Fixing apparatus including apparatus for controlling the supply of releasing agent
First Claim
1. A fixing apparatus comprising:
- a first rotating member and a second rotating member arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media;
a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said first and second rotating members with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus being equipped with a releasing agent holding roller, which has a releasing agent holding layer on its outer surface; and
a transfer apparatus that supplies the releasing agent to the releasing agent holding layer so that the releasing agent is not saturating the releasing agent holding layer all the time,wherein content of the releasing agent in said releasing agent holding layer is 20-80 volumetric percent.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A fixing apparatus for controlling an oil transfer apparatus to maintain a releasing agent holding layer such that it is not always saturated with the releasing agent. This makes it a compact, cost-effective unit with a long service life and provides a uniform, stable oil coating that eliminates image noise problems. In order to use a constant and minimum necessary amount of releasing agent, a releasing agent supply nozzle is incorporated with multiple protrusive or retrusive droplet growth assisting members at or near multiple releasing agent discharge ports. The supply nozzle used for supplying the oil has multiple discharge holes having approximately equal opening cross-sectional areas and an equalizing member which equalizes the amount of oil discharged from each discharge hole. The outer diameter D1 of the oil supply roller, the outer diameter D2 of the metal core and the distance P of adjacent through-holes formed on the periphery of the metal core satisfy a relation, 0.6<D1·(D1-D2)/(D2·P)<6. A quantifying apparatus is provided to equalize the amount of oil transferred by the oil pump when it is intermittently transferred. The quantifying apparatus contributes in achieving a constant amount of releasing agent coating. A releasing agent leakage prevention member is provided to prevent unnecessary oil leakage from the releasing agent supply nozzle and rollers.
A specific correlation is established between the centerline average roughness of the oil supply roller surface and the amount of the releasing agent supply to the fixing roller by the oil supply roller. This makes it possible to achieve a uniform coating with excellent releasing capability and prevents adhesion of add particles.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first rotating member and a second rotating member arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said first and second rotating members with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus being equipped with a releasing agent holding roller, which has a releasing agent holding layer on its outer surface; and a transfer apparatus that supplies the releasing agent to the releasing agent holding layer so that the releasing agent is not saturating the releasing agent holding layer all the time, wherein content of the releasing agent in said releasing agent holding layer is 20-80 volumetric percent. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first rotating member and a second rotating member arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that is arranged along the axial direction of at least one of said first and second rotating members and coats said rotating member with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus comprising a rotating roller that supplies the releasing agent to said rotating member, said roller comprising a hollow metal core on which multiple through holes are provided and a releasing agent holding layer that covers the outer surface of the metal core; a transfer apparatus that supplies the releasing agent to the coating apparatus, said transfer apparatus comprising a supply nozzle that is arranged along the lengthwise direction of the coating apparatus and is fixedly arranged within the hollow metal core, said supply nozzle comprising multiple discharge ports to supply the releasing agent to the coating apparatus; and a controller that controls the supply of the releasing agent from the transfer apparatus to the coating apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first and a second rotating members arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said two rotating members with a releasing agent; a transfer apparatus that supplies the releasing agent to the coating apparatus; a controller that controls the supply of the releasing agent from the transfer apparatus to the coating apparatus; and a forcing switch that forces the supply of the releasing agent from the transfer apparatus to the coating apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first and a second rotating members arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said two rotating members with a releasing agent; a transfer apparatus that supplies the releasing agent to the coating apparatus; and a controller that controls the supply of the releasing agent from the transfer apparatus to the coating apparatus, said controller resetting a counter that determines the supply control of the releasing agent when said coating apparatus is replaced.
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17. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first rotating member and a second rotating member arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said first and second rotating members with a releasing agent; a transfer apparatus that supplies the releasing agent to the coating apparatus; and a controller that controls the supply of the releasing agent from the transfer apparatus to the coating apparatus, said controller stopping the image forming operation when a specified amount of releasing agent cannot be supplied during a predetermined releasing agent supply period.
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18. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first rotating member and a second rotating member arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that is arranged along the axial direction of at least one of said [two] first and second rotating members and coats said rotating member with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus comprising a rotating roller that supplies the releasing agent to said rotating member, said roller comprising a hollow metal core on which multiple through holes are provided and a releasing agent holding layer that covers the outer surface of the metal core; and a supply nozzle that is arranged along the lengthwise direction of the coating apparatus and is fixedly arranged within the hollow metal core, said supply nozzle comprising multiple discharge ports to supply the releasing agent to said coating apparatus and droplet growth assisting members to help droplets of the releasing agent released from each discharge port to drop beneath each discharge port so that the releasing agent is discharged as discrete points. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first and a second rotating members arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that is arranged along the axial direction of at least one of said two rotating members and coats said rotation member with a releasing agent; and a supply nozzle that is arranged along the lengthwise direction of the coating apparatus, said supply nozzle comprising multiple discharge ports having approximately equal opening cross section areas to supply the releasing agent to said coating apparatus and an equalizing member that equalizes the amount of the releasing agent discharged from each discharge port. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first and a second rotating members arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said two rotating members with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus comprises a roller that supplies the releasing agent to said rotating member, said roller comprising a metal core, on which multiple through holes are provided, and a releasing agent holding layer that covers the outer surface of the metal core, wherein the roller outer diameter D1, the metal core outer diameter D2, and the distance P between adjacent through holes holding a relation;
0.6<
D1·
(D1-D2)/(D2·
P)<
6; anda transfer apparatus that supplies the releasing agent inside said roller. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first and a second rotating members arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said two rotating members with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus comprises a roller that supplies the releasing agent to said rotating member, said roller comprising a metal core, on which multiple through holes are provided, and a releasing agent holding layer that covers the outer surface of the metal core, wherein kinematic viscosity S (cSt) of said releasing agent at 25°
C. and the bore D3 (mm) of said through holes satisfy a relation;
0.05<
D3/(1n (S) )<
0.5; anda transfer apparatus that supplies the releasing agent inside said roller. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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29. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first and a second rotating members arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said two rotating members with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus comprises a roller that supplies the releasing agent to said rotating member, said roller comprising a metal core, on which multiple through holes are provided, and a releasing agent holding layer that covers the outer surface of the metal core, wherein the peripheral dimension of each through hole is longer than the axial dimension of the same hole; and a transfer apparatus that supplies the releasing agent inside said roller.
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30. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first rotating member and a second rotating member arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said two rotating members with a releasing agent; a tank unit that stores a releasing agent; a releasing agent supply apparatus that supplies the releasing agent stored in the tank unit, wherein said releasing agent supply apparatus comprises a transfer passage for transferring the releasing agent stored in the tank and a pump unit for transferring the releasing agent intermittently by switching operating and stopping modes; and a quantifying apparatus that meters the releasing agent amount being transferred to be constant so as to provide a stable transfer of the releasing agent even as the releasing agent is intermittently transferred by the pump unit. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first rotating member and a second rotating member arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that is arranged along the axial direction of at least one of said first and second rotating members and coats said rotating member with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus comprising a rotating roller that supplies the releasing agent to said rotating member, said roller comprising a hollow metal core on which multiple through holes are provided and a releasing agent holding layer that covers the outer surface of the metal core; a supply nozzle that is arranged along the lengthwise direction of the coating apparatus and is fixedly arranged within the hollow metal core, said supply nozzle comprising multiple discharge ports to supply the releasing agent to said coating apparatus; and a releasing agent leak prevention member that prevents the leakage that flows down along the outer surface of the supply nozzle when the releasing agent is discharged from the discharge ports.
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36. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first and a second rotating members arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said two rotating members with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus comprises a roller that supplies the releasing agent to said rotating member, said roller comprising a hollow metal core and a releasing agent holding layer that covers the outer surface of the metal core; a supply nozzle that is arranged along the lengthwise direction of the coating apparatus, said supply nozzle comprising multiple discharge ports to supply the releasing agent to said coating apparatus; and a releasing agent leak prevention member that prevents the leakage that flows down along the inner surface of the metal core when the releasing agent is discharged from the discharge ports.
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37. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first rotating member and a second rotating member arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; a coating apparatus that is arranged along the axial direction of at least one of said first and second rotating members and coats said rotating member with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus comprises a rotating roller that supplies the releasing agent to said rotating member, said roller comprising a hollow metal core, on which multiple through holes are provided, and a releasing agent holding layer that covers the outer surface of the metal core; a supply nozzle that is arranged along the lengthwise direction of the coating apparatus and is fixedly arranged within the hollow metal core, said supply nozzle comprising multiple discharge ports to supply the releasing agent to said coating apparatus; and a releasing agent leak prevention member that prevents the leakage that flows down along the outer surface of the roller.
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38. A fixing apparatus comprising:
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a first and a second rotating members arranged to oppose each other to fix unfixed toner images held on sheets of recording media; and a coating apparatus that coats at least one of said two rotating members with a releasing agent, said coating apparatus comprises a roller that supplies the releasing agent to said rotating member, wherein the centerline mean roughness of said roller'"'"'s surface and the amount of releasing agent supplied from the roller to the rotating member has a specified relation. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
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Specification