 7.
The ambient air blowing members 502 cool the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 having been stopped by applying, as cooling air, the ambient air blown out of the intake members 402 to the opposing part 7a from the ambient air injection outlets 502a. The same number of cooling air conveying units 600, bases 508 and ambient air blowing members 502 as the number of intake members 402 are provided (four in this case).
The ambient air blowing members 502 are fixed to the holder 506, which is fixed to the heating plate frame 30. The heating plate 13 is also fixed to the heating plate frame 30 by supporting members 140. The duct unit 500 is disposed close to the heating plate 13 in such a manner as to form a predetermined gap (a gap which allows conveyance of the paper 7) between the heating plane 13a of the heating plate 13 and the ambient air injection outlets 502a of the ambient air blowing members 502, from which ambient air is discharged.
A functional example of the control unit 206 is shown in
In addition, in the fixing device 12 according to the present embodiment, cooling air is applied to the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 from above. Herewith, the entire paper 7 is uniformly cooled, which provides excellent cooling efficiency.
According to the second embodiment of the present invention, multiple intake members 402 are provided (four in the case shown in
Here, the number of intake members 402 corresponding to the width of the paper 7 is determined in such a manner that, in the width direction of the paper 7, the extent of the total length of ambient air injection outlets 502a to be used becomes closest to the width of the paper 7. This determination of the number of intake members 402 is made by the control unit 206. The user may measure the width of the paper 7 and input the measurement using the input unit 317 to transmit the measurement to the control unit 206. Alternatively, a not-shown paper width sensor may be used to detect the width of the paper 7, which is then transmitted to the control unit 206.
The reason for using only the number of intake members 402 corresponding to the width of the paper 7 is to decrease wasted consumption of power. In the case when the width of the paper 7 is small, cooling air is also blown directly onto a part of the heating plate 13 where no paper 7 is present, and this has the effect of decreasing the temperature of the heating plate 13 while the heating plate 13 is controlled to be maintained at a setting temperature. These opposing actions result in wasted power consumption. Therefore, by changing the number of intake members 402 to be used according to the width of the paper 7, it is possible to decrease the consumption of power.
According to the third embodiment of the present invention, partition plates are preferably provided between adjacent ambient air blowing members. For example, the partition plates 504 are provided between the adjacent ambient air blowing members 502 as shown in
According to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the hoses of the cooling air conveying units 600 are preferably stretchable. Specifically, the cooling air conveying units 600 are formed of, for example, accordion hoses to thereby allow flexibility in the hose length. With this configuration, when the duct unit 500 moves according to the movement of the heating plate frame 30, it is possible to accommodate a change in the distance between the blowing unit 400 and the duct unit 500.
According to the fifth embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 206 starts (restarts) a printing job (image formation) of the image forming unit 320 after the printing job has been stopped. Then, the control unit 206 stops cooling provided by the cooling system 100 at the start of the printing job. If cooling of the paper 7 is continued after the start of the printing job, the temperature of the paper 7 does not reach a temperature necessary to cause a toner image to be melted and fixed on the paper 7 when the paper 7 is nipped by the heating roller 14 and the pressure roller 15. This results in poor fixation of the toner image. Therefore, by stopping the cooling process by the cooling system 100 at the start of the printing job, the paper 7 is conveyed over the heating plate 13 in a steady manner without being cooled too much.
The sixth embodiment of the present invention relates to a preferable cooling method by the cooling system 100. The following descriptions of “First Preferable Cooling Method”, “Second Preferable Cooling Method” and “Third Preferable Cooling Method” take an example where adhesive press-fitted paper is used as the paper 7. In “First Preferable Cooling Method” and “Second Preferable Cooling Method”, a distance L (not shown) between the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 and outlets from which cooling air of the cooling system 100 is discharged is 10 to 30 mm. The “outlets” here are parts from which cooling air is discharged, and in the case where the cooling system 100 of
First Preferable Cooling Method
As the first preferable cooling method, experiments have shown that it is preferable to apply ambient air (cooling air) out of the ambient air blowing members 502 (see
Second Preferable Cooling Method
Next is described the second preferable cooling method. In the second preferable cooling method, the opposing part 7a is referred to as a “heated plane 7a” since it is a planar object to be heated. Experiments have shown that an angle between a travel direction a of the cooling air and the heated plane 7a is preferably 60° or more and 120° or less, as shown in
Description is given of the angle θ with reference to
According to the second preferable cooling method, it is possible to cool the entire heated plane 7a efficiently while further preventing occurrence of scattering and position misalignment of toner, compared to the first preferable cooling method.
Third Preferable Cooling Method
Next is described the third preferable cooling method. Experiments have shown that the travel direction α of the cooling air is preferably perpendicular, or substantially perpendicular, to the heated plane 7a.
According to the third preferable cooling method, it is possible to cool the entire heated plane 7a efficiently while further preventing occurrence of scattering and position misalignment of toner, compared to the first and second preferable cooling methods. In addition, according to the third preferable cooling method, scattering and position misalignment of toner do not occur even when the wind speed of the cooling air is more than 10 m/s.
Next is described the seventh embodiment of the present invention. The moisture content of the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 after the conveyance by the conveying system is stopped and the cooling process by the cooling system 100 takes place is referred to as “X1”. On the other hand, the moisture content of the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 immediately before the conveyance is stopped is referred to as “X2”. The cooling system 100 according to the seventh embodiment cools the opposing part 7a in such a manner that the moisture content X1 becomes equal or substantially equal to the moisture content X2. That is, the cooling system 100 cools the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 in such a manner that the moisture content X1 of the opposing part 7a after the cooling process becomes equal or substantially equal to the moisture content X2 of the opposing part 7a immediately before the conveyance is stopped.
In general, some types of paper lose their properties when the moisture content X1 is different from the moisture content X2 due to heat by the heating plate 13 and/or cooling by the cooling system 100. For example, in the case of adhesive press-fitted paper to be described below, the adhesive strength, which is the property of the adhesive press-fitted paper, may be lost when the moisture content X1 is different from the moisture content X2. Such paper whose property is lost when the moisture content X1 is different from the moisture content X2 is referred to as property paper S. Next is described an example of the cooling method of making the moisture content X1 be equal or substantially equal to the moisture content X2.
For example, in the case where it is known that only one type of property paper S is used for printing, a cooling parameter of the cooling system 100 is preliminarily set in such a manner that the moisture content X1 becomes equal or substantially equal to the moisture content X2 of the property paper S, and prestored in one of the main storage unit 312, the auxiliary storage unit 313 and the storage medium 515 (hereinafter, referred to as the “main storage unit 312 or the like” or “storage system”).
Here, the term “cooling parameter” denotes a parameter related to cooling by the cooling system 100, and is at least one of the temperature (cooling temperature) and the wind speed of the cooling air. The cooling system 100 cools the opposing part 7a based on the prestored cooling parameter. The cooling control of the cooling system 100 is performed by the cooling control subunit 702 (see
As shown in
In the case where the cooling control subunit 702 controls the cooling process by switching the wind speed of the cooling air of the cooling system 100, the wind speed switch unit 102 changes the wind speed. The wind speed switch unit 102 is provided inside each of the intake members 402 and changes, for example, the speed of blowing out, from the blower 402a, the ambient air taken in by the intake member 402.
Similarly, in the case where the cooling control subunit 702 controls the cooling process by switching the temperature of the cooling air of the cooling system 100, the temperature switch unit 104 changes the temperature of the cooling air.
As has been described, for the property paper S whose property is lost when the moisture content X1 is different from the moisture content X2, a cooling parameter allowing the moisture content X1 to become equal or substantially equal to the moisture content X2 is preliminarily found and stored. Then, based on the cooling parameter, the cooling control subunit 702 causes the cooling system 100 to perform the cooling process. Herewith, it is possible to make the moisture content of the opposing part 7a of the paper 7 after heating by the heating plate 13 and cooling by the cooling system 100 (X1) equal or substantially equal to the moisture content immediately before the conveyance is stopped (X2), thereby preventing the property of the property paper S from being lost.
Next is described the eighth embodiment of the present invention. The seventh embodiment relates to the case where only one type of property paper S is used; however, the eighth embodiment relates to the case where multiple types of property paper S are used. In the case of using multiple types of property paper S, for each type of property paper S, a cooling parameter for moisture content at which the type of property paper S does not lose its property (hereinafter, referred to as “proper moisture content”) is measured. Then, correspondence information which associates the respective types of property paper S and their measured cooling parameters is prestored in the main storage unit 312 or the like.
In the case of
Then, a paper type determining subunit 708 of the control unit 206 determines the type of property paper S to be used for printing. There are various methods for determining the type of property paper S to be used; however, for example, the user may input the paper type using the input unit 317 or the display unit 318 (see
In another method, for example, a paper type determining sensor is provided with the paper hopper 11 (see
According to the eighth embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to make the moisture content X1 be equal or substantially equal to the moisture content X2 even when multiple types of property paper S are used, thereby preventing properties of the property paper S from being lost after heating by the heating plate 13 and cooling by the cooling system 100.
According to the seventh and eighth embodiments of the present invention, the opposing part 7a is cooled in such a manner as to make the moisture content X1 be equal or substantially equal to the moisture content X2; however, the opposing part 7a may be cooled based on the cooling parameter in such a manner as to make the moisture content X1 be equal to the proper moisture content.
Next is described the ninth embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 1 including the fixing device 12 according to the ninth embodiment has a detecting unit 610 for detecting the surface temperature of the paper (recording medium) 7. As shown in
In addition, a proper temperature range D of the paper surface is determined in advance. The temperature range D is the ambient temperature±5° C., for example. The cooling control subunit 702 controls the cooling system 100 in such a manner that the temperature of the paper surface falls in the temperature range D. The temperature range D is prestored in the storage system.
In the case when the surface temperature of the paper 7 is within the temperature range D, the cooling system 100 does not have to cool the paper 7, and the cooling control subunit 702 therefore stops the cooling process by the cooling system 100. On the other hand, when the surface temperature of the paper 7 is beyond or almost beyond the temperature range D, the cooling control subunit 702 causes the cooling system 100 to cool the paper 7.
Thus, according to the ninth embodiment of the present invention, the proper temperature range D for the paper surface is determined in advance, and the cooling control subunit 702 stops the cooling process by the cooling system 100 when the surface temperature of the paper 7 is within the range of the temperature range D. Herewith, it is possible to reduce the cooling cost. On the other hand, when the surface temperature of the paper 7 is beyond or almost beyond the temperature range D, the cooling control subunit 702 causes the cooling system 100 to cool the paper 7. Herewith, it is possible to properly cool the overly heated paper 7.
In the seventh and eighth embodiments of the present invention, the descriptions are given of the property paper S. The tenth embodiment describes the case where the property paper S is adhesive press-fitted paper. In the following description, the property paper S is referred to as the “adhesive press-fitted paper 7”. Here, the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 is paper in which a natural rubber-based sticking agent has been applied on the surface of water proof paper. An example of such is a double postcard. If the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 is stopped over the heating plate 13, moisture in the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 is evaporated, which leads to a decrease in the adhesive strength of the sticking agent. As a result of repeated experiments, it was found that the press-fit strength of the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 is appropriate when the moisture content is 4%, or substantially 4%. In general, the amount of saturated vapor changes due to the temperature of the air over the surface of the adhesive press-fitted paper 7. Therefore, the amount of saturated vapor on the surface of the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 is reduced by cooling the air over the surface of the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 using the cooling system 100. If the amount of saturated vapor over the surface of the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 is reduced, the amount of moisture evaporated from the adhesive press-fitted paper is also reduced.
Here, the cooling system 100 cools the opposing part 7a in such a manner as to make the moisture content X1 equal or substantially be equal to the moisture content X2. The method of using the cooling parameter explained in the seventh and eighth embodiments may be used to cool the opposing part 7a. Herewith, it is possible to allow the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 to maintain its adequate adhesive strength.
Experiments were conducted to determine temperature and humidity of the inside of the image forming apparatus 1, which temperature and humidity allow the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 to have a moisture content of substantially 4%. A cooling parameter can be obtained by the experiments.
In
For example, if the cooling time is one minute, a moisture content close to 4% is obtained when the temperature and humidity are 45° C. and 30%, respectively, as indicated by Line (square, dotted). If the cooling time is ten minutes, a moisture content close to 4% is obtained when the temperature and humidity are 60° C. and 30%, respectively, as indicated by Line (triangle, solid), and also when the temperature and humidity are 60° C. and 40%, respectively, as indicated by Line (triangle, dotted).
More particularly, the higher the ambient temperature around the adhesive press-fitted paper 7, the higher the amount of saturated vapor, and therefore, the amount of moisture evaporated from the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 increases when the ambient temperature around the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 is higher. This has also been proved by the experiments with the ambient temperature between 45° C. and 80° C., as shown in
According to the experimental results, it has been found that lowering the temperature of the air on the paper surface is an efficient way to reduce the amount of decrease in moisture content. Additionally, once moisture is stripped away from the adhesive press-fitted paper 7, an environment with simply high humidity is not sufficient to maintain the moisture content of the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 at 4%. Therefore, the moisture content of the adhesive press-fitted paper 7 should be maintained by the cooling process.
Furthermore, by measuring in advance the proper moisture content for each type of the adhesive press-fitted paper 7, the temperature and humidity of the inside of the image forming apparatus 1, and the cooling time, as in the experiments illustrated in
With the fixing device and the image forming apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to properly prevent paper damage/contraction and the like even when paper stops on the heating plate for more than a fixed period of time.
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority or inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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2010-215704 | Sep 2010 | JP | national |
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Abstract of JP 2005-001303 published on Jan. 6, 2005. |
Japanese Notice of rejection dated Feb. 18, 2014 for corresponding Japanese Application No. 2010-215704. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20110222890 A1 | Sep 2011 | US |